Brandon Clarke
Welcome to this evening’s edition of The Ripple Effect, where we look at today’s results and, more importantly, what they mean for tomorrow. The spirit of this nightly column has always been pretty simple: How do today’s results affect tomorrow’s races?
Well, we’ve officially reached the point of the week where there isn’t much “tomorrow” left. Championships started getting handed out beginning with Race 2 today, which means only one Moto 2 was left on the schedule: Supermini 2.
Supermini 2 (13-16)
Usually, this is where I start digging through lap times, staring at results until my eyes hurt and making some probably-too-confident prediction about what’s going to happen next.
And on paper, Supermini 2 looks pretty straightforward. Easton Graves is clearly the favorite.
He’s consistently clicking off sub-1:57 lap times, while the rest of the field has struggled to string together more than one or two laps at that pace. Through two motos, the same four riders have essentially been deadlocked at the front, both in individual moto results and the overall standings.
So Graves wins tomorrow and we all go home, right?
Well…
If today taught me anything, it’s that you might want to hold off on filling out that championship results sheet. Here’s what makes Loretta’s so interesting.
A lot of these kids race multiple classes, and if you’re like me and you’ve been watching motos from sunup to sundown all week, eventually the classes, results and championship scenarios start blending together. Wait, which Supermini class is this? Who needs what? Who won yesterday?
You get the point. But sometimes those other classes give you a pretty good preview of just how quickly things can unravel.
Earlier today in Supermini 1, Jackson Vick was poised to finish first overall. Then his bike expired. Done. And Vick wasn’t alone.
We watched championship scenarios all day where the math basically said, “Just bring it home.” Riders only needed a top-five, top-eight or simply a solid finish to leave the Ranch with a title.
Then bikes expired. Bikes wouldn’t start on the line. Riders crashed. Championships that looked like a formality before the gate dropped suddenly turned into some of the most chaotic, mind-bending motos of the entire week.
That’s Loretta’s. Nothing is over until it’s actually over. So… Yes, Graves looks like he has this thing under control.
But tomorrow isn’t about proving he’s the fastest rider in Supermini 2. I think he’s already done that. It’s about getting out front, staying out of the chaos, keeping the bike underneath him and riding a clean race all the way to the checkers. And behind him, things could get interesting.
Vick has a little extra motivation after watching a potential Supermini 1 podium disappear with a mechanical today. He gets another shot tomorrow.
Elliot Bowsher has one final opportunity to better his Moto 1 and Moto 2 results before leaving the Ranch. And everybody else knows exactly what we learned today: Anything can happen in Moto 3.
So while Supermini 2 might look like a cakewalk on paper, I don’t think it’s going to be one. I expect a dogfight all the way to the checkers. Because after what we watched today, I’m done assuming anybody has anything locked up at Loretta’s.
