ChapMoto 2018 Supercross Race Recap Week 13
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/ECsvnEvNj1U
TS: I think Aaron Plessinger was fastest guy
in Seattle. That's goes for both classes. AP23 knows how to ride
the mud.
MM: AP23 for grabbing a very important win and
extending his points lead in the 250 West Championship.
TO: Plessinger since he kind of led start to
finish in his heat and main event.
KB: Tomac to pull off the Mud Pit win and to claim
another history book finish. He rode really well and deserved the
win.
EE: Anyone who was able to keep it moving on two
wheels. Trying to lift, dig, push, or pull a motorcycle out of that
sludge looked like a PIA.
Who had the toughest night?
TS:
Every person that worked that night. From the
mechanics to the managers to the riders, and even the track
workers. #toughnight
MM: Everybody who was on a bike that night.
TO: Savagty, as he is now down 24 points with two
rounds to go.
KB: Savatgy getting stuck under his bike as the
pack races past him. That was horrible. Top rider, a points
leader, finishing 12th because his bike took a nap on-top of him.
Bad news.
EE: The drivetrains in the bikes. How much engines
and clutches were toast after that event? Had to be an expensive
race.
What did you think of the racing/mud overall?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9yIgPGgdKM
TS: It equalizes every rider. It makes the top
pros look like beginners. It ruins parts, essentially wasting money
for teams. If we can keep the mud racing to a 1 round
minimum... that'd be awesome!
MM: It was very slow and boring for my taste. No
real big shake up in the points and the usual suspects won.
TO: It's a different beast to be able to tackle
the mud, but still most of the top dogs still showcased their
skillset to just ride within the track conditions. To finish
first you must first finish!! Preserving the bike and handling the
clutch is sometimes key in conditions like this and even with
veterans like Chad Reed, sometimes that is one big task.
KB: I like at least one good mud race each
season.
EE: It was slow, but so much fun to watch. I was
screaming for people just to stay on top of their bike. The few
riders that could put together a couple of jumps or some "fast
sections" made it even more entertaining.
Who had the worst spill?
TS:
I don't know! There was so much carnage
everywhere!
MM: Myself for spilling my adult beverage all over
my lap when I saw the Seven Deuce Deuce blow up his engine in the
450 heat race. LOL! $$$$$$$
TO: Really no bad spills, due to the
conditions. All of Jason's perhaps?
KB: There were quite a bit of spilling off of the
track due to the conditions. Due to the slippery conditions, there
was not much air time... not much jumping... and the speeds were a
lot slower than normal. I'd say that Anderson's spill taking him
out of the lead would rank high this week.
EE: I don't recall seeing anything too bad most of
it was low speed slide outs or cross rutting into the tough
blocks.
Best pass of the night?
TS:
I couldn't tell who was who!? I saw this one
brown rider on a brown bike pass another rider covered head to
toe in mud!
MM: There is not one pass that stands out for me
but the way El Hombre was hanging it out in the stickiest of the
icky mud, he was passing a bunch of people. It looked like he was
going to crash any second with how pinned he seemed, but held
himself and the bike together to maintain his points lead.
TO: Not sure if there were any super passes, but I
guess ET3 taking over the lead from Jason.
KB: Anderson's early pass on Musquin was great.
Hit the jump, jumps past him and takes the lead on the outside.
EE: None really stand out but it was fun watching
people go down and then seeing if they could get going again
without losing too many spots.
Best battle?
TS:
Tomac/Anderson was good.
Reed/Webb/Bowers
MM: Unanimously, the Riders VS the Track!
TO: Anderson versus everyone in the heat race.
KB: I liked the Tomac Musquin swapperoo... time
and time again.
EE: Reed battling to cross the finish line was
awesome! If that wasn't the best life lesson for a young riders as
to why you never give up then I don't know what could top it.
On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate Plessinger's celebratory belly flop.
TS:
8. I was hoping for a cannon ball.
MM: Superb! Now I wanna see him do that on the Las
Vegas hard pack. LOL!
TO: 10!!!! We need more characters like that
in our sport, plus he rips it on the two wheeler in dry or wet
conditions.
KB: He tried. I give him credit for making it
happen. But the puddle he chose was way too shallow. I would have
liked to see a fat mud section or a deeper puddle, but at the end
of the day something is better than nothing. 7/10
EE: I give it an 8.5. I really like that dude, you
can tell he loves what he does and isn't afraid to celebrate and
have fun with the crowd.
There were a couple of instances where riders had their tires completely stuck in the mud and go assistance from the track crew. Are you ok with this? How much help should the riders get from the track crew when they get stuck?
TS:
It comes to a point... If the rider has been
there for a decent amount of time, and has gone through the gearbox
twice... Go help him.
MM: I do not think there should be any assistance
from the track crew or team personal.
TO: That's one grey area for sure!! As we only get
to see the front runners that are getting stuck and help most of
the time, but if it's within the rules, then it's cool.
But.....not all trackside help know exactly how to pull the bike
off of you or up at all, so should that be a prerequisite before
you're hired. Remember that dude that twisted the throttle
while lifting the bike off of Savagty three or four rounds
ago and cut Joey's hand a little bit? It could have been worse, but
I'm glad it wasn't for Joey and Mitch. What do you think would
have happen if in that incident Joey got hurt due to the track
workers lack of experience? Where do we draw the line on when
trackside help is needed or not? I think this is extremely grey
area for sure, what if you're not a fan of a rider that goes down
in your area?? I'm still uncertain of the actual rule for
trackside help.
KB: I am all for track crew members helping to
pick up a bike and to get a rider situated back onto their bike. It
isn't needed often in Supercross as it is at Erzberg... but I am
okay with it.
EE: I don't agree with the riders getting help
unless they are pinned under a motorcycle our are injured and can't
get their bike up and out of the way of traffic. Other than that
they should be on their own to get their bikes out of mud, off a
tough block or whatever.
What was the more dramatic race in the Reed vs Mud saga, Saturday night's race or Daytona 2008?
TS:
More dramatic? I'd say Daytona '08, Reed was
two corners from the win. That's a tough one to walk away from.
MM: The Daytona race was more dramatic because it
was for the win and it was taken away from him. Saturday night was
cool because he looked like he wanted it and willed the bike across
the timing loop.
TO: Daytona 100% since he had quite the lead on
the field.
KB: 2008 takes the cake! At least Sat. night he
finished! In 2008 he was in the lead and then sat there... with a
blown up bike... kicking and kicking and kicking.... watching the
entire pack pass him! No bueno! The A1 mud race in 2005
wasn't good for him either.
EE: They are going to have one helluva highlight
reel when Reed gets inducted to the HOF and as much as mud is not
his friend, Reed's battles with the muck has provided us with some
great racing. It's hard to say which was more dramatic because in
2008 he was going for the win but his bike gave out and he couldn't
finish; and on Saturday night he was trying to finish 5th but was
able to push through-literally-to finish 7th. But just for the
inspiration factor alone I'd say him pushing his bike with all his
might across the finish line will live on infamy.
