Visually Recapping 2016 Supercross
5/9/2016
Not that you can put the entire Supercross season into one graph, but here is the 450SX season in one graph:
In that picture, the main storyline of the season is pretty clear: Ryan Dungey ran away with the 450 Supercross season early, and after the first few weeks it was never even close. Ken Roczen firmly captured 2nd place, but at one point that was definitely in doubt. Until Roczen won in Week 5 at Glendale and followed that with a 3rd and another win, it appeared he might be in trouble with Chad Reed and Jason Anderson above him and Cole Seely close behind.
Another big story was Jason Anderson's emergence into the Top 3. After a hot start, winning Anaheim in Week 1, Anderson cooled off slightly, but nevertheless he left Eli Tomac, Cole Seely, and Chad Reed behind with a win in Week 11 at Detroit and 3rd place finishes the next three weeks.
Tomac had a shot at Anderson for 3rd place (or even 2nd) after a big win at Daytona in Week 9. But, Tomac couldn't keep the pressure on, and he had a disappointing season overall, although he salvaged it some with finishes of 2 / 2 / 3 in the final weeks.
Lots more in the chart above, and though some areas/names are overlapped, let me know and I can try to zoom/highlight certain things in the graph(s).
In the 250 West, Cooper Webb started to run away with it, a la Dungey, but a mechanical problem in Week 4 at Oakland gave Cooper a DNF and let Joey Savatgy back into the competition. These two battled back and forth over the next few weeks, until Webb reclaimed the lead for good at Arlington in Week 7. But it took a dramatic finish at Las Vegas last weekend, where Savatgy cruised to 1st place, meaning Webb needed a 12th to tie for 1st on the season and 11th to win it outright. Despite a broken bone in his hand and a crash early in the race, Webb managed to finish 11th, winning the overall title by 1 point.
After somewhat slow starts in the early weeks of the 250 East season, Malcom Stewart and Aaron Plessinger made it a two-man race in the 250 East. Jeremy Martin had an early lead, but in Detroit (Race number 4 for the 250 East class) he had two crashes that seemed to derail his chase for the title. Instead, Malcom Stewart established the overall lead that week, and though Plessinger got close, he was never able to overtake Stewart's point total.
Posted by: SagehenMacGyver47 ::: As always – Feedback welcomed
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