McThoughts: San Diego 2 SX|250 West
By Jeff McConkey
After 6 rounds of Monster Energy 250 West Supercross, we actually have a very exciting championship battle brewing. Early on in the season, it was ‘The Cooper Webb Show.’ Cooper was so dominate, there was actually a lot of talk about a possible perfect season. Well, fast forward a few weeks and Cooper has lost his points lead to the always-improving Joey Savatgy, and Geico’s Christian Craig has done something he hasn’t been able to his entire career – stay healthy and land on the podium. We have one more week of West racing in Dallas before the East Coast takes over for a while, so let’s hope everyone can stay in one piece and not get hurt testing for outdoors. Let’s take a look at the results and see my thoughts.
250 West
1st Joey Savatgy: Joey looked fantastic. I believe this win will mean more to him than his first. He’s really been putting in the hard work at the farm through the week and is getting better as the pressure builds.
#37 Joey Savatgy. ~ P/C: It’s a Spikman!
2nd Cooper Webb: Wow, Cooper is human after all. I still think Cooper is the fastest of the West, but he needs to be darn near perfect for the remainder of the season if he plans on beating Savatgy for this championship.
3rd Christian Craig: This guy has been riding great the last few rounds. It’s really nice to see him shake the injury bug that plagued him for almost his entire career. The only knock I have against Craig is the 250 class is a feeder class for the 450 class. He’s 25 years old and, in some cases, is still racing with teenagers. I’m not a fan of bringing your kid on the podium in Regional SX. It’s different for a guy like Reed who has pretty much done it all in the ‘big boy’ class, compared to Craig who just got his first podium and win earlier this year.
#38 Christian Craig. ~ Spikman photo
4th Colt Nichols: This guy continues to impress. He started 8th and pushed forward for another 4th. My only question is, which factory 250f will he look better on for 2017 and beyond? I’m thinking Pro Circuit or Factory Husqvarna.
5th Zach Osborne: Really good ride for Zach considering what happen last week. I didn’t expect a top 5, as he is pretty banged up. He was on the gas all day long.
#16 Zach Osborne. ~ Spikman photo
6th Mitchell Oldenburg: Nice ride for Mitchell who was 11th off the start. It looks like he has backed it down a tad and it’s working. With a little more fitness, Oldenburg will slowly be able to start hanging it out for longer and show us that raw speed.
7th Jimmy Decotis: I was really hoping this would be the round Jimmy finally got his podium. He looks good early on, but his corners almost look like there is a slight pause, and they aren’t a fluid as they were the first two rounds.
#58 Jimmy Decotis. ~ Bigwave photo
8th Kyle Peters: Again, Kyle gets a solid top 10 ride like always. He won’t blow you away with flash or raw speed, but you can count on him week in and week out.
9th Cole Thompson: Cole had a very solid day. He qualified 9th and finished a solid 9th after moving forward from an 11th place start. He looked like he was really flowing and having fun out there, and that’s what it’s all about.
#127 Cole Thompson. ~ Bigwave photo
10th Cole Martinez: Cole looks good out there on the Yamaha, but, like almost everyone else, he needs to improve his starts to improve his results.
Biggest Stud: I said last week, the thing that impressed me the most was Joey Savatgy being able to hold on to the red plate. He is my stud once again after a very impressive ride. He is going to take this title fight right down to the last lap.
Biggest Dud: I’m really not a fan of guys sticking around the class too long. I normally bag on Martin Davalos for being in the class for 11-plus seasons. Well, move over Martin as Kyle Cunningham has passed you in career 250 SX starts. Christian Craig brings his kid on the podium and Cunningham will be bringing his grandkids on the podium!
#45 Kyle Cunningham. ~ Spikman photo
Biggest Surprise: I’m shocked with how low in depth the 250 West is this season. In the past, the West has had an edge on the East as far as depth, but this season it is very weak after you get past the top 10 or so. Nobody wanted to lead or win the LCQ, they all looked shocked and proceeded to hit the dirt.
Thanks for reading and see you next week.
