Welcome to a new feature on Vital MX, something that will inform you when another race weekend arrives. In this ‘Supercross Rundown’ segment, on the Friday of each race week, we take a look back at everything that happened the previous week, from news to updates and much, much more. There are also excerpts from the press day to include! Simply put, if you’ve been busy all week it’s worth making sure you’re up to speed.
rider injuries
Unfortunately, there’s too much to share here. Although not all of this information is relevant to Anaheim 2: The two casualties were scheduled to race in the 250SX East next weekend. At Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki lost both Seth Haymaker (wrist) and Joe Shimoda (collarbone) in practice this week. It’s been a very rough time for Mitch Payton and now, unfortunately, he doesn’t have a rider for the East Coast. Another fill-in rider (besides Carson Mumford) may be on the horizon, so stay tuned for confirmation on that.
The KTM group have also been unlucky unfortunately, as Malcolm Stewart is joined by Marvin Muskin on the sidelines. The ’27’ crashed in practice on Tuesday and is believed to have just been concussed – those in the know commented at press day today and the official statement did not mention any broken bones. On the other hand, Muskin is still dealing with a bone injury and ligament damage, so it may be a while before we see him on the 450SX start line.
There is some positive news, as Levi’s Kitchen is back on track and ready to race. There were many worried pundits when he got stuck in the sling on Saturday night, but it was a precaution because he hit his arm so hard that it felt worrying there for a while. Expect the kitchen to operate as it usually does when the gates close tomorrow. Oh, in related news, Colby Coop will also be racing this weekend. Copp was the cause of the red flag that 250SX was out in heat one, but he just hit his head and was fine.
Anaheim 2 Press Day
Mother Nature has finally been kind to the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross and as a result, we had a true press day for this first stint! Hooray! This was especially steep, as those who were initially down for San Diego moved to Anaheim 2 in addition to the settled line-up. Honda HRC, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing headlined the event. There was no Eli Tomac though – he rode yesterday and wasn’t interested in the extra track time. Confidence at its peak!
I had a chance to follow up on an item that bothered me last week, as Dylan Ferrandis seemed understandably concerned about his sixth-place finish in San Diego. I thought it was a solid result that made his fourth place from the first round, but that was not the case at all. Not only did he think he was slow, but he also felt the bike was not where it needed to be. It is learned that he tested it this week to make sure he could corner the bike better, especially in tighter turns, as he felt he had left the most on the table.
Another incident that blew me away was that Chase Sexton rated his performance in round two at 6.5/10 and he feels there is a lot of room for improvement. My opinion is that he has been great and is nothing to worry about – his lap times have been competitive and he can win in the right conditions. I’m surprised she’s judged herself so harshly, because I think it’s been fantastic (results aside). Do I know?
Oh, one more thing that made me very happy today. This is a true Monster Energy Supercross track – the layout has a lot going for it. The start is very reminiscent of Seattle in 2019, then the Dragon’s back is brutal. I expect the 250SX Futures didn’t reduce the layout because of the separation there should be, but there were some hard falls in their timed sessions. Maybe they’ll watch it overnight? Oddly, a lot of those people found it hard to get over. It was a shock that it was the source of so many issues, but hey.
