Utah, AKA “pretend Indy,” picks up right where it left off… ouch!
If you are like me, you waited for what seemed an eternity for Supercross to come back, all the while missing playing PulpMX Fantasy.
You watched practice and revised your team again and again until you finally had the perfect lineup. Only to have it come crashing down (literally) before the first lap of the first main was over.
Long story short, it was a good week to avoid chalky picks, and you had to run a bit lucky to take down the overall this week.
This week it took a massive 322 point score to take down the overall. That was accomplished by “StevieP89”, let’s take a look at his team.
Stevie picked the optimal 250 squad; it was led by John Short(8) – 46 points, Pierce Brown (2) – 42 points, Kyle Peters (2) – 38 points, and Shane McElrath in the all-star slot with 26 perfect points.
Stevie’s 450 lineup consisted of Blake Baggett (6) – 52 points, Marty Davalos (4) – 46 points, Zach-O (1) – 38 points, and Cooper Webb (2) – 26 points as the all-star.
Stevie also chose Shane McElrath and Justin Hill as FFL for an extra 8 points. Justin Hill?
Stevie didn’t have any crazy picks, all of them had trends above 20%, what he did do was avoid some major chalk busts, which we will get into below.
Most picked riders, AKA “the chalk.”
Lots of concentrated ownership for Utah-Uno. The 250 class saw Shane McElrath top the field as a 2 all-star with a 55.8% pick trend. Pierce Brown (2) was the highest non-all-star at 39.3%, and Jace Owen (5) rounded out the top three with a 31.5% pick trend.
450 class trends saw non-all-star Adam Cianciarulo (-3) top the field with a 53.1% pick trend. He was followed by Dean Wilson (0) – 37.3% and Zach Osborne (1) – 31.7%.
Low owned players who delivered – AKA great contrarian plays
It was a good week to pick “Kyle”. Peters or Cunningham, that is. They each put up excellent scores at very low ownership.
The 250 class saw Kyle Peters score 38 points for only 14.5% of owners. Chase Marqier also had a tremendous 36-point score at only 5.7%, and Jalek Swoll, Kevin Moranz, and Grant Harlan all put up 34 points at 4.4%, or less, pick trend.
The 450 class was topped by Kyle Cunningham with 46 points at 8.3%. The only other rider to break 30 points with a low pick trend was Fast Freddie, with 32 points at 2.9%.
Fantasy Duds
Who burned the field? Let’s take a look.
Darian Sanayei (15) topped the dud field at 29.1% in the 250 class, putting up a zero, as he failed to make the night show. If you picked him, you have to recognize that he was a risky pick, 18th – 29th place were all on the same second in timed qualifying, so anything was bound to happen, and it did.
We also saw Colt Nichols (-3) return to racing and look great, only to be a victim of being in the wrong spot at the wrong time. His 5-point score took down 26.7% of the field.
The 450 class was topped by AC, who was also at a -3 HC. Weird, right? He had a bad crash and was unable to continue, hoping he’s OK going forward and nothing serious. His 1-point score took down 53.1% of the field. We also saw Dean Wilson (0) with a bit of a letdown score, 26 points for 37.3% of owners.
Fantasy Studs
These are the riders with high pick trends who delivered!
John Short (8) had an excellent 10th place finish in the night show, rewarding 25.2% of teams with 46 points . Pierce Brown had an even higher pick trend at 39.3%, he had a fantastic 42-point effort. We also saw Jace Owen (5) put up 38 points via a 9th place finish in the night show. This made 31.5% of team owners very happy.
The 450 class wasn’t as challenging as usual. Blake Baggett, as a non-all-star at a 6 handicap, should’ve been a lock pick but somehow managed to only be selected by 23.2% of owners. He put up a perfect 52 point score via a 7th place finish. We also saw Marty Davalos (4) with a great night on the hard Utah dirt. He put up 46 points for 21.1%, and finally, Zach Osborne (1) had an excellent return to racing, and fantasy via his 5th place finish, yielding 38 fantasy points at 31.7% pick trend.
First to Finish Line (First Lap) Leaders
Apparently, everyone knows that Yamaha has a horsepower advantage. In the 250 class, 23.7% of owners rolled the dice, and 63.1% correctly guessed Shane McElrath. The 450 class had an almost identical 23.6% selection rate, but only .2% correctly chose El Chupa Cabra, Blake Baggett. No surprise there, guessing most of the ownership was on Cooper Webb or Kenny.
Final Thoughts
Great news, we get to do it again on Wednesday Night! It will be fascinating to see how much the handicaps change between now and then. One thing to note, if you are lucky enough to be able to pick Colt Nichols and a hopefully healthy AC on humpday, you have to consider them auto-picks.
I would also keep an eye on Kyle again, Peters, and Cunningham; if they have any value left, they should make solid picks, as will Pierce Brown.
Dean Wilson should make a solid pick in the 450 class, his finish shouldn’t alter his handicap very much, leaving him as a high upside pick.
That’s it for this week, thank you for reading and please remember to support the sponsors who support PulpMX. If you have any questions or comments, please hit me up on Twitter @msweeneyphoto.
Hope I see you on the leaderboard!
