What We Noticed: Philadelphia
April 17, 2025
Image from Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
Here’s What We Noticed in Philly:
- Sexton Dominance
We wrote about it in Most Impressive for this week too, but it’s worth calling out: Sexton’s dominance in Philly was impressive. Clutch-performance: he needed to perform and he did. The title is technically still in his control… if he wins out, the championship is his!
- Plessinger Ups and Downs
After coming off his win in Foxborough, Plessinger seemed to carry over that confidence, which translated into a heat race win where he caught and passed Webb. Unfortunately, any chance of backing up that Foxboro win was wiped out immediately to start the 450 main when he crashed in the first turn. Regardless, I think his heat win speaks volumes… he’ll be a podium guy for the rest of the season.
- 250 Points Fight
We entered Philly with an exciting battle in 250E points (2 riders tied), and fortunately we leave Philly with an exciting battle (2 riders tied)! Hampshire took advantage of the restart and now finds himself tied in the lead; at this point I give him the advantage to take it home and win the championship. Hammaker has been fast all season, but has yet to prove himself as consistent enough to win a title. On the other hand, Vialle is the defending champ and has been relatively consistent, but hasn’t shown the speed to outright beat any of them.
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Cold Weather and Weak Attendance
The vibes in Philly just seemed off. It was super cold, it poured all day Friday, and as a result the attendance was severely lacking. I’m curious to see how the attendance is this weekend in NJ…. I would imagine it would attract the same fan-base. Luckily the weather is looking better, so we will see if it’s weather-related or a locale issue. You have to imagine that the Northeast swing is an experiment on behalf of Feld? So far: not so great.
