FXR Racing Presents Andy White’s Mid-Week Report

Here we are down to the wire with only four rounds remaining. Indy Supercross has always been ranked high in my books and last weekend’s supercross was probably the best race I have seen in a long, long time. I know I sound like a broken record when I say it, but things just keep getting better; this week’s race was incredible. The track was chewed up and extremely rutty, and the face of the jumps looked like we were at a sand track. It’s a good thing the track workers repaired the track a few times during the night because if they had left the track in that condition, we would have had way more crashes than what we saw. You also don’t want to add anymore riders to the injured list this year. I heard that Indy has hosted the Supercross in their city for the past 25 years straight. This weekend’s race counted in at just over 60,000 fans. That is a solid moto city.

Sadly in Indianapolis the James Stewart saga continued. Photo by Frank Hoppen

So remind me, James Stewart was in Indy correct? I thought I saw his name on the entry list and in practice. You know, his lap times looked really good but I guess when it came to race time, James didn’t feel 100%. The word floating around was a foot injury/sprained ankle. Is this the future of James in 2016? It appears that he has put on a few pounds from sitting around the past year because of his penalty for doping. Is his fire burned out? Is the drive to win gone? I’m not sure anyone really knows right now but I hope we see the real James back on his Suzuki soon. Another rider that I thought we would see improving was Barcia. Is he still injured or is he struggling with set up? I am sure Justin is looking forward to the outdoors, and I think Tomac is probably thinking the same thing right now. Tomac’s only win came at Daytona SX (I call it outdoor/sx track). I am confident that Eli will come out swinging for the outdoors in May, mark my words.

Ryan Dungey just wouldn’t be denied in Indianapolis as he held off a hard charging Ken Roczen to take the win. Photo by Frank Hoppen

The 450 guys this weekend put on one hell of a show. Dungey and Ken were in a class of their own, 30 seconds ahead of Anderson, who finished 3rd overall. Ken looked like he was going to win in Indy, but Ryan had other plans. I think Dungey has another gear in his program that we saw when Ken tried to make a few attempts at passing the champ. I was really impressed that Ken didn’t just roll over and give up, he just kept the pressure on for all 20 laps. I think Roczen will win one of the next three rounds. Finishing fourth for the night was Trey Canard. Finally, Trey looked like the old guy we once knew. I hope he has some momentum on his side or he will be looking for a new ride. How about Blake Baggett? It’s about time the factory Suzuki rider got his team up near the front. Tomac struggled with a ninth for the night and Barcia with a 15th.

After growing up riding in the GNCC’s, Aaron Plessinger felt right at home in the deep ruts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Photo by Frank Hoppen

Now let’s look at the Lites class. I honestly had no clue Plessinger even had the speed to win a supercross. Well, I was sure wrong. He looked right at home on the rutty track and I am guessing with his off-road past and living in Ohio, Aaron had what it takes to win. It was his first ever win and his dance at the race showed he was loving it. Finishing not too far behind was points leader Malcolm Stewart on his Geico Honda. Another surprise podium finish went to Audette on his PC Kawasaki. This was his first race on the powerhouse team of Mitch’s, and boy did he nail it! I am sure the team was on a high after that race. The one rider that I had marked down for the win but failed to finish was Jeremy Martin. I saw the video footage of Jeremy coming up short on a step-on / step-off section. Martin went down hard on the face of a jump and broke the handlebar post of his Yamaha. There is no way you can repair that in time to get back out and finish the race. I am sure Jeremy will bounce back.

I am looking forward to St. Louis this weekend, and don’t forget that it is an afternoon race. Practice starts at 9am. I hope we see some good racing again this weekend because it’s going to be hard to outdo last week. That’s it for this week. See you at the races!