Good, Bad, 'n Ugly: Ironman 11

Welcome to the Good, Bad 'n Ugly from Ironman! It's the eleventh round of 2022 AMA Pro Motocross season and we're here to give you our thoughts on who did good, who did...well, Bad and who had a day to forget forever (the Ugly). Staff member Grant Dawson is sharing his thoughts this weekend.

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

250 Motocross Class

The Good | Nathaniel Thrasher - 5th Place Overall

Through most of this season, I didn't believe Nathaniel Thrasher had shown what his true potential is. He has had some flashes, but I think his ceiling is to eventually be a title contender, and for most of this season he has spent his time outside of the top 10. As I believe I've mentioned before, though, this is the first time he will complete the entire outdoor series, so it makes sense that it has taken him a bit of time to hit his stride. He has started to look much more comfortable over the past five motos, and he really made that clear when he lead a good chunk of the first moto at Ironman. I'm sure Star Racing is happy to see that he's starting to find his form at this point in the season, as it indicates he should take a big step forward in 2023. Star Racing's roster is full of young talent, and we've seen before that they're not afraid to move on from riders if they fail to perform in their first couple of years. However, Thrasher is poised to become one of the team's leaders if he continues to improve. 

The Bad | Jalek Swoll - 8th Place Overall

I like Jalek Swoll as a rider. He's got some good style and he's definitely an easy guy to root for. However, 2022 has been rough for him as he has dealt with crashes and injuries off and on. I can imagine it has been hard for him to find much of a rhythm with how up and down things have been, but this it is starting to look like he'll probably be on the hot seat when 2023 rolls around. He's going to have to stay healthy for one, but he's also going to want to log some impressive rides in Supercross. Riders often get a pass if they're not great outdoors, but the other half of that is that they're expected to be one heck of a rider indoors. He showed his potential in Supercross back in 2021, but he's going to have to remind everyone how good he really is in 2023 if he's aiming to secure another two-year deal from Rockstar Energy Husqvarna.

The Ugly | Team Troy Lee Designs GASGAS

The Troy Lee Designs GASGAS team may win the award this year for the most raw speed, but the least to show for it. Michael Mosiman continues to struggle to keep it on two wheels as he had another rough crash at Ironman, and Pierce Brown also hit the deck. I'm still beating the drum that Mosiman could legitimately be a title contender if he'd just keep himself off of the ground, but who knows if that will ever happen. I liked Pierce Brown as a prospect a lot. I believed he was going to be the full package, however it's looking like he's going to be more of a Supercross specialist. That's perfectly fine, as I mentioned above there have been several factory riders who kill it indoors but just can't find the flow outdoors. I do think he has more potential outdoors than he has shown, but he'd have to get better starts and stay off of the ground to show it. At the end of the day, this outdoor season will be one to forget for this squad. A factory team isn't going to celebrate their riders placing ninth and 11th in the standings. Hopefully, 2023 goes better for them. 

450 Motocross Class

The Good | The Championship Fight

Man, it just doesn't get better than this. We're 22 motos into the season, and somehow the two title contenders are separated by one point heading into the final round. Every moto fan should be absolutely stoked by how this championship has played out. Chase Sexton and Eli Tomac have been levels above of everyone else in the field, but they have kept things professional and clean as they've raced each other hard. It looked a little dire for a moment at Ironman when Sexton hunted Tomac down and passed him in the first moto, but Tomac just clicked into another gear and absolutely blasted back by Sexton to take the win. Sexton claimed moto two in impressive fashion, and just like that we're going into the final round with a total shootout set to commence. Tomac has done well at Fox Raceway before, but I'd still give Sexton a slight advantage heading into the race, especially if he gets a good start. We're going to see just how deep these two can dig next week. Heck, they might put a minute on the rest of the field if they both find themselves up front. 

The Bad | Justin Barcia - 14th Place Overall

I just recently wrote about how I feel like Justin Barcia's outdoor season has been rather disappointing, but somehow it has gotten even worse over the past two weeks. He had the controversial run-in with Dylan Ferrandis last week that lead to him being disqualified from the second moto, and he had another rough go of it at Ironman that saw him score points in only one moto. I think this will go down as a summer that Barcia would rather forget, but I do believe this experience is going to fuel him during the offseason and he should come into 2023 ready to have a bounce back year. 

The Ugly | Joey Savatgy - 43rd Place Overall

I believe that Joey had shown this season that he still deserves a full-time ride with a team. He's not going to win races, but he will consistently log top 10 results which is valuable to some teams. Unfortunately, it sounds like he re-aggravated an injury at Ironman and it's unclear if he'll be able to line up for the final round at Fox Raceway. This would be a bummer way for him to finish what has basically been a "prove it" season for him, so hopefully he's able to line up this coming Saturday. I'm not sure what his prospects look like for 2023, but I'm rooting for him to find a slot on at least a satellite team.