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Post here whatever you thought of the different riders after the 2023 San Diego Supercross:
#1 – I repeat what I said after A1: anyone that isn’t Jett Lawrence or Eli Tomac shouldn’t think much about winning bonuses – Jett showed some MotoGp-esque tactics (build an early 2-sec gap, then keep it or increase it if comfortable enough) and, while Eli showed he is somewhat “vulnerable” when the course gets rough enough, he looked rather effortless, like he could’ve gone a bunch of tenths faster just on corner speed alone.
#2 – Webb is confirming himself as the 2nd-best guy on the main class, it’s hard to judge if Sexton can be as good as Webb after Barcia’s shameless move – The most interesting race of the year will happen when ET3 fails to get a top5 start and Cooper goes up front
#3 – At some point BamBam is gonna piss off someone enough that he’ll be on the receiving end of a Sportscenter-worthy takeout, quite crazy how a pro rider so experienced can be this dumb
#4 – I said this one after A1 too: K-Roc’s problem isn’t his dirtbike
#5 – Private Track Adam’s tremendous fall through the rankings looked absolutely hilarious from here – Motodads, force your kids to ride on rutty tracks often!
#6 – Savatgy was the top non-factory guy once again – Even with a piss-poor start he finished remarkably closer to the factory Kawasaki guys and ahead of both Craig Jr and Colt Nichols (YIKES!)
#7 – Plessinger was the last of the factory guys on lap 1, finished ahead of both yikes-worthy guys and didn’t appear on camera once
#8 – Remember what I said about Max’ final year on KTM being less embarrassing? That one aged liked milk!
#9 – My wish for RJ vs McAdoo vs Oldenburg was half-realized with Mitch being quite off-pace all race long
#10 – Tremendous work by Enzo Lopes (Lo-pes, 2 goddamn syllables!), best result ever
#11 – Yamaha-Star’s best piece of work WAS their talent scouting all along and now they have a rather-mediocre batch of guys. I’m 90% sure the bikes are as good as they were during the Plessinger-Webb days but they no longer have guys that good riding around. Kitchen or no Levi, they no longer have small-class podium contenders at all.
A couple things stood out to me at San Diego.
450’s – The Good
1. Eli Tomac – Is this 2022? He surely has picked up where he left off and the field needs to stop him quick.
2. Cooper Webb – Webb is back. He looks spicy and ready to race. Keeping Eli close until the last lap was impressive, I think he steals a win soon.
3. Justin Barcia – Barcia does what Barcia does. He will take a few people out, end up on the podium a few times, and give us great entertainment.
450’s – The Bad
1. Malcom Stewart – Mookie has the speed to run up front and podium or even steal a race win, but he HAS to stay off the ground.
2. Christina Craig – I expected him to be a little closer to the front, but I think this is a wake up call and a “welcome” to the 450 class. When I saw him getting lapped, I thought that may be a blow to the confidence.
3. Jason Anderson – Jason has the speed, he is just his own worst enemy out there.
250’s – The Good
1. Jett – Jett is in a league of his own. Unless he goes down, I think he sweeps the West Coast.
2. Enzo Lopes – What a ride in the first two races, he has shown he has the speed to threaten for a podium. I think he needs to get used to being up front and get endurance for that pace.
3. Stilez Robertson – It looks like it was going to be a long main for Stilez after having issues in the first turn, but he charged through the pack for a 6th. I think he is capable of sneaking in a podium.
250’s – The Bad
1. Levi Kitchen – Another year, and more of the same. Super fast but cannot stay off the ground.
2. Max Vohland – Not really sure what to say about Max. Had a great A1, but made too many mistakes and missed the main in SD.
A lot of my takes have already been said. A short summary:
Eli: riding a tremendous high from a ’22 dream season. He looks great on the new bike
Webb: Looks motivated again, which is great The bike looks much better, at least for him. Great to see him riding like we expect him to.
Mookie: Has the speed to win just had some bad luck/mistakes
JA: Not sure what to think. Looks like 19-21 JA so far. Not ’22 version of him.
Sexton: Needs to clean it up and he should run up front.
Barcia: Looking really solid. He always starts off well but he looks better than he did last year, so far.
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