2016 Pro MX Week 2 - By-The-Numbers Recap: Glen Helen
5/28/2016
[Edit: Here's a look at Roczen's slow (relatively speaking), then fast, then REALLY slow (because of the busted fork) in Moto 1. Followed by how he rebounded in Moto 2.]
For a while at Glen Helen, in Moto 1, it looked like Dungey might be able to keep Roczen behind him. But all of a sudden, Roczen hit some other gear and blew by Dungey. Not only did he put up 5 laps in a row that were much faster than Dungey (prior to the suspension issue), Roczen put up his fastest laps of the race in laps 9 and 10 (each nearly a full second faster than his third-fastes lap, Lap 2).
The top 4 riders, plus Benny Bloss--who was one of the last riders (around 15th) in each Moto who wasn't lapped--for a sense of scale:
Also note Anderson's typical unusually-fast-late-laps, where in laps 12 through 14 he was the fastest of these riders, bringing out his second-fastes lap of the day in Lap 12.
Then, in Moto 2, Roczen again jumped out in front, this time in Lap 1...but he wasn't doing the kind of unreal damage he did in Moto 1:
So while Roczen was clearly faster than all competitors in Moto 2, there were some spots where Dungey and Tomac (but not Anderson, for whatever reason) were able to at least match Roczen's speed. Is that because Roczen had enough of a lead he could cruise a little bit? Maybe, but Tomac's fastest lap, (Lap 9, 2:30.4) was faster than all Roczen's, except one (Lap 2, 2:29.6).
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{ resume original post ;) }
For now, there's only lap charts for the 450's available. 250's to come, along with some analysis of Roczen's roller coaster ride in Moto 1 and then Roczen's dominance in Moto 2. [Edit: 250's now also on the page.]
Of note -- outside of Roczen running the better race(s), yet finishing 2nd in total points to Dungey -- was Trey Canard's high finishes, one time getting a great start, the other time getting a mediocre one. Pundits thought Josh Grant would do extremely well; I though he would do so-so; the actual result was somewhere in the middle of that. Musquin was running well early in Moto 1, but then tailed off, and he kept looking a bit slow all through Moto 2 -- haven't heard if there was anything up with that. OK, will update with 250 charts soon.
[Edit: 250 graphs now! below! see the Martins go!]
Posted by: SagehenMacGyver47 ::: As always – Feedback welcomed
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