AMA Supercross 2021 Indianapolis Round Four Race Report
Usually by round four things are starting to settle in and the true contenders for the title start to solidify.
Big Questions:
Will there be a ‘fourth’ 450 winner in four races?
Will Colt Nichols back it up with another win or will there be another new 250 winner?
Who else gets hurt? (hope no one but injuries seem to be the natural state of SX now)
250 Class Main Event
First: Colt Nichols
Two in a row for Colt! Wow! He sure is looking fast, calm and consistent. All he needed was some good starts to show that he very well may be the dominant guy in the 250 class now.
Colt pulled the holeshot and lead every lap. Look out as this is what we are going to see a lot of now from him.
Second: Michael Mosiman
Ok, this was a bit of a gift for Michael but he is showing some great speed. Michael says a BIG thank you for Craig and Lawrence for their late race encounter that left them both on the ground.
It seems like Michael is just not in good enough shape to match the top guys speed for the whole race. When you are riding at 100% you get tired much faster and this is what is showing for Mosiman right now. He has to increase his speed a little so he is not working so hard to stay at the front.
Third: Jo Shimota
A podium for Mr. Consistent! Nice ride but Jo was not a happy camper during the post race interview. He felt he didn’t earn the third spot because if Craig and Lawrence had not gone down he would have had a fifth. True statement.
We are starting to see a faster Jo though…
Honorable Mention
Jett Lawrence rode great except for a few things. One, he missed a shift on the start straight (why do they all call missing a shift “hitting false neutral” now???) and two he messed up the wall jump and lost tons of time.
The good news is he rode like a madman catching all the way up to Craig (who was in second at the time) and then more bad news. Christian say him coming and did some kind of brake check, sliding maneuver that took them both off the track where they BOTH went down.
Jett got up first and finished fourth.
Christian Craig rode a solid race but he was no match for Colt. THEN when Jett caught him from WAY back it was too much to deal with and Christian decided they both should slide off the track instead of letting Jett pass him. Craig went from second to fifth.
450 Class Main Event
First: Ken Roczen
Kenny did it! A four winner in four races. Amazing! You could tell Kenny is probably the fastest guy so far this year but had not won a race yet. It was overdue.
He rode great even not getting the holeshot. If he gets the holeshot next time he will probably lead every lap. Whatever his so called “change up” is for 2021 it is working. Ken is kind of starting to look like the days when McGrath dominated.
Hmmm…could be some boring racing ahead unless you are a big KR fan.
Second: Eli Tomac
Well, well, Eli pulls the holeshot (is that the first holeshot in maybe four years???) starts to gap AC who is in second and proceeds to fall down.
Have we seen this before? Why yes we have? You know how it goes (even though it is a rare event for a Tomac holeshot), Eli is leading, the TV shows other riders and then you hear the crowd moan…what happened? Eli falls down.
Anyway, he got up quickly in third and caught back up to AC and Kenny making for a fun race to watch as they freight trained around for many laps.
Kenny passes AC and Eli follows immediately. Looked like a great finish was coming…then Kenny jumps off the track and Eli gets the lead! BUT then for some crazy reason, Eli goes wide in a turn and lets Kenny right back by. It looked like he did it on purpose! Did he? Someone should ask Eli that question.
Eli pushed Kenny to the end but could not make a pass. Still a good ride but a lost opportunity to lead wire to wire for Mr. Tomac. Or do you think Ken would have passed him anyway?
Side note: Eli was super happy and excited on the podium interview saying something like this was his best race ever. All smiling! Really? Does not seem like it was. I know what he was so happy about…he got a holeshot! Yes, pulling a holeshot (when you rarely do it) does make you happy!
Third: Cooper Webb
That Webb guy is a junkyard dog for sure. He just keeps attacking and working towards the front. What seemed like a poor ride he gets on the podium. Nice! Cooper is keeping himself in contention so watch out.
Honorable Mention
Adam Cianciarulo had a great night going…upfront, going fast. Then Roczen and Tomac pass him and he falls off the pace. Then a normal AC tip over and the next thing you know he ends up fourth. Seems like Adam is not in good enough shape to push the whole race? Really?
Round five Tuesday night at Indy. Could it be a fifth new winner?
Featured image of Eli Tomac pulling the holeshot via video screenshot
