Sailun Tire Presents The Monday Gate Drop

Good day, and welcome to another edition of the Monday Gate Drop. Sailun Tire is your one-stop shop for car and truck tires as they offer all types of tread patterns and styles of tires. If you require a new set of tires for your car, SUV, and or truck, please visit www.sailuntire.ca

Well, let’s start with some Canadian moto news and the final three rounds of the 2022 Future West AX Championships. The entire Future West crew should be applauded and congratulated for pulling off this series. Right from the onset, they faced numerous hurdles from Covid-19 restrictions to Mother Nature wreaking her havoc, but they got it done this past weekend with spring-like weather outside and once again exciting racing inside. From Brock Hoyer winning the Pro Open title, to Ryan Lockhart winning some main events this past weekend, to off-road legend Trystan Hart making an appearance earlier in the series, to all of the riders who participated, it was an incredible AX series and now it’s time to think about the upcoming Future West MX Championships. I believe the schedule will be released this week or next week.

From AX in British Columbia, we move to SX this past weekend in Anaheim. The final Anaheim round is always a bitter-sweet one as on one hand, it’s sad to leave Angel Stadium for another year, but on the other hand, most of the riders and teams are excited to depart California for the east coast. If you’re a SX fan and you wanted to meet some of your favourite riders then all you had to do yesterday was go to either Ontario International Airport or San Diego International Airport and you would’ve seen most getting ready to fly east. It’s always exciting when the Monster Energy SX Series heads east as not only does it mark the beginning of the 250SX East Series, but it also sometimes gives the riders in the 450SX class a reset. God knows some of them need one!

On Saturday evening in Anaheim, we once again witnessed some great racing as the riders battled each other as well as the treacherous whoop section. I’m sure you all felt the same while watching at home but I couldn’t believe how many riders the whoop section claimed at Anaheim 3. They were long, deep, slippery, and by the time the main events came around they were almost unrideable. I don’t think you’ll see a section like that for the rest of the series as you cannot have that many riders crashing and not do something about it. Even the Anaheim 3 winners in both classes had some moments during their main events. In the end, Christian Craig rode smooth and smart and took the victory in the 250SX West class. He now enjoys a 28 point lead heading into their five-week break. Also, after all of the drama from last weekend how interesting was it that Vince Friese came away with a second-place finish? Vince definitely knows how to ride and if he could somehow find a way to stop doing what he did last weekend then I think more people would be pumped with his results. But I honestly don’t think anyone cares anymore and for every good moment, it’s sadly overshadowed by moments like what we witnessed in Glendale.

With the track at its worst and the knowledge of what just went down in the 250SX West main event, the gate dropped for the final race of the evening. Jason Anderson got a great jump and lead the field not only into the first turn but out of it as well. As the riders entered Turn 2, Anderson led, Tomac has snuck into second, and with that, the stage was set for a great race as the two fastest riders of the 2022 Monster Energy Supercross thus far were out front. Unfortunately, after being somewhat tentative through the first turn Ken Roczen’s woes continued as he got pushed off the track by Malcolm Stewart, hit a Tuff block, and went down. On a track where Roczen’s cerebral riding could have benefited him, he was down and out before the main event was two turns old. Anyway, more on Roczen and Cooper Webb in a minute. For the opening few laps Anderson led with Tomac all over him and looking for a place to pass. At first, it appeared like it was just a matter of time as Tomac was faster in the treacherous whoop section. However, in a brilliant move Anderson changed up his line in the whoops moving more to the left side and that forced Tomac to move to the right side. This small adjustment was all Anderson needed as he then inched away from the 450SX points leader. In the second half of the main event, I got the feeling that Tomac had a little more in the tank and possibly could’ve made a run at Anderson. But that would’ve involved Tomac hanging it out a little and completely sending it through the whoops and to his credit that wasn’t something he wanted to do. Not on this track and not at Round 6 of a 17 race series. There was just no need for Tomac to push beyond his comfort zone and he wisely settled for second. Anderson was riding smooth upfront and although he got a little out of shape in the whoops a few times, he pretty much had the race under control from start to finish.

As a few people, including myself, have pointed out in recent weeks, it’s going to be very interesting to see what happens when the 450SX Series heads east to softer tracks. Although the track crews have done a much better job in recent years of drying out the dirt in cities like Minneapolis, Detroit, and Indianapolis, the tracks will still be much different than what the riders have seen in the opening six rounds. Will Anderson still be able to throw his new KX450 around as he rides the wheels off of it? Will Eli Tomac’s Yamaha still feel light and nimble in the deeper ruts of the Daytona SX track? Also, and to me, this is the most important question, can Cooper Webb flip the switch and all of a sudden find the confidence and speed that has won him two of the past three Monster Energy Supercross Championships?

Jason Anderson: This will be an intriguing one to watch as he most certainly rides will less precision than the other top riders in the 450SX class. As we’ve witnessed in the opening six rounds Anderson loves to use a lot of track as he slides his KX450 around and finds traction where few others can’t. On certain east tracks, he won’t be able to do this as the ruts will make Anderson have to ride more linear. I think he can do it as he’s done before and with the amount of time he’s spent riding in Florida in the past five years, he should be able to adjust. Also, Anderson and his team appear to be in a really good place with the 2022 KX450SR so together they should be able to find some settings to counter act the additional traction of the eastern tracks. Finally, as any rider knows, confidence is a wonderful thing and it can make up for deficiencies in other areas. Right now Anderson is the most confident rider in the field so that alone might be able to take home some more wins in east.

