Detroit Supercross - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Motocross Feature

This year's Supercross round in Detroit had no shortage of drama. In the 450 class, Ryan Dungey took the early lead and ran off with what looked to have been his sixth win of the season...until he was penalized two positions post-race. Meanwhile, the 250 East class continued to be unpredictable as points leader Jeremy Martin went down in the first turn with Tyler Bowers and had to charge his way through the pack. Unfortunately, his charge would be brought to a halt midway through the race due to a crash. This would allow Malcolm Stewart to grab the win and become the fourth 250 East winner in four races, as well as the third different points leader this season. If the class continues like this for the rest of the season, we'll see one crazy main event in Las Vegas. Now, let's get into the best and the worst of Detroit.

250 Class

The Good: Malcolm Stewart | 1st Place

We all expected Malcolm to be a title contender coming into the year, and he has shown that he's the real deal so far. He led the majority of Daytona before making a few mistakes, and he came back to sixth in what could have been a disastrous Toronto main event. In Detroit, he took the early lead, and ran away with the win. The biggest challenge he will face throughout the rest of the season is avoiding crashes. He's already crashed twice this season, and stalled once, so he is definitely still prone to taking a dirt sample on occasion. Nonetheless, if he can stay consistent (and off the ground), I believe he'll be holding the number one plate at the end of the night in Las Vegas.

The Bad: Jeremy Martin | 13th Place

Poor Jeremy, this is not the race he was hoping for as the points leader. He has really struggled in Supercross these past few years, but as I stated last week, he seems to have greatly improved his Supercross skills. The 13th place on the results sheet really doesn't do his ride any justice. He came from dead last and was moving through the pack fairly quickly before losing the front end coming out of a turn. That mistake pushed him back another three positions or so that he then had to fight to get back. Nonetheless, his rough main event handed the points lead to Malcolm Stewart. Jeremy just needs to take a breather and do what he does best; pound out laps from now until we return East.

The Ugly: Arnaud Tonus | 21st Place

A rough year just gets rougher for Arnaud Tonus. He's been very consistent at showing speed in timed qualifying, and then crashing during the main event. This would be understandable if this was his first year in the class, but it's not. His 2015 Supercross season played out similarly until he had to back out of the series due to illness. His crash in Detroit looked to be his worst year, with him walking off in pain holding his arm. I can only imagine how frustrated Mitch Payton must be. Here we have a rider with so much potential and speed, but he can't put it together in a main, like many of Pro Circuit's riders the past few seasons. According to his mechanic, Arnaud will now sit out the rest of Supercross and hopes to be back for Outdoors. Honestly, he better put in some eye-opening rides during Nationals. Otherwise, his days under the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki tent may be numbered.

450 Class

The Good: Chad Reed | 4th Place

I will admit, I truly did believe Chad had a chance at winning the Detroit main event after crashing out very early in Toronto. He's had a history of coming back from bad weekends and doing well, or even winning. Well, he may not have won in Detroit, but he put in a very good ride. Chad has had a very up-and-down season, and I'm honestly not sure whether to call his return to Yamaha a success or not. He's been on the podium and shown the speed, but then he's also been twelfth place and just floating around. Furthermore, he has not gotten a win this season, which was something he had by this time last season. Anyway, this fourth place should put Chad back on the road to a win. If he can string together a few top fives or podiums over these next few weeks, a win before the end of the season could still be a possibility.

The Bad: Trey Canard | 8th Place

Trey's commitment and speed has never been the question. He has always had the speed to win and has shown he's not afraid to pin it to accomplish the big W. But several untimely injuries have taken away his chance to win the title every year since 2011. He did have a thumb injury this year, but his main issue has been his starts. Oh boy, his starts have been bad! He has started midpack or almost dead last more times than I can count this year. And in a field this stacked, riders can't start outside the top ten and expect to win or even podium (ask Ken Roczen how big of a difference a start makes). This issue has led to a string of somewhat mediocre results, essentially taking him out of the championship completely. The only good thing about that, is now Trey can focus solely on getting a win or two before the end of the season so he can secure a solid ride for 2017.

The Ugly: Ryan Dungey's Penalty

Ryan Dungey appeared to have won his sixth main event of the season. He gave his podium interview, held up the first place trophy, and then rode back to the semi with the team to celebrate. But not long after the festivities concluded, the team was informed that Ryan had been docked two positions for jumping on a red cross flag. This penalty handed Jason Anderson the win and moved Ryan back to third. He still extended his points lead but lost a win; along with a seriously large paycheck. The debated and controversial part of the penalty is the flagging/flagger situation. According to Roger Decoster, "The guy holding the flag was standing on the very inside of the turn. Ryan was on the very outside with his view going away from the guy when he came up, and the flag was at maybe waist height. So there was no way for Ryan to see him, and when he saw something out of the corner of his eye he had already jumped." This penalty, to me at least, was a very poor decision by the AMA. Especially when there are small video clips floating around of other riders jumping on the same flag. I believe Ryan shouldn't have been penalized when the flag was not being waved correctly, nor was the flagger standing in a visible spot for Ryan to see him. Now, to add more fuel to the fire, Chad Reed posted a video of Jason Anderson jumping when a red cross flag was out during his heat. Jason was not penalized for this, and then ironically won the main event due to Dungey's penalty. Incidents like this show just how inconsistent the AMA is when it comes to penalty situations, and I'd really like to see them make some kind of effort to make at least the smaller penalties consistent.

Vital's Take: The Jason Anderson incident.
Chad Reed: This is not rolling.. Not at all singling @elhombre_21 out In fact I was the one who told him he had won in an elevator going to our cars That my friends isn't the celebration of a win we work so hard for!