St. Louis Supercross - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 1

​250 Class

The Good: Jordon Smith | 1st Place

In a span of a few weeks, Jordon Smith has gone from "a nice surprise", to a legitimate title contender. I mean, just look at the standings, he is now only six points out of the championship! That's pretty crazy considering pretty much no one predicted that he'd be anywhere near the red plate before the season started. Six points out, two wins in a row, and two rounds left... It'll be interesting to see what will happen. The only bad news in this situation is that we have a bit of a break before the East Coast 250 guys return to racing. Bummer, but hey, at least we get to see the 250 West Coast guys race again.

The Bad: Adam Cianciarulo | 6th Place

Adam looked fast all day, and then the main event happened. He got a decent start and was riding well for a while, but then he started to fade a bit and crossed the line in sixth. I'm not sure if it was arm pump, his leg injury bothering him, or what, but there's no doubt that Adam was not completely satisfied with his finish. He was in the championship hunt a couple of weeks ago, but now he's well on the outside looking in. The good news is that he has a few weeks to let his leg get back to 100% and come out swinging in East Rutherford.

The Ugly: Dakota Alix | 13th Place

Dakota had a pretty rough weekend in St. Louis. He decided to race even though he had a tweaked ankle from the first turn pile up in Detroit, and really he toughed it out for an "alright" finish considering how much pain he was probably in. It's just unfortunate that he finally got chance at a factory ride after doing it on his own for a couple of years, and then he gets injured in an incident that was not his fault. But that's how brutal this sport is sometimes. Hopefully he's fully healed up and ready to go for East Rutherford.

450 Class

The Good: Malcolm Stewart | 9th Place

Well, would you look at that? Malcolm finally, and I mean finally, rode well for an entire main event and finished inside the top ten! Unfortunately, he didn't ride completely mistake-free, as he went down towards the end of the race and went from sixth to ninth... But "we'll" take it. This is the kind of speed and race pace we've all been waiting for all season. He worked his way past some factory riders to get into sixth place, and then he maintained that pace for almost the entire main event. Now, if he can just eliminate the late race mistakes, he might be able to finish inside the top ten pretty consistently... And then some 2018 offers may start rolling in. I really, really hope that this wasn't just a fluke and that he'll continue to impress for the few rounds that we have left in this season. We'll have to wait and see, but I don't think that the Mookie we've seen so far this season has even reached his final form.

The Bad: Chad Reed | 16th Place

Oh boy, here we go. Yes, I'm about to talk about the Chad Reed and Ryan Dungey situation. This was by far the biggest topic we've had on the forum in quite some time. There were multiple threads, lots of angry members (on both sides), and a few bears for good measure. I do think that it's important that I give you what little context I know about this situation before diving into my opinion, so let me do that. According to the one and only Steve Matthes, Reed was already not too pumped with Dungey coming into the night due to how last week's main event start went (Reed ended up on the ground). Then Dungey makes some comments about Reed after the heat race, essentially calling his actions "immature", and that really didn't sit well with Reed, either. So when the main event rolls around and Dungey is about to lap him, Reed makes no effort to get out of the main line or let Dungey by. He just holds his ground. Obviously, this didn't make Dungey too happy, and he was pretty pissed after the race (although he cooled off by the time he was on camera). And of course, this is about when the flame wars started all over social media and the forum. So yeah, that's the gist of the situation.

As for my take, I'm on Dungey's side here... for the most part. I understand that Reed wasn't pumped about the start last week. He went down, at least partially, because of Dungey. I get that. I wouldn't be super-pumped if someone screwed me over in the first turn, either, but Dungey didn't mean to do it–and honestly I don't think that it was something big enough to carry into the next race. Now I will say that the post-heat race comments Dungey made were a bit uncalled for. Reed was just racing him hard for a heat race win. Dungey shouldn't have a problem with that; he should welcome it. Maybe he was still pretty frustrated by the time he got interviewed and he just said some things he wish he hadn't, or maybe he meant every word. It could go either way, but I think it was a mistake to say what he said. At the same time, I really don't get why Reed decided to do the whole "you called me immature, so now I'll act the part", deal during the main event. It's not the best look, and I think it would have been highly beneficial for him to have taken the high ground in this situation. But he didn't and here we are.

Now the most popular argument from Reed supporters has been that he held his line and that's what the rule book requires. And yeah, the rule book does say to, "hold your line and not impede the faster rider's progress", but it also says "when conditions allow, move out of the fast line". Reed didn't attempt to get out of the fast line for a loooong while, even when conditions allowed it. He should have moved over and let Dungey go by a lot sooner, but he didn't, and therefore I think that he was in the wrong in this situation. Of course, I'm not sure if Dungey would have been able to catch and pass Tomac even if Reed had let him by immediately, but now we'll never know. Honestly, I'd say let's all just move on, but I bet there will still be people arguing about this weeks from now.

Update: Reed has been penalized and fined by the AMA. I agree with the decision to penalize him, but I do think that the $5,000 fine is a bit excessive. Regardless, kudos to the AMA for taking action.

The Ugly: Justin Barcia | 15th Place

Another week, another mediocre finish for Justin Barcia. He also had some nasty, and highly questionable, takeouts of other riders. I'm not really sure what he was thinking, but he definitely wasn't making great choices out there on Saturday. Aw, shucks, look at the date! We're now nearing the end of the season and he still hasn't had one great finish. Time is running out. It's time for him to put in some solid finishes, and you have to wonder if he'll have a bike under the JGR tent next year.

Words by Grant Dawson
Photos by Steve Giberson