Jason Thomas (0:00)

A pulp MX Network production. A cerebral and experienced look into the racing action from the week that was. This is Industry Seating with Jason Thomas. Presented by Guts Racing Pro, Glow Wash Works Connection, Fast Foundry, TL Speed Shop, Grandstone Boots and Fly Racing. Welcome to the Industry Seating podcast. It is Sunday morning, January 26th, and we just wrapped up round three of the Super Motocross World Championship. That is round three of 31. It is round one of 17 Supercross rounds. Pretty good race, not too shabby. 2025 has delivered. I'm going to say a one was a little boring, but ever since then we have gotten everything we could ask for and more from this series. So kudos to everybody and you always like you hear these man, I just hope it can stay like this, right? And it and kind of know it's not going to. At some point there's going to be some boring races, there'll be a few runaways, some people are going to get hurt. That's just the way this sport goes and you just should expect it. And if you're not expecting it, you're probably going to be disappointed. Before we start with the 250 class, thank the sponsors of this podcast, Guts Racing, Plum Creek Funding, Works Connection, TL Speed Shop, Grantstone Boots and Fly Racing. Thank you to all of them for being a part of this podcast. And Works Connection continuing to get those good starts. Hayden Deegan ripping a holeshot in the 250 class with his Pro Launch start device. So nothing. Some things just never seem to change. Jet Lawrence wins with the Works Connection Pro Launch start device. So check those guys out at Works Connection. So let's go for it. Let's do it. Going to be a quick one today. Hayden Deegan got the job done and I tried to talk about it as much as I could. The starts have been have been pivotal. It's really been what has held him back and I got a chance to talk about it. He was 18th on the second lap at a one. He was eighth on the second lap in San Diego and that's simply not going to do it unless you are far better than everybody. And I would say that in motocross it's probably fine because he is a lot better than everybody in motocross, but in supercross the margins are tighter and he simply doesn't have the edge that he does otherwise. So for him he has to be a little bit cleaner. He can't make mistakes and weave things to chance the way that he can in motocross because he doesn't have that edge and the ability to close those gaps back down. He can't, he can't make up for the mistakes in the same fashion, nor does he have as much time to make up for mistakes. So he's got to have a cleaner program in Supercross. And it really comes down to executing better starts, making less mistakes, which he did. He did all of those things at A three. And this was the Hayden Deegan that we expected. Aggressive in the heat race. And you could say, maybe don't go for such an aggressive move on Bowmer because now maybe he owes you one. And it just makes winning championships harder when somebody owes you one. That's always been. My philosophy is you should want everybody to be your best friend when you're going for a championship, because there's really no upside to having someone going for you, like putting a bullseye on your back. There's not a lot of upside there. Hayden Deegan doesn't really care about that. I'm sure he doesn't care what my opinion is of that. This is who he is as a person and, and he's, he's just going to do what he does and he's going to get aggressive with him. I don't think he likes the comments that Bowmare made about, you know, his antics or whatever that, and that's just who, who we know Hayden to be. So at least he's consistent with that. Went in there. I don't think he went in to take him out. He just went in to send a message, make some contact, and unfortunately Julian went down. But in the main event, Hayden just went out and did what he does out and won the main event, you know, and he didn't win by 10 seconds. He got a three or four second gap and he won the race. And I don't think he was even capable of really pulling a 10 or 15 second gap. I think he's a little bit better than these guys in Supercross and that's enough. If you do the rest of the things, that's enough. And now he's back in the thick of this. He still has, you know, he still has points to, to make up Bomar. And we'll go to Bomar's home race coming up this weekend in Glendale, where he kind of broke out as an amateur. So we'll see how that all shakes out in a Triple Crown event. But if you're looking for a response from Hayden Deegan and to step up and basically just answer the call, you got it. You really couldn't ask for Much more from Deegan than what he did. And he went straight back to talking on the podium again. You know, he, he's consistent to a fault. He's just going to give you exactly what you expect now. But, Mayor, I think he did all the right things. You know, if you're not going to win the race, then what do you do? You get second place. You stay cool, calm, collected. You don't take the bait when Hayden Deegan wants to start yapping and Hayden knows what he's doing. These are dedicated, concerted efforts to get a response, to get Julian off his game. And to, to Juju's credit, he's not doing