WOW! We go to the east coast and the series starts popping off! We got a new 450 winner, we got huge crashes, red flags, foot dabs that hurt and a track that was technical/rutty. Tampa provided some fireworks and even though I caught the race late, here are some thoughts I wanted to share on this week’s Daytime Program.
Malcolm Stewart: I feel like Malcolm is kinda like an Aaron Plessinger in the fact that both are great dudes and people love them. EVERYONE (including racers) loved seeing Mookie win the damn race. The way this season has gone, anyone in the top eight can win a race at any given time and Mookie just proved this. I can’t even sit here and type that you need a start to win because he was not in the top three off the start. He worked his way through VERY FAST DUDES and won the whole damn thing. Obviously he had some help with Chase going Gisele on us late in the race, but you have to be in it to win it. MOOKIE WAS! I also thought it was cool to see James kind of speechless in the booth when it came to his brother winning and seeing the emotion from the whole family. Malcolm’s line on the rhythm before the whoops helped him gain time on Sexton then his whoop speed was DGAF! To have him win this way shows that he can show up at any given race and beat the title favorites! I’m here for it!
Cooper Webb and Justin Cooper: I thought I would lump these two guys in one. Why? Because of the “Gilly Effect”. Ricki Gilmour is taking care of Cooper and Justin’s KYB suspension needs. Both are on a version of KYB’s LSF fork but I also think both have benefited from the knowledge of Ricki. Eli is doing great with JY (Johnny Yamada) but number 2 and 32’s set up looks better than I have ever seen it. If the Star Racing Yamaha team can get Justin through the whoops better, he would be another to add in the mix of possible winners. From what I heard is the Justin Cooper’s shock setting is softer in the rear (compared to Webb’s) to help him in the whoops but it looks like 32 is still committed to jumping. If you broke down segment times, Justin Cooper would be near the top of the list in the segments that don’t include the whoop section. I think 32 will work on this and get better so look for him to be a podium guy soon. Oh and number 2 only changed a couple clicks all day at Tampa and has been happy with his set up for quite sometime. Watch out everyone, Webb is going to be tough to beat the next three races. If we see him put a couple wins together, I will have to agree with AC and Brayton, it’s going to be tough to beat him down the stretch.
Shane Mcelrath: Shout out to Shane Mcelrath on his top ten finish. The Quad Lock Honda team have been putting in a ton of work behind the scenes to get their riders happy on the bike. With the team going to the new Honda chassis they have been searching a little for suspension setting and from the sounds of it, have found a setting that suits the new chassis better over the weekend. Shane has been solid all year and also has raced a hell of a lot the past 3-4 months. I also think these off season races Shane has done has helped his race fitness and it shows late in these main events. I see you, Shane!
Max Anstie: This isn’t a surprise for me. Max can ride whoops, he is good in sand and is a strong ride that can last the whole main event. With the power of the Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha YZ250F, Max is going to be a pain in the ass for a lot of riders this east coast season. I was told that it took Max a little time to get used to the power delivery of the Star Yamaha machine off the grate but it looks like in Tampa he had it figured out pretty well. I think Kitchen will be better in the upcoming races, but I honestly think Max is not just a race winner but a title favorite.
Pierce Brown: To see Pierce take the hit he did had me worried. It also is a tough pill to swallow if you’re Pierce when you know you had the bike and speed to win some races this year (maybe a title). We recently read on his Instagram that he broke his T5 and had successful surgery to fix this but he will be out indefinitely. To be as talented as some of these riders are like Pierce and have these injuries keep happening is not only hard physically but mentally to get over it and then come back (to me) is even harder. The pain subsides (hopefully) but to get your fitness back, put yourself out there again, then get knocked down again is why A LOT of these athletes hang it up at a young age. It’s a very tough road to hoe. I hope that Pierce heals from this and gets many more wins, because he deserves it.
Cameron McAdoo: Is Cam not the toughest SOB on a dirt bike we have seen in a long time? How many times have we seen huge crashes by Mac only to get up and keep racing. I knew about his ACL injury early last week and I originally thought he was going to have surgery to fix it, but in Cam like fashion he comes out, toughs it out and PODIUMS! WHAT? To mentally prepare yourself to race with a body you know isn’t 100% is unbelievably hard to do! Not to mention that you may have to switch up your riding style while racing is crazy to me. Also, I would like to say that Cameron McAdoo is one of the nicest humans in existence. He called and talked to me about Aden’s (my son) recent ACL injury. He took the time to talk about what he went through, what docs he liked, what Aden should do for therapy, etc. He didn’t have to do this but he did. What you see on the podium or these interviews we see on Saturday night isn’t fake. This is how Cam really is! He is a genuinely good dude and I root for dudes like this! Here’s to hoping he stays in it all year and gets into title hunt when this thing winds down. What a story it would make! Congrats on a great ride to the Pro Circuit team (who needed this) and to Maddie and Cam.
