What We Noticed: Detroit
February 19, 2025
Image from Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
It was a cold one… Here’s What We Noticed.
- Webb Winning
Obviously he won the race, but Webb is winning this series right now… he’s tied in points and has the momentum in his favor. These east coast tracks suit him super well, and he’s going to be tough to beat consistency wise. I like the odds for him… this is classic Cooper Webb. That race was also classic Webb… how many times have we seen him reel in Roczen and make the pass for the lead late? Webb so hot right now.
- Sexton Struggles?
Okay not struggling (he was our Most Impressive rider this week), but that’s now two weeks in a row where Sexton made costly mistakes. The comeback rider after was insanely impressive, and no doubt he’s the fastest guy right now, but he has to stop with these mistakes. As noted above, Webb has the momentum and is going to be tough to beat in this championship; Sexton can’t afford to lose easy points like that. With his speed, he should have won in Detroit.
- First Boring Track
All prior 5 rounds had something exciting on the track. This weekend? Not so much… the one quad on the track they took away (assuming it was too dangerous). Unfortunately, looking at the track maps, I think we’re in for more blah tracks coming up… these football stadium floors just don’t have a ton to offer.
-
Lappers
With short lap times, lappers were once again an issue. We asked Roczen about it in the post-race press conference, and he mentioned how there’s always the same culprits that make it tough to pass (he mentioned Justin Starling). In the 250 class, we saw Preston Boespflug still charging hard and making it tough for the leaders to get around him; at that point he was already two laps down and not even close to battling for a position… Let’s hope the AMA can start doing something about this, we don’t lappers to decide race outcomes.
- 250E Title Hopefuls
Title favorites Levi Kitchen and RJ Hampshire both had good rebounds in Detroit after mediocre/disappointing starts to the season in Tampa. Kitchen looked loads better, and Hampshire was getting better starts. However, Anstie is starting to solidify himself as the guy to beat… he’s fastest, smoothest, and most seemingly most confident.
- Restarts
The topic of the night was that horrible staggered restart, followed by a 3-lap dash to end the 250 main. This was bad for multiple reasons:
- Anstie had a 7 second lead with 7 seconds left on the race clock; he should have won that race
- McAdoo was clearly conscious, moving around, and able to walk off on his own. The medics made their call which I respect, but if they knew they only had a minute left of racing would they have needed the red flag? No
- The rule was recently changed and not communicated properly. Regardless, why change from 90% completion to an expired race clock? Who thinks that if 7 seconds is left on the clock, the race deserves to be restarted as a staggered start with just 3 laps left? A 3 lap dash for the main event is not a proper way to end a 15 minute main.