it. He's not, you know, chirping back on the podium or getting upset. There was really no response or reaction at all from Bowmer. I, I think he's just like, to his credit, what he said during the week was, I've been dealing with this, these things since we were little kids. This is no different. So credit to him for just understanding that nothing has really changed other than the stakes and then the money. Everything else is the same. The dynamic and the tactics and everything else is exactly how it was. And if you can manage your temper or your outlook or emotion, however you want to phrase it, it's going to benefit you a lot. So I give Juju a lot of credit for his maturity. In the face of someone trying to, to get you off your game, trying. Someone trying to get you to kind of. What do they say? And I don't mean this towards Hayden, but what is the, what is the quote? You don't want to get in the mud with pigs because their mud makes them happy or something. I totally butchered that. But you know what I'm saying, if someone's really good at something like Hayden's really good at talking, getting people to respond emotionally, you don't want to lean into that because that's what they do really well. So you want to stick what you do and not give them the upper hand of entering their arena because that's what they specialize in. So forget I ever brought up the cliche analogy there because I clearly don't know what I'm talking about. But anyway, I give Bomar a lot of credit. Jordan Smith, man, I'm torn on this because I like the fact that he's going for it. He knows he needs to win and get points. But you cannot crash there. You cannot make the job easier for Hayden and Bomare on a points basis. And I, I would guess that Jordan be like yeah, but I, I podium, like, that's where I make my money and that's how I get paid. The, you know, I got. The bonuses are everything for podiums. Probably fair. That's, that's a correct statement. And the sentiment, I absolutely understand. I'm just thinking big picture. And he really did himself a lot of damage with that crash where, okay, a fourth is not what you want. It's not great, but at least it's manageable. He stays in the fight. And now he, he's really got some work to do against these guys. So it's, it's a pretty big bummer. It's, it's a big, big stain on the championship chances, I think for Jordan, Cole Davies was the benefactor. Well, he really didn't do anything. He just didn't get past, I guess. But I am so impressed by Cole Davies and I mentioned this during the race. The amount of improvement he has shown in a year cannot be overstated. It simply can't. There are no, there are not enough accolades I could give him to measure how, how much better he's gotten. And I know he's not winning. You could say Deegan went from, you know, what we saw at a 2 in 20, 23, where he crashed out, he got fifth and futures to winning the SMX Championship that same same year. 23, yeah. Like, it's remarkable because, yeah, Hayden won in 23 and 24 and he raced a futures race in 2023. That is incredible to think Hayden Deegan's gotten that much better that quickly also. I just didn't see this coming with Davies. I, I did not. I was not pessimistic, but I was just kind of shoulder shrug about Davies. That's probably the best way I can describe it. I was like, I, I don't know, maybe he does pretty well, but I haven't seen anything that's a guarantee for me. There's been nothing where I'm like, yep, that guy has exactly what it takes. And maybe Daniel Blair did. Maybe, you know, Daniel spent so much time with him, maybe Daniel saw it. And I'll give Daniel credit there too, but I am over the moon impressed with this kid and how he just looks like he's in total control of the situation. He has incredible bike skill, bike manipulation. He can kind of do what he wants on the racetrack. Like, there's just a lot of subtleties in his, in his riding that come across really well. For someone who studies this stuff relentlessly like I do. Just trust me when I tell you he, he There's a lot there to. To like in his game, so good job. Cole Davies. The. The hard work is showing up. Drew Adams, the first race, thrown into the last second. Hadn't ridden the pro bike until Thursday. Great job. You know, he was right in there in the mix. Top 10 qualified well, like all the things you'd want to see. And he's going to be better. He's going to be fine in this class. He has all the tools that he needs to be successful. Doesn't mean he's going to go win or podiums or anything. None of that is guaranteed. But what you're looking for is you don't want the moment to look too big for him. You don't want him to look out of place. He's going to be good. You know, it's only going to get better from here. He's going to calm down and allow his skill set to come through more. All those things just, they take time. They take repetition in that moment and on that stage, and he's going to gain all that. So I'm very optimistic about Drew Adams's chances. Last 250 rider I want to mention Joe Shimoda. And, you know, before, I really didn't have a hard opinion on Joe. If anything, it was kind of one of. Mentally, I didn't think he had the steadfastness it takes to win a championship. He just looked like every time