ChapMoto 2018 Supercross Race Recap Week 5
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Last year we started a new series called the ChapMoto Supercross
Race Recap, where several Chaparral Motorsports employees gave
their thoughts on the past weekend's Supercross event. That series
was so fun and popular that we decided to keep it going. It's a
pretty simple concept; we pose about 8-10 questions to the group
regarding the evening's activities, highlights, and lowlights and
they reply with their thoughts. This is meant to be a casual, fun,
and lighthearted series.
The Chaparral Motorsports staff (and one outsider) consist of:
Travis Snyder (TS): Chaparral Motorsports Offroad Products and
Apparel Manager. Travis is one of our in-house moto racers. A Honda
guy, Travis is either at one of the local tracks or prepping his
bike for his next event.
Mike Medina (MM): Chaparral Motorsports Technical
Advisor/Communications Specialist. When Mike's not at the office
he's in the pits spinning wrenches for the Enticknap brothers, #722
Adam (The Seven Deuce Deuce) and #723 Tyler.
The Outsider (TO): N/A. The outsider is not a Chaparral employee
but he is an industry veteran with a good perspective on the
inside.
Kyle Bradshaw (KB): Chaparral Motorsports Marketing Department. The
newest team member, Kyle is a highly experienced offroad/ADV/dual
sport rider who splits his seat time between his stable of KTMs and
his custom Honda
VTX1300.
Eric Ellis (EE): Chaparral Motorsports Marketing Department/Social
Media. Eric is just a Harley guy who likes to watch Supercross.
Who had the best night?
TS
: BamBam Barcia almost executed a perfect night
(Qualify-1st,Heat-1st,Main-1st), except a bad start left him with
5th in the main event. Anderson and Roczen should both be stoked on
their night. That was a technical track to push your skills on
while keeping it on two wheels.
MM: The best night has to go to El Hombre of the
Rockstar Husqvarna team. He extended his points lead and held it
together through a very difficult track. He is slowly creeping away
from the other title contenders.
TO: Jason Anderson. After crashing in practice and
still coming away with the win- Impressive!
KB: I'd have to say Plessinger for the 250's and
Anderson for the 450's. Both of those guys have had multiple wins
this season and are both the respective points leaders. I was happy
to see both of them do well.
EE: Anderson all the way. Took the win and added
more cusion to his points lead. Definitely a good night for El
Hombre!
Who had the toughest night?
https://youtu.be/alE8BQ1qi1I
TS: The track took a lot of riders out throughout
the night. Seely being one of them. I was hoping he was going to
pull off the main event win. Tough night for sure.
MM: The toughest night has to go to Shane McElrath
of the TLD KTM team.
His poor finish from a costly mistake he took full blame for may
have sealed his fate for the 250 West championship, especially with
AP23 being on fire right now.
TO: Eli Tomac. I thought after two wins in a row
he could get back into the title fight. It's going to be tough
now.
KB: Tomac. Got hit by Bam-Bam's club once again
taking him out of the running.
EE: First of all, from the couch in my living
room, it appeared as though the film crew had the toughest night as
there were people flying off the track and tumbling all over the
place, and there were at least two instances where they missed
something big because Ralph and Fro went crazy, but I didn't see
it. There was a lot going on so it must have been hard for them to
keep up. The viewers at home need the ability to select individual
cameras (like picture in picture) on different riders/groups of
riders so they can choose who they want to watch.
Tomac had a rough night as well. The championship chase isn't
looking good for him. Can't forget about Plessinger though, did you
see him at the end of the race? Dude could barely stand. He had
been sick earlier in the week and you could tell he had nothing
left at the end of the race. That must have been hell for him.
Did anyone surprise you?
TS
: Eli Tomac surprised me. Winning the last two
rounds, I would have never picked him to finish 13th.
#ThanksBamBam
MM: Cole Seely of the HRC Honda team looked to be
the fastest rider of the night but a costly mistake on his part
threw away his second win in the 450 class of his career. He is
looking more and more confident with his heat races and main
events.
TO: Roczen looks really good and is improving week
after week.
KB: The technical track and the lead taking Whoop
section is what surprised me. I really really liked the track lay
out. It made the guys work for it... all of them... a bit more so
than we have seen at this season's previous races.
EE: Webb getting the holeshot in the second heat
was a nice surprise.
Who had the worst spill?
TS
: I'm sure we're all going to be on the same
page with this one... Tyler Bowers. I'm glad he walked away.
MM: The worst spill of the night happened to #69
Tyler Bowers aboard his Kawasaki. Tyler hit the eject button and
landed on his tail bone when his feet came off of his bike going
off a triple jump in the rhythm section of the 450 main event.
Ouch!
TO: Seely. He maybe could have pulled off a win,
instead crashed out.
KB: Our local Cali guy Tyler Bowers... man he sent
that Kawi into space in the whoop section! The way his helmet hit
the track, geez... I felt that from my couch! But the crash I
related to the best was the Cole Seely cross rut that sent the
handlebars and rear wheels in different directions. It was sketchy,
but he recovered well. As I watched... it felt like deja vu of a
cross rut I recently experienced on my 950 Super Enduro... fighting
the best until it mellows out... I felt his fight.