Eli Tomac: Even though the YZ450F has come a long way in recent years we’ve still seen this bike excel on harder packed tracks yet struggle on soft and rutted tracks. There could be a few reasons for this including, the overall weight of the bike, as well as the type of tracks where most of the pre-season testing was done. Coming into this season it appears that not only has the Star Racing Yamaha Team worked hard to get the weight down on Tomac’s bike, but also with their HQ now being at the Goat Farm in Florida, I’m sure Tomac and his team have done plenty of testing on rutted and soft tracks. If I had to pick which rider will be able to adapt better to the east tracks I’d have to say Tomac right now. After watching him ride through the first six rounds he just looks comfortable, motivated, and given his experience, he’ll be better at managing races moving forward. Even though Anderson has been fast, Sexton has been fast at times, and I’m sure Ferrnadis and Webb will come around, this just looks like it will be Tomac’s year. God, he even looks like he’s having fun which is something we’ve rarely seen.

Cooper Webb: I feel like we all can agree that given the high bar that Webb has set during the past few seasons, so far in 2022 he’s been awful. Not only has he and his KTM 450SX-FE looked at odds with almost all of the tracks in the first six rounds, but we haven’t seen the usual fight and racecraft that we’re used to seeing from Webb. Now is it all his bike and the lack of comfort that Webb feels with it? Are the hard and slippery tracks of the west coast rounds responsible for making Webb tentative? Or is it a combination of the two that has led to a real lack of confidence for last year’s SX Champion? I suppose only time will tell as in the next month we shall see if Webb can turn it around or not. Points wise he’s not out of it yet as one win paired with a bad round from Tomac and Anderson puts Webb right back in this championship chase. But, honestly, it looks like something is really bugging Webb and it could stem from him abandoning the Aldon Baker and his Baker’s Factory Training Facility. As much as Webb hated the grind of his off-season being spent in Florida and at the Baker’s Factory Bootcamp, it’s hard to argue with its effectiveness. Before signing with the Red Bull Factory KTM Team and training with Aldon prior to the 2019 season, Webb finished 9th overall in the 2018 450SX Series and 8th in the 2017 450SX Series. Currently, he’s 6th in the 450SX Series and has finished 8th overall in the past three races. To me, this appears to be a larger issue than just poor bike set-up as these guys are good enough to race around a motorcycle that isn’t quite 100%. Yeah, maybe Webb can’t run the pace of Anderson or Tomac right now, but he sure doesn’t start in 7th and then just sit there as he did on Saturday night. My opinion is that while Webb’s new KTM may be a work in progress, I don’t think he’s as fit as he has been in the last three seasons and the confidence he drew from the hard training days at the Baker’s Factory simply isn’t there. I believe that Webb is the type of rider that only gets better as the race goes on and he’s able to find lines and adapt to deteriorating conditions better than perhaps any rider in the history of our sport. However, the catch is that to excel in the second half of a main event, you have to be fitter than all of the other riders. Right now, it doesn’t appear to be that way and Webb isn’t able to use these god-given strengths to his advantage. As I said, this all could be related to the type of tracks in the opening six rounds, and everything could improve for Webb once he gets out of the Pacific time zone. Only time will allow us to shed light on this riddle!

Another name that I didn’t mention before is Ken Roczen. Right now Kenny is a mystery as he’s not only riding poorly but he also doesn’t look like he wants to fix anything. After winning the opening round Roczen hasn’t done much and on Saturday he was downright terrible. In recent weeks many have speculated that his best days are over or that he might even be done sooner than later. I’m not sure what is going on with him and from the people I’ve spoken to they don’t know either. Roczen could be feeling a little like Webb is in that he’s not comfortable on these hard-packed and slippery tracks (I’m sure his hard crash in the whoops at Oakland didn’t help) and he’s waiting for the softer east rounds? I personally think it’s a few things including some bike issues as well as some mind and body issues. As I said, he had a hard crash in the whoops at Round 2 when he swapped to the ground and then got hit in the helmet by his teammate. I’m sure that took some wind out of his sails. Also, his crash in the sand with Anderson two weeks ago couldn’t have felt very good either. Finally, as Kris Keefer reported this weekend, Kenny has changed triple clamps on his HRC CRF450R and has now gone with the same setup as his teammate Sexton. So it’s clear that he’s looking for something with his bike that so far hasn’t been there. If you add all of those things up then you get Ken Roczen battling for a tenth place finish as we saw at Anaheim 3. Right now I feel like he’s a beaten-up rider with a confidence problem and he needs a spark. A top-five finish this coming weekend in Minneapolis, then a podium in Dallas followed by a win in Daytona could get Roczen back on track and back into this championship battle. Roczen isn’t done quite yet but he needs to find a way to once again dig himself out of a hole.

Well, that is it for me this week. Happy Valentine’s Day to all of the couples out there and I hope everyone has a great week. Finally, good luck to our Canadian riders in Minneapolis this weekend. The 250SX East class isn’t going to be easy for them but it’s sure going to be fun watching Tanner Ward, Guillaume St-Cyr, and Julien Benek racing this weekend. For Ward and Benek, this will be their first-ever Monster Energy Supercross race so how exciting is that. Thank you for reading!