Things to Watch for at Supercross Rounds 3 and 4
By Billy Rainford
As we head into the final two rounds of Canadian Triple Crown Series Supercross to determine champions, here’s a quick look at a few things to keep your eyes on at Gopher Dunes.
450 Class
#2 Marshal Weltin tied with #15 Jess Pettis for 2nd (39 points behind #1 Dylan Wright) in the 450 MX portion of the series and took the Triple Crown Points lead after his 2nd place finishes at Rounds 1 and 2 of the SX portion of the series last weekend at Gopher Dunes.
With Dylan hurting himself on Friday and there being 2 points-paying Mains per night, Marshal found himself in the lead for the Triple Crown title by 7 points over SX stand-out #16 Cole Thompson.
We’ll have more information on this as we get it from Marshal and the team. Here’s a look at the 450 points:
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TRIPLECROWN SERIES 2021
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Not that anyone had anything for Cole Thompson in the 450 SX class before Marshal stepped away, but the loss makes Cole’s win that much more inevitable. Watch how easy the #16 makes things look this weekend on Fox Sports or the Flo Racing app. It’s impressive and really makes you wish he was still lining up south of the border during the winter months.
We still have what should be a pretty intense battle for runner-up honours in the class between two unlikely participants. #32 Casey Keast finds himself with some great support from PRMX in the 450 class and #100 Westen Wrozyna landed a coveted spot as a fill-in rider on the MX101 team.
These two kept everyone on the edge of their non-existent seats at rounds 1 and 2 and they both believe they are the ones who belong on that second step. Keep an eye on this battle this weekend.
#11 Davey Fraser just keeps going and going. For some reason, it’s easy to miss him out there. He isn’t at the pace of the podium guys, but he looks to have the rest of the pack covered. His fight to hold off #31 Parker Eales was a great one. They may not be going for wins, but there are some fierce battles back in the pack.
Speaking of Parker, he did one of his patented come-from-nehind moves this past weekend and it will be nice to see what he can do with a good start this week.
#38 Yanick Boucher finds himself in 6th place in the standings. He ends up on his own a lot out there and seems to be picking up this SX game pretty quickly. I liked the whoops speed I saw in his practice sessions during the week, so watch for him to shine if the section is longer this week.
Behind him, I think #26 Ryan Derry and #33 Tommy Dallaire will be close to each other this week. Ryan was our Most Improved Rider for the 2020 SX season and Tommy wasn’t happy with his performances last week. Let’s see how they do at rounds 3 and 4.
#192 Ethan Ouellette keeps getting to the first corner in the lead but then forgets to go left. If he can somehow get himself to the inside and slowed down and stay up front to the Royal Distributing holeshot line, he could see the pace of the frontrunners and move up the ranks.
250 Class
The 250 class is where are the actions seems to be this season. Without exaggeration, we’ve got 6 or 8 riders who could take the win every time the gate drops! It seems to be a battle to see who makes the fewest mistakes.
Here’s a look at the points in the 250 SX:
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SXTOUR 2021
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Obviously, #46 Marco Cannella would love to end this season on a high note, after the struggles he had in the MX series. He’s got 7 points on a tie between #30 Jake Piccolo and #157 Darien Sanayei. These two traded wins at round 2 and will be in this to the end on Saturday night.
Behind these 3, #46 Tyler Gibbs has shown that he’s got some great SX skills. He earned his AMA Pro License through the Supercross Futures program in the US and can take a win in any Main, as long as he keeps the mistakes to a minimum.
We’ve yet to see #84 Tanner Ward up where he belongs in this series, but I’m sure he put the time in this week and will be fighting to land up on the podium this week.
#25 Guilaume St Cyr is also a stand-out in Canada when it comes to indoor skills. He’s definitely most happy on these types of tracks. He runs with the top riders and should be in this fight for wins again this week.
#50 Julien Benek has maybe been the most impressive rider to watch out there. His whoops speed is something to see, so be sure to watch him this week. If he can somehow get a start he has winning speed out there.
#19 Quinn Amyotte looks like he should also be in this fight, but he’s found the ground and that has resulted in lower finishes than he should be getting. Let’s see if he can clean up his game and get up in this fight this week.
We won’t be seeing #212 Sebastien Racine this week, as he told me last week that he’s heading back to school and they just won’t make the trip west again this week. I’ll admit that he looked a bit like a fish out of water on Friday but then came back and looked like a completely different rider on Saturday. His improvement was obvious and he’ll be fun to watch for years to come.
See you there!
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