After a 42 year absence, I suspected our local crowd would be pumped and turnout would be great. When the weather forecast turned from sunny and 65 to windy,spotty rain,overcast skies and 52, I thought it may deter a few , but it didnt seem to, although we definitely froze our asses off. . 3 local guys were running -- Stevie Roman 738, and Jared Lesher 412 ( on the YZ250) in the 450 and Vinny Luhovey 437 in the 250 class sporting the special Steelers gear done up by TrueMX . There may have been other semi-local Pa dudes, but these 3 live all within about 30 miles from the stadium. Unfortunately , Vinny was the only one that made it to the main via his holey in the LCQ leading a few laps and holding on to 2nd to get in. Great ride by Vinny
** Im an Eli guy, and my wife is Barcia's biggest fan so neither of our guys were there obviously, (although we are both big fans of Webby too) it did give me an opportunity to study other guys and came away with these observations ---
* Justin Cooper is going to be a force to be reckoned with . He honestly put in the most impressive laps of anyone that night . His speed and smoothness thru the double split "S" section was absolutely unreal . When he passed Sexton and then AP the next lap in the same section and proceeded to gap them both, it seemed to suck the spirit out Sexton . After seeing that ,we were going with Cooper, Webb, Sexton-- ( got pretty close). Was shocked that Cooper didn't catch and pass Sexton in the main, after reeling them both in early . Im definitely a new fan of the 32.
* Same goes for Max Vohland -- other than Hammakers run in the main from 19th to 5th , Max was the most impressive of the 250 guys. If he stays healthy ,he will definitely be a Title contender. Yes , I know that Vialle won , but Max seems to be getting his shit together and getting a handle on this handbrake deal .
* Speaking of Hammaker. That kid absolutely had the roughest 2 opening laps of anyone I have ever seen (without hitting the ground) .Some of the troubles were on the broadcast, but I counted 5 separate times he got hit, almost knocked down , got squirrelly and saved a disaster --guys jumping into him, front wheels hitting his shoulder right in front of us , t-boning him in 2 successive corners , it was unreal that he stayed up and had the mental and physical fortitude to lock it into "Eli-type" beast mode and carve thru the pack the way he was able.
* All of these Muc-Off Yamahas are STRONG . Im not exactly sure who is responsible for their engine work , but sounded and looked to be not giving up much to the PC and Star bikes at all.
* Hopefully we'll have a 2026 race, but since Acrisure will be hosting the NFL draft next April, it may rattle the scheduling .
* I realize that 5 of the 10 top 450 guys are out ,lol but still was a great time
Hearing they will skip 2026 due to the draft and be back for 2027 and beyond
I hear the same.
That was the story I was being told in the pits from people that should know, and there's not much wiggle room in the schedule, but I was also told that Foxboro and Pittsburgh could possibly swap dates . We saw how funny the weather can be that time of year on the NorthEast swing . But until the official schedule is released ,you just never know .
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