The inaugural Birmingham Supercross took place this weekend, the halfway point of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, and it was a very unusual event for a number of reasons, both on and off the track. Let’s dive into it!
Why Birmingham? I don’t know, really, it was an odd choice for SX and one that had a lot of people in the pits asking as well. The series has gone to Atlanta for 30 years and always draws well, even out at the speedway the last few years. I think the new dome in Atlanta is out for a few different reasons and I have to think The Speedway was also not available, or too expensive, or something? Otherwise, a smaller venue with bleachers for most of the seats, a pit area that wasn’t great for teams, riders, or fans, seems like an odd choice over the A-T-L, right?
Weather was always going to be a factor here and it did prove to be one, although not really on race day. The series has been attracting crowds of big numbers, but whether it was the venue, the weather, or the folks in the surrounding areas not doing the drive, the Birmingham crowd was light. Could it be one and done for the SX series?
I’ve been asking for years that if “we” know rain is coming, or “we” are going to traditionally poor-weather cities for that time of year, like Seattle or San Francisco, then why don’t “we” build a tamer track? It always seems like the guys build a full SX track and then have to catch up throughout the day with modifications to the track. Then we see steep backsides, which become a struggle in the mud, whoops that trap bikes, and rhythms that are too close together.
If we adjust the track for the mud, we can still have great racing if the guys are allowed to, and are able to, do some jumps. This year’s San Francisco SX was about a -6.5 on the entertainment scale, but it didn’t have to be!
Well, someone at Feld Motor Sports listened to me, or more likely, just had the same idea. The Dirt Wurx guys built a track for this weekend that was rather tame. No whoops, just MXGP-style waves. You had 45-foot double and some basic obstacles. It was a tough build for the guys due to the weather all week, and on Friday it just poured. So, we had a rain schedule and when the guys hit the track Saturday, it was…not a mess! Not really a mudder even! (Somewhere, Weege is similing.) It was like Indianapolis or any of those other soft dirt indoor tracks. A light mist fell at night that created some difficulties, but all in all, the “rain” track experiment grade, I think, was incomplete.
Still a tough track for the guys due to the ruts and dirt quality, but obstacle wise, yeah not much to separate the guys out there. Startcross was really going to be startcross on this night!
[Editor's note: Steven, this is the exact reason I don't believe in this mud-track theory. You never know if it's really going to be muddy! I wish I could have bought stock in you writing "not much to separate the guys out there." Oh wait, I did. Here's what I wrote inside your San Francisco Obs:
[Editor’s Note: There’s an alternate universe out there somewhere where Dirt Wurx builds a super tame track, and then it doesn’t rain, and this entire Obs is filled with Matthes complaining about a “too easy” and “basic” track where “not a lot was going on out there.” – Weege]
Jett Lawrence is now the first rider this year to win two SX’s in a row and he opened up a bigger points lead. He was rather flawless after getting the holeshot. He didn’t get the start in the heat and that proved to be the difference for him (I think). He got it done for the main though, and it was lights out. He even threw in a quad in the middle of the main event in the rhythm after the finish for good measure.
I said this on one of my shows this week: Before Daytona, I was at the Lawrence compound talking to Darren Lawrence about Dallas and Jett throwing that lead away. Darren mentioned that it’s all a learning curve. They spoke about backing out of something if the track didn’t allow it, take the half-a-second loss, and stay on the bike. Darren was like ‘He’s learned now,’ which yeah, this past weekend was a lot like Dallas and Jett didn’t make that mistake. Just bobble and lose a few tenths. Don't crash completely in the rhythm and crash.
I caught up to Jett after the race:
First time I talked to you all year. You having fun? You’ve had some booing. You’ve had some crashes. You’ve had some great wins. It’s been a little bit of everything for your rookie season. You having fun?
Jett Lawrence: Yeah, I’m having fun. We’re doing good now. We have the red plate, so all that stuff that has happened, I think it’s all been learning. The booing is booing. That’s just people’s opinion. Ain’t going to change me or change what I think. I’m going to still go out there. It’s not going to make me stop racing. It’s just people with their heads not screwed on straight.
You’ve had some crashes, but then you’ve had some dominant wins. It’s been a little thing of everything for your rookie 450 season.
Jett Lawrence: The crashes definitely weren't ideal. Just small things learning. My crash at A2 that I can think of, in that last main. Looking back at it, we ended up kind of going down that maybe it was actually a tire pressure thing, where we went down to. I fell and I was like, ‘I didn’t feel like I got that triple that bad when I jumped it.’ But looking back, because we used to run really low tire pressure. So, I used to run 11.5 [PSI] in the front, which the next on Dunlop was Chase and he was 13.5.
