Vurbmoto Power Rankings: SX Talking Points and Riders Who Exceeded Expectations

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With the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship wrapped up, we decided to go a different direction this week.

Troy and Ginger are ranking their SX Talking Points, while Slaw will be ranking riders Who Exceeded Expectations.

Thanks to GUTS Racing for the support all year. We will be back with Pro Motocross next week.

Enjoy!

Troy’s Rankings:

Do you guys remember when Adam Cianciarulo was fined $1,000 for peeing behind the porta potty before the restart in Houston? To me, that was one of the best moments of the season. His buddy Chris Betts coined it #peegate and I had several laughs at the comments. Shoutout to AC for bringing his fine to the light and now we know that it’s actually in the rulebook.  

Tomac’s Achilles should actually be the first talking point here in the season, but I just felt like I vibed more with urine. It’s not everyday when the point’s leader gets a season ending injury from not even crashing. 

Shoutout to the 450SX Champion Chase Sexton who gave up 1000s of points early this season with several crashes. Usually the crashes occurred when he was checking out in a main event if I remember correctly. The Supercross God’s giveth and taketh away and Sexton never gave up and he bounced back to win the whole thing. Fall down 22 times, stand up 23. 

The best main event of the season to me was Indianapolis when Barcia and Roczen took the race down to the final lap. Roczen winning meant so much to him and the entire HEP Suzuki team. When everyone laughed at Ken’s Suzuki decision because he had a kickstart, he kept working harder and delivered a victory. 

The HEP Suzuki takeover was a successful mission for me. A few weeks leading up to Indy I reached out to my old friend and bossman over at HEP, Dustin Pipes. I basically said let me come hang out for the day and film. They said it wasn’t a problem and I became Troy Dog Weltin, hung out with Chiz, and bonded with McElrath and Foggy Llama. Best of all I helped the team win the main event. You’re welcome. 

I got a little upset with the press conference debacle in Detroit between the media and Haiden Deegan. I went to Twitter and voiced my opinions on how it was all handled and at one point said that maybe we shouldn’t have press conferences if the riders were going to laugh at our questions. It was a bit of a heat of the moment type of thing and in hindsight I overreacted a bit. I still stand by my thoughts on the matter, but now that it’s over everything is all good. I think we all learned from that experience. 

I think that the riders in 6th-22nd place should definitely get more TV time. They are just as good and a lot of times are having the best battles of the race. A ton of privateers crushed it this season and they were in it when the factory boys got injured. I like what my buddy Justin Starling says, he’s always saying something like, “The privateer guy will ride hurt because they need that check to race the next race.” It’s true. These guys are the backbone of the sport and a lot of people invest their time into watching them and supporting them. They need more love. 

Shoutout to Steve Matthes and Yamaha for creating the PulpMX/Yamaha LCQ Challenge. They have raised so much money for the privateers over the years. Josh Cartwright was the big winner this season making almost 30K from the race, which is life changing. It’s cool to see the growth of this event and next season I don’t see why it won’t be on the TV broadcast. 

Nashville/Crashville was such a huge turning point in the series. Webb went out in the first lap of his heat, Anderson got injured, we lost Bloss to a broken collarbone, and it was just an overall brutal track condition for the riders. Just when you thought that the championship was going to be an all out battle between Webb and Tomac, it was Sexton that won the main event and it gave him the momentum that he needed. He was in it to win it and put himself in the right place at the right time. 

Ah yes, random teardowns are officially in Supercross! I first heard about them when the PRMX bikes were torn down after Hunter Yoder had some incredible starts earlier this season. PRMX Team Owner Julien Perrier took it as a great accomplishment, I mean after all, he built a privateer bike that was absolutely shredding. Shoutout to random bike teardowns and PRMX.   

Ginger Dog’s Ranking:

-I can’t really remember when I first met Dustin Pipes but it was long enough ago that he was still on a bike himself. Watching his team grow has been surreal. It’s still pretty wild to me that Kenny took the win in Indy which is usually one of the only races I go to. Ken, HEP, the entire crew/team, you deserve it all. Thank you for letting me tag along for as much as I have over the years. I see the yellow and blue truck and it feels like family in there. I love you guys. 

-I’m gonna be honest in the fact that this was amazing. Take my money, baby. The big heads were gonna shut you down at some point. I appreciate the fact that you went for it for as long as you did. Privateers bring a whole new meaning to “work smarter AND harder.”

-I’ve seen some wild injuries in my day, but dear Lord, this one takes the cake. The leeches, the surgeries, and your absolute transparency in the journey has me spinning. I’ve never been more invested in anything quite like this. I grew up watching my mom work for a prosthetics and orthotics company. I saw dudes that survived getting their legs ripped off from train hopping. But this…the thumb. I’m so glad you’re okay and that all your surgeries went well. Your positivity and growth is inspiring. I’m so excited to see what your future in moto holds. There is no way you’re done. 

-G, you decided to buzz off the ginger locks and instantly joined the bald headed baddie club. You can’t really escape the blues and red beard so you’ll always be team redhead (I’m a ginger too, so I’m allowed to say this stuff). Can we also talk about the fact that you pulled a career best with a dislocated shoulder? What are you? Last year I remember praying that you’d make the main. This year all I’m expecting is top 10. Moral of the story: the shaved head suits you and clearly gives you superpowers. 

-Yoooooder. Moto dudes have nice butts. Shout out to the_motofam for putting this one on my radar. If it’s gonna drop you might as well just go with it. Glendale was blessed with a full moon. I’m a little jealous I wasn’t there to see it in person. 

-I really don’t know what you struggled with more. Was it rolling down the covered seats or climbing up the finish in your skinny jeans? Either way you made me laugh. If you happen to see this please DM me. 

-AKA cool guy vibes vs. mean boy with a mullet. No one wins this one. 

-The first rule of Olive Garden is you don’t talk about Olive Garden. 

-Do I dare touch this one? She might make a passive aggressive IG reel about me. Relax, relax. I’M KIDDING. I actually see both sides to this. Brit is the wife of a rider who has been in the game for a while. She’s seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I like #11. Always have. BUT Chase is also a rider that is giving it all he’s got. There is a lot at stake. I can only imagine how gnarly it gets out there on the track. If there is one thing I hate about moto social media, it’s that racers feel like they have to explain themselves for what goes on out there. It’s racing y’all. Sometimes we don’t need to know the dirty details. As fans we should be okay with that. Overall, it seems like the dust has settled so I send nothing but love to these two. All is fair in love and moto. 

-Nashville was unreal. The people I got to hang with were amazing. It still tops as my #1 SX experience. Special shout out to Dylan Jackson. Next time Nashy rolls around we are absolutely going (more) feral.

Slaw’s Rankings:

I went with riders as Troy and Ginger had a lot of the same points already. Let’s dive in!

  • Justin Hill was a cop two years ago. Now he’s back on the podium.
  • Josh Hill was headed to the PulpMX race early in the season and then totally turned things around.
  • I didn’t think Har Dog would make many main this year. He made a lot and should have won ROY.
  • Who had Max Anstie winning races in SX and getting third in points? No one. That’s who.
  • What a year for the privateer.
  • Dude has a FULL-TIME job doing real stuff and still making mains.
  • I didn’t even know Hicks would race SX this year (he won an AX title) and he made mains on a 250 AND 450!
  • Give Kelley a factory ride!
  • Zombie Blose never dies!
  • Enzo put Brazil on the map.

Main image: Feld Motor Sports

Written by Slaw Dog

Just a dog trying to find my special bun.

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