The 22MX GOAT Summer of Pain Tour RD8 Washougal Cheat Sheet with Moto by Moto Points & Salary List.
In the words of Racer X's Jason Thomas, "Westward we go, as the motocross industry will descend on the greater Portland, Oregon area for round eight of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Washougal, Washington. Easily the most picturesque round of the series, the track is a mixed bag for the riders. Qualifying practice is the most agreeable time of the day as the dirt has some give and the base hasn’t fully hardened yet. As the sun rises over Mt. Hood, though, the track turns hard and slippery. The predictability is sucked out of the venue, and everyone has to change their riding style a bit. Aggression is not rewarded at Washougal and the deceiving dirt can bite you viciously if not respected.
Another one of Washougal’s notable characteristics are the infamous afternoon shadows. Many parts of the track, especially the western side, are covered by a tree canopy. That drastic change in light wreaks havoc on riders’ ability to see ruts and bumps. Riders are literally flying blind for a second or two each time they enter these sections as their eyes adjust to the low light conditions. As some of those sections are fast descents into rutty braking bumps, saying that riders dislike this aspect would be putting it mildly. Many riders will try to use various goggle lenses (colored, darker, lighter) to lessen this impact but there is no absolute fix. Knowing that you’re about to lose vision and depth perception for a brief period is really the only way to prepare. Praying also helps."
Millville was a huge week for points as we saw some record scores at Spring Creek last weekend. NextGen Motorsports took the victory with a whopping 262 points, as his team was led by the perfect scores of Jett & Eli. Those two riders clearly cost a pretty penny to hire, but if you can fill in the pieces around them with quality & affordable HOT riders, apparently we can all be scoring 262 points each round. Seems pretty darn easy doesn't it?
Or if you had my team last Saturday in Minnesota, you lost Mosiman for the entire day on the opening lap of moto one. Moto two saw Swoll & Thrasher taken out early. Or if you had riders like Robertson, Masterpool or Romano, you might have been asking yourself what you did in another life to suffer such fantasy dirt bike pain. If anything, Millville was a quick reminder of just how damn gnarly this sport is. For riders to put in solid results, for 24 motos, & simply survive during this intense Summer of Pain Tour, is an accomplishment in its own. Much respect to all of those crazy sum bitches putting their heart and soul into such a demanding and sometimes cruel mistress of a sport.
KAMIKAZE, Irr717, Swannee & Chex448 rounded out the Spring Creek top 5 from round 7. While Dobson110 continues to lead the overall standings with Jhanna41, navtones, Tbone20 & KAMIKAZE filling out the remaining top 5 in points. Only a hundred markers separate the top 19 teams, which means, although the Aussie Mitchell Dobson has held the point for much of the series, the weekly chaos on the track will continue each moto and it is still anybody's game.
Round 8. Washougal, Washington in the Pacific Northwest. We all continue to chase the overall top three teams of Dobson110, Jhanna41 & navtones. With only 5 rounds remaining, time is running out. Now is the time to make our move. Four 250 riders. Four 450 riders. $3.5M budget. Lockout is 3pm CT Saturday. Get your rough draft first team hired today. Good luck!