McThoughts | Anaheim 1 Supercross | 250 Class
By Jeff McConkey
SX is back and we had some very good racing in the 250 West opener. I don’t think the West is as stacked as it normally is, but it should offer great racing all season. We had 5 riders going into the main event with prior 250 SX wins. I don’t think we will have one dominant winner, but a consistent podium guy will take the title. The track at A1 seemed pretty tame and the whoops weren’t very difficult looking at all. It looked kind of hard to pass as everyone was very close in speed. Let’s take a look at the top 10 and see my thoughts.
250 West
1st Shane McElrath: Congrats to Shane on his first win of many. He looked very calm up front. I feel he is the new leader of the TLD team and will be fighting Plessinger right until Vegas for the West title.
#38 Shane McElrath | Bigwave photo
2nd Aaron Plessinger: When I saw Aaron’s gate pick for the main, I was worried. I knew he wouldn’t out jump the others and make it harder on himself. Not trying to take away from McElrath, but with a little better start, Plessinger wins A1. He looked amazing all day and now in my eyes is the guy to beat.
3rd Martin Davalos: Martin is a super talent and seems like a really good guy, but he needs to move up. Problem is, he will always be a heat race threat to win, as well as a main event win or podium. That is very appealing to sponsors, but racing 250 SX since 2006, well, that’s weak. He rode great and looked pretty smooth for the most part in the main.
#30 Martin Davalos | Bigwave photo
4th Mitchell Oldenburg: Oldenburg looked really fast all day and all night. He always had the speed, but he couldn’t run that speed for an entire main event without going down in the past. A 4th is a great start for Mitchell and he will land on the podium soon.
5th Justin Hill: Quiet day and night for Hill. That’s not a bad thing; he works hard and has the speed. He will win at least one of these and he should be fighting for podiums every week.
#46 Justin Hill | Tyler Spikman photo
6th Jeremy Martin: This is why Martin won’t win a 250 SX title. His bad races are worse than the other championship contenders, and the series is too short for him to fight his way back. He looked amazing all day and will win a few before this is over.
7th Dan Reardon: I’m not going to bag on Reardon for being 30 years old, simply because I’m shocked at how well he rode. Reardon last rode AMA SX January 29, 2011 when he finished 16th in the 450 class on a 350 KTM. He is filling in for Colt Nichols who broke his femur while testing. Dan looked really good all day long and should be in the 6th-10th spot every week.
8th Austin Forkner: I had Austin pegged for the win. He looked good throughout the day but not good enough for the W. He should have had a 3rd or 4th, but luckily avoided serious disaster when he did a seated front flip through the whoops. Good on the rookie to get composed that fast and fight back to 8th.
#24 Austin Forkner | Bigwave photo
9th Jimmy Decotis: Not the best opener for Jimmy D, as he seemed a little off the pace. This guy has been working hard and I expect to see him fighting around the top 5 for the remainder of the West.
10th Kyle Chisholm: Since I’m going off on people because of age in the 250 SX class, I might as well state that Kyle Chisholm is 29 years old. His first SX race was February 18, 2006, and he finished 10th, 1 position in front of Davalos. I won’t bag on him as much, because you he some very successful years in the big boy class, but come on, it’s a feeder class. Anyway, Chisholm had a great start and went backwards. He just doesn’t have the speed or intensity anywhere near the top 5. Years in the 450 class will do that.
#11 Kyle Chisholm | Bigwave photo
Biggest Stud: I am calling 2 studs for week one: Shane McElrath for taking his first win, and Aaron Plessinger for his awesome ride in the main.
Biggest Dud: I know I’ve bagged on him a lot in the past, but come on, Martin. Your first 250 SX was February 18, 2006. That season he finished the 250 East series 9th overall with 1 podium and 2 top 5’s. Davi Millsaps won the title followed by Christopher Gosselaar, Josh Grant, Tommy Hahn, Branden Jesseman, Kelly Smith, Bobby Kiniry and Teddy Maier. Six of those guys are retired, Hahn is in his last season and Millsaps and Grant have had long 450 careers since. His old age pension is going to kick in before he even makes the premiere class. Kind of pathetic, don’t you think?
Biggest Surprise: I was shocked to see Jeremy Martin in the West. He was suppose to race East, and I assumed Christian Craig was riding West.
#6 Jeremy Martin | Bigwave photo
Thanks for reading. See you in San Diego where Billy will have all new photos…
