What We Noticed: Dallas
February 27, 2024
Round 2 of the east coast… here we go!
- Great Racing All Night
Wasn’t sure how this track was going to play out for racing action, but I was pleasantly surprised in the end. All 4 heat races were epic, and both mains ended up being exciting after leaders crashed out of the lead. At first I thought the track seemed boring: nothing to separate the top riders. However, the track broke down quite a bit and became pretty challenging. Overall, one of those nights where when you leave the stadium, you’re feeling pumped on all the excitement! Sucks when some of that excitement comes from crashes… but racing is racing!
- Bad Crashes
Hate to see it… massive crashes for both Austin Forkner and Jalek Swoll in the first rhythm, plus lots of crashes there earlier and close-calls all day. It was tough to get all the way over the table cleanly when jumping in… Barcia and Vialle both had bad crashes in practice when they came up a bit short and tagged the top of the table. Munoz almost crashed here really hard in the heat, and then Forkner unfortunately had a MASSIVE crash in the main which will most likely end his season. Gutted for him to have another season cut short; I wonder when we will see him line up next. It was scary to see him lying there unresponsive for so long… so happy he was able to walk away without any more serious injuries.
It was also scary to see Swoll lying on the side of the track for so long… It took a really long time for them to move him onto the medic mule, but he did eventually stand up and walk off on his own which was nice to see. For a while there I thought it seemed really serious… he wasn’t moving and the medics seemed to be acting with a sense of urgency. I thought they might have red flagged it, but luckily he was far enough off to the side and they were able to get by with just yellow flags for the first 7 minutes or so.
- Anyone’s Championship
By this point in the series, there’s typically just a few title favorites left. Luckily for us, I feel there are 5-6 450 riders genuinely able to still win this title. Such an exciting season! (More to come in an article later this week breaking this down further).
It’s been just 2 rounds in the 250 east, but things are all shook up now in that championship too. The riders that had bad luck in the first round all were all top 4 in this race. Anstie is somehow leading the series with a 2nd and a 6th!
- Tsk Tsk Jett
Another race where he throws it away; not good if he wants to beat McGrath’s record! He made it look so easy until he crashed with just a few laps left. To add on, he then throws it away again trying to go for the pass on the last lap. These are crucial points, but he still has the points lead. The scary part for his competition is that Jett is such a fast learner; I get the vibe from him that he’s leaving Dallas with even more confidence than before despite losing. He knows how easy it is for him to win, he has been getting good starts recently, and will surely learn from these mistakes. He’s just going to get better and better.
-
Tomac!
I wrote after Glendale that the “next two rounds will be telling” and “Let’s re-evaluate after Daytona.” Well, he’s back! I’m still going to wait to see how he performs at Daytona, but that ride in Dallas was AMAZING. After the race, I asked him about his poor race at Detroit and he said it all came down to arm pump and not feeling comfortable in those conditions. Apparently they made some bike changes which he is happy with now, so expect him to be back near the front more often and have less so-so weird races.
-
Arlington Soil is RED
Never fails to impress me in person… the soil in Arlington is such a vibrant red! Walking into AT&T stadium and seeing the track for the first time is always such a treat. The soil also stains everything easily. A few people had brand new white shoes on track walk; not a good choice!