the pressure was on at the beginning of a series, he would falter. He just couldn't stand up to that. The real spotlight and the pressure that a factory team would put on him to go win early on. And once the pressure faded and he was fifth in points and out of it, then he would show up. And that is, to me, was a sign of mental lack of mental grit, if you want to use that word. I'm going to take all that away because of how tough I've seen him handle this hand injury, to be able to fight through that. He's in a lot of pain. I went and talked to him on Friday and saw his hand close up. That thing is mangled. His whole hand is purple. Like the entire hand is one big purple appendage. It's crazy. So to see him riding that well, battling, trying to get in the top five with that is. It's a real testament to, I think, his character, because that takes a lot to. To handle in that moment. So good for Joe. I have nothing but respect to send to Joe Shimota and, you know, the championship's probably over now. But there's only so much you can do. There's no way he could go out and expect to beat Bowmer and Deegan and those guys with that hand in the condition it's in, those fingers are broken. And the rest of his hand, it's not like the rest of his hands. Perfect. The rest of his hand is bone bruised and, you know, really, really bad shape. And he's still making it happen. And I watched him in practice, he could barely ride, so he. He toughed out those. The heat race in the main event to get points. And I just think it deserves. It deserves a shout out. Jumping to the 450s. We do the power rankings, and lots of people are happy that I put Tomac at the top last week, which is fine. I didn't do it because of that. I just thought Tomac deserved it. He, you know, I didn't think he would be his best self for most of 2024. I just thought the injury was too severe and the recovery time for something like that is too long. And when you get back to your best self, I think it should be recognized because when he left in 2023, he was the best rider in the sport. And when you show me that you're back to that again, I'm gonna. I'm going to recognize that and however I can make note of it, which is what this podcast would be. So, anyway, number 10 is Mookie, and that bumped out Aaron Plessinger because AP's had three horrible races, bar none. Like, he just had three terrible races. There's no other. No other real way to put it. And I don't. They haven't really been his fault. He's been sick, he's been in crashes. It's just. But it's, you know, it's a. It's a binary business. You either do well or you don't. And it has not been good for AP through three rounds. So he gets the honorable mention. I know he's still very capable, but it hasn't been good. And when it hasn't been good, you know, I. I have to recognize that as well. So number 10 was Mookie. And he's just. He's been quiet, you know, just kind of hanging in there, nothing crazy, nothing terrible. Gritted out that first race, you know, by. After the huge heat race crash. So it's fine. He deserves to be. To be 10th here. Number nine, J. Coop. I was a little disappointed with how bad he faded in the main. I don't even know what place he got in the actual main event. I need to look on my, my sheet here, but I mean, he was at the front for a very long time. That's. That was pretty obvious. And, you know, there was a lot of back and forth about where he was losing time and where he was making up time. I mean, make no mistake, the, the whoops. The whoops killed them. You know, I, I tried to share that on the broadcast and there, there was a, a moment there where it looked like the whoops may work out for him because they were getting incredibly slippery and Ricky and I kind of had a difference of opinion about the way that was going to play out and whatever. That's what opinions are. I'm. I'm wrong all the time. But in this particular scenario, it didn't work for Jacob and I'm sure he was bumming. He had to know when they were passing him that the line wasn't working. But I think he looked at it and said, if I try to blitz these things, it's not going to go well for me and I just need to stick what I do with what I do. Well, I don't know. It says Justin Cooper got 19th here. I don't know what happened. Did he crash? No. What's going on there? That can't be right. Oh, that's the. That's got to be. Yeah, that's. That's not correct. I don't know what place Justin Cooper got trying to use the, this new SMX app, but I'm not a huge fan of. So I apologize for the. It's great radio. Right? But anyway, Justin Cooper led for a long time and then it. He got shuffled and shuffled and shuffled. I just don't know what his final position was, but I would love, have loved to see him be able to stay more at the front as I'm sure everyone else would have. But it's baby steps. And how I always look at it is if you can lead for whatever it was six laps, then the next time you get a hole shot, you try to lead for seven and you try to lead for nine and you try to leave 13, you know, and that's, that's how these things happen. It's not an overnight thing where you're just like, oh, yeah, I got seventh last week, but I'm going to lead every single lap tonight. Like, that's a really hard thing to