Marvin Musquin saw the opportunity and seized it at A1. Feature photo by: Simon Cudby
“Cooksey’s Hard Truth” presented by Scott Sports is a weekly editorial written by Chris Cooksey. Throughout the year, Chris will be diving in and out of controversial subjects and bringing you his hard truth about the racing and the riders from around the world of Supercross and Motocross.
In reflecting on the events of last Saturday night, the big story going in was Ken Roczen’s return, but Roczen’s feel good story was overshadowed by the implosion of Eli Tomac who crashed while leading the Main event. Early in the Main event, Eli had gapped the field and looked like he was going to cruise to an easy win. Then, like a bolt of lightning, Eli was struck down. The section that took Eli down was tricky and had gotten a couple of riders earlier in the night—my favorite tall man of MX/SX Benny Bloss endo-ed there in the LCQ—so it’s not an unforgivable mistake by Eli.
What followed was bizarre; Eli remounted quickly, but his bike was noticeably twisted. I still thought he could salvage a top ten finish. Then, without warning, he stopped on the track and adjusted his pants. Then shortly after pulled off and headed for the pits. The instant reaction was that he pulled off because his pants had broken the buckle. In reality, what I am hearing is it’s another shoulder injury for Eli. Let’s not forget, two years ago he had double shoulder surgery. Hopefully everything checks out and we see Eli at Houston. We shall see.
The saying “you win your championships on your on your bad days” rang through my head as Ken Roczen methodically worked up through the pack to a 4th place finish. Ken looked conservative all day and that continued into the main event. Unlike his aggressive Instagram posts, he looked smart and rode a purposed ride. Compared to the version of Roczen we saw last year, he looked more under control, which might be a strength throughout the long series. Ryan Dungey won the last three championships with this strategy, so while Roczen didn’t win A1, he definitely didn’t lose the series. I have been taking heat for my preseason betting line from my buddy Jason “JT$” Thomas. He insisted Tomac had to be the favorite, but I disagreed. I never could have predicted what happened last Saturday Night, but Eli Tomac has shown he is mentally weak and that’s a liability in a tight championship.
The surprise of the night was Justin Barcia who essentially saved his career. That might seem like an overreaction, but when a fill-in rider is only signed for six races and the guy he is replacing has no intentions or returning to the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross series, his career is on life support. Well, Justin’s career just woke up and will likely be released from the hospital later this week. Justin was probably the happiest guy in the post race press conference. Sometimes the guys who attend post race pressers week in and week out seem annoyed by the extra attention, but Barcia was clearly savoring the moment. He stayed in the press room until darn near everyone left–reporters included.
The great finish from Barcia couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment for Yamaha. Their golden child Cooper Webb still doesn’t have a handle on the YZ450F, even with the new chassis. In the pre-race press conference he said he was looking forward to “humbling” some people. Was he referring to his fans? Did he want them to lower their expectations (sarcasm)? Had Barcia not performed like he did on the new YZ450F, message boards everywhere would blaming the bike. Cooper had a moment in his heat race where he got dirty with Roczen and I couldn’t help but think back to their Instagram beef (TMZ update: Cooper is dating Roczen’s ex girlfriend). Cooper should focus on getting better results rather than blaming bikes or worrying about social media beefs.
Thanks to Shane McElrath the 250 main event was relatively boring. His riding is on point at Anaheim Stadium. Like last year, he opened the season right. Myself and many others had overlooked him with Adam Cianciarulo coming from the East and defending champion Justin Hill on his new JGR Suzuki.
The post race press conference was actually more entertaining than the race itself. Cianciarulo seemed to be using this as open mic night. His dry sense of humor is really refreshing. He represents everything that is good about Supercross. On the other end of the spectrum, Justin Hill had a disappointing night but handled himself with the class of a champion. Hill showed up to the media scrum and stayed until the end, answering tough questions and promoting his sponsors. His talent and class off the track won’t overcome the outdated Suzuki he is riding though. If it seems like I am giving too much love to the 250 guys and their professionalism, there is always Joey Savatgy. At the media scrum after the press conference riders are supposed to hang around for 20 minutes. Joey promptly said hello/goodbye and headed for the elevator. I’m not sure if he did a single interview. I understand guys are tired and might not want to be there, but this is for their money paying sponsors and fans. Unfortunately it’s part of their job, and while most riders understand their obligations, Joey clearly doesn’t. Joey better start winning because that’s the only way this behavior gets overlooked.u
Last but not least, Chad Reed made me eat my words. I said during the practice report that he wouldn’t be able to race, but I was dead wrong. That was the guttiest 15th place finish I have ever seen. He is clearly hurt and hasn’t ridden much leading up to the race. I expected a half ass effort from him because simply showing up should have been enough to satisfy his current sponsor obligations. In true Chad Reed fashion, he still found a way to make me eat my words and be impressed. I expect about 4-6 weeks into the season he will be mixing it up near the front.
Now on to Houston. We have 16 more races so what we know now could be completely different in May.
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