SLC 7: The Final Gate Drop

The Post-Covid19 2nd half of the season has come to an end. Here is my analysis and race report. Hold onto your handlebars.

(Full disclosure: These are the drunken notes I furiously typed out in between races. Positions, especially early in the race, may be off. HODL.)

250 East Heat Race

I’m in Shallow Waters watching this one ThrottleSquad. Colt Nichols got out front with Shane McElrath in 2nd. Chase was maybe 5th/6th and dropped back to 9th after having an incident with his teammate Jo Shimoda. Chase had Taylor Swift’s "Style" cranked to 11 in his earbuds as he charged through the pack with throttle swag and a nice triple-triple that only he was doing.

He had the pace to pass Colt and almost made it happen before the triple. Then, he did the aforementioned triple-triple combo to try to get past Colt. Colt decided to get landed on. Yolo.

Ricky thought it was Chase’s fault. I tend to disagree. If you’re that slow, don’t get landed on. HODL.

I was surprised Colt went that far inside. Chase clipped his bars and they both went down. Chase got up and still got second. Colt was salty about Chase catching him from 9th and sulked his way to a 9th place.

 Things are Real already. I’m loving this shit.

250 West Heat Race

Austin got maybe a 6th place start. 2nd turn or so, Ferrandis got balled up in the corner and went down. He managed to charge from maybe 18th/20th to 10th, one spot shy. Another lap or so and he would have had a transfer to the main. Shit just got really real. Ferrandis is in the LCQ. C’est pal bon pour gagner le championship. C’est la verité.

Forkner passed Mosiman in the corner late in the race for third. Austin caught up to Honda’s Craig on the last lap. He tried to make the pass and they both couldn’t jump the triple so Mosiman screamed “triple” and went inside on Forkner, who then immediately retaliated and put Mosiman off the track. Forkner managed to stay in third. If Mosiman can, I’m sure he’s going hard at Forker in the Main. And Justin Cooper won by the way. With the way things are going so far, he has a real chance of taking it now with all the craziness that’s already happened.

I thought an hour ago that Chase, Dylan, and Eli would win the titles. With the way things are going now, I wouldn’t be surprised if none of them walked away today with a title. YOLOSQUAD.

250 LCQ

50% of the time I don’t even watch these but mon ami Dylan is ready to go for it. 2nd then first after the 2nd turn and then he checked out. Pierce Brown took a hard slam in the woops and Hunter Lawrence didn’t make the Main. He’ll be watching his little bro from the truck. Let’s see where Dylan is lined up in the Mains…

450 Heat Race 1

Broc Tickle got the holeshot but Davalos was riding well and got into first. Anderson moved up quickly, got into 2nd, passed Davalos, and checked out. Where has this Andersen been all year? 2018 Champ is using the 2-years-ago machine to get his El Hombre groove back.

 Cooper was able to twist his throttle from 6th to 2nd and secure a good gate pick for the Main. So, you’re saying he has a chance?

450 Heat Race 2

Roczen was 1st/2nd after the first turn and got into first by the first straight away. He led until the checkers but didn’t really check out. Osborne got behind him and kept him honest until the last lap. A lapper seemed to allow Osborne to close up with a few straights to go but he couldn’t get the pass made. Tomac was in 5th following Barcia for quite a while. They then both got by Bagget when he made a mistake. Barcia cased a jump badly and went off the track which allowed Eli to get into third.

The more I drink, the worse my play-by-play reporting and accuracy get. I’ve had a Depth Charge and a few Shallow Waters. Rocked frozen pizza from home because FederalHills doesn’t open until 4pm, bummer. At least I still have beer. HODL.

450 LCQ

During this, I was munchin’ on organic chia and corn tortilla chips and guac while sipping beer and forecasting future Crypto prices. 4 additional riders made it to the main.

250 Finals

McElrath got the holeshot and Austin slotted into second. Chase and Dylan started maybe 10th and 12th. Sexton was in 7th and Dylan 9th after lap one and were moving their way up when Austin went OTB and slammed hard which caused the race to be red flagged.

Austin has taken himself out twice in the last round when it counted. It doesn’t seem to me that he can handle it when the pressure is on…

250 Finals Restart

Jett got the holeshot and Shane was in 2nd followed by Sexton. Maybe I had too many DepthCharges because I thought Ferrandis and Jett were banging back and forth…but it was actually McElrath. McElrath bumped him in the corner to end that bout.

While that was happening, Chase snuck by both of them to take the lead. They played a little cat and mouse, Chase was in 1st and let Shane go by after a lap or so to avoid taking a shot. Then, Shane checked up knowing he needed to make something happen. As 3rd and 4th caught up to them, Chase retook the lead and bolted.

Shane was never able to catch his back wheel as Chase got seconds up on 2nd, then over 6 seconds on 2nd. He cruised to the win. Dylan was cruising around 5th/6th and then was about to get into third when he made a mistake and slid out. He then just played it safe and cruised to a 4th place.

Congrats to Chase and Dylan. It’ll be interesting to see if/what 450 ride Shane ends up with and what Austin’s plans are for 2021. Jett looks to be going yolo in 2021. I see him getting a lot of podiums and maybe some wins as well. I just hope Jett settles it down or I also see him slamming a lot à la Bubba Stewart or Forker.

450 Finals

Dean Wilson took the lead and soon afterwards he was followed by Anderson and Osborne, Huskies/Husqis going 1-2-3. Tomac was around 8th and Cooper 10th. Anderson then passed Wilson for the lead and Osborne slid into 2nd a little later with Dean dropping to third.

Anderson seatbounced his seat right off his bike and that seems to slow El Hombre down a little. Osborne snuck by and took his first 450 Main Event Win. Tomac slotted up to 5th or so and secured his first 450 Supercross Title. Cooper came in 2nd and Roczen ended up third in the championship. YOLOSQADRON.