So, we did some tire testing that next week and was looking at it. The person that actually kind of helped us with that was Dylan Ferrandis. He was like, ‘Hey, you guys, try maybe some tires.’ Because when we go back and watch it now, it’s like my front went down and it just shot awkwardly. So, it’s been good learning for me this year, for sure.
Dylan Ferrandis, helper of his competitors!
Cooper Webb hit the 30-second-board Monster girl. In a moment that had to have the AMA and Feld guys holding their collective breath, Webb came ripping around in second on the first lap and swerved to avoid her (she was walking back across the track to head to the pits), but he still clipped her board and knocked her to the ground. She’s okay by all reports, but it did cause Webb to lose some time and probably mentally affected him as well, right?
We did have Cooper on the PulpMX show on Monday but he didn't use that as an excuse. He was definitely surprised, though! For a moment, he was wondering if she fell down on the track and was getting run over by the rest of the field.
Cooper Webb has been trying to do Cooper Webb things late in the race in two of the last three races. It worked in Dallas with Jett crashing (although yeah, he wasn’t exactly pressuring him, but hey, it worked!) and this week he narrowed it down a bit, but Jett brought it home. Webb’s been very complimentary of Jett after the race and on the PulpMX Show on Monday night, more so it seems than he was with Eli Tomac or Ken Roczen in his title seasons. Maybe he’s got some wisdom in him or maybe, he’s looking at the stark reality of how good the Aussie is.
Ken Roczen was really good! He moved up from 11th to 3rd and was impressive in going past some big names. Earlier this year I was hangin’ with Kenny when he was practicing at Mesquite, NV, and we got into his health a little bit. Roczen basically told me that due to his injuries, infections, his body chemistry, etc, he’s found it hard to stay “up” for every race during the long year. Sometimes he just doesn’t have it and feels a bit run down. He has to stay off the bike, build back up, and make another run at it, which is something I’ve been saying since back in his Honda days. It didn’t seem like the #94 can be great enough, every weekend, to win a title. Races, yes. Title? No.
But anyway, in Birmingham he was about the only guy to be able to pass at will and the opening laps “balls fast” Ken Roczen was there! It was impressive for sure and something he can build on, although his Triple Crown average finishes (Indianapolis this weekend features a Triple Crown format) aren’t very good over his career when compared to his usual results.
I asked Kenny about him seemingly being hot or cold on a given weekend:
Ken Roczen: “I don't know. I haven’t been the same as in the beginning of the season. It’s a tough pill to swallow for me, as well. Because when I’m good, I feel like I can do this every weekend all day, but then when I’m not, I’m like, “What the eff am I doing?” It’s just not there. I’m still learning every day, too. I don’t have it all figured out. Then we came back this weekend, have a podium. I’m going to try again next weekend.”
Chase Sexton is back riding during the week now and looking a bit better than a couple weeks ago. In Birmingham, he had a wild night. He looked awesome all day long, crushed his heat race, and then in the main was moving up into a podium spot. In fact at one point, after being passed by Roczen, he was the quickest rider out there, he did three laps in a row where he gained on Jett and it seemed like he was going to get Roczen back and maybe, just maybe, Webb. He was that good. But then he made a huge mistake in the rhythm and then a few laps later, I think he fell.
Eli Tomac’s in a hell of a winless drought right now, but I was thinking that maybe Birmingham was going to be a turning point. Just because of how good he looked in winning his heat race (over The Jett). Again, with this track if ET got out front early and #18 was a bit buried, it could’ve been the win #3 needed. But then he completely blew the start. He looked okay out of gate but seemed to shut it down a bit early. From there it was a rough opening lap for Tomac. He got on it later, but on this track his fate was doomed. Later on, Jason Anderson got him and that was weird. It’s getting late, early, for Eli Tomac.
Justin Cooper is figuring this 450 stuff out. Always a good starter and a good qualifier, Cooper showed some stuff last season in his limited races and seems to be getting a bit better here lately. He’s gone from top-ten guy to getting into the top five. Cooper Webb told us a story on the PulpMX Show on Monday about when Justin Cooper was an amateur, he showed up and was the fastest guy at the track over him, Aaron Plessinger, and others while living in a Fun Mover eating sandwiches. This dude can always throw down a lap time! This weekend he was right there with the big dogs and battling them, at that. Sexton got him eventually but not without a fight. I also talked to someone at the race who told me J-Coop is almost always the fastest guy during the week and I asked him about that after the race:
Justin Cooper: “I’ve been riding really well this season. Finally taking it from the practice track to the races. Me and Coop push each other harder during the practice days than at the races. I think the practice motos are tougher at The Farm. We’re high intensity and we’re pushing each other. It’s been good training. We’ve been pushing each other. I feel like for the last six months we’ve been so close. It’s good. There’s not a day where one is really good, and the other one is right behind. Someone is pushing each other at all times.”
