Posted by Jason Weigandt on Saturday, April 04, 2009
This noun of the week took a little longer than normal, because I had to do some math and some research. I’ve been out of school for a long time now and I forgot how to cheat, so I actually had to do some real addition here.
So, here is my research. Here is the number of podium finishers in the Supercross Class during the last few seasons:
2003- 7
2004- 5
2005- 7
2006– 6
2007– 6
2008- 9
2009– 11
That’s right, four races to go and we have already blown away any recent seasons on podium finishers. And remember, even last year’s total of nine is a bit of an anomaly because we had Jake Marsack grabbing a third in the mud of Daytona, and Ryan Dungey moving up to a 450 on the East to get a podium. This year, we have 11 podium finishers: Grant, Stewart, Reed, Windham, Villopoto, Alessi, Short, Millsaps, Lawrence, Hepler, Hill. Yes, Lawrence is a West Lites guy like Dungey was last year, but he probably won’t be going back to the Lites class, from what I’m hearing.
It’s odd in a season running under the dark cloud of economic uncertainty that we actually have more teams and more talent out there than ever. And, for some odd reason the field has stayed relatively healthy. I’ve theorized all season that we haven’t seen whoops as big as we normally do. Maybe that has something to do with it?
Anyway, this shows the depth of the field behind Stewart and Reed, and makes this week’s Blogandt Noun of the Week:
The Podium.
Let’s see if Ivan Tedesco or someone like that can get on the box and make it an even dozen podium finishers. This Jacksonville track is pretty hard and slick, and IT usually does well in those conditions.
Anyway, this all points me to something my buddy Andy Bowyer pointed out a few years ago. This sport is going to go through a big era of dominance with RC, Reed and Stewart, and that’s going to draw in a lot of new fans and attention. And then, just when all of those people are into it, we’re going to draw from the deepest pack of contenders in decades. Let’s say some NASCAR team comes running over to the finish line in Las Vegas and shoves a briefcase full of cash in James Stewart’s face. With Carmichael’s rapid rise through the stock-car ranks, it’s not inconceivable. Then Reedy decides to hang it up. We might have a really deep field, unless that Ryan Villopoto character figures everything out in the big class like he did on a 250F.
At least the potential is good for a battle here.
Posted by Jason Weigandt on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
