He’s Le Cobra, this is his Le thoughts
He’s Le Cobra, this is his Le thoughts
Tomac put it together to grab a win since the second round of the series, he’s very hit and miss. Do you think he ever figures it out and becomes a dominant guy?
His riding was very impressive and he won with dominant fashion in very Eli-like style. His style can be his strong point and his weakness at the same time. I’ve said it over and over about Barcia for exemple and even if Eli is better than Justin now their over-agressive style can hurt them. I didn’t watch the race live and only saw it today (Monday). Eli finally got a start and rode like he knows how and staying on his wheels. But, more than once he was very sketchy and even if it worked in Phoenix and last Saturday, you can’t ride on the edge like than and win a championship. The opening speed of his throttle is way too fast at times which makes him look out of control. He has glimpses of greatness like his two feet on the pegs bowl turn several weeks ago when he was behind Roczen in one of the mains. Just like his wheelie thru the rollers in Daytona. Those two moments were Supercross greatness and not too many people in the history on this sport can do them.
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“He has glimpses of greatness like his two feet on the pegs bowl turn several weeks ago when he was behind Roczen in one of the mains. Just like his wheelie thru the rollers in Daytona.” |
But you can only contest gravity so closely and be consistant for a 17 race championship. He will have to learn to ride smoother, acquire a better throttle control and be more patient. His first five laps in Detroit while being behind Dungey is the perfect exemple. I was uncomfortable just watching on TV because he was so aggressive and very impatient. It worked out though but I felt like he was taking some unnecessary chances. I’d rather see someone take his time and pick one spot to pass. I was waiting for him to throw it away going balls out in the sand every lap behind Ryan. I don’t think he could’ve passed him there but he took chances, burned energy to be at the same distance on the finish line jump. That being said, he’s very fun and very entertaining to watch.
Josh Grant has put some nice rides together lately after a ton of crashes early in the year, he’s settled in a bit which is nice to see as it’s hard to change momentum both good and bad week in and week out right?
We’ve seen Josh, in past years, being super fast and a podium contender but making mistakes. He scored 3 top 6s in the last 4 races. His riding is way more mellow than it used to be that’s for sure. The challenge of the “Barcia-like” riders which Josh used to be, is to improve their speed to become a potential SX winner while losing the over-aggressive riding style and gaining momentum/consistency. It’s super hard to do. That’s something Tomac will have to find to be a championship contender. Eli has the speed but he isn’t smooth and consistant enough to be in the championship hunt. Eli is 77 points down after 12 rounds. Reed and Stewart figured it out. Those two guys have a 250 2-stroke backgrounds and adapted very well to the style of riding you need to have to be a 450 4 stroke champion. If those two guys would’ve rode their 450s like their 250 2-strokes, they wouldn’t have won any SX championship. In Josh Grant’s case, he lost some of his raw speed by trying to be consistant. It’s not a bad thing. Now, he will have step up his speed by gaining in momentum around his turns and not seat bouncing too many jumps out of the turns but not with revving the bike and going on/off with the throttle.
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“He will have to completely change his approach, his training and the way he’s practicing. He has to go back to the basics, work solely on his technique and he has to throw away all the stop watches he and his trainer, own…” |
Would you hire Martin Davalos and pay him a lot of money to race for your team like so many others have? To be fair, he’s dealing with an illness right now but it’s amazing he cannot seem to learn from past mistakes other than last year.
I like Martin. He’s a nice guy and all. But, man, he’s been fast and yardsaling in the last 10 years. He’s like a Jason Statham or Liam Neeson movie. They come up with a different movie every year in the last 10 years but they always end the same way. Martin is still getting good rides, getting paid to do what he loves to do so there’s no problem about that. Obviously he hasn’t find a way to fix his problem in the last 10 years. He will have to completely change his approach, his training and the way he’s practicing. He has to go back to the basics, work solely on his technique and he has to throw away all the stop watches he and his trainer, own…
Bad start to the race with Weimer and Canard colliding and both riders will miss a lot of time with their injuries. What did you see there and the blow to the series that it caused?
It sucks to see riders get hurt like that. But, it’s part of the game I guess. The crash is pretty much no one’s fault. Weimer missed a rhythm jump and Trey was committed behind and couldn’t miss him. It happens all the time but this time both of the riders ended up banged up pretty good. We all hate to see that and all wish no one would get hurt. But it’s Supercross and it will never happen. As fas as the series go , it’s not a huge blow for the interest of it because Dungey already had such a huge lead on Trey. Like I said, it’s SX. They aren’t the first ones to get hurt and won’t be the last ones.
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Canard will be out for the rest of supercross with an injury sustained in Detroit. |
The track was tricky, some quads on it, a rhythm section where the fast line was to actually case a jump and what were they thinking with the sand section?
Actually, the fast line wasn’t to case a jump. The fast way was to go over the table like I saw Bogle, Tomac and Reed do. The track was cool. I really liked it but I am biased. I love tracks with long lanes and 180 degree turns. It makes the best racing. The riders have time in the long lanes to get side by side . The 180 degree turns make for good blockpasses. I really think it would be better to use that style of layout every time but be more creative with the obstacles. Switch backs, 90 degree turns don’t work in SX. It makes boring races and put too much importance on the start. I thought the rhythm sections were cool this weekend but if you build a track with twice as much turns you wouldn’t be able to fit big sections like we had Saturday.
Windham and Reed went on social media this week to talk about safety in our sport with the recent deaths of riders in Texas and Florida…what are your thoughts on this subject?
My thoughts are pretty dark on the subject actually. It’s why I don’t ride anymore and why my kids don’t ride MX. I am honest with you, I am scared to ride now. I always think the worse while I ride. What if my chain breaks on this jump? What if my bike bogs? What if there is a guy laying down at the landing of this big table top? It’s why I don’t own a bike and I am not ashamed to say it. Supercross and Motocross are dangerous. There is no safety when we let 22 or 40 guys go wide open on engine powered dirt bikes from the start and whoever finishes first gets the title and most of the dough. You can wear all the gear available to protect yourself and people will stil end up in wheel chairs and die. If you change the tracks and make them safe, you can’t call it SX anymore. We’ll have to make track with only table tops like a SoCal vet track. But, even on vet tracks, people get hurt badly.
You can change the bikes too but to what? Twenty years ago on my home track in France, a 7 year old kid died on a PW50. Power isn’t the issue… Even if you make tracks with only table tops and make the riders ride bone stock bikes, guys will still endo somehow or jump on each other. If you want to make the sport safe, the manufactures need to stop making and selling dirt bikes and we need to end this sport. It’s that simple. I don’t see that happening and tragedies will still be part of our sport/passion. We know that before gearing up every time we go ride and we have to accept the consequences of this very dangerous sport, as bad and tragic as they can be sometimes…
