ChapMoto 2018 Supercross Race Recap Week 9
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:
Jason Anderson & Austin Forkner
TO: Jason Anderson. He is riding great this year
and not making mistakes like his competition.
EE: Forkner. He's was grinding out there and put
in three good motos.
Who had the toughest night?
TS:
Broc Tickle might have crashed in every main
event, tough night for BT20.
TO: Martin Davalos. He was the fastest 250 rider
this week and he threw it away (twice).
KB: Osborne took a header to Forkner's fender, but
ended up finishing all races. This moves Justin Hill taking the win
for the worst night as he was not able to finish the race. That
wreck look major, but thankfully he only had minor injuries.
EE: Justin Hill. After having such a good showing
on the Suzuki RMZ-50 last week it was hard to watch him have that
big get off in the second main. At least he only broke a few toes,
could have been much worse. Davalos had a pretty up and down night,
literally. It looked like had that first main in the bag but
thought that turn was a round-a-bout or something and it shot him
out like a cannon into the opposite tuff blocks. He pulled it
together for the win in the second main but then it all came
crumbling down in the third main. He could have taken the overall
if it weren't for a couple of mistakes.
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Did anyone surprise you?
TS:
Cooper Web & Christian Craig surprised me!
Both riders rode well in the 450 class.
TO: Austin Forkner looks 100% better at Supercross
this year.
KB: Marvin Musquin with the 1st and 2nd best lap
times 53.197 and 53.515 respectively was significantly faster than
most of the riders. Being that quick... I was surprised to see him
not finish up higher in the standings.
EE: Probably Craig stepping up to ride the CRF
450R for the Honda team and putting in a solid fifth overall. Glad
to see big red was able to stay in the mix with their top 450
riders sitting sideline.
Who had the worst spill?
TS:
I don't like this question. Because there is
always an answer to it. I hate seeing these top riders crash out on
a weekly basis. This one goes out to Weston Peick and Dylan
Ferrandis.
TO: Zach Osborne.
KB: Visibly, Justin Hill. But... after watching
the highlights, even though Zach Osborne finished... taking a
fender to the face, Winner for Worst Spill. And winner for manning
up, jumping back on and finishing the race. Love it.
EE: Hill takes the top spot. Then Ferrandis. Then
Osborne. Then Peick. Then Davalos. There were a lot of bodies
flying through the air Saturday night.
Best pass of the night?
https://youtu.be/8NgPx2eNKwA
TS: Zach Osborne passing more than half of the
field making his was up to 5th.
TO: Austin Forkner on the last lap to win the
overall
KB: I loved the pass Davalos put on Forkner. Take
that...
EE: Osborne passing practically everybody after
running over Rodriguez in the corner pileup where he went from 6th
to 16th. For him to pull off a 5th to regain points was pretty
spectacular.
Best battle?
TS:
Osborne vs Forkner / Webb vs Anderson
TO: Cooper Webb & Jason Anderson in the 2nd 450
race.
KB: Best battle goes to all of the riders in the
Major Pile-Up that had riders getting run over! The aftermath was a
Battle to regain their positions... All in all, it was a great
night of racing!
EE: There were a lot. almost too many to keep
track of. The ones that stuck in my head was the
Anderson-Baggett-Tomac three way in the first 450 main, Braytone
battling to hold everyone back, and of course Osborne/Forkner.
Pretty much every race had great battles-even at the front.
The Osborne/Forkner incident, Osborne wasn't too happy did he have a right to be?
TS:
Yeah! That was a sketchy moment because of
Forkner. Osborne tried using some body language to get the bike to
move left a couple lanes, but that wasn't enough. I cant believe he
got up and finished in 3rd. ZachO is a tough dude!
TO: Osborne likes to dish it out (dirty riding)
but complains when it happens to him. He probably has a few more
coming his way.
KB: I chalk it up to racing. Forkner did kick
over... getting in the path of Osborne, BUT... Forkner was in the
lead and therefor could pick whichever line he wants. It's the
chaser's responsibility to safely follow. My opinion...
EE: I'd say so. But I don't think Forkner's move
was with malice. I think Forkner was just putting a little body
English so he could be ready to protect his positioning at the
landing, but he might have gave it a little too much.
The Tuff blocks are there for safety the safety of the riders, but again this week a couple riders got caught up or taken out by them. Are the lanes too narrow, is it poor placement of the tuff blocks, or are the riders just riding too close to the edge?
TS:
It's little bit of both. The riders will
always ride the edge finding the smooth lines. Maybe the tuff
blocks don't need to be placed on the lips or jump take-offs?
TO: Poor placement.
KB: The Tough Blocks don't jump out and grab
riders... I just think that riders are not paying enough attention.
The Tough Blocks do save riders from crashing faster and with more
momentum outside of the track. They are doing their jobs. Guard
rails in road racing don't jump out in front of sportbike riders
either... Just saying.
EE: It does look pretty tight in some spots. I
don't know how much attention the track crews gives to the tuff
blocks other than making sure they get placed back in the general
area after someone hits one.
Two rounds of the Triple Crown down, what are your thoughts on the format?
TS:
Everyone complained about the 1st triple
crown.... I haven't heard much complaining from the 2nd round ha!
Good track layout + Red Georgia clay (Epic traction) = Great
racing!
TO: This round went a lot better than A2. I think
Feld and the AMA/FIM have a few more things to work out. It will
get better with time.
KB: I am not so much of a fan. I like the heat
races, LCQ and a MAIN event. Multiple main events with the same
riders, just not a fan.
EE: If they can all be like this past weekend's
race then I dig it. That was some of the best racing we've seen all
season. Every race was pretty intense.
