Slaw Dog
Welcome to the 2023 Slaw/VurbWes/Troy Dog Combined 250/450 Top Ten Power Rankings! Slaw, Wes, and Troy each have created their own list of who they believe carry the most power in the sport. They each have created their own categories and have weighted these people accordingly, whether its speed, following, SX skills, you name it.
Each week these rankings will be updated so that you guys can argue about how wrong they are in the comment section! Feel free to tell us if we’re right/wrong/or completely dumb.
Troy Dog’s Pre-Daytona Rankings:
Troy: It’s Daytona, which means that it’s Sprang Breaaak!!! Gather up your best gal pals and let’s all hit the beach with our White Claws and have a time of it, right?
Cooper Webb did some classic Cooper Webbing at the Triple Crown and took the W, so for the first time in my rankings, the first 450 guy isn’t Tomac.
The 2023 (huge points lead) Flip Off Champion Wil Hahn was snubbed last week when I tweeted that amateur racing peaked when Austin Stroupe, Nico Izzi, and Trey Canard turned pro. Well, Wilbur turned pro with them lolz. My bad Wil. I have a beautifully done column on how sorry I am as well as how he definitely deserved to be mentioned on that Tweet. I hope our relationship can be mended.
Tomac used to be teammates with Wil, so he’s going to be fourth this week for me.
Sexton is the fastest 450 guy to me right now, but his crashes are getting the best of him.
PAK X EMH designed their own pair of Ethikas and that is a cool deal for them. The collaborative effort is a mix of Brad Frace, Garrett Merk, Colt Nichols, and Justin Bogle. They focus on videography, fashion, photography, and music. Mostly they just wake up and do cool stuff as friends.
Benny the Barber is Benny Bloss. He gave the T-Dog Squad’s own Grant Harlan a haircut right in the Dallas pits. I don’t believe that’s ever happened before. I asked Benny if I could get on the schedule, but I think he’s booked up because I haven’t heard back.
The rest of the list is pretty easy to figure out. You have the two East Region title hopefuls in Hunter Lawrence and Nate Thrasher. Then Jason Anderson rounds out the list by finishing fourth overall at the Triple Crown and winning one of the crown races.
Slaw Dog’s Pre-Daytona Rankings:
Slaw: I will bullet point my thoughts so it is easier to read. Troy Dog has a hard time reading, so I’m making it easy for him to see how much better my rankings are.
- Ryan Sipes is back WALKING after a year on crutches. How could he not be number 1? Also, how can he not even make Troy’s list? Shame.
- Paul Webb is just doing Cooper Webb things. Dude is just, I don’t know. He just gets it done. Time after time after time.
- Tomac tossed away the overall in Arlington. But guess what? Daytona is this weekend and I’ve heard he’s pretty good at that place.
- Man, have to feel bad for Sexton. Credit to him, though. He’s handled these tough situations with class and grace.
- Hunter leading the points and man that charge in race 3 was insane.
- Thrasher’s becoming a dude isn’t he?
- RCSX is this weekend! Then the JS7 Freestone Spring Championship! AM season is back and Vurb will be there to cover it all.
- AP has been hot. And you know he’ll be good at Daytona.
- Anderson had a chance at the overall.
- If Jordon can clean up his crashes, watch out. Feel like we’ve been saying that for his entire career though.
VurbWes’ Amateur Power Rankings… For Some Reason
Ed note: After a week off, VurbWes is back and making his own rules. There could be disciplinary actions for this. Stay tuned.
VurbWes: There is ZERO BIAS in my Amateur Power Rankings this week… ZERO. But the Vurbmoto World Mini at Mesquite Moto is going to be OFF THE HOOK April 6-9th. For real life. PRE-REGISTER NOW!
Why are my Power Rankings amateur this week? Our site, our rules. Troy Dog CEO didn’t tell me I couldn’t switch it up. That being said, the “Spring Nationals” as they’re commonly referred to are upon us, and I’m sitting in the Delta lounge headed to Daytona as I write this.
We’ll kick things off with the RCSX, then quickly jaunt over to Wortham, Texas for the JS7 Spring Championship, followed up by MotoPlayground’s Spring a Ding Ding. We’ll be in full force covering all of the above, and damn am I excited about it. If that’s not evident by my list here.
All the while, Loretta Lynn’s Area Qualifiers are still kicking off all over the place, and then come April the WORLD MINI RETURNS. Have we mentioned that yet? It’ll basically be a moto vacation with casinos, golf courses, an epic course, and sweet, sweet dirt. Want to hit the club house between motos? No joke, that’s 100% possible. We’re doing an MXGP format for every class that’ll include practice, a qualifying moto, and then a two-moto format for the overall. We’re about to have lots of fun with just a SLIGHT hangover every day. Hopefully we can just find that $5 Black Jack table at Eureka, otherwise Slaw Dog is going to have to find some more recreation budget.
Time to catch a flight. See ya soon Daytuna!!
Main image: Chris Tedesco / Red Bull Content Pool
