First, a quick thanks to Matthes for giving me an opportunity to write a weekly column. Prior to this opportunity, I’d never written a single article never mind one every week for 17 weeks. He took a chance and you all seemed to like the numbers. Thanks for reading! #grateful
Congrats to Eli Tomac on his first 450 supercross championship. This was a season where he eliminated his worst enemy in the form of big mistakes. While it’s not the sexiest stat, Eli Tomac had a perfect Race +/- of 17. Every single race he finished in a better position than he started. He simply didn’t have a bad race. His worst finish was a 7th at Round 1 in Anaheim and up till the last race, he hadn’t been worse than 4th. Come Round 1 of 2021, he’s rewritten history and our storylines will need to change. #theneweli
Eli Tomac has also just solidified himself as one of the best in the history of the sport. Securing the most coveted title and the last goal he set for himself has to feel good. He’s now one of 23 riders to win the premier class title going all the way back to 1974.
I also imagine dominating almost all of the most important stats in the sport during his career must feel good. Since his first full-time 450 season in 2014, here’s the stats he tops:
34 Wins (Ryan Dungey is second with 21)
65 Podiums (Ryan Dungey is second with 55)
82 Top 5’s (Ryan Dungey is second with 63)
97 Top 10’s (Ken Roczen is second with 79)
110 Mains (Brayton/Reed are second with 101)
620 Laps Led (Ken Roczen is second with 449)
50 Mains w/Laps Led (Ken Roczen is second with 35)
209 Net Pos Changes (Broc Tickle is second with 182)
68 Race +/- (Ryan Dungey is second with 44)
2,129 Points (Ken Roczen is second with 1,599)
Chase Sexton (GEICO Honda) and Dylan Ferrandis (Star Racing Yamaha) are both back-to-back champions in their respective 250 championships. Since 1985 when we started with the east and west coast series, there have been 59 different champions (incl Sexton and Ferrandis) in 72 seasons. There are 16 champions that have won 2 times (Swink, Matiasevich, McGrath, Huffman, Windham, Fonseca, Langston, Pichon, J Stewart, Tedesco, Barcia, Pourcel, Webb, Osborne).
Sexton and Ferrandis become the 15th and 16th 125/250 champions to win more than one title. Of these 16 champions, 15 of them won in back-to-back years (Swink, Pourcel, Webb, Huffman, Langston, Tedesco, Stewart, Matiasevich, Barcia, Windham, PIchon, Osborne, Sexton, Ferrandis) and only 3 have won them on both coasts (Fonseca, Langston, J Stewart). There’s only 2 riders that can claim winning on different coasts in back-to-back years (J Stewart, Langston). But for Sexton and Ferrandis, they can claim they are the first to win back-to-back titles in the same years.
Finally, congratulations to Zach Osborne on his first career 450 win. I imagine he’d support a full 17 round series in SLC if that were an option. While in Salt Lake City, he finished in the Top 5 every round, the only other rider to do that was Eli Tomac. He also had a series leading 4 holeshots, led 47 laps (2nd), led 4 different main events (2nd), and finished the 7 rounds ranked 3rd in points. I’m looking forward to seeing how these results and his confidence translates into the Pro Motocross races this summer.
Hope you enjoyed this weeks version of Advanced Analytics. Check out the Round 17 key stats and box scores for each class below. As always, drop me a line on Twitter or Instagram @3lapsdown with any questions or just to bench race.
450 KEY STATS
- Rockstar Husqvarna (Osborne/Jason Anderson/Dean Wilson) joins the Red Bull KTM team in sweeping the podium in recent history. KTM did it three times in 2019 with Cooper Webb/Marvin Musquin/Blake Baggett (Oakland, Atlanta, and Indianapolis).
- Jason Anderson (Rockstar Husqvarna) led 15 laps before he lost his seat and dropped to 2nd place. That was the 3rd main event he’d led laps in for a total of 20 laps led on the season. Interestingly, Jason Anderson hasn’t won a main event since Round 9 of his championship winning season in 2018.
- Malcolm Stewart finished out his career year with a career best 4th place. While he dropped one position in the standings to 7th, this is a huge step forward for a rider that was once looking for a ride 2 years ago. #mookiefever #blacklivesmatter
Cooper Webb’s 8th place finish was the first time off the podium since his infamous crash at Round 8 in Arlington.
450 BOX SCORE
250 KEY STATS
- Rookies Jett Lawrence (GEICO Honda) and Derek Drake (Troy Lee Designs Red Bull KTM) both led laps in 2 main events this season. Most impressive is Jett Lawrence leading another 3 laps for a total of 19 against a stacked East/West Shootout race.
- Jo Shimoda (GEICO Honda) that takes home Rookie of the Year honors. While he didn’t lead any main events, he did finish 8th in the East/West Shootout and landed 3rd overall in the 250 East Championship. With an average first lap position of 10th on the season, his off-season focus is fairly easy to identify.
- While the West Region clearly dominated with 7 of the Top 10 positions in the Shootout, Chase Sexton and Shane McElrath not only went 1st and 2nd but also had the two fastest lap times of the race.
250 BOX SCORE
