ChapMoto 2018 Supercross Race Recap Week 11
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
https://youtu.be/8X5gCSADfQg
TS: Zach Osborne in my opinion. ZachO & Forkner
both went into St. Louis with Red number plates. Forkner folded
under pressure and we're back to only one red plate.
MM: Wacko Osborne of the Rockstar Husky team for
getting the 250 win, stopping the PC Forkner train, and
having some momentum going into the first 250 shootout of the
year.
TO: Tomac and Anderson. Tomac with a great win and
Anderson controlling the points
KB: The West Coast had the best night! 450 Main,
our top guys took it all! Tomac, Anderson, Musquin and Peick in the
top 5. Come on east cost guys... where are you?
EE: Osborne. He rode solid and kept it together
while still putting down the heat.
Who had the toughest night?
TS
: Forkner did, considering only one rider was
leaving St. Louis with the red plate... it wasn't Forkner.
MM: Austin Forkner of the Pro Circuit team for
throwing away the win with a brain fart in the final laps of the
250 main event.
TO: Forkner. Two crashes and losing the 250 east
points lead.
KB: Davalos came in LAST Place. Not a fun place to
be for a guy who is usually up near the top.
EE: Probably Tomac. Yeah he won another race but
with each race he wins races and the more Anderson continues to be
consistent, his mistakes and issues from earlier in the season have
to be haunting him.
What was the best or most exciting thing YOU saw all evening?
https://youtu.be/mv1Ompd9Bb0
TS: Either Tomac lapping up to 8th or Forkner
buckling under Osborne's pressure
MM: Jeremy McGrath's Science of Supercross
segment, always good stuff.
TO: Osborne putting pressure on Forkner and
forcing Forkner into a mistake.
KB: Eli Tomac taking 1st place... wearing GREEN.
If a orange, blue, yellow or red bike would have won... there would
have been some sad Leprechauns.
EE: Ask me next week.
With Anderson having a 42 point lead with six races to go in the season what do you think his strategy will be? Layup and secure a championship or ride 100% for each and every win?
TS
: I think he needs to stay focused on himself
and not the points lead. Racers are more likely to get hurt when
they back it down a notch. If you're lining up Not Looking to Win,
you shouldn't be racing. I think this is Anderson year!
MM: El Hombre has not been hitting the deck lately
so he is a much more solid rider these days. He just needs to
podium out the rest of the way which will not be difficult for him
to grab the title in Las Vegas. No DNF's is a must.
TO: He says he wants to beat Tomac straight up,
but why risk anything when the championship is his to lose?
KB: I think he should ride each race like it's his
last race. Ride good. Ride smooth. Ride as fast as you are
comfortable with... and Race to the end.
EE: Do dirt bikes have cruise control?
Eli is obviously the fastest guy out there on any given day, but why do you think he struggles with consistency?
TS
: He struggles with consistency because he the
fastest guy out there... his mental game isn't all there in my
opinion.
MM: Head Case!
TO: Loses concentration and makes stupid mistakes.
If Tomac figures it out he will win everything the next few
years.
KB: He is the fastest and I think that when you
are riding that line... what are small mistakes to "slower riders"
turn into big mistakes for faster riders. I had a trainer once who
used to say that practice is not what makes a winner as "lots of
practice does not make perfect... Only Perfect Practice Makes
Perfect" he used to say. Same thing... It does not matter how fast
you are if you can't execute perfectly.
EE: I have no idea but I wonder how many sports
psychologists' have some knocking on his door?
What are your predictions for this first 250 showdown we'll see this coming weekend?
TS
: I think its going to be exciting! This round
could make it or break it whether you're on the West or East
series. The points are definitely going to get shuffled around for
the Lites class.
MM: West Coast Best Coast, here is the podium.
Plessinger, Hill, Osborne, right it down.
TO: Osborne will win
KB: I predict the West to dominate.
EE: I'm hoping it will be some of the best/most exciting racing
we've seen all season. That last Triple Crown was awesome but I
expect the east/west shootout surpass it.