change because you had Jet coming. He. Jet was there. He started what, third or fourth? Roczen was on his best form. Anderson is bad. You know, there was just A lot. And that's not even talking about Tomac. Tomac was like last. So it was. It was a really tough ask for Jacob to stay up there. I just want to see him do what he does well. And that's race from the front. But you have to look at it as an. It was a net positive overall for Justin Cooper and he sits ninth. Justin Barcia. I thought his Instagram post summed it up. He just said, you know, it's not amazing, but it's a lot better than last year. And that's kind of what I've been saying through before. Last night is nothing to write home about. But last year was the worst year of his career, and he's better than that. So, I don't know, take some solace in that. You know, if you're looking for a silver lining, he's better than he was a year ago. And. And sometimes that's all you really, you know, you just take what. You take what you can get and you don't throw a fit. Somebody told me that a couple years ago, and it's really stuck with me. Things aren't going well. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Number seven is Hunter Lawrence. And interesting year for Hunter. Nothing fancy. You know, I thought San Diego was a nice bounce back after a horrible A1. This was kind of that type of so. So ride. Nothing great, you know, like it was. It's just been a lot of kind of blah and they're. They're dealing with a lot. You know, you don't. It doesn't take an investigative journalist to know all the things going on behind the scenes for them. Like, we all know things are a little bit crazy. So I don't know that Hunter's head was necessarily in it. Maybe he just wasn't quite feeling it. But I mean, he still got fifth. He just. When I say it was kind of blah. I never saw him, you know, like, I never saw him really in the fight other than like super early on and he got pushed backwards. So maybe I'm understating Hunter's ride, but, like, let's think about last year. This guy, when he got to the front, he was. He stayed at the front. He was pushing the pace. Like Fort Worth, he wins Vegas, he's in, like, right at the right on jets, rear wheel the whole time. Nobody could do anything really with him. At the end of Supercross, he was right with Jet podium guy, Pro motocross, battling for the championship. Like, that's what I'm expecting. So when I say it's been blah. A one was not good. Six. San Diego was okay. Fifth. He gets fifth again in a two. But it hasn't been the same type of feel with Hunter that it was last year. That's all, that's all I'm really getting to. And maybe he's off to a slow start and he'll get better and better and better like he did a year ago. I just haven't seen that flash from Hunter that we were getting most of the season. Like the, the raw speed, the hole shots, the confidence at the front. I haven't really haven't seen that. And you know, I would, I would assume that it's just a lack of comfort with the motorcycle. That's my guess. So we'll see if they sort that out. We, and we get more of the flashy, speedy, aggressive Hunter that was really coming around last year. Jason Anderson is six. And that's two podiums and three rounds for Jason Anderson. And really, if you wanted to point to the last weekend, it was, he said he was really sick, which he still is a little bit sick. And, and I like when guys are transparent. He just said I was sick and I had no energy. I could not hang on the last few laps. That's what he said at San Diego and it, it seemed that way. And even I would even argue this weekend when Roczen finally made the pass stick. Go back and watch. They come around by the finish line and Roczen passes him going into the finish line corner. You can see Anderson kind of sit up in the air over the finish line like, sit down entering the corner. Like you can tell he's, he's feeling it, like he does not have any charge left. Those are telltale body language signs that you're, you're a little tired. And I know Jason Anderson rides his ass off. So I'm not saying he's out of shape. I'm saying that the illness is taking a toll on him because you can, I can see it in his, in his riding technique that he is feeling it. Weight, like out of breath, muscles burning, all those, those types of things. He's, he's gasping for air and just trying to find some sort of rest wherever he possibly can. That's just, that's just the nature of it. I've been in shape and gotten, you still get, get tired in races. Just because you're in shape doesn't mean you can't redline and push way too hard in a battle and have to pull up for A second. That's, that's, that's very common also. But I could just see it in Anderson there. But he's been great. Two podiums in three rounds is just what the doctor ordered for Jason Anderson. And remember, he's going for a contract. Like, he's trying to get a ride for 20, 26 and beyond. And I don't. That's not a guarantee that he's going to stay at Cali, not by a long shot. So we'll see. But he's doing the things that he needs to do. That's the whole thing you need to do. I'm trying to think of the right phrasing for this, but when you're, when you have to impress the bosses to, to get a new contract, you need