Photos by Rich Shepard
What a night, what a brutal track for the racers. What did you think of it and when it breaks down like that, what’s the key to surviving it?
The key is to evolve with the track. After seeing both mains, we can see that jumping all the rhythm sections the fast way was a huge advantage. You have to consistently change your lines to find the right one to jump everything every lap. Roczen, for example, missed way too many jumps towards the end of the race while Anderson was still jumping everything. Before the whoops section, Ken started to ride conservative too soon by going thru that on/off section on the inside while Jason kept doing the fast way which was going outside triple on/off. Doing it the Anderson’s way was way better to carry momentum for the whoops section. It was pretty every lap but it was efficient. Yeah, the main key is to find smooth lines to jump everything until the end then work on your turns. When you don’t do everything, you lose your overall momentum and then, it’s difficult to keep your overall speed around the track.
What’s your take on the Barcia/Tomac and Anderson/Musquin passes?
I really think those 2 actions are very similar. In both incidents, you have a top 2 guy in the championship who’s trying to catch up after a not so good start and in front of them, you have 2 guys out (for now) of the title chase, Marvin & Eli, but you have a big title contender in front, Roczen. Anderson & Barcia were well aware of that and didn’t want to lose too much time behind them. Jason and Justin were faster than Marvin and Eli respectively. In the two collisions, the “attackers” made the decision to dive inside in a fraction of a second. It wasn’t planned for laps or well thought. It was 2 identical spontaneous block passes. Were they a bit rough? For sure, but not very dangerous and at slow pace. Marvin didn’t even fall off his feet. He crashed at 3 miles per hour. Same for Eli.
At this state of the series and with the points being close between Anderson, Barcia and Roczen, those 3 guys need to ride aggressive when they go through the pack. They can’t afford to make friends in the process while one of the 3 is leading the race. I don’t think any of those incidents were punishable. Both, Eli and Marvin, got caught by surprise and couldn’t anticipate and react to both block passes. Like I’ve said on Twitter, I’m fine with both actions and they weren’t nearly as bad and dangerous as Plessinger moving over on McElrath last week. If you watch the race again, Marvin made a move on Seely that could’ve been pretty bad had he been a fraction of a second late. He would’ve cleaned Cole out pretty good just before the second triple. It’s Supercross, we’ll see those kind of block passes many times in the future but we can’t punish all of them especially those we saw Saturday in Oakland…
Jason Anderson endoed in practice, his rear tire tore his back up bad and he rode amazing in the main to grab the win. What about his race?
Anderson, no matter where he is in a race, will always fight, grind and give all he has until the checkered flag. I really enjoy watching him race on Saturdays. In today’s SX world, we hear about this guy being talented (I use that term for you guys to understand but I don’t believe in talent), this guy having so many skills, that guy having the best style but not too many of them perform and win. Anderson isn’t the most talented. He isn’t the most skilled. He doesn’t have the best style. But, he wants to win. Everyone says they want to win but don’t do much to win. There’s always something, set-up, start, ruts, lappers, the flu, the track too dry, too wet, too short, too long etc… Anderson doesn’t give a crap about any of that. Whatever day it is, whatever track it is, he grinds, fight and gives us the best of his potential all the time. Is it pretty? Not often. Is it sketchy? Yes, for sure but RC or RV weren’t Windham smooth neither.
Jason really wants to win and doesn’t just say it like the majority of the riders out there. That’s what he did in Oakland. I heard, “but he’s so sketchy, he won’t last, he’s gonna crash”, so what? At least, he’s trying and is riding at full potential and he doesn’t have any regrets when he gets to his hotel room after the race. He puts everything on the table every time. Way too many times, I got to my hotel room regretting not giving, doing, digging more to get a better results. Trust me, that feeling sucks… He doesn’t have that feeling. I’m sure Ken did a little bit. He will think about his last laps where he maybe took the wrong lines and didn’t jumps a few rhythm sections that cost him the win… That’s when you start telling yourself, I should’ve done this. I should’ve done that differently and I would’ve won easily. Ken will win soon though but Anderson wanted it a bit more in Oakland…
Ken Roczen’s been unable to hang onto two leads now, anything you see different from his pre-injury Kenny?
Like I’ve said many times in the PulpMX columns, I think Ken is doing extremely well and there’s nothing to worry about. He’s not to his 2017 form and might never be but he is very consistent in his results, rides safe and scores big points every Saturdays. I think 2017 Roczen would’ve won most of the races by now. He’s doing good for the championship after 5 rounds though. We aren’t even half way yet. I think he still doesn’t have enough racing laps under his belt since his injury. He will get better, more comfortable racing others and gain confidence. It might seem it’s taking more time that he would’ve thought but I think he’s doing good. Yes, he blew a win in Oakland by making too many mistakes in the last few laps and I think he was riding too safely but he’ll get there. When you start wanting to ride safe in SX instead of focusing of being fast, it’s often when you start making mistakes. When you’re focused on going fast even on a vicious track, you’re often smoother and safer…
Aaron Plessinger was made for a track like this and showed it in the main, how did he come through the pack?
Plessinger’s ride was very similar to Anderson’s. Aaron has been riding really well. He impressed me in Houston. He was really good and very efficient. In Oakland, he had to go thru the pack which he’s used to it by now. He’s been great in the past in rutted conditions and it’s obvious he was the favorite. If you look closely at the race, he passed Savatgy & Craig not by making a pass but by jumping rhythm sections smoothly. It’s what I was saying in the first question. In these conditions, you have to focus to jump everything before thinking of going fast. Joey missed the rhythm section after the whoops and Aaron capitalized on it. Same when he was second. Aaron didn’t make a move on Craig. Christian made a huge bobble. Just like Anderson, Plessinger went for it in the jumps even if he wasn’t all nice and smooth in the transitions.
In these conditions, it’s impossible to be super precise all the time or jump straight every lap. You have to be willing to take some chances to go for jumps even if you aren’t 100% perfect on the jump before. Anderson and Plessinger are great at that. Other guys don’t take as many chances and decide to double instead of tripling when they aren’t perfect. That’s costly time wise… Being able to take calculated risks in SX is often the little tipping point that makes the difference between winning and a podium spot or a podium or a top 5…
I thought your old student Craig had this race in the bag. How did he lose it?
There were a lot of similarities in the 250 and 450 classes this weekend. The 2 block passes that everyone with an internet connection is talking about. Anderson and Plessinger’s rides. And lastly, Craig and Seely making huge bobbles while leading the mains. Christian and Cole rode super good at the start of the race and when they were leading. At one point, we all thought they had the races won. It went downhill for them when the guy in second position got close, within 1.6 second for Roczen on Seely and less than that for Plessinger. Riding with a few second lead will always be easier than knowing is catching you while you’re leading. That’s what happened in both main events. They were both riding very well until they felt Roczen & Plessinger were faster. That’s when you start wondering where you’re losing time and try to compensate somehow. Seely overjumped a triple in a rhythm section. Craig changed his lines and move to the left in the following rhythm section. Maybe he wasn’t too familiar with that part of the track and went off the track. It’s always more difficult to be the hunted than the hunter in SX. Once again, Christian and Cole proved it in Oakland…
