Cole Martinez is one confidence building finish away from breaking through. Photo by: Hoppenworld
The Dark Horse is a weekly column by MotoXAddicts contributor Nolan MacDonald that elaborates on the riders who can surprise you and emerge to prominence when you least expect it. Some may be well known while others have never been heard of. To be recognized as a dark horse, a rider doesn’t have to win but rather perform above expectations.
After an eventful weekend in Phoenix, Arizona at Chase Field for the second round of the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, it appears we have solved a few puzzles to the Championship chase.
It appears, after two rounds, that we have Troy Lee/KTM’s Jessy Nelson as a Championship contender in the 250SX west class. With his first career win at the Anaheim SX and now a solid third place at the Phoenix SX, Jessy looks like a front-runner for a 250SX class as he leads the points heading back into Anaheim.
In the 450SX class, RCH/Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/Suzuki’s Ken Roczen went to Phoenix with the red plate, but was ultimately topped by longtime rival, GEICO/Honda’s Eli Tomac. Tomac was the fastest in Anaheim, but mistakes led to subpar results while Roczen pulled out with a victory. Come Phoenix, the GEICO Honda rider is now finally on top and has a lot of making up to do as these two look to battle it out for the Championship.
This writer is particularly pleased to say that, as Phoenix rolled around, my choice for Eli Tomac as the “Dark Horse” had worked out. However, in the 250SX class, MotoSport/Team100/Kawasaki’s Josh Hansen did not come out the way he had in Anaheim. All the puzzle pieces the Motosport/Kawasaki rider needed had been improved, including faster lap times and better qualifying, but the start was not the same for Hansen this week leading to a 13th place finish rather than the 6th overall we had predicted. Hopefully, things will turn up for Hansen in the next few weeks.
For this week, our Dark Horses hopefully will take a turn in their results, as we dig deeper into the results and truly choose some competitors who can break out of the dark abyss with some hard work and good luck.
One major factor that weighs on my mind is lap times. With the tendency for some of these riders to drop fast lap times and drop back rather than progress forward definitely can be a sign of bad luck or inconsistency. For other riders, dropping that quick lap in the back of the pack shows their ability to pick new lines, progress through traffic and make their way to the front of the pack. This sole factor has put a big weight on my 250SX class Dark Horse for the week: Strikt Slaton Yamaha’s Cole Martinez. Cole had finished 20th in the opening round of the year with his lap times justifying his finish. As Cole went into the main event, his speed did not hold up with the other racers as he was the 19th fastest rider on the track. Coming into this week, Cole had surely improved but not until the night show. Martinez qualified in the 20’s for practice and made his way into the heats. Unfortunately, Martinez did not have the heat he wanted with a 19th and a trip to the LCQ. But, if we all look at his lap times, he had a lap time that could place him into a transfer spot with consistency and a good start. Cole did just that in the LCQ, putting himself into the main. In the main event, Cole handled his consistency well, and at the end of the 15-lap main event, he grabbed himself a solid 14th place. The Strikt Slaton Racing rider has surely put his lap times on the board, but in coming weeks can Martinez continue to keep the consistency? As Anaheim II approaches, I look for Cole to grab himself another solid top 15—hopefully while staying out of the last chance qualifier.
For the 450SX class, this year has been quite possibly the most stacked field ever. Even with Yoshimura/Suzuki’s James Stewart and Monster/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto out of the picture, it appears that none of the top 22 riders in the main event even appear to be dark horses but are possible top 5 riders or have been at some point in their career. Lately, I have been watching Discount Tire/Two-Two Motorsports/Kawasaki’s Josh Grant, the TwoTwo motorsports rider out of California. Honestly, I have been watching Grant his whole career, and the once 450SX class race winner has seemingly disappeared over the past weeks in his results. Yet he remains on the board with fast laps. Regardless of where Grant has finished, his lap times stand with the top riders. Just in the past week, Josh finished 17th out of 22 riders, but he had posted a lap faster than 7th place finisher BTO Sports/KTM’s Andrew Short. It appears Grant has the speed, but he needs to put it all together to come back out of the woodworks. With a combined factor of consistent laps and a good start, Grant can be back out in the top 10. Josh needs to continue working on his magic formula and try to get a strong top 15 and move forward from there. The class for this year may be filled with talent, but Grant still has plenty of it left in him.
As we finish up our highlights from Phoenix and move forward to a trip back to Anaheim, the Dark Horses really need to have a good week and focus throughout Saturday night to put themselves where they deserve to be. Good starts and strong consistent races are the keys to prosperity for this week, and they are fully capable of doing just that.
