AMA: Which of the three will take their first title?
After more than three months of 'competition silence', things are going this weekend MonsterEnergy AMA Supercross Championship starts. It 'Angel Stadium' becomes the first battleground between Ken Roczen, So Tomac en Marvin Musquin. This trio seems to have the best claim to be the successor to Ryan Dungey. In addition to Honda, Kawasaki and KTM, Husqvarna (Jason Anderson) and Yamaha (Cooper Webb) also have riders who can compete for the title. The only brand that seems to be missing the connection is Suzuki, who do not have a title candidate in their ranks.
After Dungey retired, KTM had to look for a new teammate for Musquin. The Frenchman will have Broc Tickle next to him and the Austrian brand can also count on Blake Baggett. Dungey's withdrawal leaves Chad Mark Reed as the only rider with a 450F title to his name! The favorite trio has each won a 250F title, but they have not yet won a supercross title on the 450F. There is no longer a place at Yamaha for the now 36-year-old Reed, he has revived TwoTwo Motorsport and uses Husqvarna. At the 'other Austrian brand', Anderson is the title candidate, he retains the British Dean Wilson as his direct colleague. At Yamaha they have chosen Webb as their leader with Davi Millsaps next to him. However, he has suffered an elbow injury, which means he will not be able to play for another six weeks. Millsaps is temporarily replaced by Justin Barcia, he was to continue as a private driver after his departure from Joe Gibbs Racing, but Yamaha quickly contacted him after it became clear that Millsaps would be out of action for months. After the retirement of RCH Racing, Suzuki entered into a partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing. Weston Peick still has a current contact there and Justin Bogle was 'acquired' from RCH. Tomac has a multi-year contract with Kawasaki, Josh Grant will remain his teammate in 2018. Roczen is returning from a serious arm injury that required him to undergo eleven operations! The German is without a doubt the title favorite but he will have to go deep to beat Tomac and Musquin. Cole Seely will again be fielded by Honda while Jeremy Martin, in the colors of GEICO, will also ride several races on the CR450F.
Unfortunately, there is still no trace of James Stewart, who indicated at the beginning of last year that he was not thinking about quitting, but it is starting to look more and more like that. There are seventeen races on the calendar to be held in eighteen weekends!
By: Steven van Kempen/KEMCO
Photo: Simon Cudby
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