ChapMoto 2018 Supercross Race Recap Week 10

Chaparral Motorsports
|
March 14, 2018

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?





When you're happy. "I can't even describe it..." - @justinbrayton // @fs1

A post shared by Supercross LIVE! (@supercrosslive) on


TS

: Justin Brayton for sure!! who happened to lap Chad Reed <--side note / Jordon Smith in the 250 class got his first win of the year as well!

MM: Justin Brayton of the Smartop / Motoconcepts team for taking his first ever 450 win.

TO: Jason Anderson. He just keeps plugging away. When it looked like Marvin Musquin might make up points, he crashes twice and Anderson leaves Daytona with a huge points lead still.

KB: Well, Justin Brayton for sure. First main event win of his Supercross career - 131 starts.. Way to go Mr. Brayton! All I have to say is that it was a good thing the race was two minutes (and 2 laps) shorter than last year or Tomac most likely would have ridden away with it. But for this week Brayton, you get the spotlight.

EE: It's a three way between Justin Brayton, Austin Forkner, and Jordan Smith. Obviously Brayton comes out on top for multiple reasons which I'm sure everyone has already listed. Smith is close behind for getting his first 250 win of the season and he did it in style by qualifying first, getting the hole shot and leading the entire race. Forkner is right up there close behind for surviving the night without getting mixed up with Osborne to rided to a third place finish for an overall tie in the points lead with Osborne. But more importantly Forkner took the red plate away from the Osborne-Forkner better have his head on swivel because you can bet Osborne will be coming for him.

Who had the toughest night?





Happens

A post shared by Jason Anderson (@elhombre21) on


TS

: All the riders that didn't line up had a tough night! I'm sure it's tough to watch since Dayton is a race most racers look forward too.

MM: The Rockstar Husky team with El Hombre and Deano going 7 and 8 in the main event. Sub par results for the series leader which I am sure he is not happy with either.

TO: Tomac and Musquin. They both had the speed to win and both crashed out.

KB: I'd give the toughest night to Musquin. He has been working hard and had the fastest lap time of 1:12.6 but after several crashes he finished in 5th place. I guess toughest night should go to a rider who did not finish at all (say RJ Hampshire & Decotis who both broke vetebra!)... but for someone with a 1:12 lap time to finish 5th, that's just no fun. "I was faster than everyone" does not matter if you can't hold onto it...

EE: Autotrader/Yoshimura Suzuki rider RJ Hampshire and GEICO Honda rider Jimmy Decotis, both of whom suffered fractures in their backs along with other injuries. Rough night.

29025485_10156746175429316_382195150962556928_nDid anyone surprise you?


TS

: Justin Brayton! I knew he had a Triple Crown win within him, but I never thought he would win a 20 min main. Especially at Daytona!

MM: Jordan Smith of the TLD KTM team for leading the whole 250 main event to the checkered flag, impressive.

TO: Tomac. He is the fastest rider on the track every week but continues to throw wins away. Tomac is almost the modern day James Stewart. Win or crash!

KB: Actually, I was surprised to hear Tomac voice his anger and frustration publicly, "I got pissed off. I went for the takeout. That's all there was, plain and simple. That's my side of the story." That is not normal, nor so professional.

EE: JB on the CRF 450R. I really was pulling for Reed to put another notch in his historic career by being the oldest rider to win a 450 race, but Brayton winning, and doing it for his first time ever...IN DAYTONA is pretty awesome!!

Who had the worst spill?





What not to do... ‍♂️‍♂️‍♂️

A post shared by Jimmy Decotis (@jimmydecotis) on


TS

: Jason Anderson took an unexpected teflon block from his buddy MM25 after the start of the 450 Heat. Surprisingly he caught up to 9th after being dead last and qualified for the main. JA21 has NEVER been to an LCQ since he's been on a 450. <--Impressive

MM: RJ Hampshire of the Geico Honda team had a pretty gnarly get off which caused the 250 heat race to be red flagged and scored as an official race. Honorable mention to Jimmy D of the JGR Suzuki team as well.

TO: Musquin's first crash was scary. He is very lucky he didn't get hurt.

KB: RJ Hampshire & Decotis both broke multiple ribs, broke multiple vertebra and had talks of needing surgery to heal. No fun! Heal up guys.

EE: Hampshire and Decotis. But how about that weird get off that Musquin had in the main? Glad to see he was able to remount and salvage some points.

Best pass of the night?


https://youtu.be/wAYdVIq3QXk

TS: No answer.

MM: Wacko Osborne passing the 250 field coming from last to 4th in the 250 main event.

TO: Tomac passing thru the field. He made so many passes, it was crazy!

KB: I really liked Tomac taking Web around Malcom Stewart with just two minutes left in the Main. The chase down and pass was great.

EE: Everybody that passed Eli after he took out Webb.

Best battle?