Look, I’ll admit it. I thought Tom Vialle’s win last weekend at Daytona was because, well, it was Daytona. Good outdoor guy, he was fast there last year, and Daytona is weird. So, although it was a great ride, I wasn’t putting him ahead of Deegan, McAdoo or even Hammaker in this title fight.
Hi everyone, my name is Steve Matthes and I’d like to admit that I was horribly wrong about Tom Vialle. He is a title threat and can win more races this year!
Vialle won the heat and then took off with the main event win in rather easy fashion. Great ride. We told you last week that Tom Tom’s win was factory KTM’s first 250SX win since Marvin Musquin. Well, they didn’t need to wait long for the second one, huh?
Cameron McAdoo got another runner-up spot and has gone 2-2-2 since his, AHEM, Detroit thing. Last two weeks he has been caught by his teammate, Hammaker, but then seems to figure things out late and gets better. He fell twice in the heat and still got second. Main event he kept it pretty safe out there. He told me he didn’t pull out the 2-2-3 in the rhythm lane after the first turn, and also about Tom’s ride to beat him:
Cameron McAdoo: “As a rider, I see him (Vialle) ride and it’s not a Daytona only thing. Tonight, he had really good pace. He had really good speed. That line in that one rhythm was really helpful for him.”
“I frame cased it so hard in the heat race because I tried uncorking it midway once I already got cleaned out. I was like, ‘I might as well try this and see if it’s available for the main.’ I think it got better. That pocket got a little steeper, which was nicer. He was doing it consistently and it got him out of the main line and out of any of the ruts. I’m stoked we’re going 2, 2, 2, with three heat wins. I have good momentum going. I’m just stoked on how the season is going.”
Hammaker has had a few nice races after that disastrous opener in Detroit. He went down hard in practice at round two, which might’ve affected him, but the last two he’s been on the box. Last two races, it’s been the same in that he’s been in third early and can’t quite get his teammate. He had to go to the LCQ after an incident with Haiden Deegan in the first turn of the heat race that Deegan somehow blamed on Seth?
I asked Seth about it after the race:
Seth Hammaker: “Obviously, we were all charging in there. He [Daxton Bennick] had a jump on me. He was on the left of me. He slowed up and I wasn’t really expecting that, so I had to dodge him because we were going really fast. It was hard to slow down. Then I dodged him and then Deegan had a jump on that outside and was closing on that inside.”
“So, nothing I would have changed. It was just an unfortunate situation, really. Then Deegan was like, ‘What are you doing?’ But that’s the last thing I want to do is take myself down and anybody else, especially on the start. It’s already dangerous enough. We’re all out there trying to get to the first corner.”
Deegan had a rough night. He’s got a win in this series but coming in with a broken wrist and having a huge Daytona practice crash (I hear he’s crashing during the week as well), has robbed him of some of his expected speed. In Alabama, he was off the pace all day, got into a first turn crash in his heat, which he basically caused (blame pie 85% Deegs, 15% Seth Hammaker), lost control of his emotions during the crash, and afterward when he went to Hammaker’s pit, got second in the LCQ, cut the track in the main, which caused him to be docked two spots, and then blew up Coty Schock in the last turn for 7th.
I was fine with the pass, I believe SX is a contact sport and Deegan took a good line there to set Schock up, but now Coty owes the kid one and might extract revenge at some point, which is never good for a title contender. Deegan has to get his emotions in control here and focus on getting better on the track. What a weekend for Deegs, he did a little bit of everything out there.
Unfortunately, after a strong start to the season, Schock’s going to get some surgery on his collarbone, which he hurt at Daytona and then broke completely in the Deegan crash. Bummer for him and the team after he won his first ever heat race, which was awesome. I asked him afterward what he said to Deegan after the race:
Coty Schock: “All I had to say was, ‘Are you kidding me? For seventh place.’ That’s really it. But an 18-year-old is going to pull an 18-year-old move. So, kind of is what it is. Looking back, maybe I could have closed the door a little bit more. But at the end of the day, I’m not the one that clicked fourth and kept going. It’s racing. Let’s move on.”
