Three rounds down and as we depart the great state of Texas, the only thing we know is shit is going to get crazy.
One of the unintended consequences of these multi-race per venue style race calendar’s is, there are definite possibilities for huge momentum shifts that are born and possibly die with each new location the racers setup shop at. A particular dirt type or even the superstitions these guys can develop based on past results in a locale; anything. If there is something a rider could grow a little confidence off of, whether tangible or totally mental, they will. Houston has honestly not taught us anything through the first leg of this SX series.
The 450 podium has seen 8 different names with only Ken Roczen hitting it twice. The most consistent top finishing rider (not docked positions or points) is Malcolm Stewart. That’s an impressive stat in this field and a huge indicator of his growth and commitment to improvement. Despite a broken shifter at round two, Justin Barcia is arguably the guy with the momentum right now. Houston saw 3 tracks (ehhhh, 2 really) that were really hard to make up time on, create separation or make passes and Bam Bam really moved forward in impressive fashion at round 3. If Bam Bam can lock in on his starts like he did at round one, he’s poised to finally find consistency to follow up these round one victory’s he’s reeled off the last 3 years. It’s kind of Bam Bam’s bugaboo, knock out that first round statement but then he loses that mojo just as quickly and it unravels.
Roczen’s bitterness is at fever-pitch now after the penalty at round two and the Dean-incident at round three. There is no one with more motivation leaving Houston than Kenny. He is that pissed off. It’ll be interesting to see how he metabolizes that disgust and what happens when the gate drops in Indy.
Cooper Webb has tasted blood now and this early in the season, that little taste is scary for the rest of the title contenders. He’s a guy who does not let opportunity slip from his grasp and with that Win, gifted or not, he will not relinquish that confidence without a bulldog fight.
Defending champion Eli Tomac is having a pretty standard Tomac series so far. Like every 450 SX series, we can not make any predictions on how his series is going based on these early rounds.
Rookie Frenchman Dylan Ferrandis has already made the podium as has fellow Frenchman veteran, Marvin Musquin. 2020’s breakout rookie early on, Adam Cianciarulo has a podium and lastly the wile veteran, Justin Brayton hit the podium at round two!
Just as shocking as the crazy podium stats is the finishes of Zach Osborne and Jason Anderson. Ando is a past champ and finds himself 13th in points through 3 rounds and Zach, despite running up front in round two and charging from a first turn crash at round one, has not crossed the finish line where he should be. It’s been a rough Houston for the Husky Team. Highly anticipated Honda rookie Chase Sexton was looking incredible at round two before going down HARD and having to sit out Houston three and Aaron Plessinger, at times has looked much improved but those finishes are also still not coming to fruition yet.
This has been a great kickoff to the series and for all we’ve seen, there are still no trends becoming evident. For us as fans, the longer that continues, the more exciting this Supercross series will grow.
