Slaw Dog
Everyone’s favorite, most beloved column on the Internet is back! That’s right, Slawdictions will be returning for Monster Energy Supercross. With such a strange schedule, we may have to combine some stuff or something, but rest assured, I will be delivering HOT TAKES all year long.
As always, Slaw will be held accountable for these dumb predictions. After each round I’ll review my previous round predictions and grade them on a Slaw scale of 1 to 10 and I expect you’ll be seeing lots of 10s handed out this year.
The opener is this weekend in Houston and since most 250 teams have yet to announce who is riding which coast, this column will strictly be about the 450 class.
FYI: We don’t have a title sponsor for this column, so if you want to jump onboard, you just reach out to Slaw and we’ll get you hooked.
A Big Name Fails to Qualify
If we’re going off the pre-entry list which we all know is always 100 percent accurate, look at these names:
1 Eli Tomac
2 Cooper Webb
3 Aaron Plessinger
4 Adam Cianciarulo
5 Justin Brayton
6 Kyle Chisholm
7 Dylan Ferrandis
8 Dean Wilson
9 Zach Osborne
10 Joey Savatgy
11 Justin Bogle
12 Broc Tickle
13 Jason Anderson
14 Chase Sexton
15 Marvin Musquin
16 Malcolm Stewart
17 Brandon Hartranft
18 Martin Davalos
19 Benny Bloss
20 Vince Friese
21 Fredrik Noren
22 Justin Barcia
23 Ken Roczen
And that’s not counting Max Anstie (back injury) and Shane McElrath (shoulder) who are not expected to race.
That’s one stacked ass list, doggies. Lead Slaw Lock one of the above names misses the main. LOCK. IT. IN.
The Rookies Struggle
With Shane McElrath not expected to race, it leaves two-time 250SX champs Dylan Ferrandis and Chase Sexton carrying the rookie flag this weekend, along with Brandon Hartranft. Look, rookies tend to struggle in their first year on the big bike. In the long run do I think Ferrandis and Sexton can be podium threats? I do. And maybe it even happens later this year. What I don’t expect is either to place inside the top 5 at the opener.
Webb Wins!
This is a shot in the dark. I literally have no idea who will win the opener. It could be Tomac or Roczen or AC or Osborne or Anderson or Barcia or… okay, that’s probably it. Anyway, I’m going Webb. Don’t lock this in.
Savatgy Surprises
Yeah, he missed all of last year, but do you doggies remember how good he was in 2019? He was like, really, really good. And now he’s on a KTM, which is basically the best bike in the class. I think Savatgy pulls off a top 8 finish in Houston.
Tomac Misses the Podium
While it’s not Anaheim, it’s still the opener and Tomac typically struggles early in the season. Listen, he’s still my title favorite so don’t go getting all pissy to Slaw, but I do think he misses the podium this weekend. I’ll probably ragret this but YOLO.
Main image: Kawasaki
