Welcome to Gear Head Operations weekly observations! This is most favorite Gear Head in the nation Ryan Roberts back at it again with hot takes from Supercross round 15 at Nashville Tennessee!
The Supercross season is winding down and the championship picture is very clear after this weekend, for better or for worse. One championship has been claimed by Hunter Lawrence in the 250 East and his brother Jett is primed to win the 250 West this weekend.
This weekend saw the emergence of death cross and we witnessed a lot of riders get hurt. Cooper Webb, Justin Barcia, Benny Bloss, and Grant Harlan all were injured this weekend and most likely won't race again this Supercross season. Many riders stated the track was gnarly and the transitions between the jumps caused a lot of issues for riders and sadly, sent several riders to the emergency room.
This is one of the biggest downsides to our sport and it is inherent to our sport. The danger and risk naturally take out some rider every year and some years are worse than others. This season seemed to be going well and not a lot of riders were down for the year and then this batch of injuries came all at once. One of the worst of the injuries was Cooper Webb going out and all but giving the championship to Eli Tomac. Cooper Webb was unfortunately hit by Adam Cianciarulo as Webb went down exiting a turn. The bad wreck showed the human side of our sport though when Adam was interviewed after the race and he exuded concern over Coop's condition and talked about how he could barely ride after seeing him down on the ground. A lot of time's the guys in our sport act tough and don't show emotion like this, but Adam showed raw emotion and it is great for our sport that riders are comfortable letting their emotion flow.
One of the only upsides to factory guys being out is that now is the time for privateers to show their stuff and get some of the best results of their season and careers. Some guys will make mains that haven't made them before, and some guys will get top ten finishes that are used to barely making mains. Riders will get TV time that haven't been on TV before. When you are a huge fan of the sport it is always great to see guys that are struggling to make it in this world to finally have some success. Often riders can set their next season up just by the results of the last few rounds of the season, so good luck to these guys.
It was nice in the 250 series to see Jo Shimoda get a second behind Hunter Lawrence. Jo was a contender for the title this year, but a preseason injury kept him from showing he can truly do. He will be pushing for a title come the outdoor series and it will be great to see someone from that team on top of the box again. It has been a while since Mitch Payton had someone who struck fear in other riders, but he has that in Jo Shimoda.
The season is winding down and trophies are being handed out. It is hard to believe that we have gotten this far into the season when Anaheim 1 feels like it was just a week ago. Riders are putting in full outdoors prep and I am thrilled to get that series started and see everyone's points go back to zero.