to be on the podium, you need to be fighting for wins. That. It's really simple. And I, I do believe he is stepping up to that challenge. Cooper Webb is five and I pushed him from four to five. And that might feel unfair, but I think, you know, it's between Roxann and Webb, and if you look at how good Roxanne rode, how well he rode, and he's the points leader, I don't know that you can really argue it too strongly. You may not, you may disagree, but you can't say that Roczen is undeserving with the red plate going into round four. So for Webb, it wasn't his best night. He didn't get the start, he didn't put in good laps early, and he even in his Instagram post, he said, it took me too long to get going. So the tough part for Webb here is that a 2 has been a typically a good round for him, and Glendale is statistically his worst round of the series. So that's not a good setup when you're. You're trying to hang in there and now you go into your worst round. He really needs to. To find some spark and some fire at the Triple Crown round in Glendale and kind of buck that trend and have a really solid night. That, that would really help him. It's, you know, all is not lost. He's fine. But you don't want to turn. I don't know what is the. What points he is down probably 10 or so. You don't want to turn 10 into 20 because you have your prototypical rough Glendale round. That's what you don't want to do. So just a storyline like the race within a race, that's what to watch for with Cooper Webb. Kenny, man, Kenny's so impressive. You know, like we, we all know how good Kenny is technically. And you could argue in 2017, at this very round in a two if things don't go the way they did. Kenny is a multi time champion. He definitely would have won the championship in 17 in my opinion, Dungy wasn't that impressive in 17. Tomac was faster, but Tomac blew it with the crash in East Rutherford. There's no way in my mind you'll ever convince me that 2017 Ken Rockson is not your champion on the Honda before he gets hurt like he was head and shoulders, the best guy. And ever since then, it's been a qualifying Kenny ride. You know, you're like, well, he was really good, but he looks like he can win races. But that's what we've always said ever since that stuff with Kenny. And it's hard to think it's any different now, you know, it still feels that way now. He's great. He's got the red plate. He's gone two, four, two. That's pretty impressive. But is anybody sitting there going, yeah, this is Kenny's year, he's going to be champ. This is the. I don't, I don't think so. And maybe that's not fair, maybe it's not. I'm okay with saying it's not fair, but I think that's reality. I think everybody's, everybody that has watched this movie before is saying, I don't think he can maintain this for 17 or what, 14 more rounds and we'll find out. We're gonna find out. But that is the prevailing thesis for Ken Rockson is that, yeah, he's awesome now, but what does that look like in March, April and May? Don't know. But we have a lot of evidence that supports it won't be quite this good. He is really good at Glendale though. So watch. If he could steal a win at Glendale, think about what that would look like for the championship momentum. That would pretty, pretty damn awesome. Number three is Chase Sexton. Not his best night. He was, I think frustrated after the race. We tried to stop him for an interview. He did not want to stop and headed up the tunnel. Maybe he didn't know, but I, he stopped last week for the same exact thing. I think he, he just, he was pissed. I think he was pissed that he didn't capitalize because if you remember the broadcast, I come in, I say, hey, Sexton is on the move. And he was, I was watching him closely. He was on fire, caught up to the rear Wheel of that battle and I was like, he is on it. And then he started making big mistakes. And I think if, if you asked him and you gave him a lie detector test, my guess would be he was really pissed that he started making mistakes and blew his opportunity because he knew it, just like I did, that he was coming for those guys. You, as a racer, you can see yourself catching up and you feel yourself like, I'm hitting my marks, I'm doing everything right and it's working. I'm going to get these guys. And then he just didn't. He didn't make the most of it. Right. He didn't strike while the iron was hot and that was probably really frustrating. He didn't get on the podium and yeah, I would bet he's a little frustrated here sitting on a Sunday, but he is number three. He's only three points out of the championship. It's fine. Like you're looking at big picture. It's totally fine. If you, if you asked him in December, hey, through three rounds, you're going to be three points out of the championship. Will you take that? I'm not saying it's a grand slam home run that he would say yes. I think most people would, though, because you remove so much chance and unpredictability. Three points out after three rounds, you're firmly in the fight. That means you've had three good races. I think most people would take that sight unseen. That's just my guess. But I think he. So if you look at it, I think life is all about perspective and framing it in the, in the right light. If you look