Courtesy of RacerX
April 15, 2019 1:50pm
by Jason Thomas
We have changed the format to Breakdown this year. The Racer X staff will pose some burning questions from the weekend and I'll take my best crack at them.
Can Eli Tomac win the title or is this over?
Barring disaster, this is over. Tomac is my pick to win the final two rounds but the damage is done. He had too many “off” nights and gave away dozens of points along the way. With an 18-point cushion, Cooper Webb doesn’t have to take any chances at the final two rounds. Webb’s starts are keeping him out of trouble and he can basically let the races come to him now, picking his spots to be aggressive or back out of it. If he avoids trouble in East Rutherford, he will likely roll into Vegas with a 12-plus point lead (if not much more). Webb is your 2019 champ barring injury or DNF.
Supercross hasn’t been to Denver since 1996, what did you think of the track?
It was a wild weekend as far as the track goes. The Dirt Wurx guys did a great job of getting it covered before Wednesday’s blizzard. Had they dropped the ball on that, we would have had a very muddy track to deal with. Once they pulled the tarps, though, it was incredibly hard and slippery, even with snow on Saturday. Looking back to the race in 1996, it was the same hard, baked clay that Jeremy McGrath dominated on 23 years ago.
The layout was very easy and was a hot topic all day. After Nashville’s very difficult whoop sections, it seemed that a message was received to lower the difficulty level in Denver and keep people on their motorcycles. I think we may have gone a bit too far in that direction, but I do understand the idea of preserving the superstars of the sport as we close out this series. The layout wasn’t my favorite, but I have seen worse. The rhythm sections were challenging and had the riders been at sea level, I think there would have been some big jump options executed. The one section I wish we could just completely eradicate is the 90-triple-90 combo that is typically employed when crossing the width of the stadium. This section is very common but doesn’t allow passing and the riders only use the inside line. I don’t see any upside to that particular combo other than the “oohs” and “ahhs” of the casual fan seeing a rider jump a triple.
AC got it done, is the title his now?
I certainly like his chances. Eight points isn’t a huge number but it will take a crash or mechanical issue to keep him from holding up the #1 plate. Adam has been great at Vegas, winning in 2017 and 2018, but those were also nights where the championship wasn’t at stake, either. I don’t know if he will push the limit and win again in Vegas but I think he can easily follow Dylan Ferrandis around if needed. As long as he can mark Ferrandis and manage the situation, it shouldn’t be that difficult to bring this thing home.
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RacerX 2019 Denver Breakdown