McThoughts | Sand Diego SX | 250 Class
By Jeff McConkey
Photos by Bigwave
Round 2 of the 250 West Coast was pretty darn exciting. Most of the frontrunners have been up front and battling and that makes for good racing. Although #38 Shane McElrath has won the first 2 races, I don’t feel he’s really dominating or that he is the fastest. Not taking away from Shane, he’s doing everything right so far. I just feel that guys like #23 Aaron Plessinger and #46 Justin Hill will work on their starts and have something for Shane in the next few weekends. It’s definitely not a bad thing as we will all be treated to more great racing. Here are the results and my thoughts.
250 West
1st Shane McElrath: Good guys don’t always finish last. Nice to see Shane get 2 in a row. He’s getting great starts and putting himself in the right places to make this happen.
#38 Shane McElrath
2nd Justin Hill: Hill was going to win this race had there been 1 more lap. He’s going to be real dangerous if he can start in the top 3. He has the speed and now he’s confident, but he still needs his starts to be a tad bit better.
#46 Justin Hill
3rd Aaron Plessinger: Just like Hill, Plessinger can not win when he spots the leaders a huge cap. At round 1 he started on the very inside far left. This time he was 4 positions in, but it’s still not enough. The starts are going to determine this title. Aaron has everything else needed to win, he just needs the starts.
#23 Aaron Plessinger
4th Martin Davalos: The day before his 30th birthday, and in his 80th 250 SX start, Martin gave up the win and then the 2 remaining podium spots. He looked good early on, but I don’t know if he got tight or got tired?
#30 Martin Davalos
5th Austin Forkner: Austin struggled through the whoops all day. He just couldn’t get a straight drive through them. I think he’s still a little low on the confidence now compared to outdoors. He should rebound soon and land on the podium. After that, a win is not far behind.
#24 Austin Forkner
6th Jimmy Decotis: Poor Jimmy D. He ripped a great start and looked really comfortable out front. Everything was clicking, but as soon as Davalos got by, it all fell apart. Jimmy needs to regroup and take confidence from a great ride for 3/4’s of the main.
#57 Jimmy Decotis
7th Jeremy Martin: Jeremy is lucky to be in one piece after his spectacular crash earlier on, so I guess he will take a 7th. But this guy is way too good to be anywhere outside of the top 5. Martin looks really good at times, but like the majority of the guys, his starts suck. He got jacked up when ‘Hanny’ hit the gate, so not entirely his fault.
#6 Jeremy Martin
8th Phil Nicoletti: Not a bad finish for a guy who hates SX. I think it’s way too hard for long-time 450 riders to drop down to the 250 class and race with the intensity of the full-time 250 guys. We all know it, you get so used to the power always being there and forget that you must ring the 250’s out everywhere.
#37 Phil Nicoletti
9th Hayden Mellross: This is a good finish for Mellross to bounce back with after being forced out last week due to mechanical issues while running in the top 5 early on. He looks pretty solid out there, but we have to remember that this isn’t the strongest West Coast in the last few years.
#64 Hayden Melross
10th Josh Hansen: Hanny missed the main last week, so a top 10 this week is a win for him. This guy is still a super talent on the bike, but like I have said before, 450 riders lose the intensity and it’s hard to compete with the young kids. Nice to see Josh out there putting another Husky in the main.
#100 Josh Hansen
Biggest Stud: I know he didn’t win, but it was close. Justin Hill gets my stud this week. There wasn’t much talk of Hill at all this preseason, and if he can stay healthy… He could win.
Justin Hill is the ‘STUD’ of San Diego
Biggest Dud: I really wanted to see Jimmy D land on the podium. His father passed away not long ago, and I’d love to see Jimmy get up there for Big Daddy.
Biggest Surprise: I’m surprised to see Jeremy Martin struggling this much early on. The guy is just as good indoors as out, but yet he always seems to struggle inside.
Thanks for reading. See you at A2.
