Arlington always provides great racing and this first round of the “east”coast swing gave us exactly that. Below are some things that you could use when bench racing with your racing buddies to make you sound smarter.
Hunter Lawrence: Finally! The first one for Hunter actually seemed like the fifth. Hunter didn’t seem overly excited on the podium for his first 450 win, which tells all of us that he’s in it for the long haul and he’s not even thinking about “wins” as much as the championship. I heard that the factory HRC Honda has evolved a lot since round 3 as the suspension got some new specs as well as a few chassis parts that is helping Hunter with comfort at the end of the motos. You can see how the Honda wasn’t especially great in the whoops but when the track got choppy out of corners, the HRC Honda seemed to have more traction than the other three riders in the race up front.
Joey Savatgy: Joe-Dawg got his factory transmission and boy did it seem to liven him up! If it wasn’t for a crash I think Joey could have been in that four battle mix. His whoop speed seemed on par with the others and his corners looked great. His bike was able to get traction and stay lower in the flat corners which helped hi shorten the track up some. I don’t know if we will see this Joey at Daytona but expect more of this type of thing moving forward. Top fives are real and they will be happening more.
AP: A whole new shock was delivered to AP for Arlington but it didn’t look like that was the spec when I was watching the bike. AP is complaining that his rear is low on acceleration and it leaves him with a light feeling front end without much tire contact. They are looking to bring the rear end up which is a common problem even on production KTMs. I do believe they will get AP figured out and by series end we will see THE COWBOY up on the podium.
Pierce Brown: Pretty cool feel good story here. Three digit dude win the opening round of the east coast series. I wonder the last time that happened? Pierce has gone through it man and to come back and win the opening round is a huge deal. Pierce has evolved a couple things with his riding style and it looked way calmer. His corners were opened up, he wasn’t bothered by pressure and he was in shape. His lap times were consistent and stayed that way throughout the whole main event.
Jo Shimoda: For a guy who’s hasn’t ridden in two weeks, you can see what a race gate drop can do to someone like Jo. Once the gate drops the racer comes out and you go into autopilot. I also think flying under the radar is what Jo does best. When he is a championship favorite maybe he doesn’t perform so well, but maybe this year is the year he shows us and the Shimoda-Realist that he/we are wrong. Also, shout out to HRC Honda for an insane CRF250R. I think Jo’s bike looked the best (as a whole package), out of all the 250s, all night.
Dax Bennick: A lot of hype around Dax in the off season and he backed it up. A solid ride and didn’t crack at the end of the race. Maybe that change of scenery is doing him some good. The Husqvarna also looked good in the whoops even when Dax decided to start jumping. The come back to JT about the “bubble wrap” was also a nice touch by Dax! Well played!
Cole Davies: Ehhhh boy… If this dude gets a start, I don’t think anyone has anything for him. Unreal speed in the whoops and the aggression this kid seems to have this year, is going to make it a long year for the others. If he can keep his head together, I think all of the other parts are winning pieces. I would bet a lot of money that he was the fastest OUT OF ALL THE RIDERS on Saturday night through the whoops! WOW!
