The Season Thus Far
USA MX 2014
http://vurbmoto.com/ By Eric Wright
The 2014 outdoors season is now one third finished, and we have received a full helping of that sweet, sweet Ridiculousness. Mmm, it goes down so good. The season thus far has been a treat to watch, and the racing has come down to the wire more than a few times, which is usually more than anyone can ask with the 30+2 moto format. The riders are starting to line their ducks up for the final eight races of the season. Let's see how this competition is stacking up so far:
Ken Roczen has podiumed every moto
If I were to tell you before the season started that a rider would podium the opening eight motos of the season, you would probably just say, “Yeah, Dungey’s pretty good.” But no. ‘Tis Ken Roczen who has accomplished the feat. Kenny’s year so far has been amazing, with three moto wins and eight straight podiums, way beyond what most people expected out of the 450 greenhorn. Dungey actually isn’t too far behind – he had podiumed every single moto, as well, other than a fourth at T-Valley and a fourth at High Point.
James Stewart’s return to form
James Stewart is a rider who once won 24 straight motos, then took a sabbatical from outdoors, returning in 2012 and winning the first four motos of that season (he did race Unadilla in 2010, and it didn’t really go to plan). But he has won a few times in the outdoors, is basically what I’m getting at. Anyway, since then, James did not string two moto wins together until just last weekend at High Point. If you saw his GoPro, he was beyond ecstatic after the second moto, and just might be acquiring a taste for this whole “winning” thing…stay tuned.
That 250 championship, though…
The 250 championship is actually shaping up to be a heater. After completely dominating the first five motos of the season, Jeremy Martin is in the driver’s seat, but now the momentum in the class belongs to 2012 champ Blake Baggett. Even though Blake took a rock to the face that basically knocked his eye out before the season started, Baggett has now won three straight motos, each in convincing fashion after coming through the pack. Martin still leads by 29 points over Cooper Webb, while Baggett has now climbed to within 36 points of the lead.
Rumor of the season: Jeffrey Herlings wants to race Millville
Unlike most of the garbage I report on here, there is actually a hint of truth to this - Herlings did indeed say that he wants to race Millville this year. It would certainly mix things up in the 250 class, since Jeffrey would be coming to prove that he's the best 250 rider in the world and would thus be going balls to the wall to win it on the sandy soil of Millville. But, the KTM brass are a hard bunch of dudes to convince when there's a MX2 World Championship hanging in the balance, so I wouldn't hold your breath on this one.
CONTRIBUTORS
Eric Wright
