Monday Morning Coffee

It’s time to take a look at the San Diego Supercross in this week’s Monday Morning Coffee column about Motocross and more

By Billy Rainford

If you can get through your entire professional racing career and have a near non-existent number of detractors, I think it’s pretty safe to say you did something right.

I say “near” because there must be at least one or two whack jobs out there who don’t like it when Eli Tomac (1M) wins. I mean, I’ve never seen one, but they must be out there, right?

If the only negative I can come up with is that “he was always fairly difficult to interview,” again, you’ve done something right.

Did I ever tell you the story of when I finally mustered the courage to interview Eli at the Toronto Supercross? Well, it was a long time ago and Eli agreed to chat so I set up the camera, plugged in my microphone and off we went.

It went great and I was really happy that I’d done it.

I sat down to edit it all together and that’s when I realized the microphone didn’t work. It was silence.

The incident even prompted me to start a “How To” section on our YouTube channel. It seems some video cameras require a powered microphone, and the one I was trying to attach an external microphone to was one of them.

On the upside, judging from the comment section, my video seems to have helped an awful lot of people in the same boat!

Over the years I’ve considered going back and doing a silly Mad Libs treatment to the interview, but it would just be a disservice to a rider who doesn’t deserve it, so it just sits on an old hard drive in silence.

Eli still gets the loudest cheers in every stadium we go to. He gets the loudest cheers whenever he makes a pass, and he gets the biggest gasps when something goes wrong.

At Round 2 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross SMX World Championship at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, the crowd got exactly what they wanted, a straight-up battle between Eli and #1 Jett Lawrence (750K). Missing from the equation was #4 Chase Sexton (470K) who has looked amazing except for when he makes a mistake. He was dead last to start the Main this past week, so he had his work cut out for him and made it up to 6th to salvage good points.

#2 Cooper Webb (769K) got out front early after #66 Vince Friese (41.2K) pulled one of his old Kyle Lewis holeshots and then worked his way backwards, finishing 15th.

At the halfway mark in the 450 Main, it was Webb, Tomac, Lawrence wheel to wheel. Suddenly, both Tomac and Lawrence were through and checking out as Webb was left wondering what he has to do to run their pace. He said as much in the post-race press conference.

Did anyone else wonder why Eli was taking all those outside lines? He stayed committed to all of them except for the left-hander through the sand. I wanted to ask him in the press conference but I got skipped over…

I guess when you’re out front you don’t really get a chance to watch anyone else, so he just kept ripping them.

Also, did anyone else notice what Sexton was doing in that section where most were jumping and landing in that little gully then going double double? He would land and then jump the gully and triple out. It seemed much faster but I didn’t notice anyone else doing it. I saw him doing it in 450 Heat 2.

Tomac and Lawrence stayed close as they worked their way through traffic. They ended up putting 20 seconds on Webb in 3rd with #94 Ken Roczen (1.6M) on his rear wheel. #96 Hunter Lawrence (343K) had Sexton breathing down his neck as they crossed the line in 5th and 6th.

In the 250 class, #30 Jo Shimoda (191K) definitely earned our respect. Anyone else breaks a couple fingers and it’s a few days off work…at their office job! Lol Check out the photo of his hand after he got clipped by another rider’s pit board:

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After winning round 1, he had to ride with that messed up hand. And he finished 7th! The only problem that I see is that 1 week off the bike isn’t going to heal those fingers enough to be any better moving forward. In fact, once all the adrenaline of Saturday wears off, it’s going to be very difficult to convince Jo to put the gloves on and go riding again next week at A2. I’d say next week will be worse than it was in San Diego, but I guess we’ll see. Maybe surgery and pins will help?

We’re in a cool place in the 250 class right now. We’ve got all the fast young kids coming to the front while riders like #19 Jordon Smith (105K) try to hang on. They pointed out an interesting stat that between #23 Julien Beaumer (59.7K) and #100 Cole Davies (24K) they had like 12 Main starts while Smith behind them had around 70!

You have to be impressed with the improvements “JuJu” has made coming into this season. He knows what it’s like to lead at the professional level from all his water racing, so I’m sure that helps his mental game in SX.

I’m most impressed with what I’m seeing from the even younger Cole Davies. This kid sounds like Chad Reed (997K) (Yes, I know they’re not from the same countries) and appears to have the attitude it’s going to take to keep him moving toward the top step. I’d also like to keep an eye on the rise of his followers on Instagram. At the moment, he has 24K. Let’s see what happens to this number over the next few weeks.

