Fant Files: St. Louis Race Recap

All photos supplied by Brian Converse (@motoonemx)

Last night, St. Louis was full of racing surprises. Joey Savatgy took an early commanding lead until he ran off the track and lost the lead to Jordon Smith. Then he tangled with Paul Coates, forcing the front brake to be pushed downward and unusable for several laps. Joey had to slow down and adjust it. He was in the hunt the rest of the evening, but it was Smith’s night, in a suspenseful 250 east race before their break.

A rougher weekend for Adam Cianciarulo. Adam had a practice crash early on in the day and in the main was up front but the anchor dropped early as riders passed him. Unfortunately Adam’s points gap widened this weekend after the night was over.

The 450 first turn featured some of the fastest riders in the world. The intensity in Ryan Dungey’s body says it all. He came to St. Louis to win and challenge Eli Tomac.

Dean Wilson even had a little tip over last night. The track conditions were rough by the main events. Deep ruts forced the riders to really use their strategy in line choices for 20 minutes.

Cooper Webb looked great at the beginning of the season but has struggled since his return from injury the past few races. Both Yamaha factory team riders were unable to crack the top 10 last night.

Although the front of the race was 40 seconds ahead of Blake Baggett, he was able to land in 7th on the night aboard his Rocky Mountain KTM 450SXF. Blake has definitely made positive strides in his supercross performance this season.

Justin Barcia was unable to get into the faster group last night. It’s hard for any rider to jump back into a series mid way once the pack has got up to full speed.

Zach Osborne came into last night after fighting flu like symptoms all week in Florida. He said at the race he was thankful to even be there after feeling like he was on his death bed Thursday. Zach had to fight from around 12th up to the front runners Joey Savatgy and Jordon Smith. He admitted on the podium that he just ran out of steam toward the end as he reeled in his competition.

Jordon Smith did it again and made it two in a row! After a crazy week with a passing of a friend, Jordon put his head down and got the W in St.Louis. This kid has a ton of momentum rolling into the break and sits only 6 points behind Joey Savatgy.

The 450 Main Event winner … again … 5 times in a row. This is the first time a rider has won 5 in a row since Villopoto in 2013 who was also on a Monster Energy backed Kawasaki KX450F.

Ryan Dungey was surprisingly optimistic about last night’s effort. He mentioned in the post race press conference that he was able to get in the mix with Tomac and actually close the gap between them. You are going to want to watch Dungey in Seattle because he has a whole new flame after St. Louis.

We are just going to leave this here. What are your thoughts on the several laps where Dungey was behind Reed during the main event which caused Tomac to open a 10 second gap? Could Ryan have caught Tomac? Was Reed in the wrong? Words were exchanged from Ryan Dungey immediately after the race but he calmed down and made positive comments about the push forward into next weekend.

Below are the results from last night and the overall standings. This might go all the way to Vegas.