After watching 32 motos of AMA Nationals & MXGP racing, this is my current top 10 450 dirt bikers. Gajser looks like his old self again & on this Tuesday in June I have the 243 as the fastest 450 MX'er in all the land.
This isn't scientific, its simply my almighty eye test. Laptimes. How hard they're pushing thru a moto. I dont think Gajser has even been challenged. He had those three rounds where he definitely was sick with something, but oherwise he's been pretty much in cruise mode for his 8 of 12 overalls (13 of 24 moto wins) & his current 125 point advantage over Prado.
With 8 AMA Summer of Pain motos in the book, I feel like Sexton, ET & Ken just a tick behind the Slovenian heading into RedBud this weekend. Overall though, this is the closest in speed I've seen our top National riders compared to the top in MXGP.
Altho clearly Herlings is out and Febvre just made his return back. At-present, Gajser is in a class of his own on the otherside of the pond.
Seewer, Prado & Anderson are a toss up at 5th, 6th & 7th. I have El Hombre at 7th. He could just as easily be 5th. But as of June 28th, I think Seewer & Prado are a shade faster. Could change by the end of July.
Febvre is only four motos in his 22MXGP season but is quickly returning to speed. He chased Prado all the way to the end in the 2nd moto Sunday's Indonesian GP. It really sucks Romain had to suffer that badly broken leg at the Paris SX last winter. Unfortunately I doubt we will ever see the Frenchman race SX again.
Ryan freekin' Dungey is currently the 9th fastest 450MX'er on the planet?! After 6 seasons away from the Nationals, the Diesel is slowly but surely getting back up to speed. A holeshot in the 2nd moto at High Point was all he needed to have that old school switch flip in his head to remind himself, "Man, I can run this pace again."
Fernandez was almost 10th, but Renaux swept the Spanish round & has 3 moto wins this season. And the 22 MX2 World Champ is still 4th in points after missing two rounds. So I gave Maxime the spot over Rueben.
The Nationals continue with round 5 at RedBud this weekend while the MXGP series takes two weeks off. They return July 17th at Loket & the MXGP of Czech Republic. We will revisit this list in another month. Until then... #mxd360