And now, some news and notes:
There was some serious title talk for Max Anstie from some people who have seen him ride this off-season. “Some” people said Honda signed the wrong guy (Joe Shimoda) and early on, they proved to be right, as Mad Max got second at the opener and held the red plate, but from there, it’s gone south as his starts have disappeared. Well, this weekend, he didn’t get the start and was sort of stuck there in sixth. Then his bike went kaboom and that was it. One of the reasons I was not onboard with Anstie winning the title is that I’m not sure how his team is compared to the factory ones. In this class, money (in the engine) is everything and although the Firepower Honda team is solid, it doesn’t have the budget a factory team does. I don’t know what went wrong with his bike this weekend but yeah, this is what I was worried about.
Colt Nichols came back and his first ride on the Beta went pretty well, I mean he beat his teammate straight out of the gate, right? #PoorBenny. Anyway, I dropped in to see him and Benny after practice and the mood wasn’t great for Colt. Benny was fine, he was laughing about the time JS7 told everyone that when he was battling Benny at Washougal, he knew it was time to hang it up. Bloss thought that was great. Anyway, back to Nichols. He seemed depressed but to me, he looked okay. Whatever he did mentally and to the bike, it worked, as he was happier after the main event:
Colt Nichols: “We improved every time. It was just learning. You just never know. You set the bike up for riding that test track and then you come here and you’re like, “Good God!” It’s just so different. It definitely was that way tonight. I feel like I adapted. We changed a lot of stuff. We got better and better every time we were out. So, I can hang my hat on that. I was happy with that. But man, we got a long way to go and a lot of areas we can improve in. But first race, it’s all right.”
Shoutout to Henry Miller, 7-11-11-11 to start the year, and ninth in the points. Privateer love!
I was happy for Jeremy Martin. There’ve been some horrific crashes for #6 going back to last year, but in Alabama, he got a great start, rode steady, and brought it home for a top five. Whew! This is something he can definitely feel good about.
Jason Anderson has a ton of passing points the last few races. The bad news for him is AMA doesn’t award passing points.
Malcolm Stewart has looked better recently, and we even had a HEAT RACE MOOKIE sighting in Dallas. But there are still those crashes, and in Alabama, another crash hurt his chances. I tried to be positive with Malcolm after the race about him turning it around after a terrible start, but he really wasn’t having it that much:
Malcom Stewart: “I wish I could say it’s going my way a little bit better. I pretty much hit the ground almost every weekend. You know what? Really a lot has to do with I would say not racing a lot, and just trying to find a setting on race day. If you’re not comfortable making those decisions, it’s tough. Of course, my suspension guys are doing the right things. I think it was just a lot with me with race conditions.”
“When you ain’t raced in a whole year, you kind of start losing stuff. We’ve just been putting in a lot of good weeks. Things are starting to come around. We are riding a lot better. There are some flashes in me. So, the old me is coming back.”
Shoutout to Har Dog (Grant Harlan) for his first main event of the season! Slowly, slowly, catchy Monkey, as my friend Lewis would say.
Jalek Swoll had a podium in his sights! On a weekend when Triumph made their first ever MX2 podium, Swoll was in third and looking good. I mean, he’s got speed, and the track wasn’t exactly going to make it easy for people to pass him, right? So, I thought he was gonna do it, or could do it, at least. But then he went down in a rut and that was all she wrote for the podium. He did knock down Chance Hymas in the main after Hymas did the same to him in the heat. For his part, Hymas laughed it off and said he’s got to expect that if he dishes it out. Swoll was quite animated after the race about how he’s done with getting pushed around. Remember, he got punted over a berm hard by Pierce Brown in Detroit.
Jalek Swoll: “I'm tired of people feeling like they can just push me around. I’m tired of it. I’m sick of it. I feel like I’m one of these guys. Honestly, I think it’s bullshit that I’m the one. I feel like my kindness on the track is kind of getting taken for, whatever. I’m done getting pushed around. That shit is over and I’m ready to fight.”
Okay then!
[Editor's note: I also liked Swoll's IG post where he wrote "touch me I touch you." That's great. -- Weege]
Privateer Gage Linville is four-for-four in main events after only making two last year before he got hurt. He’s on something called the Dirt Bike Depot team, and shoutout to them for putting all four riders in the main event. Linville is trained by Ezra Lusk and rides at the Lawrence compound so he’s definitely taking the term, “invest in yourself,” literally. Good season so far!
We SO need a Hardy Cam at SX where the Race Day Live guys just keep a camera on Hardy Munoz at all times. This week, for a reason that no one really knows, Hardy rode smooth and controlled in the heat while making his first main event of the year. I did hear he had a spill in qualifying, though. Get that camera on him just like we had in Arlington!
Thanks for reading OBS, we’re loving that you’re loving it, and we’ll be at Indy this weekend for the Triple Crown! Send me an email if you’d like to chat at matthes@racerxonline.com