Jett vs Eli - Leader on Lap 1 Wins

Eli’s starts are killing him. He’s already 30 points in the hole to Jett. That’s going to be extremely difficult to climb out of. 14 motos left correct? Jett has yet to finish out of the top 3, so unless Eli is just going to reel off 8 straight moto wins or something like that, he will need some help via a Jett mistake if he wants to win this whole thing. 

In fact watch the whole 2023 season so you understand what’s coming. 

Eli can’t fucking pass anyone. It’s beyond frustrating 

I was really surprised to see Hunter go bye him in the second Moto, was it the heat or he just ran out of gas?

Jett Allessi is so start depended. HRC and their ECU have approached F1 level. Put anyone on that bike and they have Jett’s success. 

If Eli gets two holeshots he goes 1-1 at southwick 

Nothing wrong with Eli. Hunter was faster. 

“Well, they were just good today,” he said. “So, yeah, it was tough out there. Like I said, they rode really well on this track. Of course, I love this place, too. I tried to have as much fun as I could, but of course Southwick, it's a gnarly track to race on. And yeah, just didn't quite have that pace, and that's all I can really say.”

“Got beat, try to get better next time.”

I think most people forget with age comes Self preservation...Or for most it does. Do I think Eli has Jett's speed or more yes...But that preservation kicks in and he backs back off the edge.  I think when you get Maybe Deegan up there...He will have win at all costs...or some other young'n will be there till then we are waiting for Jett's preservation alarm to start going off. 

If Jett gets holeshot he WILL win. If Eli gets holeshot he MIGHT win. 

I said a couple of times before this season that this could be the year when Eli’s age catches up with him.

It happened to Reed and Cairoli to name a few before him that raced in to their mid 30’s, but one year you could see their ultimate edge starting to fade a little.

And that’s natural, we all age and this is a young man’s sport when it comes to risk taking. He is still plenty fast and still races when the riders before him would have been done at a 5-6 year younger age. 
 

But being that age and racing the best rider ever seen might just be a large task at hand if you expect to beat him for a title. We are past half the season now and the pattern continues.

He is still doing a good job for his age and all that but at some point people might need to accept that Eli’s best days might be behind him now and this could be as good as it’s gonna get.
 

Honda clearly has a great starting  map.

I’m honestly surprised that Eli is even bothering to come back next year.  He’s made countless millions and has a record few will ever match.  Jett has matured in his riding and now only goes as fast as necessary to collect the win.  Was Jett really putting in 100% in the motos Eli beat him, or was Jett just confident enough that he would take the overall that it wasn’t worth the risk?  We’ll never know, but the fact is that Eli was never even a threat to Jett last weekend on one of Eli’s strongest tracks.  When 2026 rolls in, Jett will be stronger and more mature in his riding, and Eli will be another year older and getting used to a new team and bike.  If he can’t beat Jett this year, it ain’t going to be any easier next year.

Hunter was just faster this weekend. Moto 1 he had 20 seconds on Tomac, moto 2 he came from behind, passed Tomac and then gapped him again. I also couldn't believe it, but when you look at lap times Hunter was just more consistent and 1-2 seconds faster a lap through most of moto 2. On the press conference Tomac also said the hunter brothers were just better and had better lines.

Moto 2 lap times:

I think we just have to accept that there are riders out there now who can match Tomac or even go faster than him and not just because he has arm pump or because of the heat. I still hope Tomac can have a round this year where he dominates and maybe go 1-1, maybe at Washougal?

I also don't believe that Tomac is any slower than in 2022, maybe even faster. (He doesn't have the same starts as in 2022 though, that's for sure). But it seems like in the 2 years he missed outdoors, everyone else just leveled up, specially Jett, Hunter & Chase.

He is a bad MFer for wanting the challenge with Jett, honestly. I thought he would go more for the Kenny schedule first, SX only, SMX and WSX races. I do think specially with how Tomac looked earlier this year that his chances of winning a SX title are higher than winning MX when everyone is healthy. But he really just wants the challenge I guess. In interviews he said he is just loves riding his bike right now, good for him. He is still a legend, dominating or not, this won't hurt his legacy in any way, I'm glad we are able to watch him a little more.