What We Noticed: Pittsburgh
May 01, 2025
Image from Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
Here’s What We Noticed in Pittsburgh:
- 450 Championship Done
Well it’s over folks! Not really… but kinda? Webb will have to seriously mess up in order not to win this title now. I know he was being humble in the post-race press conference saying how podiums are hard to get, but at this point in the series half the guys are checked out. Webb has this.
- 250E Title Hopes
Opposite of the 450s… this 250E title is a winner take all scenario (basically) come Salt Lake. Vialle’s clutch ride coupled with misfortunes for Hampshire and Hammaker make this title incredibly exciting. When was the last time we had three contenders in the championship fight in the last round? Gonna be exciting to see in SLC… it’s incredibly difficult to pick who will prevail, but I’ll choose Hammaker. He has been great in the 250 E/W races and for the most part has been fastest and gets good starts.
- Justin Cooper Speed
That heat race was unreal… maybe the fastest I’ve ever seen someone ride before. He was nailing every corner and rhythms to perfection. Simply put: catching up to, passing, and gapping Sexton is incredibly special. It’s only a matter of time until we see Cooper find that pace for the whole main. He showed glimpses of it in the main in Pittsburgh (he had the fastest lap) but couldn’t contend for all 20 minutes.
- Whoops
Two weeks in a row the whoops are the talking point… this time in favor for Webb (or perhaps more specifically not in favor for Sexton). Sexton looked great skimming the whoops to start the main, but surprisingly decided to “jump” them pretty early on. It was not a good call… he struggled to jump compared to Webb and lost a ton of time. We asked about it in the press conference and he said he jumped them to preserve energy… since when is that something Sexton needs to think about? All in all, weird decision which maybe cost him the championship.
-
Hammaker Opening Lap
Short and sweet, it was the worst opening lap I’ve ever seen for a title contender. Everyone thought he had bike problems? Super strange… he was all over the track and clearly struggling.
-
Pittsburgh
Yinz strong! The local crowd turned out big time. The vibe pre race was excellent. We left the stadium after qualifying to grab an excellent sandwich at a nearby deli/diner (more on that in the travel recs) and coming back was like A1 vibes… huge crowds of people all amped for supercross! Super cool to have the sport in a new city; definitely need to come back here.