at it that way and you can disconnect yourself from a main event that could have been, there's some, I think there's some comfort in that. So I don't know. I, I have the, the benefit of being disengaged and not connected emotionally to it. So I can look at it objectively where he can't. But that's what I would do, is say, all right, not my best race. But all things considered, I have one win and I'm three points out of the championship after three rounds. It's not a bad place to be. Okay, so let's just move on and let's get after it. In Glendale, number two is Eli Tomac. He dropped the spot. Not his best race. I mean, the heat race was phenomenal. Good grief, was he hauling ass. But the main event, he blew the start. It's just that simple. I saw he posted or whoever posts for him that the Gate he was in was really good and then the rain made it super slippery and he spun where he thought he would get traction. And that happens. He choose a gate, it rains and the dirt changes and what was good now goes bad. And he, I mean he was literally like last and on the first lap and he wasn't able to charge back the way he did at a one as well on a very slippery racetrack that was really hard to pass on. But whatever, I mean, it wasn't the end of the world. I'm sure he's a little frustrated, but yeah, life goes on. The upside for him is he is he is riding the best he's ridden in a very, very long time. I would say maybe even better than 23. When he's on, like when he in the heat race, he looks so good and I know that's incredible analysis. I wish I had a better vocabulary to share how well he's riding. But it's the best form. I would say it's maybe the best form of his career and maybe that's a strong enough statement for a legend like he is with 53 wins. When you say it's the best form of his career, maybe that's enough. So I'll just, I'll, I'll leave it there. Number one is Jet. Jet Lawrence, of course. I, I just think he deserves to be one. He answered a lot of questions last night. He passed guys he needed to pass. He, you know, got Kenny back. Kenny. Pat got him. He got Kenny back. He was very patient with Jason Anderson, finally made the move and then he did his thing. He pulled a three second gap and just that was it. That was the end of the race. No mistakes, no real pressure. The race was never in doubt once he got to the lead. And that is what we expect from Jet. And I don't think he is very comfortable with the motorcycle yet. I think he's still fighting a few things. I don't think it's exactly how he wants it in the whoops, it's hopping around. It's not as predictable as I think the 24 was for him. He's fighting rear end traction. It's really light in the rear. So when he gets aggressive like he really hammers the throttle. It's the rear tire spinning up. And that can be part Ecuador, that can be part chassis, that can be part suspension settings. I'm sure they're navigating the balance of all three of those, which is where the difficulty comes in. Because if it's one thing and you can Address one thing, it's pretty easy to fix. But when you address one thing and it changes something else, that's the tough part. One change affects multiple other aspects of the motorcycle. And it's a real. That's the balancing act that these teams have to work through. And you wonder why it's so difficult. That's it. Ricky talks about it a lot. It's. Any, Any change is going to be compromised because one change affects something else. And if you have one thing that's wrong and one thing that's right, when you change the thing that's wrong, guess what happens to the other thing that was right? It gets affected also. It's just the nastiest chess game ever is trying to set up a motorcycle. But, yeah, I think Jet deserves to be here. He's the defending champ. He is, I think five or six points out. Nothing five. But he's. He's firmly back in the fight and he sent a message to everybody that he's. He's back. And whether he wins, loses, or draws this championship, I think he's shown that, you know, everybody can take a deep breath and Jett is still Jett. So that's it for this week. I. I wanted to make this one quick. I don't know, sometimes I want to make a long. There's a really complex thing to get into. I don't think there was that this week, though. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you to the sponsors again. Works Connection Guts Racing, TL Speed Shop. Grant Stone, Boots Fly Racing. Thank you to all of them for being a part of this. I'm actually in TL Speed Shop territory. Don't forget they have their racerentals.com race rentals.com where you can actually rent a trophy truck. Like, you can go. They have the trophy truck for you. Like, you can't do that anywhere else. Hop in and rip around and these things are, I don't know, a thousand horsepower or something insane. So that's a really cool deal and I'm gonna get to see those guys this week. So I'm excited to, to see the TL Speed Shop team, but I, I appreciate all of you listening and if you see me at the races, please say hello. It's awesome for me to hear from listeners of this podcast because I don't, I don't have any visibility to who listens and who doesn't, other than if you. If you mention it. So thanks again. We'll talk to you soon. See ya.