Indianapolis - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Motocross Feature

450 Class

The Good: Marvin Musquin | 1st Place

Eli Tomac laid down a whoopin' on the field in Indy, but Marvin Musquin obliterated everyone this weekend with a 29-second margin of victory. Of course, we can't overlook the fact that Eli did crash and promptly fall to the back of the field, but I think Marvin had Eli covered up to that point (every time Eli closed, Marvin responded). What would have happened in the second half of the race? We'll never know, but I honestly don't think that Eli crashing out put an asterisk next to this win for Marvin; he was riding exceptionally well. This was also a good weekend for Marvin because he picked up a few points on Jason Anderson. The gap is still large (35 points), but at this point if I'm Marvin I'm satisfied with a weekend that saw me close in on Jason, no matter the amount. As I said last week, I don't think Jason is going to lose this championship at this point, but I'm still willing to hold out hope for any sort of championship battle that could arise, even if the chances are slim.

The Good Bonus: Dean Wilson | 2nd Place

Even with a shoulder that's still pretty jacked up, Dean Wilson was able to tame one of the most gnarly tracks of the year and snag the second spot on the podium. It was an impressive ride for the Scot, who has had a pretty damn rough season so far, although he has been killing it week in and week out in the LIT Kit department.

So...how about that incident with Broc Tickle, though? He said in his TV interview, his interview with GuyB, and the press conference that he really didn't mean to do it, and that the combination of him having arm pump and Broc cutting down more than he expected resulted in what we saw. I don't see any reason not to believe that. He was clearly riding a bit tight towards the end of the race, which is understandable considering his shoulder situation, and I can see how that could result in him cleaning out Broc. Nonetheless, it was a huge bummer to see Broc miss out on his first podium of the year (which everyone, and I mean everyone, has been waiting for), and it was unfortunate to see this happen between two friends, because as we've seen with Anderson and Musquin...sometimes an apology doesn't completely mend the situation. On the bright side for Dean, Broc essentially has two weeks to cool down.

The Bad: Jason Anderson | 4th Place

Jason Anderson is definitely getting tested as of late. I guess the Moto Gods are just making sure that he genuinely wants to win this title, and once again he didn't panic when he was faced with adversity and minimized the damage. Does he want to lose points? No, but he still has a 35-point cushion and he could very well go out and win at the next round. It does have to be fairly frustrating for him to miss the podium when he's the points leader, though, as his confidence has to be at the highest level it has ever been (or at least the highest level since 2014, when he was battling for the 250 West title). He now has a couple of weeks to train and then come back determined to show the boys why his plates are red.

The Ugly: Depleted Field

Am I beating a dead horse at this point? I feel like I've touched on this subject a decent bit lately, but it seriously is a talking point that I don't think we should shy away from. The 450 field is quite depleted at this point. That's just the fact of the matter. Here's the list of notable 450 riders who are injured: Justin Barcia, Matt Bisceglia, Justin Bogle, Josh Grant, Josh Hansen, Fredrick Noren, Alex Ray, Ken Roczen, Dakota Tedder, Cole Seely, and Jake Weimer. That's 11 dudes, dudes and dudettes. All of those guys could at least make Main Events fairly regularly, and a few of them are capable of winning races or at least getting top fives. There is no denying that the racing action would be better if even half of these guys were still racing. Unfortunately, as I've also touched on earlier in the season, this is a sport that has a high injury rate. Riders are going to get injured every year, guaranteed, but that doesn't make this any less frustrating for the riders, teams, and fans when we have a year where a lot of guys end up injured. I just hope that no one else goes down with an injury, in either class, this season.

250 Class

The Good: Jeremy Martin | 1st Place

After getting second place for a couple of weeks in a row, Jeremy Martin was able to take the final step he needed to get on top of the podium. He got the holeshot and that was all she wrote. All he had to do was manage the gap between him and Luke Renzland and then make sure he didn't go down, and he was able to do both of those things. Overall, it's still not the season Jeremy wanted, but at this point getting wins and podiums is all he cares about...and he's getting them. If he's able to get another start at the next East Coast round, which is in his home state of Minnesota, does he win again? I guess we'll see.

The Good Bonus: Luke Renzland | 3rd Place

If you told me before the 250 Showdown that a non-factory bike was going to finish in a podium position, I would have bet you five whole dollars, without any hesitation, that you were wrong. And then I would be rather disappointed when I have to give up the five dollars, because Luke Renzland put his Traders Racing Yamaha up on the podium. It wasn't a fluke, either. Did Aaron Plessinger and Zach Osborne get bad starts? Yep, but this was the 250 Showdown; it was a stacked race. He got a great start and hung with Jeremy Martin for a long time up front, even going faster than him at times, and didn't lose second place until the last lap of the race. There were some fast dudes behind him, and if they could have caught him they would have, so I'm officially stamping this podium with "Totally Legit", which is kind of like when your teacher would give you a 100% on an assignment and then write (or stamp) "Excellent" next to the grade. So there you go, Luke, I'm looking forward to how you do over the course of the rest of the season.

The Bad: Joey Savatgy | 10th Place

Man, Joey is a hard rider to figure out. Sometimes he's on it and it looks like he's actually going to challenge for a title, and then he'll have a tip-over in a race and ride poorly for the rest of the Main Event. It was especially weird in Indianapolis, as he qualified fastest, but then he looked a bit off during his heat and didn't look good at all during the Main Event, even before his crash. I guess it was just one of those times where a rider is feeling it early in the day but can't get that same feeling back for the night show, or maybe it wasn't. Like I said, he's a hard rider to figure out because you honestly never know what to expect from him. He's now nine points behind Aaron Plessinger, and desperately needs to have a good bounce back ride in Seattle.

The Ugly: Shane McElrath | 13th Place

Shane's season kind of went off the rails when he went down in Oakland and ended up with some messed up ribs, but I was hoping that he'd be able to use the 250 Showdown as a chance to show the competition that he's not done competing for race wins yet. Unfortunately, he was way back with Zach Osborne and Aaron Plessinger early and had a bit of trouble coming through the pack. It is weird how both last year and this year have gone very similarly for Shane, with him having pretty firm control over the points lead early in the season before something happens (DNF in Arlington last year, crash in Oakland this year) which results in him effectively falling out of contention for the championship. But hey, maybe this means it'll all finally come together for him next year.