Good, Bad, 'n Ugly: Daytona

Welcome to the Good, Bad 'n Ugly, presented by Pro Taper, from Daytona! It's the ninth 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 is sharing his thoughts this weekend, 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: Stilez Robertson - 2nd Place

The motocross national influence that we always talk about when it comes to the Daytona track often leads to some different faces running up front each year, especially in the 250 class. It offers a chance for some of the younger riders who don't have much Supercross experience yet to feel a bit more comfortable. That seems to especially ring true for Stilez Robertson, who scored his second podium of his young career, and his second podium in as many years at Daytona. He got a great start and eventually found himself in no-man's land with separation from both first place and third place. It's hard to say whether this will be a turning point in Robertson's season, as he didn't do amazingly after Daytona last year, and he hasn't particularly stood out this year until now. You can tell that the talent is there, but there's clearly still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to standard Supercross tracks. 

Grant Dawson | The Bad: RJ Hampshire - 7th Place

When it comes to the most crash prone riders, RJ Hampshire is very close to the top of my list if not at the top. I don't know how many times we've seen the same exact type of Main Event performance from him at this point. He'll show some insane speed for much of the race before he typically crashes on his own and finishes off of the podium. Now, there's no guarantee that he would've landed on the podium if he hadn't had an issue late in the race while he and Cameron McAdoo were charging through the field, but he had already put himself at a disadvantage earlier in the race with a crash in a rhythm section...which is why he was that far back in the first place. I keep thinking that some day he'll put it all together and stop shooting himself in the foot at every other race, but it's starting to look more and more like this is how he'll be his entire career. 

Grant Dawson | The Ugly: Jeremy Martin - DNS

Jeremy Martin was ruled out before the gate ever dropped in Daytona, but he still lands in this spot this week just because of how bummed I was to hear the news. He has dealt with so many injuries over the past handful of years and it seems like it may never end. As usual, he was considered a title contender this year and I do think he would've stayed somewhat close to Jett Lawrence until the end of the season. It has been reported that it's his labrum that's messed up and he'll most likely need surgery. I'm not sure what this means for outdoors, but let's hope his recovery goes very well and that he's behind the gate at the start of the season.

450 Supercross Class

Grant Dawson: The Good: Eli Tomac - 1st Place and Copper Webb - 2nd Place

Man, I sure did Eli Tomac dirty before the season started. I really thought that this would be the year where we start to see a bit of decline in his performance, and that the days of him contending for titles were over. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong. He hasn't visually appeared dominant at every race, but he has been extremely consistent and at times has looked like the vintage Eli Tomac. He has an 18 point lead at the moment, and while that can disappear with one big mistake, it doesn't seem like the 2022 version of Eli Tomac is likely to throw it away. In the end, the move to Star Racing Yamaha might have been exactly what he needed.

Cooper Webb continues to look more and more like, well, Cooper Webb and at this point it's a matter of time until he secures his first win of the season. Like I said last week, he's over 30 points down in the standings and he still lost a few points to Tomac in Daytona...but there's always a chance that he could get hot and start chipping away at that lead. The next few rounds will be very interesting for Webb and Tomac.

Grant Dawson | The Bad: Alex Martin - 21st Place

I didn't expect for Alex Martin to go out and win races when he moved up to the 450 class, but I did think there was a chance that we'd see him appear in or around the top 10 every once in a while. And to his credit, he hasn't been bad. He has made the majority of the Main Events and he does have one top 15 finish, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a little bit more from him this year.

Grant Dawson | The Ugly: Jason Anderson - 9th Place

Whatever your opinion is on the Jason Anderson and Malcolm Stewart storyline that we've all seen unfold over the past two races...I don't think anyone is surprised that these two riders are involved in a situation like this. Anderson has been involved in countless feuds with other riders over the years, and Stewart has shown to be a little hot-headed at times as well. The timing of this is obviously worse for Anderson since he's currently in the title chase and ended up losing 12 points to Eli Tomac on Saturday. Luckily, Anderson is still within striking distance as he is only 18 points behind Tomac. However, he has very quickly put himself in a situation where he can't afford another big incident or else he might see his title chances start to slip away.