What We Noticed: SMX Playoff 1

Dangerboy finally gets it done! After a much hyped up 450 debut this Pro Motocross season left him 0-22, Deegan entered the Playoffs with a vengeance and is now 2-0 in SMX. It was dominant too… no one was close to him all day. The confidence level surely is sky rocketing… watch out for him to be a real title threat after that performance.

Honda HRC has been the team to beat in the last few seasons. No doubt they were one of the favorite teams entering SMX with Hunter in the 450s and Shimoda (reigning SMX champ) and Hymas (momentum building from Pro Motocross) in the 250s. However, it was a meager day for them in Columbus: all three of their riders found the ground multiple times and none of them rose to the occasion. Luckily they still have double and triple points-paying rounds to come, but it was surely a sore start for the team.

Of course Deegan was stoked, but the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in Roczen and Prado were full of joy and a positive attitude after the race as well. And why not? Roczen is coming off a summer of basking in the SX title and didn’t have much to prove come race-time without much race experience as of late. Whereas Prado has never raced SMX and generally doesn’t do well in muddy conditions. So… both riders outperformed their expectations. The podium finishes sets them both up with a good shot at winning this SMX title now.

Davies is fast. No one in this class can beat him right now. His Moto 1 DNF doesn’t even matter… he’ll be the title favorite come the finale regardless (unless more bike problems happen).

The Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus had a lake in it at around noon on race day… soooo much rain fell between 9am and noon. Combine that with thunder storms and it wasn’t looking good. Of course, the track was a disaster, but relatively speaking, it didn’t turn out too bad. Kudos to the track crew for getting all that water off and presenting us with a race track that was still somewhat ridable.

First and foremost: we’re pumped to be at the races. The SMX Playoffs no doubt make September a lot more exciting: riders earn a ton of money and we get to watch some good racing. Anytime bikes are on the track is a good time right? With that said, the venue for Playoff 1 in Columbus just didn’t cut it in my opinion. It only holds ~20,000 (much less than the average SX venue) and didn’t allow for the true hybrid experience we want for SMX.

We like how the series is changing it up with new venues. Seeing a new venue is great, and in particular a new city allows new fans to see some exciting racing. So keep up the experimentation! But hopefully this is a learning right? The drag strip venues we’ve seen in Charlotte and Vegas were definitely better, and so were the raceways in Fort Worth and Chicago. Maybe there are more raceways we can visit? Some more drag strips? If SMX is supposed to be a hybrid race, then we need venues that can offer that.

We want to see SMX be a success… we want it be the pinnacle of the sport… the offering in Historic Crew Stadium just wasn’t it.