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.
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.
Let’s review my Slawdictions from Houston 1 and jump into Houston 2.
Prediction
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.
Nailed the f out of this. Look, the opener is weird, so some top dudes are bound to struggle and I knew a few would ultimately miss the main. Bogle apparently got hurt in practice (get well soon) and Bloss and Noren failed to make the main as well.
Slawdiction: 10 out of 10.
Prediction
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.
Ferrandis, who is coming off a hand injury, got seventh, so hard to say he “struggled”. I’ll take a half an L on this one.
Sexton, meanwhile, got 14th and per Racer X’s Weege, crashed not once but twice (!!!) on his sight lap. Tough day for Chase, but things will get better. Dude is talented.
Slawdiction: 6 out of 10. One better than half, because yeah, that’s how this works.
Prediction
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.
Yeah…. About that.
Slawdiction: -8 out of 10. My bad.
Prediction
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.
Savatgy just missed out on a top 10, finishing 11th. After missing all of Monster Energy Supercross last year with a pretty gnarly injury, this ain’t bad… but also not what Slaw predicted.
Slawdiction: 1 out of 10. Three spots off is worth a point in my book.
Prediction
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.
Whoa, doggies. Not even Slaw himself thought Tomac would finish outside the top 10. What went wrong? He got into it with Friese, not once but twice. That never turns out good.
Slawdiction: 15 out of 10.
Onto this week’s predictions.
Jett Bounces Back
Lots of hype for Jett Lawrence coming into the opener and honestly, he was pretty good. After getting shuffled back early he regrouped and made a late charge before making a rookie-ish mistake. Look, he’s young and will have some ups and downs. The opener is weird and dudes are tight. I think he’ll be much better this weekend. Look for a fourth place finish.
Ken Wins
Dude, Ken looked soooo good on Saturday and I don’t think it’s getting talked about much because of BamBam’s success. Coming in with an all-new bike, having sat out outdoors, and having a lot of people talk about his health, Ken went out and did the damn thing, riding to an impressive second and pushing Barcia the entire time. I think he wins on Tuesday.
The Real Tomac Stands Up
This is pretty easy, but whatever. It’s my column and I do what I want. Tomac returns with a huge night, taking second behind Roczen.
Sexton Top 10
Lead Slaw Lock of the Week alert. I think Sexton bounces back from the rookie opening night jitters and scores a top 10. Not an out of this world prediction, but you can lock it in.
Chiz Will Chiz
Chisholm will qualify like 40th, have a terrible heat, then Chiz all over the field in the LCQ like he does and finish inside the top 15. Chiz gonna Chiz, what else can you say?
Main image: Octopi Media / Instagram: Octopi Media
