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View From The Floor: Mud Wrestling 1

Throw another lime in your drink and get ready for one very muddy battle royale from San Diego.

Vital MX member GuyB 64 GuyB https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/users/64/avatar/c50_110811guyb_redbud_1449985751.jpg?1449984985 https://www.vitalmx.com/community/GuyB,64/all 07/10/06 9251 3572 45650 893 2293 29212 36 1617 2 182

GuyB
2/4/2019 7:30 PM

View From The Floor: Mud Wrestling


Whoa. This looks more like watercraft racing than Supercross. Every one of the heat races was a drag race to get to the standing water first. Martin Castelo and Dylan Ferrandis got their first in this heat.

Join the Supercross crew, they said. It'll be fun, they said...The amount of standing water in the infield after the pre-race downpour? There were spots in there that were mid-shin deep.

After his heat race win, RJ Hampshire got in a few quick words with his mechanic, Keith, about changes before he had to head to the podium.

Riders did all they could to prep for the conditions, with foam, lenses taped to their visors, and tons of goggle tricks, but with all the standing water, it almost didn't matter. They were going to get blasted early, and it would be survival from that point on.

How fast could vision go away? Check out Eli Tomac's goggles here, and then in the next frame (below).

If you wanted to see much jumping, that happened early in the night. As conditions worsened, guys turned it into more of a ground game. Jump when you can, and skip it when you can't.

Conditions were...well, rough. We saw lots of crashes on the start straight. Sometimes they remounted, and other times? Well, like Mathias Jorgensen, they'd have to wait for the LCQ. While he couldn't get his bike to re-fire here, Mathais did make it to the main. The weirdest part of the night was afterward, when riders started complaining about burnt or irritated skin, and crazy corrosion on the aluminum parts on their bikes. Many suspect it was caused by lime mixed in the dirt to try and dry it. We're still waiting for a response from the gang at Feld Motorsports.

It's been interesting to watch Justin Bogle progress through the season. We've seen a few flashes of speed from him and saw more in San Diego. He led a bit of his heat race and was also near the front of the main event for a while. He's said all along that he'd get better as the season wore on.

How bad was it out there? This is the whoop section.

Some riders described the conditions in the main events like riding in peanut butter.

Normally the backside of the finish line jump will have zero tracks on it. That obviously wasn't the case here.

Well, the KJSR (KTM Junior Racing) event...well, we found out how much mud is too much. They gave it their best shot, but the sticky, gooey mess got the best of the little bikes. The savviest guy in the race might be the one still sitting on the gate.

This one got called about three turns into it.

We've seen plenty of races where guys used tire covers on the way to the gate, and wondered if it was really worthwhile. As they were lining up for the 250 race, it looked like it had hit the right amount of "sticky" that the answer was yes.

Nearly all the 450 class had some form of cover, which meant lots of clean knobs on the gate.

Hey, whatever it takes...

Marvin Musquin had the weirdest start we've seen in some time as the gate dropped for his heat race. The rear end of his KTM shot sideways, which put him deep in the pack.

Frankie made sure Marvin's gate was well-cleaned for the main event...and Marv was supervising.

Pretty much everything alongside the track had a uniform coat of mud on it. Normally Tuf-Blox get packed straight into a trailer after a race to get to the next venue. But here, everything would have had to be power washed, and then loaded up. But they're heading to Minneapolis, so will it all be one big block of ice when they arrive there? We wouldn't want to be on the Supercross crew this week.

Sometimes attitude is everything. Crappy riding conditions ahead? Who cares? Jimmy DeCotis looked relaxed on the gate. Of course, he was also looking forward to the Super Bowl on Sunday, so that he could watch the Patriots beat the Rams.

When the gate dropped for the main, Adam Cianciarulo and Martin Castelo (72) were up front into the first turn. Check out audio from Martin below, as he finished with his career-best result, sixth place.

Dylan Ferrandis was in second for most of the main...except his bike gave up the ghost on the last lap. Luckily, there were only six bikes on the lead lap, so he finished in the seventh spot, rather than getting tagged with a full DNF 22nd place.

Jimmy DeCotis was steaming exiting one of the lakes on the track.

Once he was out front, Adam Cianciarulo had nothing but a solid night.

Canada's Jess Pettis was another rider who scored his best-ever finish, with a fifth. Click play below to listen to what he had to say about his night.

Garrett Marchbanks had to ditch the goggles early and took advantage of Dylan Ferrandis' misfortune late in the race to grab second.

Adam Cianciarulo was pumped, and while Garrett Marchbanks equally happy, he was also looking for some water to rinse his eyes with.

It's been a bit since we've seen a Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki 1-2, but it was cool to see their duo up there.

Uh-oh, when Eli's looking calm and relaxed before the start of a main, that's sometimes bad news for the rest of the field.

Ken Roczen got the jump on everyone to start the main, but a bobble on the first lap let Eli Tomac get by, and that's all she wrote.

Kenny sending it. He finished in third this week.

Marvin Musquin slithering to second spot in the main.

Cooper Webb will have to give up the red plates after Eli's win, and a crash while behind his teammate.

Tyler Bowers nabbed a top ten in San Diego. Awesome!

Ugh. We felt sorry for the guys who were forced to ditch their goggles. Hopefully, Dean's orbs are doing okay.

Who was pumped to be back on top of the podium? This guy. While it took him a while to get the ball rolling, he's one who could reel off a bunch of wins in a row...though we politely asked him not to do that after the race. We've been enjoying the parity that '19 has brought. Oh yeah, he'll also be sporting the red plate next week.

Ken Roczen was pumped to make it out of the West Coast, and into the second stage of the season. San Diego has been more than unkind to him in the past.


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