@elitomac on the gas to a 2nd place finish at #DaytonaSX. #RaceKX

A post shared by Kawasaki USA (@kawasakiusa) on


TS

: Osborne vs. the entire 250 class, that kid's a beast.

MM: ET3 and Brayton was cool, JB did not lay up for ET3 and came back after em. Good Stuff.

TO: Tomac and Webb in the heat race.

KB: Tomac from last place to 2nd place. Nice battle with the entire team Tomac. Nice ride!

EE: Tomac and Webb. Tomac battling to chase down Brayton after taking a spill on the first lap of the main.

In the post-race interview Tomac when asked about the incident between him and Webb in t heat race Tomac stated: "there was a little bit of cross-jumping going on, coming across that rhythm lane. I got pissed off. I went for the takeout. That's all there was, plain and simple. That's my side of the story." What did you think of the move Tomac made on Webb in the heat race, was it called for? Was it dirty or just part of racing?




TS

: I think cross jumping is un-called for! But taking a rider out (yourself as well) doesn't look good from the spectators point of view. 90% of the spectators only saw Tomac take Webb out. No one knew about the cross jumping until after the fact.

MM: I do not care for straight take out moves because your upset with a rider, just beat him in the race when you know you're faster than them. Just frustration.

TO: It seems like certain riders get caught up in the drama every week and Cooper Webb is one of them.

KB: Tomac went for the takeout, but it was slow, it was easy... I personally like the fact that Webb fell onto Tomac and Tomac was not able to lift his bike. Take that! It was a heat race... it was one guy getting his point across. At the end of the day, it will always come back to haunt.

EE: I wouldn't say uncalled for but definitely wasn't necessary to do in the heat race since they both we in prime position for transfer spots to the main. I'd say it was just racing and his emotions got to him-I like to see this from riders, I mean I'm not looking for anyone to get hurt but I like riders to have some emotion out on the track. Then again, when you let the emotions get the best of you and yo go for a move like Tomac did and it backfires on both of you, you have to live with that. I'm just glad he owned up to it.

With Forkner and Osborne now tied in points and Forkner taking the red plate from Osborne, the 250 East series and the riff between the two factions has really heated up, what are your predictions.





Setting standards

A post shared by Austin Forkner (@austinforkner) on


TS

: It's starting to brew up a lot like last year's East coast! Almost the same riders as well. Only difference is Forkner. Last year J.Smith/Z.Osborne/J.Savatgy went into Vegas two points apart! This should get interesting.

MM: This is not turning out to be the cake walk it was supposed to be for Wacko Osborne. The green machine is in it to win it. I still think Osborne's raw speed, experience, and consistency will pull him through to the number 1 plate again by Las Vegas.

TO: Osborne is going to ride to the limit to take the title. It will either work for him or be his undoing. I'm impressed with Forkner and how well he's handling the pressure. Mitch Payton and the whole Pro Circuit crew will be happy when Osborne moves up to the 450 class full time next year. It's been a trying two years .

KB: Forkner has been looking really good, but my vote will go to Osborne.

EE: Someone will be in the dirt and I don't think it will be Osborne-unless he pulls a Tomac.

Kudos to Brayton on his monumental win. In regards to older riders, the conversation has typically centered on Reed. Did you expect to see Brayton win a race this season? How long do you think his record of oldest rider to win a 450 race will stand?





WOW!! I WON THE DAYTONA SUPERCROSS!!

A post shared by Justin Brayton (@justinbrayton) on


TS

: I would have expected Brayton to win a race before Reed, but not at Daytona! This record will stand for a while. If RV2 continued racing, I could see him winning as the oldest, but that's out of the picture.

MM: I expected a couple of podiums sprinkled in here and there from JB but I did not expect the win to arrive for him. This record will stand for a very long time and I do not see it being broken, not even by Chad Reed.

TO: I didn't expect Brayton to win a race this year, especially Daytona. I was very happy for Brayton and the whole Smartop/Motoconcepts team. With so many riders getting hurt this year, Brayton winning is one of the bright spots for our sport. I hope he can carry the momentum thru the rest of the series. I do believe his record for the oldest rider will stand for years to come.

KB: I am still waiting for Reed to take a win here sometime soon taking that record. Most starts and Oldest winner. If the younger guys keep taking each other out... it might become a reality. That is my pipe dream. I actually think that Brayton will keep it for a while.

EE: Brayton wasn't even on my radar, but I guess he should have been seeing as how he hasn't finished outside of top 10 all season and is now sitting third in overall points. I'm happy for him and his win. I'll absolutely be keeping an eye on him now. Fortunately for Brayton and unfortunately for Reed the way the season has been going for Reed I think Brayton might have it for quite some time.
SIDEBAR: Not to put a jinx on anyone and hope nothing happens to him, but with only 13 points separating Musquin and Brayton, and Baggett and Tomac lurking only a few more points behind that, can you imagine how crazy things will get if Anderson were to get injured?

Back to Top