Setting up the finale
The most anticipated season of the Race Factory Gaming Supercross has made its mark on the motocross industry and is now entering the final stages of the championship. Moto Option EVS riders Robert Nash and Jeremy Smith are dominating their 250 regional coasts, however a few riders would like to argue with that statement. There is still hope for many riders, though, as there are three rounds of 250 racing left to decide who will be the champs.The season started off with a bang with a surprising win by Motosport.com rider Brett Mclaud, his first ever career win. Following Anaheim 1, Moto Option EVS rider Dennis Fjeldberg grabbed his first win of the season, after a disappointing 20th at Anaheim 1. Moto Option went back to back in Anaheim 2 with Jeremy Smith getting his first win of the year, and with that win was bad news for his competitors after winning the 125 Arenacross and Winter Indoor Lites Championships in the off season leading into the season. The following two rounds featured surprising winners, both from Sweden. Spazztic’s Kalle Midbeck took the Oakland win, and EMF MX2 Champion Jonathan Olsson took the Anaheim 3 win aboard a Team Splitfire machine. Dennis Fjeldberg would go on to win San Diego after an aggressive pass on teammate, and point’s leader, Jeremy Smith.
Although I named strictly the winners of the first six rounds, there’s been a handful amount of extremely fast riders who have contended for wins, but have come up short. The first name that comes to mind is Motosport.com rider Jeremy Hinners, who has led 14 laps and a 2nd place finish at Anaheim 3. Team eMc has been one of the most impressive new teams on the game, and has had podiums from French riders Maxime Tison and Kevin Lelong, with Lelong sitting 2nd in the championship during the East coast break. A few more riders to break the top 5, but haven’t gotten a podium yet are O’neal Racing riders Devin Davis and Justin Knapp, System Decals Byron Downen, Motosport.com holeshot artist Tyler Schmidt, and the veteran Adam Barry. All of these riders have run up front, but haven’t landed their machines on the box so far. Watch out for all of these riders to be fighting for a podium come Seattle on April 16th.
The West coast Championship point’s battle has Jeremy Smith confidently out front by 28 points over eMc rider Kevin Lelong. The battle for 2nd is extremely close with Lelong having 88 points, Fjeldberg with 87, Jeremy Hinners 84, and a three way tie for 5th with Jonathan Olsson, Kalle Midbeck, and Maxime Tison with 81 points. Following this battle, 8h through 12th is also very close, with A1 winner Brett Mclaud holding 70 points, Devin Davis following him with 69, Byron Downen with 67, Ludvig Botten with 63, and Jesse Mullins with 62 who is coming off a podium following the break in San Diego. The battle for each and every spot is intense and with three rounds of racing left, and Jeremy Smith out front by over a full race margin, the aggressiveness for wins will be fiercer than ever and expect nobody to settle for positions in the great Northwest.
In the East championship, we are currently six races in, exactly like the West, and we also have another Moto Option EVS rider holding onto the red plate. However, the points chase for the #1 plate is significantly closer than the West division. The controversial badass of Jared Siedhoff took a surprising, yet not so surprising victory in Arlington aboard an FCrew BTOSports rocket. In Atlanta, we saw another surprising, yet not so surprising victory come from the Canadian Devon Johnson, aboard his Motosport.com ride, however internet issues has prevented Johnson to bring home a championship to the North side of the border. Current point’s leader Robert Nash went on a roll with St Louis and Daytona Supercross victories, along with two consecutive podiums in Indy and Toronto. The rider with all the momentum is another controversial rider by the name of Gunar Fugler, who has two wins heading into Texas, his homecoming race.
As mentioned earlier about the West division, and riders being so close to grabbing wins, the East coast also has riders on a fine line from being on the podium, and being on the top step of the podium. The rider who needs this breakthrough the most is runner up in the series, Alec Cattenburg, who sits comfortably consistent with 2 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 4 – 5 results, the problem is that Robert Nash and Jared Siedhoff have grabbed wins that are putting Alec into a tough situation where he needs to get a win ASAP and show that he has that intensity. Ryan Mahan and Matt Cromie have both been surprising rookies to the field, and have both finished in the 2nd position at some point during the season, which included a heroic and brave effort by Matt Cromie in Daytona to just come up short after launching the wall jump thirty feet up into the dark sky above the rough Daytona terrain. Brady Standley has also finished on the podium, and would love to have bragging rights of not only being on a winning MXDN team, but also having a Race Factory Gaming 250 SX Victory.
The points on the East coast are closer than the West, with Robert Nash out front by a small amount of 9 points over the winless Alec Cattenburg. Jared Siedhoff is still alive in this chase, being only 14 points behind Nash and with a bad history with Nash, aggressive racing can make the racing exciting with a championship on the line. Gunar Fugler sits all alone in 4th in the points ahead of Ryan Mahan by 11 points. Matt Cromie, Brady Standley, and Linus Mansson are all very close in 6th - 8th in the series. Kyle Robb and Yohann Mayer round out the top 10 in the points. Veterans Cody Darr and Patrick Evans sit just outside the top 10 in the points, with top 10 finishes to their credit.
