AC so far ..

He's over it.  Fight is gone as far as want/willing to risk anymore.  Talking into a mic is way easier, (plus he's pretty damn good at it....), and he has a championship under his belt already.  Name alone kept his gig this time out with a healthy pay cut.  Love the kid, but it isn't going to happen on a grand scale.  Cuss me all you want, and he may snag a win, but long haul, no way.  He is too beat up, and burnt to overcome.  I highly doubt a green bike would renew him at the end of this contract run. 

2 checkered flags in two races, he's doing well.

I disagree.

I think he’s doing great and not making stupid decisions now that he is finally back racing SX.

His goal this season needs to be top 10 overall at the end of the season and HEALTHY. Build up from there.

MX 23 and SX 24 he can go balls out and see what he’s got, but for not just put some solid results up and have a nice healthy season. Shit the guy was leading the Main for some laps and wasn’t lagging, I feel he just knows it’s not smart to go balls out right now.

I hope you're wrong, but yeah, you could be right and I'm not about to argue.

On the other hand, I like Phil's angle and hope that's what it is. Hopefully he's just riding smart and building from a solid base finishing races and showing speed, rather than throwing himself under the bus immediately by going all out, as he has before.

I won't ever discount someone with his kind of speed and if it is the latter then it's a valuable lesson learnt and he'll still be a threat... I'm gonna keep the faith.

No disrespect by any means, sincerely....  But 2 checkered flags at this point in his career shouldn't be an accomplishment.  Kaw has put a SHIT TON into this cat for years.  Snagging 2 checkered flags at this point should be a given, not something to celebrate.  It's time to prove your worth.

If I'm AC, my goal would be to get through the first half the season healthy in the top 10 and work myself into the top 5 in the 2nd half the year.   

I agree with you completely.

Not sure what some of you were watching last night.

But Adam is doing just fine.

Check out his post race comments on swap.

He was leading the race and went backwards and ended up almost 24 seconds down. I'm a fan, but that is pretty bad.

He’s doing great. 2023 should be a building year for him. It takes a long time to get back to peak form. His problem has never been speed, it’s staying on two wheels. So far he’s fixed his problem, he’s riding consistently but not too carefully. That’s a big step forward. 

Right now, being conservative and finishing seems good, smart. Find a new path to the front.

The dude is riding with one arm. He deserves a little slack. 

Seems like he's following the exact intent that he set out with at the beginning of the season. Stay healthy, get finishes, and build a foundation. It's only race 2.

If it was me I would be happy for JA to be team leader and use this to just get back 'into' the rhythm of racing and finishing the whole series and trying to finish top ten in every race - top ten due to amount of factory riders there is.

When riders are getting caught and passed by a suzuki, it's time to hang up the boots

I have absolutely nothing negative to say about AC. This has been good, and he is making gains quickly.

3-5 is probably his ceiling right now imo. 

Some people are bagging on him after two top tens in a pretty stacked field. Within a few points of riders like Ferrandis, Barcia and Anderson seems like a great start to the season. I’m sure he’s stoked to be heading into round 3 healthy. I really like watching him ride; when he’s on he can make it look so easy 

This is his second race in almost 1 year. He said in an interview that he wants to get back to the front by not pushing too soon and injuring him self. 

I thought he looked pretty good in his heat. Wasn't risking it, but wasn't rolling over either.

He’s doing what he needs to to build a base again IMO. 

Log laps and finishes, stay off the ground.

Still has speed. I think he’s on track.

AC is doing just fine.  Armchair quarterbacks and their opinions are worth every penny they get paid.

At his peak he was fighting for podiums.  I wouldn't doubt if he gets there at some point this year. His speed doesn't seem to be quite there compared to where it was.  But if he can stay healthy, confidence should improve, as well results.  

450 class just a different animal. To get a podium you have to have sprint speed for 30mins basically. It takes a special kinda rider to be able to sprint on a track that they've ridden for ~20 mins. not only that but you have to trust your bike setup 100% for the conditions. The only riders that looked comfy sprinting at 100% last night were Tomac, Webb and Jett IMO. Hell Jett didn't even have to sprint to win lol. There might be some tracks upcoming that certain rider gel with more which will be good to see. AC just needs more time IMO

Whoa, there, Bro! 

Week 1, A1…it was a legit challenge to just “stay off the ground” on every lap of that track. The TV didn’t give the ruts or “mush” any sort of realistic representation. That track threw virtually “ALL the Fast Guys” on the ground during the day and all the way to the last checkered flag. Daniel did his damndest to show the track conditions at the end of the night for his recap show…but, the really gnarly stuff was already flattened by the Dirt Wurx crew. It was nasty-crappy dirt. 

Adam’s flaws at A1: he was “trying too hard” far too often over jumped and flew into turns “too hot”. He literally over-rode thru out the entire program. BUT! He would seem to catch himself doing it and do his best to adjust. You could see him doing it…He sort of did a 50/50 thing with over-riding 1/2 the time and over correcting the other 1/2 of the time. There were only a few of the nice and smooth “AC Flow” moments between the start of practice and the end of the main. 

Oakland: getting that “little bit of extra time off” was good for AC…and more than a few other “fast guys”, too. 

San Diego - During the day, you could see Adam trying to stay smooth and fluid. He stayed on top of his timing in the rhythm sections and really went after the whoops with strength and confidence…and, again, he was pretty damn smooth…everywhere. When exiting the whoops into the finish-line turn…especially during “a heater” (a fast lap attempt)…A LOT of guys got into trouble exiting the whoops and kinda flailed thru that last turn…Adam was one of the 1st guys to look for a different “exit plan” where he could get out of the whops smoothly but still get into that turn fast and effectively enough to make a quick rail to the finish line jump. Again…the dude looked like an entirely different rider than the that “other guy” that was wearing CIANCIARULO on his Fox jersey at A1. 

Yesterday, he seemed really calm and confident and I felt he rode that way, too. Here’s the interesting thing, it looked like he was making some set-up changes going into the night program. My own impression is this…he’s going faster/harder now that he’s actually back out on the track and actually racing…he’s having to make some adjustments as he gets his actual “race craft” back. 

You know, with the injuries he’s had, I’m guessing he’s having to make a few adjustments to his riding and may be dealing with somethings still being sore, stiff or still going thru some aspects of rehab. 

I just know I hope he has a safe season and finishes top 5. That would be a huge WIN for him. Seems like a great dude and I wish him the absolute best.

Forkner, also. Those two have been chewed up by this sport and it's almost seemed unfair. Reminds of DW15 days.

You expect all this time off through injury and just straight up best these guys?!

Vital sure is a strange place. If you not winning you may as well hang up the boots eh….

I thought I remember hearing or reading somewhere that he's not 100% or maybe he had a small injury in the off season? If that's the case, then he has an excuse not to mention he hasn't had a gate drop in a long time.

Regardless, I think it will take some time to get back into race shape/pace and to gain his confidence again. I think the first two rounds were a great way to get his feet wet again and im sure we'll see improvement.