FXR Racing Presents The Mid-Week Report With Andy White

Every year we sit and anxiously wait for A1 after we have been starved of it for so long. This year was one supercross debut that didn’t disappoint. The media pumps the riders and the teams up; the fans bench race and play fantasy motocross leagues; the pros flood their social media with teasers; then you ad all the drama on the track. The producers of the series must have been high-fiving each other on  all the action that went down this round. Ok, I know what Weston Peick did to Vince Friese was wrong. Did any of you turn the TV off or say OMG poor Vince? I didn’t think so. If Weston had shoved Vince out of the way and maybe whispered to him, “I am going to look for you after the race”, he wouldn’t have been fined or suspended for San Diego this weekend. Punching Vince in the head was not a good move. Weston could have broken his hand! I read a great article written by Jason Thomas today on the whole matter and I thought he nailed it. Vince is actually a really good, fast rider. If he kept his nose clean he would have solid results. I was involved with in a year-long battle with Vince when he made it his mission to make Kaven Benoit’s life miserable. It all started after round one in Kamloops. Vince knew Benoit was the guy to beat if he was going to win the series. It was pretty intense, week in, weekend out. Benoit didn’t grow up racing with a guy like Vince in his rear view mirror and this was all new to the friendly French Canadian. Each round Friese and his team would try to play head games with riders. Now I am sure it works on some riders. I remember at the Quebec round a few ex-Canadian national champions were giving their opinion on what they would do. I heard one of them say, “Back when I had a problem with a rider, you didn’t wait for the association to deal with it, you took it in to your own hands!” I think we all know what that meant. That was the way of racing in the 80’s and 90’s. The video cameras work a lot better today.

As Vince Friese proved in Calgary last summer, he is capable of riding fast and aggressive without crossing the line. In Anaheim, he went way overboard as he battled with Weston Peick. Photo by James Lissimore

I think everyone had their money on Cooper Webb for the win. If you didn’t, you probably crawled out from a rock a few days ago. Coop has been on fire lately and you can tell by his riding style that he has a ton of confidence on his Rockstar Yamaha. Today we have heard news that Jessy Nelson from the TLD/KTM crashed really hard yesterday while testing. Let’s hope he is ok as he is one of only a few riders that can challenge Cooper Webb. How about our lone Canadian rider, Cole Thompson? He looked good for a rider that only had a few days on his race bike. With the weather conditions in California it put a lot of stress on teams to complete their last minute set ups before round 1. In Thompson’s heat race he looked like he had that KTM dialed in. He finished in the top 9 and transferred to the final with a good gate pick on the inside as well. All Cole needed was a good start and he had a good shot of finishing in the top 10. Unfortunately Cole spun off the gate and didn’t get the drive of the start. This put him near the back of the pack and had to face lots of traffic to regain any positions. A few turns later a fallen rider blocked Cole’s line and that was it for a top 10. I am sure Cole will be putting in the hours this week preparing for San Diego.

For his first SX in almost two years, Cole Thompson rode great at Anaheim 1 and will no doubt be stronger this weekend in San Diego. Photo by Frank Hoppen

Watching the final 450 race, I was thinking, man some riders have done their home work and some sure haven’t. I was super impressed with Jason Anderson. He started around 8th and worked his way up to the front and pulled away. That’s one rider that was prepared for A1. Of course Ryan Dungey looked like he has not forgotten how to ride. I was quite impressed with Chad Reed too. I think most people had him finishing between 10-15th for the main. Here is my question, how in the world does a guy like Barcia get arm pump at round 1? The dude is one awesome racer. We know he can win races on any type of track. How is it possible that he goes from top 3 and fades to out of the top 10? I also can’t believe that Pourcel had the 2nd fastest practice lap times and then finishes 18th in the main. It’s not like he was up front or anything. I hope he can bounce back for round 2. I know he has not raced supercross for 5 years, but man he has the speed. It’s too bad James Stewart and Dungey had that collision on lap 2. I was hoping James would have a good start to the season after missing all of the 2015 series. Let’s hope he returns soon. He is one awesome rider on two wheels. Already a few heavy hitters out for San Diego but we are still anticipating another action packed weekend. We will catch you guys after round two to see where the cards fall in San Diego.

It will be very interesting to see if Jason Anderson can build on his success in Anaheim and continue his winning ways. He definitely made his win look very easy at round 1. Photo by James Lissimore