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MXP: Last weekend in Arlington was a tough night for a lot of riders, including our three talented Canadian riders. What was your take on Ward, Benek, and St-Cyr missing the night show?
RL: My expectations was much lower for them as far as having a shot at the main event with it being a Triple Crown event but I think all three had to be a bit bummed they didn’t even make it to the LCQ. It’s tough and as I said before, they have all had some Raceday Live TV time and they look good. While watching them you would think they should have been a lot closer to the Top 20, but the harsh reality is they just need some more speed and be able to link a lap together. I don’t discredit the experience they are getting but moving forward night shows are a must. It’s not for lack of effort I’m sure but they are good enough to be in there and Ward should be in mains event.
MXP: As I mentioned above it was a painful night for some at Round 8. Not sure if you’re an Austin Forkner fan or not but you must have felt bad for him after he got taken out mid-air by Jett Lawrence?
RL: Not a huge fan but you are right I feel terrible for him. He’s the one rider who really needed to have a solid 2022. Time is ticking and his last few years have been terrible. This one was completely not his fault and that just plain sucks. You could see in his racecraft through two rounds that he was doing everything in his power to stay out of trouble and Saturday night was a prime example of how unpredictable the sport of SX is. Lawrence went full mental through the whoops and I felt like Forkner could have smashed him but didn’t. It’s a bummer and not 100% Jett’s fault either as he did clip the tuff block. Forkner has time to heal and then he can get ready for outdoors.
MXP: Let’s talk about the Daytona SX. We’ve both raced it a few times, so we know it’s one of the toughest and coolest races on the planet. What is your best memory of racing Daytona and who do you think is going to win on Saturday?
RL: Yes I have raced Daytona three times, 2002, 2006, and 2007. The most memorable though was 2006 when I pulled the holeshot in my heat race and then crossed jumped Chad Reed and ended up cleaning him out. It was a stupid move on my part but obviously, I didn’t mean to do it. Also in 2006, I finished second to Travis Pastrana in the day qualifier and he did that backflip off the little finish line jump and ate crap. Very cool race though as the vibe and atmosphere are just so much different than any other SX.
As for who is going to win? I’m going with Tomac as I think he’s going to be an animal this weekend. I really think he is going to be even better on the Yamaha outdoors and this is as close as we get to outdoors in a supercross. For the 250SX East class, I was going to go with Jeremy Martin but he got hurt this week. The 250SX East riders are starting to drop like flies as more and more guys are getting injured. I don’t know, with Martin out it’s hard to bet against Lawrence.