The tour rolls on! Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL welcomed back the gladiators of Monster Energy AMA Supercross. The guys are Dirt Wurx brought the beach inside the stadium and Mother Nature was up to her old tricks once again turning a seemingly basic race track into a tricky, slippery surface. Both of those elements are known to cause a bit of chaos, so SX Survivor Team Managers had to be stressing. Let's dive-in!
- Thanks NDel for the base pic!
While there were 9 different riders chosen in Tampa for SX Survivor, the selection of two riders covered FIFTY PERCENT of the entire group! Actually just over 50% if you don't count the "no pick" from Lovmoto Racing. The two riders tied with 7 votes each may surprise you! First up, in only his second 450cc SX; the SX Survivor Team Managers were big believers in Justin Cooper after he passed his way well inside the top 10 in Houston. JCoop has a pretty incredible podium record in the 250 class and it looks like the consistency is carrying nicely over to the 450 as he backed up his debut with a solid 7th place finish. I was a bit shocked to see so many managers selecting Cooper, but perhaps that is why I am eliminated from this game. Grabbing him while he's racing since he may not be on the line every week certainly makes sense and a quarter of the field was rewarded nicely. The other rider making up 25% of the picks? Kickstart Kenny showed his first "poor" (by his standards) finish a week ago and managers were either betting on him bouncing back or trying to get their Ken Roczen pick out of the way before things turn even worse. Regardless of the reason, Ken held off the series points leader Eli Tomac the entire main event to finish 4th place. While he was a country-mile behind Aaron Plessinger who finished on the final step of the podium, it was a positive sign for Roczen after not being on pace all day long. Speaking of Aaron Plessinger, he's really elevated his game in his second Supercross tour with Factory RedBull KTM. He's looked more aggressive all season, showed his face at the front of the field just a week ago, and landed on the podium for the first time since Round 2 a year ago. AP was the only rider other than Justin Cooper and Ken Roczen to be hired by more than two team managers in Tampa. Just as he's starting to heat up, Plessinger is rolling into Oakland where he finished second a year ago. The track is often rutty and demanding, the KTM squad looks to have their bikes dialed in, and we may just see Supercross' favorite redneck on the podium again.
A few other notes:
For the first time this year, Adam Cianciarulo was not picked by any team managers only one week after he had his highest pick trend. AC missed the top 10 for the first time on the season in Tampa.
Cianciarulo was tied with Savatgy for the highest pick trend last weekend in Houston. He also wasn't selected by any team managers in Tampa. Joey finished ninth place.
Only 4 remaining teams have not selected Cooper Webb. He has the lowest availability left in the game.
Christian Craig finished inside the top 10 for the first time this season, only 1 team selected him.
So only a single "no pick" is eliminated. Only 27 players remain as we roll across the country, back to the West Coast for Oakland, CA.
FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON, this will be the link to your 450 SX Survivor Entries! Bookmark it, screenshot it, save it, etc. It won't be a dynamic link each week anymore. HOWEVER, ENSURE YOU ARE SELECTING THE CORRECT ROUND FROM THE DROP DOWN!
Also, OAKLAND is on an earlier schedule! Lockout time will be 5PM PST.
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