Steve Matthes' Observations of Pittsburgh

Sexton caught Webb in the main—twice, actually—but couldn’t get it done. Cooper Webb just never, ever put a wheel wrong: through the ruts, through the nasty whoops, through lappers—Webb was clutch. Great ride.

A couple of thoughts here on this battle: the whoops were yet again a big talking point. Last week Sexton’s whoop speed seemed to demoralize Webb early in the main, as the #4 was crushing the whoops. Well, in Pittsburgh is different. Webb was on the Pulpmx Show on Monday and mentioned that he saw his teammate Justin Cooper go through them well by jumping. So his strategy was to jump until he had to change. If he didn’t get passed by a blitzing Sexton, he would keep jumping them. Webb can blitz whoops, and he’s been better this year than maybe, well, ever. But jumping is easier both physically and mentally for the riders.

Now, having said that—did I think a blitzing Chase Sexton was going to pass Webb in the whoops? Yes, I did. Or at least I thought he would get alongside him and try to force the issue in the next split lane. But as Webb said on the Pulpmx Show, his other teammate in the 250s, Nate Thrasher, was blitzing in first place while Tom Vialle was jumping on his KTM in second, and really, they looked about the same. From the press box, it didn’t look as close as it was.

But then…Sexton stopped blitzing them. And he wasn’t nearly as good as Webb was at jumping them. In the last half of the race, just in the whoops—Webb was better in the whoops ten times to Sexton’s three times. The first half? Sexton was faster eight times to Webb’s once. The lesson, kids, is to stick to what you’re good at.

Also, Sexton made a huge mistake while jumping and went off the track, having to catch back up to Webb, which, to his credit, he did. But then, with about three laps to go, Webb found a better way to jump, tripling in instead of doubling, and then he pulled ahead of Sexton even more. Sexton figured that line out the next lap (it was so slow to double in), but again, he had to fight to make up more time.

Overall, Webb’s best time was 6.35 through the whoops; Sexton’s best was 5.98.

Now, as most of you reading this know, skimming whoops is a lot harder than jumping, and Sexton said after the race that it was taking too much out of him by skimming, which is why he switched to jumping, and I’m sure that’s true. The only comeback I would have is that Sexton is perhaps one of the fittest riders on the planet, and also, Dylan Ferrandis and Dean Wilson, as far as I saw, never stopped skimming the entire main. So, it was possible to keep skimming; Sexton just chose not to, and it cost him.

Did it cost him the race? No, probably not, but it could’ve been a spot where Sexton’s advantage was going to shine. Then again, as Webb told us on the Pulpmx Show, if he needed to blitz them, he would’ve started to.

Also, funny moment on the show: Webb told us he looked up at the jumbotron when they were playing a replay of Sexton going off the track in the whoops to know what had happened and that he had a gap! That’s pretty awesome, right?

So, it’s 12 points with two races to go, and Webb’s got a lot of room to breathe now. These two have been better than everyone else the last three races, and I don’t look for that to change until the final round when Webb just does enough to clinch. Also, does Sexton try to rough Coop up now? There’s still some hope here for the KTM rider, and it’ll be interesting to see what he does in the next two weeks. If I had to guess, Sexton’s gonna sweep these next two rounds, and Webb will do enough to bring the title home.

Was that second heat in the 450s perhaps Justin Cooper’s finest moment as a 450SX rider ever? I mean, the dude went by Aaron Plessinger and Chase Sexton like they were tied to a pole and took the win. Wow. That was impressive. I mean, it’s like Dodgeball, right? If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball! So, if you can do that in a heat once, you can do it again!

Also, as stated, Cooper didn’t want anything to do with blitzing the whoops, and his time in the whoops in the heat was only fifth best. But when you’re railing turns in the split lane like he was doing, you can jump the whoops, I guess. What a ride. In the main, he didn’t get the start he needed to run with the top two, but he still grabbed his second podium of the year.

Ok, here we go again:

Definition of clutch according to Google:

(in sport) denoting or occurring in a critical situation in which the outcome of a game or competition is at stake.

(of a player or action) achieving or characterized by success at a critical moment in a game or competition.

Tom Vialle’s the defending champion in the class, but he hasn’t won a race all year, and he crashed badly in practice last week and this week! He got beat pretty badly in the heat race last week and this week as well. But man, in the main event, Tom gated well, passed Thrasher, and took off with the win. Vialle needed to win; he had to win, and he did just that in some trying circumstances earlier in the day. If he doesn't win Pittsburgh, in my opinion there's no way he jumps both Hammaker and Hampshire in points in Salt Lake City. Now he's one point ahead of them!

It’s still not going to be easy, as he has to beat Hammaker straight up in SLC to win the title, with Hampshire three points back. But this gives him a shot, and that’s all you can ask for after a tough season for the defending champion.

Anyone think Nate Thrasher, the man who has more career wins than podiums that aren't wins, was just going to take off with the win yet again? Thank you for all raising your hands with me. Nate rode well, and full props for the second place on the night. Good Nate showed up! Bad Nate was stuck back in Florida, I guess.

Hammaker’s first lap was, like, scary. We thought something was wrong with his bike, and JT told us on the review pod that the mechanics ran to get a front wheel to change. Seth gated poorly (he spun, he told me), and from there, he was a moving hazard out there for a lap. He couldn’t see because his visor was down, and he thought he was going to get landed on. Yeah, it was sketchy out there for Seth. It was like Alex Ray was on his bike or something.

Anyways, Seth pulled it out and got up to fifth, salvaging his night. As he told me after the race, if you had told him he was going into a winner-take-all at the last SX race for the title, he would’ve signed up for it!

RJ went RJ in that he lost a podium late in the race with a crash. That’s two valuable points lost, and he’s three back. Ouch, not ideal. Still, on the glass-half-full side of things, his ride in SLC last year was great, and he’s been better than Vialle all year. He may have the most raw speed of anyone out there in his class. The glass-half-empty view is that he doesn’t just have to beat Vialle and Hammaker; he needs to beat them and get help.

But RJ’s crash was Max Vohland’s present! Maximus was on it all day in qualifying and the heat race. Whatever he did the Saturday morning of Pittsburgh, he should keep doing it because he rode maybe the best he has all year long. Vohland got his first career professional podium, and what a moment for him after all he’s been through with the hip injury (that effected the nerves in his foot). Good for Club MX as well.