Looking forward to the outdoor season for motocross.
A lot of talent out there... and with motocross being one of the most difficult, toughest and dangerous sports. It's going to be interesting.
“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” ~ Ernest Hemingway
Motocross combines all three!
Who I see as the top contenders, before looking at today's results:
(1) Eli Tomac and (2) Cooper Webb look the most confident headed in. Cooper just won the SX title and I don't think there's going to be any drop off. The KTM team wins and that's not changing. Tomac is a stud in the outdoors, he seems much more at home. (4) Blake Baggett is one I see his confidence and seriousness on the upswing.
(25) Marvin Musquin, you just got to love the French riders. They seem to always ride so smooth! Marvin's window is closing for a title. I'd like to see him pull it off, but I'm just not convinced he's quite as solid in confidence. (16) Zach Osborne, is my favorite on a stout Husky team... I love the way Anderson rides but he just ain't quite there in the outdoors... that sure win Moto early last year that Tomac made up a 7 sec lead then went past like he was standing still... showed that.
Couple others I think we might see some good stuff from... (94), (21), (51), (19)
On the 250 front:
(34) Ferrandis is my favorite. Love that French style when it comes to motocross! (92) Adam had a heart break for SX... still has that consistency bug popping up. Honda should probably win some motos... (23) (31) and the debut of Hunter Lawrence... very excited to see what he can do. Of course I've got some love for team Husky... hopefully someone from that team cracks the top 5.
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Got to watch the races and was happy to see Ken Roczen do well. Finally seems to back to his old form. The man dominated back in 2016 and with all the difficulties he's been through shows a great deal of his will power and desire to succeed. With all the trouble he had an SX and the rumor of an ongoing illness, I wasn't expecting him to be a contender.
Another pleasant surprise was Jason Anderson. He looked strong too! Looks like it's going to be an exciting season!
Plenty of talent out there!
Week Three... Eli freakin smokes the pack in qualifying. He looks very strong. Coming off last week's dominating performance... Looking like a lock for another championship.
Hunter Lawrence showing up as a potential contender last week... He's fast! Talented! Cooper certainly looking good too. 92 does seem to have a slight edge... but don't write off Ferrandis yet!
Week three aftermath...
Wow! Roczen again shows he's back in form. Is it possible he can get stronger? Shaping up to be a shoot out between him and Tomac for this year's championship.
In the 250s, Cooper shows he's a contender. But a bit petty with the dispute of Adam's off track incident. That's probably going to haunt him. Adam's obviously the man to beat. But we're also seeing the beginnings of some new young blood. 196 and 64.
Week four.
450s. Blake Baggett finally turned up and demonstrated some talent. He was pretty much consistently pulling away and certainly had the best lap times. Jason Anderson also continues to impress considering the situation. Also want to recognize Marvin Musquin. The guy definitely puts on a good show when it comes to riding. Coming from last to 6th. Tomac and Roczen, even on off days, still show they are the dominate ones.
250s. Great racing in both races. AC is showing his confidence and maturity and Cooper is demonstrating how that can be broken. This week's race showed that clearly in my mind. Be careful where you let your mind go because negative thoughts can boomerang.
Update for Week five. Florida. Judging by some of the comments of the riders this may have been one of the most physically difficult races of the year, possibly decade. Bogle said he saw Jesus during the first race, Bloss said that's the closest he was ever to unconscious while riding a motorcycle ever. Ferrandis said it was one of the most difficult races of his career. Quite a few fell out and couldn't complete the race and even the winner of the 250 race 1 dropped out of race two from exhaustion.
450s: So, it was a tough environment. But Jason Anderson (4th) continues to look better. Zach Osborne (3rd) is also getting stronger. Marv finally won one and looked good. He got a better start than normal and was able to capitalize. Tomac (2nd) looked rough in the first moto but redeemed himself with a win in Moto 2. Roczen looked good in moto 1 but seemed to hit the wall in moto 2 and had nothing left by the end finishing 10th. Cooper Webb had some good starts but seemed to fade. It's becoming obvious he doesn't have the swagger and confidence in the outdoors as he had during Supercross.
250s: Cooper seemed to restore his psychi and gutted out two 2nds for a overall win. Ferrandis, the other French rider, went 4 - 1 for a 2nd overall. And AC had a bit of an off day for the first time but still came in 3rd. Mosiman... another team Husky guy is looking stronger... and seems to be developing into a media character. Keep an eye on him!
It's days like this that really demonstrate the physical shape necessary for motocross. More than likely the most physically challenging sport of all. It's certainly something to see when people demonstrate the very limit of their ability.
Week Six... Southwick.
450s: Marv continues to look strong. If he hadn't had all the bad luck in the early races, he'd probably be very close to contention for the title. Tomac continues to be solid and Zach is starting to show up regularly on the podium. Zach could be winning more events soon. He's looking great.
Also got to mention Freddy Nolan, who got a factory ride from JGR this week and finished in the top 10.
250s: Very competitive races. Ferrandis is starting to get to the front and I expect his confidence to grow. Looks to be the fastest on the track when they get the bike set up properly. AC still seems to have shed the bug of inconsistency though and is going to be tough to gain on. The Yamaha 250 seems to be the bike to have in this class.