Start to Finish Position Analysis Rounds 1-12

Josh Hill - 3rd in points: Wow, riding injured makes a HUGE difference. Amazingly, throughout the first eight races Hill held onto or improved his position at the end of the first lap in every race. Since then however, he's unfortunately gone backwards in three out of the last four.



Davi Millsaps - 4th in points: Super interesting. Millsaps is actually the only rider in the top eight whose average finish position is actually worse, than his average end of lap one position. In fact, Davi has gone backwards in half the races so far this year. He's also the only other rider besides RV, RD and JS to actually win a 450 main event so far this year.

Kevin Windham - 5th in points: K-Dub has the largest dispersion in his individual race difference values. He's had several races where he's really moved forward (Anaheim II, Toronto and Dallas), but then also a couple or races where he's fallen backward quite a bit (San Diego and Atlanta). One thing is for sure though, K-Dub isn't just riding around in the main events where ever he starts in order to collect a paycheck this season, like so many have accused him of in the past.




Justin Brayton - 6th in points: After a bit of a wobbly start, Brayton has been solid so far this season. In fact, since Anaheim II he has been able to hold onto or improve his end of lap one position in every race except for Daytona, where I think he had a crash. It does seem though, that Brayton could improve upon his starts. He's only started as high as 5th in two out the 12 races so far this year.

Tedesco - 7th in points: Although IT's finishes have been pretty erratic and inconsistent so far this year, he has generally been a rider moving forward during the main events. In fact, and exactly like Josh Hill, IT held onto and improved his end of lap one positions in every one of the first eight races. Since then however, and again just like Hill, IT has slipped backwards in three out of the last four races. Maybe Ivan has been riding hurt this past month and is one of those riders who likes to hide or not talk about his injuries???



Nick Wey - 8th in points: Maybe factory bikes really do make a difference. While not day and night dramatic, Wey's overall average finishes did tick up an average of almost three full positions when he was riding Reed's idle bike.

Okay, last one. Although currently not in the top eight, I couldn't resist and also ran a quick analysis on Trey Canard's brief, but incredibly successful, stint on the Factory Honda 450.

Trey Canard: Like almost every other rider in the top eight in points this season, Trey finishes the races on average in a better position than he comes around in at the end of lap one. What's even more impressive is that with the exception of Indianapolis, his starts have been pretty good too so that means that Trey's passes are coming against some of the bigger, more established names in the sport (i.e. he's not moving from 20th to 12th in the main events).

ayearinmx,

Dang, sorry man. I didn't know that you were compiling all of these stats already. This is great!

I like how you go all the way down through the pack. Anchors and chargers...that's awesome. -Neil

loftyair,

You're absolutely right. I only put this stuff together for fun, and to give us all something to chew on and bicker back and forth over, during these next two weeks.

I think your point about stats being potentially deceiving would be especially apt in the case of a rider like Mike Alessi. Without having done any analysis on his supercross results from last season at all, I'd be willing to bet he has a relatively large and negative difference value between his average end of first lap position and his average overall finish position. Yet, we all know MA is an awesome rider and brings a ton of on-track publicity and exposure to his sponsors in supercross. He just happens to be an amazing starter and I would bet, has the lowest average end of lap one position of any other rider by far.

Thanks for the comments everyone. -Neil