Good, Bad, 'n Ugly: Anaheim 3

We're here to give you our thoughts on who did good, who did...well, Bad and who had a night to forget forever (the Ugly)

Welcome to the Good, Bad 'n Ugly from Anaheim 3! It's the Sixth round of 2022 and we're here to give you our thoughts on who did good, who did...well, Bad and who had a night to forget forever (the Ugly). Staff member Grant Dawson has his thoughts, while Michael Lindsay will be back next week for his opinion as well.

Do you agree with our picks and opinions, or do you have thoughts that differ? Let us know in the comment section below.

250 Supercross Class

Grant Dawson | The Good: Carson Brown - 5th Place

Carson Brown is really starting to put together a solid season that now includes a top five and four total top 10 finishes. That's quite impressive when you consider that before this season he had only logged two top 10 finishes in his career. I'd argue that the potential has always been there as Carson has consistently displayed how much natural talent he has through his social media channels, but this is the first time in his career that he has been able to put it all together. It'll be interesting to see if he's able to continue to improve once the 250 West riders returns to racing, and if he's able to catch the eye of a team in the future. 

Grant Dawson | The Bad: Jalek Swoll - 21st Place

The whoop section claimed many, many victims throughout the night on Friday including multiple factory riders. Jalek took an extremely hard hit after getting out of shape and that would be the end of his night. Jalek already had a rough start to his season with a scary crash that took him out of a few rounds, but he had looked solid since returning and was starting to build some momentum. This is just another set back for the young rider, but the good news is that with the 250 East series starting up he has some time to let his body heal. He also is under contract through 2023, so at the very least he doesn't have the pressure of a contract year looming over his head on top of everything else. Hopefully, he can stay healthy for the rest of the year.

Grant Dawson | The Ugly: Hunter Lawrence - 18th Place

Hunter Lawrence was another rider that got taken down by the track's gnarly whoop section, and although it sounds like he didn't sustain any major injuries and will be good to go when the West Series returns...he dropped from within striking distance to 29 points behind Christian Craig in the championship. Considering this is a regional 250 championship, that's pretty much a nail in the coffin for Lawrence's title hopes. Lawrence continues to show strides of improvement in Supercross, though, and he should be a considerable title favorite in the outdoor championship later this year. 


450 Supercross Class

Grant Dawson | The Good: Eli Tomac - 2nd Place

Man, my comments earlier this season about Eli Tomac not being a title contender at this point in his career are looking quite foolish right now. He currently has a 12 point lead over Jason Anderson and looks to be the most consistent rider in the field as we approach the half way point of the season. He appears to have found a solution to his start issues, and while he isn't head and shoulder above the rest of the field when it comes to speed at this point in his career, he's running extremely consistent times and avoiding any costly mistakes. Anderson does appear to be his biggest competition, but he hasn't shown to be quite as consistent as Tomac yet. These next few rounds are going to be huge for the championship. I feel like we're either going to see Tomac start to pull away from the rest of the field, or a charge from Anderson that we haven't seen since 2017. Up to this point, 2022 has been one of the more surprising seasons in recent memory. 

Grant Dawson | The Bad: Dean Wilson - 12th Place

This season has been more of the same for Deano so far. He has been able to stay healthy, which is great of course, but he continues to be a 9th-14th place guy and hasn't shown a whole lot of progress. He will forever be one of those riders that seems like he's just one click away from taking a huge leap forward, but he has just never been able to find that click in the 450 class. I do think that it's awesome that he is still a factory rider at this point in his career. However, nothing would make me happier than to see him fight for an occasional top five finish. 

Grant Dawson | The Ugly: Ken Roczen - 11th Place

Granted, Ken Roczen started dead last after an incident in the first corner left him on the ground, but he still landed in this spot as his title hopes are essentially dead. He now sits 42 points behind Eli Tomac in the championship standings, and there is really no reason for us to believe that he's going to be able to make some magical charge towards the front of the standings. I mean, he hasn't looked like himself since Anaheim 1. Unfortunately, though, this has just been how the latter half of Roczen's career has gone. It's still incredible what all he has been able to accomplish since his horrific arm injury, but it's also crazy to think how different things could have been had that injury never occurred. Of course, we'll never know, and at the end of the day it's just good to see him still out there racing. And, to be clear, I wouldn't be surprised to see him win again this season or at least snag a few podiums, but I do think there's absolutely no way that he works his way back into the championship hunt. 


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