It was a great night of racing right? I will have to say that this Daytona layout was one of the better layouts I have seen from RC in quite sometime. There was passing available and the track got rough but wasn’t out of control rough like we have seen in the past. Here are just a few nuggets I could take away from Florida that I can share here
Ken Roczen: If you listened to the RMATVMC Keefer Tested Podcast this week you can hear Mark Johnson from REP talk about how Kenny has been pretty mellow with changing suspension specs and for the most part he’s been happy with this bike. If you look at Kenny’s bike you can see that it looks tall because Ken likes it a little taller and that is by design. Maybe he isn’t getting the sharpest cornering Suzuki we’ve seen but he is getting a better high speed compression feeling chassis feel when he is loading it into transitions as well as heavy loads. Ken is probably the most mentally strong riders on the gate minus Webb, so seeing him get this W while he knew Webb was all over him says something about his resilience. When you have a guy behind you that has passed you several times late in the race to win, sometimes that can make you crumble over and over. Some of you may be saying well he has crumbled before and maybe that is correct, but it’s how many times you can get back up from that crumble to succeed again and Kenny showed us his heart at Daytona! Shout out to Mark at REP and Jamie at Twisted Development for getting a NON factory bike to win Daytona SX!
AP7: Plessinger was on the “I Dunno Man” segment a couple weeks ago on the Pulp Show but he turned it around in Daytona! Sure he had some help from an ailing Sexton but you have to be in it to win it and AP did just that in Daytona. A faster track with some loose soil is what AP is great at and it was nice to see this great dude get his first podium of the year. Now that he got one, I don’t think this is his last one!
Joey Savatgy: I want to say that Joe-Dawg is riding better and he’s coming around. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the top five at the end of the year if he keeps building like he is. His speed is improving and I have heard that the team got the bike better for 17. A ninth place may not be great on paper but his riding is showing us there is hope!
Chase Sexton: Anyone else getting anxiety when watching Sexton ride now? It’s like we are all waiting for something to happen. Imagine what this guy is going through right now! Chase got lucky to walk away from his heat race crash but I heard that in the main there was some soreness that was causing him to tighten up. He is now 10 points down from Webb so he needs to get control of this come Indy or else is going to spiral out of control. Crazy to think that his bar mounts weren’t tight in the LCQ. Sometimes there is a fire drill when trying to get a bike ready for the next race post crash and “sometimes” things are missed. Chase got lucky and you can rest assure that won’t EVER be happening again.
RJ Hampshire: The man who lives on that edge is back! RJ rode well all day and from what I hear the team got more comfort via suspension for RJ last week so the result is a W. Sometimes when riders complain, they are legit complaints. RJ is not one to bitch abut something if it isn’t a real problem for him when riding. He doesn’t blame the bike if it is him that needs the work. Time and time again when there is a problem, the team has addressed it and he gives them a win shortly thereafter. Plus, I like to see good people win. RJ is good people!
Tom Vialle: Anyone else thought that Vialle would be on the podium more than he has in 2025? I honestly still think it’s Anstie’s title to lose but Vialle put himself into a good position early and it helped. He needs more starts up front and I think we will see him crawl back into this championship.
Max Vohland: The handbrake guy gets a top 5. The Club MX/FXR Yamaha team has been great this year. Their bikes are also tons better than I have seen in the past because their riders are able to do some combos out of corners that other factory teams bikes aren’t even doing. Max is talented and with a full HEALTHY year under his belt with this team, he can be a threat come 2026.
Levi Kitchen: This was a tough one for me because Levi is such a great kid and has one of the most technical techniques of the 250 class but sometimes when you’re tall you can think you’re able to soak up more things on the track without as much consequence but when you’re doing around 40-50mph and wheeling into a large face sometimes the bike can react too quick for your body to adjust to. I just think that when Levi got that buck the lap before in the same place, he should have respected that a little more the following lap, but these are elite riders that want to win and sometimes they will throw caution out the freaking door to get up front. This is one of those quick race decisions that he would like back. That was a very bad crash and let’s all hope he gets out of that one with just internal bruising. Shout out to the Fox Raceframe for saving Levi’s torso! One of my favorite under protectors with D30. Look it up if you want some of the best under protection out there.
