Troy Dog
Five Things We Learned…is a new-ish installment to the Vurb line of race coverage. It’s a quick hitting piece where I break down five trending topics from the weekend. We’ll put facts behind what happened and break down how it will play out. As always, please feel free to give your thoughts on these topics in the comment section. If you’d like to discuss any of these topics further or have a question for me you can reach me at [email protected].
Deegan Vs. Smith
Here are two teammates that are just racing hard for the win, right? Well, we don’t know yet, because no one is talking and this is the narrative that we have to work with. Everything is fine and they just wanted to win that heat race badly. Either way, no matter what happend, the first heat race of the night was awesome and head scratching at the same time. As long as these guys are continuing their climb to the front without hurting one another, I’m all for this type of racing. Now, with a break in the East Region, it’s a perfect time for this topic to cool off (if anything needs cooling off). Regardless of what happened, can we talk about Smith’s whoop speed?
AP
Who’s chopping onions in here? I have something in both my eyes! Talk about a heartbreaker for the Ohio boy Aaron Plessinger. He grabbed the lead and just took off from the rest of the field. Although Sexton made a good run at him towards the end, AP had one lap to go! He had this one in the bag! His crash was very scary and he held onto his bike until the last possible second. He wasn’t giving up even mid crash. Plessinger had that stadium on its feet and everyone respected what they had just seen. Maybe Seattle will prove to be the magic night for everyone’s favorite cowboy.
The Press Conference
Like it or not I have some really strong opinions regarding press conferences and how they’re supposed to work. For instance, the Detroit 250 presser was not a great look. While I agree that some questions are horrible during these sessions, I didn’t see any issue with any of the hard race questions thrown Haiden Deegan’s way. Our job as media is to ask questions and if we aren’t then we are doing the sport a disservice. Around three questions in, the PC took an awkward turn and questions were beginning to be laughed at. These questions were fair and if you’re a rider that doesn’t feel comfortable with answering them truthfully, then just say, “no comment”. I’ve heard WAY WORSE questions get asked in these. Maybe we all can learn from this situation, but this sport has grown and if we, the media, are getting laughed at, then maybe we shouldn’t have press conferences.
Webb
The seasoned vet Webb is looking really great for this 450SX title at this point. We’re getting to the point where, spare a DNF or an injury, this title is going to go down to the final round. Webb was crafty again in Detroit, took home second, and late in the race kept his wheels on the ground when Chase Sexton jumped on the red lights. In a season that has seemed almost dominated by Eli Tomac, Webb has the red plate and it’s going to be tough to take it away from him on the home stretch.
Sexton
This was a great win for Sexton and he needed that. Despite jumping on the red cross lights and being docked seven points, he’s still very much in this title fight. The series still has plenty of rounds to go and this isn’t over yet. Sexton was arguably the fastest rider on Saturday, save for Plessinger, and has been this season at a majority of the rounds. Sexton can really make some noise here if he starts a winning streak next weekend in Seattle.
Main image: Jessica Reed