Top 20 Rundown on the West Coast Points
1. Jeremy Smith – 116 - #23 Moto Option EVS [Will not be playing it safe, he wants to win the final three rounds]
2. Kevin Lelong – 88 - #95 eMc [Hasn’t gotten a win, but has three podiums]
3. Dennis Fjeldberg – 87 - #18 Atlas Technologies TLD [As mentioned above, he has raced for Moto Option throughout the West coast, but maybe the intensity of the championship broke him away from the Moto Option team and he lands himself aboard an Atlas Technologies bike for the final rounds, also off topic but he won the MX2 overall at the Valkenswaard GP]
4. Jeremy Hinners – 84 - #37 Motosport.com [Has shown lack of appreciation for lappers and will be looking for revenge in Seattle]
5. Jonathan Olsson – 81 - #43 Team Splitfire [Off topic to SX, but just dominated the Valkenswaard GP]
6. Kalle Midbeck – 81 - #269 Spazztic [Won Oakland, definitely a contender to win again]
7. Maxime Tison – 81 - #63 eMc [Hasn’t been on podium since impressive Anaheim 1 performance]
8. Brett Mclaud – 70 - #211 Motosport.com [Won Anaheim 1]
9. Devin Davis – 69 – #40 O’neal Racing [Hey that’s me!]
10. Byron Downen – 67 - #62 System Decal [Most memorable moment came at St Louis when he did duelies with Tysen]
11. Ludvig Botten – 62 - #185 Atlas Technologies TLD [Originally on JDR, picked up by Moto Option EVS during off season, and switched to Atlas Technologies for the final three West coast rounds]
12. Jesse Mullins – 62 - #167 Team Splitfire [Been improving heaps and bounds and will be looking for wins before the season is up]
13. Tyler Schmidt – 52 - #28 Motosport.com [Holeshot artist hasn’t finished on the podium yet, although taking wins in the SX1 and SX2 class this season in the European Supercross Championship]
14. Justin Knapp – 50 - #321 O’neal Racing [Picked up by O’neal Racing during the East coast break]
15. Adam Barry – 31 - #31 Barry Fly Racing [Hasn’t lived up to expectations in 2013]
16. Craig Richards – 23 - #170 Race Tech SD
17. Michael Wheeler – 23 - #42 KX125 [Been rocking the KX125 and doing an awesome job on it, Go wheels!]
18. Bryan Hale – 20 - #54 FAT 180 Decals
19. Anthony Jefferson – 18 - #87 Intrinzic Graphix Stheart.com [Raced Anaheim 1 and finished 4th, failed to qualify for Phoenix Main Event and we haven’t seen him racing on the West coast since Arizona]
20. Joe Bornhorst – 17 - #82 O’neal Racing
Top 20 Rundown on the East Coast Points
1. Robert Nash – 125 - #19 Moto Option EVS [Trying to make Las Vegas a memorable one for the MOEVS team]
2. Alec Cattenburg – 116 - #11 Race Tech SD [Trying to get first win, and championship in sophomore season]
3. Jared Siedhoff – 111 - #14 FCrew BTOSports [Interesting to see how he handles the pressure of a potential championship, and being the hunter rather than the hunted]
4. Gunar Fugler – 82 - #80 Stamina Co. [If he keeps winning, he may be in the hunt for the championship in Las Vegas]
5. Ryan Mahan – 71 - #251 Privateer [Looking for a Factory ride]
6. Matt Cromie – 59 - #503 FAT 180 Decals [Just got picked up by 180 Decals]
7. Brady Standley – 58 - #47 Privateer
8. Linus Mansson – 58 - #17 Team Splitfire
9. Kyle Robb – 51 - #616 Moto Option EVS [Huge improvement every time we see him]
10. Yohann Mayer – 47 - #36 eMc
11. Cody Darr – 42 - #29 Race Tech SD [Won a heat race in the 450 class in San Diego prior to 2013 East coast series]
12. Patrick Evans – 41 - #58 FSK
13. James Armstrong – 41 - #733 FAMmx.com [Hasn’t lived up to 2013 expectations]
14. Mason Clendenen – 40 - #121 Motosport.com [Honestly putting in a very impressive season]
15. Devon Johnson – 37 - #96 Motosport.com [Won Atlanta]
16. Peter Leik – 37 - #32 Moto Option EVS [Wanted to get home country win in Toronto, but finished 15th]
17. Lucas Van Hecke – 34 - #397 FAMmx.com
18. Clay Alfrey – 33 - #188 Privateer [Impressive speed in rookie season]
19. Kellen Brauer – 33 - #101 Barry Fly Racing [Hasn’t lived up to 2013 expectations, Go Kellen!]
20. Jesse Hinde – 32 - #83 System Decal
Have a Happy Easter
Alright then. Kind of weird.