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We are now in the middle of March and in almost all parts of the country, this means that riding season is here. This week in Ontario Gopher Dunes is opening their main track for the first time in 2022. It’s going to be nice to see some spring weather later this week and hear the sound of dirt bikes as it’s been long winter.
Well, I guess I’ll start this week by asking “What the hell happen in Detroit on Saturday night?” After an entertaining opening half in the 450SX main event, all hell broke loose in the closing laps as multiple top riders hit the hard Detroit soil. It all started when Cooper Webb made a huge mistake entering one of the two rhythm sections and came up short on the first few jumps. All night riders had been just doubling on the first two jumps but as they showed the replay on television it appeared like Webb was attempting to triple into the section. Webb tried this while he had Chase Sexton right behind him and lapped rider Cade Clason right beside him. I can only assume that Webb was just unhappy that he had been passed by Malcolm Stewart and that he was losing time to all of the other top riders in the whoop section. I feel like it was only a matter of time before Sexton would make his way past Webb and that would push him to 5th. Obviously, that is not where Webb wanted to be so perhaps he figured that if he could triple into this section that he could make up for the time lost in the whoops? I don’t know what Webb was thinking but he got it wrong and when he came up short on the triple he ended up collecting a helpless Chase Sexton and the two riders went down hard. It was an ugly crash and honestly, it was a miracle that both were able to get up. Webb would remount and ride for three laps using only one arm. I’ve never witnessed anything like that before and it just further cements the deep will to win this guy has. However, on another note, I cannot believe the officials let Webb ride around the track like that. He was clearly riding with just one arm and one hand on the controls for multiple laps. Also, he was missing the whoops on each of these laps because he obviously couldn’t ride through them while holding on with one hand. This had him going off of the track before the whoops and then back on after them. I don’t know, I guess it was only for a few laps but even in that short amount of time Webb could’ve swerved and taken someone else. At that point in the 450SX main event, we sure didn’t need to any more riders hit the deck.
Anyway, moments after the Webb/Sexton crash the cameras went to woozy Jason Anderson who had obviously crashed somewhere and looked to be trying to figure out where he was. Eventually, they showed the replay of Anderson’s crash and as he landed from the finish line jump he lost front-end traction, went down, and because it all happened so quickly it appeared like the first thing that hit the hard ground was Anderson’s helmet. He then remounted, rode about 100 feet, then went off the track, hit a Tuff block, and went down again. I’m not a doctor but it sure looked like Anderson had hit his head hard in the first crash and then had no idea what was going on and that is what caused the second crash. In the span of about two minutes the entire complexity of the main event, and really the rest of the SX Series changed as the second and third place riders in the points standings were down and out. But while all of this carnage was happening, 450SX points leader Eli Tomac was upfront doing basically what he’s done all season long. We haven’t seen a rider and their motorcycle look this in sync in a long time. Tomac and his Star Racing Yamaha appear to be the perfect match and now with a 42 point lead, he can ride exactly how he wants to ride for the remaining rounds. I mean, even if Anderson, Webb, and Sexton can race this weekend in Indianapolis I’m sure they won’t be racing 100% healthy. These past few weeks have been tough on some of the top riders in Supercross as the injuries are beginning to pile up.
Seeing as I was raised as the son of a professional pilot where in that industry almost every accident is dissected with a fine-tooth comb to find how and why it happens, I always find myself sometimes looking for the root cause of big crashes in our sport. In aviation, once the cause of the accident is determined then recommendations are usually brought forth, then changes are made to either how pilots are trained, certain regulations, and in some cases how the aircraft in question was designed. It’s a process that over the years has saved countless lives simply because they try and do everything in their power to ensure the same accident doesn’t happen again. In motocross and supercross, I don’t want to say that the powers never try to determine the root cause of each big, but it most certainly doesn’t happen enough. Maybe it’s because in most cases it just comes to rider error as it did on Saturday night with Webb and Anderson’s crashes. But if that’s the thinking then why not look at perhaps why the top riders in our sport are making these big errors? Is it the tracks? Is it their bikes? Or is it just simply generally fatigue because of their grueling schedules? If I had to go with one of the above I would say that fatigue plays a major role in crashes like we saw in Detroit, and here’s why. I think we call all agree that the Daytona SX last weekend is a race that is a little more challenging than most, it always is. So why not build a series schedule that takes things like this into account and give the riders a weekend off after a race like Daytona or even have the next round also in Florida or Atlanta where travel doesn’t become an issue. This would give the riders at least an extra day to recover and recharge. Especially when they’ve gone ten straight weeks without a break and also racing in three different time zones over that span. I’m not saying that this is the only reason riders are crashing and yes sometimes accidents do happen, but if this was a mainstream sport or even Formula 1 and a good number of its top athletes couldn’t remain healthy for at least half of the season then you can bet changes would be made in some regard.
Apart from the carnage in the 450SX class, it was a good night for our two Canadian riders, as well as for a few of our honourary Canadians. In the 250SX East class, Tanner Ward had his best race of the season as he just missed the main event in both his heat race as well as the LCQ. For a few laps at least in both races, Ward was in a qualifying position before getting passed in the closing laps. Even though he didn’t make the main event I’m sure Tanner’s riding on Saturday night in Detroit gave him a ton of confidence and I’d look for him to do even better this weekend in Indy. Our other Canadian SX hero Guillaume St-Cyr changed things up this weekend and raced in the 450SX class. I believed he raced his 250F in the 450SX class which is honestly something I didn’t even know you were allowed to do. But St-Cyr did and he rode very well all evening long eventually finishing up 15th in the LCQ. As for our honourary Canadians Marshal Weltin, Phil Nicoletti, and Cade Clason. Weltin rode well and finished 18th in the 250SX East main event, Nicoletti had one of his best races and finished in 7th, and Clason had his best-ever finish in SX as he left Detroit with a solid, and I mean solid and well earned 10th place in the 450SX main event. Well done boys and good luck in Indianapolis.
As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, Gopher Dunes is opening later this week for their first day of practice. Please go to www.gopherdunes.com for all of the details you’ll need, including membership and waiver information. Also, let’s send a big congratulations out to Tyler Medaglia who finished 5th overall in the GNCC National this past weekend in Georgia. Shelby Turner was also there and she ended up 4th in the WMX class. Finally, congratulations to Ontario Junior rider Crayden Dillion who won his class at the Snocross National in Minnesota over the weekend. Great job to all of our Canadian riders this past weekend and I hope everyone enjoys their March break this week. Thank you for reading and Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of our Irish friends on Thursday!