FXR Racing Presents the Mid-Week Report With Andy White

It was another criss-cross from one side of the continent to the other for me this week. It all started last weekend when I flew down to A2 from very cold Winnipeg. The rental car temperature reading said -22°C Friday morning at 5am. Oddly enough it was so early that I don’t really remember it. I guess I must have been pretty tired from a long week of FXR meetings or perhaps was it the late night watching hockey. After landing at LAX it’s wide open from then on out. There is always traffic on HWY 5 through LA and it doesn’t matter what day or time. After working my way to the stadium to meet up with the FXR riders and giving them there new fresh gear for A2, I like to head back to the hotel and relax. Saturday is a long day. The pits open up pretty early so this is a good time to network and talk to the teams and the industry folks. On first sight, the track looked like it was going to give riders problems. The whoops section was absolutely huge. I remember Kris Keefer telling me a while back, “If the riders are riding by the whoops in the first and second practice you know they are psyching the riders out”. Ok most riders, you know, guys like Millsaps and Reed don’t seem to mind the size of the whoops. They make that section look like its just a normal day at the SX track. The guys with 450s had less issues with that section than the ones on 250s. The right hand turn off the start was causing issues all night long too. It makes it pretty hard to brake then turn right in the first turn. Every right hand SX I have witnessed has claimed top riders in the past.

The battle for the lead last weekend between Cooper Webb and Christian Craig was the best we’ve seen so far in 2016. Photo by Frank Hoppen

The 250 final was probably one of the best races I have ever seen. Coop and Craig put on a great show and even better, they didn’t not try to run each other off the track. It was super clean and entertaining. The crowd was going crazy as each ride played cat and mouse. Hats off to Craig for keeping Coop in check for that long. When you play those games it usually means your lap times are not so good. Osborne reeled the leaders in and almost made the move from third to first but Webb was just too fast for anyone to catch him that night. Another solid night for Jimmy Decotis. He didn’t make it to the podium but he looks really good on his Geico Honda. Poor Cole Thomson had a rough day that started with a practice crash. Getting the bars in the face and in the chest will slow you down pretty fast. The next few practices Cole looked better until he went down hard in his heat race. Cole got a MRI on Monday and it looks like there is nothing broken but he is bruised up pretty good. Let’s hope Cole lines up for Oakland this weekend. I was looking at the LCQ and 8 riders didn’t even make it to the LCQ. That tells you that the track took its toll on the riders.

Ryan Dungey was once again picture perfect at the final Anaheim SX of 2016. Photo by Frank hoppen

Once again Ryan Dungey looked rock solid on his KTM 450. I don’t think he made one mistake all day. How about the old guy, Chad Reed putting it on the box again two weeks in a row! Third place went to Ken Roczen on his RMZ450. Ken looked much better this weekend and if only his starts were a little better I think he could easily finish next to Ryan. I feel for Eli Tomac though. He has to be pretty happy with his results. If he hadn’t gone down trying to find a way around Chad, he would have had third all wrapped up. I was impressed with Davi Millsaps. Such a huge improvement from the first 2 rounds. If his fitness was a tad more tuned he would have finished a little better than 7th for the day. I sure hope Trey is going to be ok. Canard looked like he had a rough day. He crashed hard off the start, and then got bumped off the main line by Brayton. Another rider that had a terrible day was Red Bull KTM rider Dean Wilson. Sounds like he might’ve injured the same knee he damaged last year. Dean has been quiet this week so hopefully we’ll hear something real soon. How cool is it that Jake Weimer got the call to replace Broc Tickle with a full on Suzuki ride. I wonder if Grant will get a call soon. There are a few bikes sitting under tents with no one to compete on. Hello TEAM SUZUKI! ANYONE HOME? It must be really strange to show up with the factory semi, set up the awning, pull out the super trick RMZ450, put it on a stand, then sit there all day and not race.

That’s a wrap for this week. Have a great weekend.

The track for this weekends Oakland SX looks like it’s going to provide some very good racing. Also, it appears the James Stewart will be back on the race track for round 4.