Sorry this is a little late this week but nonetheless we are here. The family and I are in our new second home away from home in Georgia so was busy doing honey-doos for the wife. The good news is that I was actually in Denver this past weekend and was there Friday and Saturday. Again, key word here is âDAYâ. Here are a few things I took away from the race as well as a couple things I found out about a few riders machines.Â
Chase Sexton: I had the pleasure of hanging out with Jade Dungey last Friday to talk about Chase Sextonâs Red Bull KTM and learned a lot. You will be able to check all of the factory bikes we shot on an upcoming Racer X Films soon but I will say I have never heard of a 3D printed titanium footage until now! Wait until you see what these suckers look like! Crazy. Chase has been looking better than ever on the bike and from what Jade told us, he hasnât screwed with his bike much lately. The team brought on a new Akrapovic headpipe for their riders and it is a very unique looking piece. Jade told us that it was supposed to be tested earlier in the week for sound but when Chase rode it, he said it helped power (specifically low end) so the team kept it on the race bikes. Chase dominated Saturday night and I donât see him stopping this weekend neither.Â
Haiden Deegan: There was nothing wrong with that pass. Everyone needs to calm down! Davies got taken wide in the same corner in qualifying so having it happen in the exact spot again is kind of on Davies. I do appreciate that Cole took it on the chin and owned it. As far as Haidenâs post race antics, thatâs another thing. I think the âI wanted to show the hatersâ stuff is long gone. We know the kid is fast and can smoke anyone. No hate comms, but why antagonize the fans with the âsuck itâ comment? Even if I donât care for that type of stuff on the podium, it doesn’t really matter because I am here for something different. Sure, I donât care for it, but at least there is something different on the podium. I am here for the Deegs post race interviews because I never now what the kid is going to say. Like him or not, heâs good for our sport.Â
Cooper Webb: Webb looked tired in the post race press conference. From what I understand he had some mass arm pump and couldn’t get it to loosened up during the main event. Cooper has been on the same basic set up since he first rode the Star Yamaha a couple years ago. Peanut (his mechanic) told me you could grab his 2024 race bike from last January and literally it would be almost the same. Cooper made two tweaks to the suspension this year but it was basically only to do with ride height. I think itâs safe to say Webb has this title on lock but it will be interesting to see where he stacks up outdoors. Â
Julien Beaumer: Ju Ju was on it all day and his results showed this after the main event. His start wasnât great but he come through the pack and showed some of that early year speed that we saw. Hanging out with Julienâs mechanic early in the day Friday revealed that Ju Ju hasnât been a pest when it comes to bike set up. He is the type of rider that wants to put the work in and not bitch about his bike. His whoop speed is still one of the best in class and this track allowed those type of riders to shine.Â
Coty Schock: A sixth place is not a âgreatâ result for Coty but after talking with him after the race he said he was happy with how he rode but needed to be better in the corner before the whoops. He said he needs to train more on whoops that have a 90 degree corner right before them. I also deep dived Cotyâs Muc-Off FXR Club MX Yamaha for my Youtube channel and found out a lot of unique parts/pieces to his machine which you can view right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk6Q0NkZOKc&t=8s
Pulp MX LCQ Privateer Challenge: I texted Steve on the way home Friday just to let him know how freaking awesome it is to see what he has done. No other media outlet has given back to the riders as much as Steve has. This isnât a slob Steveâs knob caption but if I take a step back and look at what Pulp MX has brought to the riders as well as the fans of the sport, it really is a big deal. The race itself involved Creed, Van Halen and raised over 110K for privateers. The event was won by Kevin Moranz but Hardy Munoz stole my heart with questionable passes and a shit ton of âalmostsâ in both main events. WOW! With all the prop bets going out as well as the purse itself, there was a nice chunk of change to be had by the riders. What was also cool was how many top factory riders wanted to get inside the stadium to watch the race. I heard even they were making âgentlemenâ bets on who was going to take the top spot. Great job Steve and thank you FELD for allowing this chaos to happen. Also, Moranz did nothing wrong off the second start. It was actually an AMA official that suggested that riders could pass riders before they pass the green flag (off the single file start). Well played, AMA official, well played. you know who you are! đ
Best Dressed: Christian Craig and Fox absolutely killed this weekend. CC is also coming back around but it sucks we will not see him outdoors. It has been a pleasure watching him ride these past few rounds.