Smith grabbed a very close holeshot over Davies but it was the New Zealander who led the first 7 laps! Beaumer hounded him and got to the lead on lap 8 and didn’t look back.

It was interesting to watch as Davies was doing the triple quad section as Beaumer decided to stick to the double triple double rhythm. He said in the press conference that he didn’t think the risk was worth the minor gain so he skipped it and also pointed out that Davies wasn’t exactly buttering it.

#38 Haiden Deegan (1.6M) was back fighting around 10th early and had his work cut out for him as he tried to correct the trouble from A1. No matter what camp you’re in, Haiden is a crowd favourite. I like to call him “The Truman Show” because he has basically grown up in front of everyone just like Jim Carey did in the movie.

Deegan made it up to 3rd to land himself on the podium, but he definitely wasn’t happy with that finish.

The Canadians

Cole Thompson (71K): Brigden, Ontario

Q: 12th

Heat 1: 6th

Main: 12th

Cole got out to a solid start in this Main, he was up in 6th place and ran there for the first 3 laps. He’s in a group of riders around similar speed in #63 Hunter Yoder (38.8K), #52 Anthony Bourdon (26.4K), and #65 Lux Turner (6.2K). These 4 riders seem to be very close and it’s great to watch their battles.

Blake Davies (2.7K): Mission, British Columbia

Q: 28th

Heat 1: 19th

LCQ: 14th

Blake learned from Round 1 and hit Q2 hard to qualify quite easily in 28th place. He’s got to be very happy with that performance. Being a big kid, it’s tough for him to get good starts on a 250 against some of these other light athletes on rocket ships.

He was near the back in Heat 1 and that’s where he stayed, crossing the line in 19th to head to the LCQ. The same thing happened to him in the LCQ and he rode consistent laps but was back in 14th place.

To make the night show in his 2nd attempt is a great accomplishment for the 16-year-old. Big things to come!

Preston Masciangelo (11.6K): Brantford, Ontario

Q:34th

Heat 1: 13th

LCQ: 8th then big crash

Preston is getting the hang of SX and it’s showing in the way he looks on the track. He qualified 34th to make the night show. He stayed consistent in Heat 1 and ran 12-13 the whole race to cross the line in 13th.

Unfortunately, he over-jumped the double after the sand and still went for the triple. Here’s what he said: “In the bigger rhythm after the sand section, I over-jumped the double a bit and still went for the triple. I ended up going front end high and landing like that. My body kind of just blew off the bike.”

There was no hospital visit and he’s just bruised up a little. Next week.

Noah Viney (22.5K): Ottawa, Ontario/Murrieta, California

Q: Crashed

Noah looked very good at Round 1 and was obviously hoping to build on that in San Diego. Unfortunately, the big quad section bit him and he crashed hard, dislocating his shoulder. Obviously, he was out for the rest of the day. We’ll be sure to check in with him this week to see how he’s recovering.

Guillaume St Cyr (6.4K): Victoriaville, Quebec

Guillaume tried to ride Free Practice in San Diego but his shoulder was just too sore from his big crash at A1. Here’s what he said:

“Yeah, my shoulder is dead! It was dangerous on the track, I could barely hold on.”

On we go to Anaheim 2 this week.

The 2025 Motorcycle and Powersports Shows

The Motorcycle and Powersports Shows started this past weekend in Vancouver, BC. Here’s a look at the schedule:

Vancouver Jan 17 – 19, 2025 Tradex in Abbotsford Read More

Calgary Jan 31- Feb 2, 2025 BMO Centre, Stampede Park Read More

Toronto Feb 14 – 16, 2025 Enercare Centre, Exhibition Place Read More

Montreal Feb 28 – March 2, 2025 Palais des congres de Montreal Read More

We’re in the deep freeze here in Southwestern Ontario. Right now, the temperature is a sunny -14C. We don’t get to single digit negatives until Thursday. Have a great week and let’s look forward to Round 3 back at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.

All the best to our old friend Billy Laninovich (108K) who crashed at his hometown race. Here’s what he said on his Instagram page:

“My home town race hasn’t been so nice to me the past few years. Was feeling great until I crashed in qualifying. Got some X-rays on the ribs and pelvis and everything looks okay, just some bruising and the possibility of little fractures they can’t see. We will be back on the bike soon.

“Thank you everyone for the love and support!”