Minneapolis Supercross - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

A win to start out the championship is exactly what the doctor ordered for Joey Savatgy. He rode smart and claimed the victory without big any mistakes or problems. What's crazy is that Joey said he wasn't really feeling the track and seemed a little off all day–and he was still able to win the race! If he's able to win when he isn't feeling comfortable, the field may be in some serious trouble when he actually likes the track. On the flip side, Zach Osborne was closing pretty quickly until he went down and could be a serious threat to Joey's championship hopes. The title fight will become a little more clear after Atlanta, but if Minneapolis is any indication, we could be in for quite an entertaining championship series.

Oh, what could have been... Christian looked fantastic during his heat race and was my pick for the win before the main event got underway. But unfortunately, a bad start and carnage in the first couple of turns dashed his hopes of a win. Even worse, a crash during the race made the night even tougher for him. In the end he was able to salvage a 12th-place finish, but that doesn't bode well for him in a very short 250 championship. Could he come back and win the title? Yes, but he's going to have to be on the podium every round for the remainder of the championship. One more big mistake or one more finish outside the top ten, and his championship bid will be over before it really even started. Barring another terrible start, I fully expect for Christian and Jagger to be up on the podium in Atlanta.

The Supercross Gods don't seem to be fans of the Martin brothers, do they? Jeremy has had a very weird 250 West campaign, and Alex's 250 East championship didn't start out the way he would have liked. He crashed in the very first turn of the race and got up around last place, and then he crashed again a couple of laps in and called it a night. The DNF left him with a 22nd-place finish and one point towards the championship, and just like that he's 24 points down. That's not good folks... And I hate to say it, but I honestly don't think Alex has a shot at coming back and winning this title now. He would not only need to win several races, but the top three or four guys in the championship would have to have issues as well. I just don't see it happening, and it's a bummer because Alex definitely looked like he was going to be a threat for this title. Darn. Well, at least Alex can go all out for wins now.

Davi has been having a great season. He hasn't been winning or on the podium, but he has been consistently within the top ten, and a top five threat. He's also won a couple of heat races which I'm sure the team is pretty pumped about. At the end of the day he's healthy, he's fit, and he's earning a decent living riding for a great team. He's in a really good spot right now, and I hope he can keep the ball rolling.

Chad's weird season got weirder in Minneapolis as he ended up finishing in 16th position. Like I said, it's been a weird season for Chad. Mechanical issues at A1, a couple of mediocre finishes, a great ride at Phoenix, more issues at Arlington, and then a couple of crashes this past weekend in Minneapolis. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that he's probably not super-pumped on how the season has been going. He wants to win or at least be on the podium every weekend, and so far he's only been able to get on the podium once. As far as I know he hasn't signed a deal for 2018 yet, but I doubt that these finishes will have a serious impact on that as I fully expect for him to be back on blue next year. Nonetheless, nothing motivates Chad more than a bad season, and he could still turn it around and hit the podium several times before the end–and perhaps get his first win in two years. One thing's for sure: it'll be very interesting to see how he does over the next few weeks.

Cooper Webb has been getting better every week for a while now and looked like he could grab the first win of his career very soon. So I was pretty bummed out when he went down pretty hard on his shoulder during his heat race. I immediately thought that was it for a good chunk of the season due to how hard the hit was. Luckily, that might not be the case as the team is hopeful that he'll be able to return to racing soon. Cooper has even posted on Instagram that it doesn't look like the injury is serious. Hopefully he's right, and we get to see him back behind the gate sooner rather than later.