Tampa - Comments From the Couch

By David Hogan (@always.moto on Instagram)

Welcome to Tampa. Hope you like sand!

Get comfortable on the couch and enjoy the comments from the couch as the broadcast goes by.

Should be an exciting night ahead. East coast opener with a stacked 250 field. What lies ahead?

Did not have RJ Hampshire riding so well in the heat or at all. Early yet but the worst looks fine.

Luke Neese giving the business to Austin Forkner. Surprised how bad Austin is at aggressive riding. The move back on Neese was not really smooth.

Carson Mumford. Wow that was unexpected and aggressive. Mumfy has come to play in 2025 after his injury last year.

Does anyone else wonder if the riders consider how the are angled for their post race interviews? We don't need to see the back of your left ear Max Anstie.

Does anyone not like the cowboy? Aaron Plessinger just being a pest behind Hunter during his TV interview. Love to see the personality.

Hunter down! AC joint? Oh wait, leaving in a neck brace. Could we be in for a Lawrence less SX season?

Oh my. I spoke about Cooper growing in confidence this week. So far in one week he is about 6 inches taller than he was last week!

Did anyone notice that Kyle Chisholm switched from Atlas to Leatt neck braces this season. Obviously the Team deal for Leatt dictated that.

The right hand first corner is the greatest idea in professional racing (sarcasm). Maybe Maximus Vohland is onto something for this with his rear brake on the handle bars. Surely these guys practice starts with a right hand corner entry???

So the leader lights do work on the privateer bikes. Jerry Robin with a few corners out front before he might have got blinded by the green leader light and went down.

Poor Benny Bloss, blamed for something he didn't do by Ken Roczen. Wonder if Benny's teammate was chuckling over to the side of the track thinking he got away with one?

Harri Kullas having a debut night that will be full of learning. Down in the sand in the LCQ. Supercross is hard Harri. I'm sure he will be better for this first race.

Oh Kevin Moranz putting the fill in man on the ISRT Kawasaki team Logan Leitzel out of a qualifying chance. Shame for Logan but hopefully he gets another week with the team.

Mitchell Oldenburg in the sand was showing a lot of side plate in the LCQ. Gotta send it to qualify I guess.

Sometimes the coverage has some small gold nuggets between race laps. My favorite in recent times has to be today. Chad Reed enjoyed blowing up the Alpinestars chest pro on JT way too much!

So I don't think the moto gods like Levi Kitchen changing coasts. I think he might have been able to get the same sort of results under the weather at Anaheim on the West. Will they regret that decision to switch in a few weeks time?

Oh wait. RJ Hampshire might be hated worse. That tuff block wanted to make sure it had its moment in the sun. One lap down for RJ. Might be worth just going to 450 after all?

It's funny writing this article somewhat live throughout the broadcast. I was just about to make comment on the Max Anstie whoop speed and gaining on Pierce Brown. Then Brown goes down in the whoops. Not good for Brown. Red flag. Hopefully he is ok. He looked great right up to that crash on the new Star Racing ride.

Max Anstie is generating speed for the whoops by going outside double triple before the whoops. That's risky if you have someone on your tail as they can under cut your line in the 90deg corner. But with no one behind you. Go wide and blitz those whoops.

Well there's a new one for you. Tom Vialle on the line after the red flag for Pierce Brown looks to be putting Vasoline on his forehead. I'd say this is to stop the sand running in his sweat between his forehead and the goggles into his eyes. Clever trick Tom.

Whilst we wait for the restart in the 250 main. Let's talk about the gear colour the Star Racing 250 guys are wearing. Who approved that colour way at Thor? It's not a good look at all. Sorry Thor.

That start position for Anstie on the restart is actually a disadvantage for the next rhythm. No roll speed in the corner from being right in it on P1 for the staggered start. Should have that spot back a few meters to give him some speed to work with for the next rhythm lane.

Nice work for Max Anstie. Not who many would have thought to take the win tonight. Red plate again for Anstie.

Well well. The 450 class and injuries is not a pretty picture this week. Amazing how fast things can change in 7days. 

Not too often (has it ever happened) that Tomac got lapped without dnf’ing?

Wow, oh wow. That's some bad lapper situations. Ken Roczen will be gutted. But that's racing. He is lucky that KTM from Tristan Lane didn't end up on top of him. Hope Tristan's arm is ok. Wild situation to watch.

What has happened to Chase Sexton? I spoke about his chances in our pre race article. I thought he was missing something still with the KTM. Seems he still is. Crashed out of the lead. Then just absolutely gun shy in the whoops ever since. Did he have some sort of bike malfunction or was it just a lose of confidence in his machinery?

I didn't think I'd see the day that Malcolm Stewart became a 450 class winner. But here we are. A powerful ride from Malcolm. His line into the whoops was the difference. Similar to Max Anstie’s line on the 250’s. Only better from Malcolm. Inside but mid track. Turning on the landing before the corner to allow him to double triple from the inside. Not roll and go double double. That whoop entry speed made so much difference for Malcolm to close on Chase and stay well out front of Cooper Webb.

What a night. Not what anyone expected. But where does that leave us for the rest of the championship. 

Big question marks over Eli Tomac's season this week. What will be the details for Chase’s woes. Did Cooper gain more from that ride than even a win would have done. From a bad start to 2nd. That's Cooper Webb inspiring for sure. 

Thanks for joining me on the couch again this week. Time to get off the couch until next Saturday!