EE: Tyler Bowers. That could have been a lot
worse.
Best pass of the night?
TS
: Jason Anderson put a nasty pass on Marvin
Musquin. "Nasty", meaning I wouldn't call it a CLEAN pass at
all!
MM: The best pass went to Bam Bam Justin Barcia
when he put Eli Tomac to the ground in the 450 main event. Justin
is just as much alive in this title chase and it was all good in my
view.
TO: Anderson on everyone in front of him.
KB: The Bam-Bam pass on Tomac. Oh... you want to
race me into the corner... ok, but you are not coming out on two
wheels! See ya!
EE: So many great passes! Anderson had a great
pass on Friese in the corner. It was super quick. I'm sure Reed
passing Weimer for the lead and win in the LCQ had the crowd
rocking. Craig's pass on Martin in the whoops section was sweet.
But the absolute best was the last pass of the night with Anderson
taking over Roczen for the win.
Best battle?
https://youtu.be/nc7AvbVWV54
TS: The final laps of the 450 main: Roczen vs.
Anderson
MM: The best battle has to be between K-Roc and El
Hombre during the last couple of laps of the 450 main event. There
were passes traded and mistakes made much to the delight of the
Oakland crowd.
TO: Anderson & Roczen
KB: The last two minutes of the 450 Main was epic.
Anderson and Roczen battling and swapping places time and time
again. It was really down to who made the last mistake. It was a
GREAT race and a spectacular finish. Nice work guys!
EE: Again quite a few good ones. In the 250 main I
liked the Martin and Craig battle and the Savatgy and Hill battle.
In the 450 the battle between teammates Tomac and Grant was fun to
watch, Musquin and Seely, and of course, Roczen battling to keep
Anderson at bay.
Racer X asked Musquin about the pass Anderson put on him in the main: Are you a little unhappy with the move that he (Anderson) put on you there?
"Yeah, for sure.I feel like it's been two weekends in a row. He's racing hard, which is understandable, but also I'm mad at him because we know each other. It's a bummer to make somebody crash like that. It's not like he's racing me for the championship right now."
What are your thoughts on Anderson's pass?
TS
: As I said, it was dirty! You have to think
though... How long would Marvin have held Anderson off if he
attempted to pass him cleaner? That could have left Roczen with the
win.
MM: El Hombre was definitely the faster rider of
the two and he did not have to do what he did resulting in Musquin
in the dirt. He could have made a cleaner pass somewhere else,
especially when they both will be at the Baker Compound Monday
morning training again. Tension may be a little high.
TO: Aggressive.
KB: Dude, it is racing! I totally race harder and
would totally knock a buddy out of his place before doing that to a
stranger. Racing is racing... and motocross / Supercross is a
contact sport. If you don't want to get pinched out... then back
off your throttle and drop back a bit ;)
EE: I am fine with it. Nothing to see here, move
along.
Follow up question to Musquin's comment: Should riders expect to be treated differently on the track just because they train together or "know each other"? What if they're teammates?
TS
: Not so much "treated differently", but more so
"show respect" to one another. They both know how hard they train,
obviously if they have the same trainer. Why make a dirty move when
it only causes awkwardness and tension between the two?
MM: Teammates or not, if both are in a title hunt,
anything goes. The riders know what their roles are once a race
unfolds and if they need to go into a protect your teammate role if
they are not in the points chase, but they are not really
teammates, they are training mates.
TO: Anderson made it clear that he was going to do
whatever it took to win the title this year-even if that means
rubbing Musquin and other riders the wrong way.
KB: Knowing each other... we are racing. My job is
to win 1st place. Period. "But I know you... " ... So freaking
what. I knew my brother, but that did not mean I let him have
shotgun... we raced for it, and if I won... I won. Now teammates...
that is a bit of another story. If the "team has a plan" and the
plan is to have a certain rider make the way so a certain rider can
take the lead and win... then that is a "plan." If there is no team
plan or strategy, I think it is a Game-On type of situation. Every
man for himself with his eyes on the Podium.
EE: Nope. That's the cost you pay when training
with your competition. It might be all rainbows and unicorns
between you guys when training off the track, but once that gate
drops, every man or woman for themselves. As for the team aspect
yeah I get there's some strategy in there and that's fine if it's
coming down to much needed points for a teammate.
Do you have a preference of watching a day race or night race. Why?
TS
: Being that we live on the West Coast, I prefer
the day races. Reason being, I usually moto in the morning and by
the time a 7pm PST race starts, I'm falling asleep on the couch.
Ha! Bring on the East Coast rounds (3hrs earlier)!!
MM: The day race was a nice change of pace, as far
as working it. But, how does an MMA fight showing live in Brazil,
have the priority on FS1 to bump Monster Energy Supercross to an
earlier time slot? I still prefer the evening time slot.
TO: Night. Outdoor Nationals are for the day
time.
KB: Night races are kinda like "Friday Night
Lights." Show up for the main event. I like them. However, day
races I tend to get there early, chat with the riders, vendors,
etc... make a day out of it, rather than it just being an evening
outing. I like them both but treat them differently.
EE: Night race. I just like the atmosphere,
everything just looks and feel much more exciting.
