ChapMoto 2018 Supercross Race Recap Week 12
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/EEaDhhcW_lM
TS: Jeremy Martin reached the top of the podium,
which he hasn't done since 2016! Good job JMart
MM: Marvin Musquin of the KTM team
for laying the smack down on the 450 field.
TO: Jeremy Martin and Jason Anderson. Martin
for putting together a long overdue win and Anderson for salvaging
a 4th place finish. Anderson reminded me of Dungey, still get
points on your worst nights.
KB: Anderson to pull a 4th place after getting
taken out at the start! That is pretty darned good. Oh... and
Martin keeping his win ;) not too shabby either.
EE: Marvin Musquin. I really expected a lot more
wins out of MM25 this season-especially with all his success he had
over the summer and fall and then leading into the SX season opener
with the win-and I'm sure KTM did too. Aside He's been relatively
quiet on the second tier of the podium. It's a bummer he had that
one race he sat out, otherwise we might actually have a battle for
a title boiling between him and Anderson.
Who had the toughest night?
TS
: I think both 250 red plate holders had a tough
night (Plessinger & Osborne). This race was a huge opportunity for
them to jump ahead in points. Cianciarulo put a stop to that
in the first corner of the main event.
MM: I think everyone had a tough night, the track
was so gnar and rutted!
TO: Broc Tickle. Broc was putting in his best
ride of the year.
KB: All of those guys in the first corner pile up
in the 450 main! That was no fun to watch... But toughest night
probably goes to Tomac. Fastest guy on the track... can't solidify
the wins.
EE: Tomac. What the heck happened? He was in
second place behind Musquin all the way up to the 12th
lap and then all of a sudden he's sitting on the side of the lane
giving hand signals?
Who had the worst spill?
TS
: I didn't get to see Tomac's main event
crash, but Cianciarulo decided to go over the bars three
times in practice. Tough kid.
MM: That dude on the 250 who got slammed to the
ground when he collided with another rider going up the face of a
jump in the rhythm section after the start.
TO: Tomac looked a little dazed &
confused.
KB: Forkner's crash was the worst I saw... but
Tomac didn't look to "together" when the camera panned to him after
his crash. Didn't look too happy.
EE: Just by the fact that it knocked him back a
lap I'd say Tomac's spill must have been pretty bad, but again I
didn't see it.
Best pass of the night?
TS
: Anderson making his way up to finish 4th, from
a dead last start on one of the most technical tracks of
the year!
MM: Deano Wilson on Broc Tickle in the 450 main
event.
TO: Jason Anderson on 80 percent of the
field.
KB: Not a single pass, but Brayton making his way
up through the pack was a fun series of passes to watch. Nice
work.
EE: Wilson giving Tickle the ol' Scotsman Shove to
take second place was pretty good. Actualy as unpredictable as they
are, I was surprised Deano didn't' get a return hit from the race
officials.
How do you think Musquin's signature Heel Clicker rates in the history of race win finishing moves?
TS:
Uhhhmm.. I'd say 4th. 1st:
McGrath (NacNac), 2nd: Pastrana (Backfilp), 3rd-Deegan
(1997 Ghostride LA Coliseum)
MM: Its cool but I will always love Jimmy
Albertson's Boner Air over the finish line, it would never come in
the main, but he would put it on display in the 450 LCQ's.
Comedy!
TO: Every time he does it, it reminds me of Mike
Metzger who invented the Heel Clicker.
KB: I think it's fun. We have only seen a couple
this year, but I do like the signature move. Where does it rate?
Probably top 10.
EE: Nope! Not a fan of it. I think it looks more
goofy than stylish--but to Musquin's credit, at least he does
something that gets the crowd riled. Most these guys just do an arm
pump or something lamer. There have been way better finishing
moves.
Did the 250 East/West live up to your expectations?
https://youtu.be/U_mu564c6-c
TS: Yeah! Solid night of racing for sure. I like
the idea of mixing up the East & West before the final round.
MM: There were some key players missing from
action but it was cool to give a little taste of what's to come in
Las Vegas.
TO: I thought it was great. They (AMA & FIM)
should make the 250 class into one series. Drop West & East
and have all the top 250 riders race every week
together. Maybe add a 250 2-stroke West and East class to the
night program?
KB: It was a pretty good race. I just wish more of
the favorites were back on the track. I think it would have looked
a lot different.
EE: It was fun there was some good racing. I like
that these guy got a chance to see what they will be up against
before Vegas. If we're doing an east/west thing though, the East
took this one. Obviously they go the overall with the Martin win,
but they also had six rider in the top ten compared to the west's
four. Hopefully the west can flip-flop those results come Sin
City!!
Martin got penalized after the race for jumping on the red lights. He was docked points and purse equal to two positions (from 1st to 3rd) but still credited with the win. Dungey had a similar incident in 2016 however, the rule/penalty was different at that time and he as knocked down to third place and Anderson was announced the winner. Do you think they should still get the W if they get penalized thus docked points and payout equal to two spots lower (in this case third place)?
TS
: All the head honchos over at the AMA are
dunce, hypocritical, wankers! That group of people are so un-fair
and make no sense and have a different penalty depending on who's
who for every incident. <-- I'm gonna stop there before I
get myself in trouble...
MM: J-Mart should not have been credited with the
win either. Points and position should have been docked, but, I do
see his side of it as well. He saw the lights and in the replay,
homeboy with the red cross flag before the triple did not wave it
until after he passed him or was out of his line of sight. I give
it to him for seeing the lights and he rolled the jump, but it was
an open freeway after that and then he started back on pace. There
were no red cross flags after the triple jump, I would have thought
the same thing, game on! I cannot remember if red lights mean roll
the whole rhythm section to the next turn.
TO: I think it is however the AMA & FIM
officials are feeling that night, no consistency.
KB: I am not a fan of questions such as
this... He did not use the "mistake" to take advantage of
another rider or to sneak a position. He says it was a mistake, he
would have been the winner either way... I say no harm no foul, but
I'm not a rule stickler. I think he got the short end of the
stick... but I am happy he was able to keep the Win.
EE: No he shouldn't get the win. If you're going
to penalize a rider then penalize him to the full extent like they
did Dungey. What's the point of granting a penalized rider the win
in the record books if there's just going to be an asterisk next to
it? You already took a cut from his purse money, might as well pull
the win from him as well.
Thoughts on Wilson's move on Tickle to take 2nd?
TS
: I think that's racing. He was man enough to
say sorry on the podium, while also letting the world know that top
class athletes still get Arm Pump! Mistakes happen, Good racing
DeanO.
MM: I was all good with it, Deano wanted it more.
Broc will have all Easter break to think about how he left the door
open for Deano and scrape all the white paint of his pretty orange
bike. Goof Off Stain Remover works the best. LOL!
TO: It's Racing. I think the racer in Wilson
went for it, but the nice guy came out on the podium and felt
bad.
KB: I didn't see anything wrong with it at the
time as it did not appear at first glance to be intentional.
However, after hearing Wilson's apology on the podium... probably
not the most ethical move. Pave the road you want to travel
Wilson... as they all come back.
EE: I'm fine with it. But I feel like we've seen
the exact same thing happen from several others who then got
penalized for invading another rider's personal space or whatever
they call it.
