Indianapolis brought the action in our second Triple Crown of the year. I don’t know who made
the decision to make Indy a Triple Crown, but it definitely delivered some chaos. We had lapped
riders everywhere, collisions across the track, and a different winner in each premier class
main. In the end, Hunter Lawrence’s consistency paid off with the overall win, while in the 250
class Cole Davies showed up and swept the night.
Let’s start with the obvious, lapped riders were a huge problem. I get tired of hearing the
excuse that “we’re in our own battle,” because the average fan doesn’t care about the fight for
17th. We saw very little regard for blue flags and it absolutely impacted the outcome of races.
Now, I’m not someone who believes in banning privateers, but there have to be real
consequences for interfering with the leaders. I think we need to see larger fines or even loss of
purse for riders who hold up the front runners. We saw two instances involving the top two
title contenders that could have easily ended badly. The sport has to protect the championship
fight because, at the end of the day, that’s what fans are showing up to see.
Hunter Lawrence continues to impress me this season. He has shown nothing but composure
week after week, and I think we’re getting to the point where he’s on equal footing with Eli
Tomac. The only real weakness I see is his early sprint speed. With Tomac not always getting
the best starts, Lawrence sometimes gives him time to work forward through the field. If
Hunter can improve that early-race pace, it’s going to make things even tougher for Tomac.
Speaking of Tomac, he seemed to catch the worst of the lapped rider situations. In race one he
got hung up, allowing Lawrence to get by, and in race two he nearly got tangled up with Vince
Friese. Without those two moments, I think Tomac could very well have taken the overall win. I
understand his frustration on the podium and in the post-race interviews because the night
easily could have gone differently. That said, navigating lapped riders has always been part of
racing, and sometimes you win those moments and sometimes you lose them. Moving forward,
Tomac has his hands full with Lawrence, and as we head down the stretch, I’m excited to see
these two go head-to-head.
In the 250 class we finally saw Cole Davies at his absolute best, and what a beast he is in the
whoops. Sweeping a Triple Crown is no easy task, but he looked great doing it. What’s even
more exciting is the bigger picture, through three rounds we’ve had three different winners and
four riders within two points of the lead. It will be interesting to see who responds over the
next few rounds, or if this is the moment where Davies starts to separate himself from the pack.
Now we roll into a much-needed break. At the halfway point of the season it feels like we
clearly have our two premier class contenders. The question moving forward is whether
Tomac’s experience begins to show as the pressure ramps up, or if Hunter Lawrence can keep
doing what he’s done all season, stay consistent and keep Tomac at bay. Looking ahead to
Birmingham, we’ll also get our first East vs. West showdown in the 250 class, and that’s almost
guaranteed to bring some fireworks.
