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00:00I think he was off to win in that main event.
00:02You think so?
00:02I mean, he just looked so good, and it looked like he was riding at ease, or with ease, I
00:07should say.
00:08So great to see Pierce back, and it is no surprise to a lot of us, especially some riders, everybody
00:14in the paddock.
00:15We know what his capabilities are, so excited for his return here tonight.
00:20And the fastest qualifier this afternoon, as mentioned, there's Seth Hamaker, oh so close to this championship a year ago.
00:26You talk about a heartbreak, and man, I bet this guy right here is just chomping at the bit, cannot
00:32wait to go.
00:33And he made a huge change in his personal program last year, investing in himself, and wow, did it make
00:40a difference.
00:42It got knocked down in the last race of the year by RJ Hampshire.
00:44And how about the Australian Luke Clout picking up a ride with the Parkzilla Blaster Power Kawasaki team from Australia?
00:51Could only come over about a week ago because he could only find a three-month visa.
00:55So he had to time his entry to be late enough to be able to race all the races before
01:00the visa expires.
01:01So not a lot of time on the bike, but he's definitely capable, the rider from down under.
01:05So watch for the 101.
01:08Diverse field in this 250 East division for sure.
01:12That's right.
01:13Don't forget about Shimoda's back in this one as well.
01:15A little tricky here, right-hand first corner.
01:18Not often do we see these.
01:20Haven't seen a right-hand first corner since San Diego, I believe.
01:25That's round two.
01:26That is a while ago.
01:27Here it is.
01:28Military appreciation race.
01:29Heat number two.
01:30250.
01:37Oh.
01:38Oh.
01:38And there's a first-turn crash.
01:43Is that Shimoda to the lead?
01:46That is the SMX defending world champ of the 250 division.
01:51Oh, we got bikes spread out.
01:54Wow.
01:55That's a big hit.
01:56Yeah, bikes being pulled off the track now.
01:58Handbaker going to work.
01:59But how about Joe Shimoda leading in his return?
02:05He's only three weeks into riding, and yeah, it's going to be a red flag.
02:10Kind of had a suspicion there with how many bikes were down in that first turn,
02:13and the track crosses through that section pretty quickly.
02:17So it's going to be a restart here.
02:20Man, think of Joe Shimoda.
02:23Unreal.
02:23I can't believe that he made it back with that injury that he had sustained to his neck
02:28in the offseason, then to come out here, grabs the whole shot.
02:33Hayes Edwards there.
02:34That is the son of the MotoGP and world superbike legend Colin Edwards,
02:39down but back up on the motorcycle.
02:43See the crash here again in a moment.
02:46Yeah, let's see what happens here.
02:49Look to the right-hand side of your screen.
02:51Oh, those guys start jockeying for position, and then it looks, yeah,
02:58they just get collided.
02:59Think someone hit the back of Gavin Tower's rear wheel.
03:02Just a chain reaction from that part.
03:05Those guys fighting for real estate.
03:08Man, Bryce Shelley is at number 80.
03:11There he is.
03:12Yep.
03:14Yeah, just get crossed up.
03:15Just get crossed up behind the rear wheel of a rider.
03:19Nothing you can do.
03:20Just a racing incident.
03:23And Marsalese is the 174 who was down as well.
03:28Might all three of them be okay.
03:30It looks like they all...
03:33It's going to be a full restart here.
03:35Yep.
03:37Full restart.
03:38Race is stopped with fewer than three laps completed by the leader.
03:42Complete restart of race, so they didn't even get, what, half a track.
03:45Exactly.
03:46Glad that everyone got up and go.
03:48Got road back, though.
03:50It's great to see.
03:53Okay, so you mentioned that 250 SMX world title the last time you saw Shimoda on track.
03:58That was a wild one when he won it in Vegas battling with Hayden Deegan.
04:02Here's a look.
04:06Here it is, Deegan and Shimoda, next to each other on the line.
04:10How will they play it?
04:11Deegan knows Shimoda in second, he won't win the title.
04:13So will he try to pull Shimoda into a battle?
04:16Here it is.
04:17It took a bye.
04:18He rammed him.
04:19He goes bye.
04:20He cuts him off.
04:21He looks over.
04:22He slows down.
04:23Here it is.
04:25Oh, and now they're both down.
04:27Deegan's walking off.
04:28So Shimoda's long journey is over.
04:32He is the world champion.
04:36One of the wildest championship nights ever in this sport.
04:40Deegan throwing everything at Shimoda.
04:42And Shimoda able to persevere through all.
04:44And then now having to persevere through this neck injury in the offseason.
04:49We asked Joe for a progress report yesterday.
04:54Yeah, but just, you know, obviously I've been doing off-the-bike stuff.
04:58A lot of off-the-bike stuff with my trainer Joe.
05:00But, you know, on the bike, even on the race day, you know, you just use these different
05:06type of muscles.
05:07And, yeah, you just kind of have to see how it reacts to it, you know, on the practice
05:11track.
05:12I mean, track is easy, but it felt good.
05:15So, yeah, just depends.
05:17And Joe told me that the fear, he was more worried about the mental side than the physical
05:21side.
05:22I think we just saw with that start.
05:23He's over that.
05:24Yeah, he's over that.
05:25And then, honestly, he looked great in qualifying practice.
05:29And, again, I think it's big picture here.
05:31And with this 250 East division, I feel like you don't have a guy like Hayden Deegan, who
05:39would be the clear favorite.
05:40It really opens up him and gives him a chance to be able to just come out here and see
05:45what
05:45the night gives him.
05:46And then continue to build from there.
05:49He has more of a chance to perhaps get this championship.
05:53Yeah.
05:53How will Shimoda play it?
05:54Will it be a points run?
05:55Or is he going to go for the W here?
05:58Looked good off the start.
05:59But that was just a snippet because they've got to go and do it again with the restart after
06:04the first turn crash.
06:05And I think one of the big things, too, for Joe, being a little bit older, a veteran of
06:10this 250 division, it's going to help him being in a situation like this.
06:14And also racing against guys that are a bit younger here.
06:18He's certainly been through a lot in his journey, not just coming over from Japan to be able to
06:22make a living racing in America within that championship fight we talked about last year.
06:26He had some downs in his career, even some doubters, I would say.
06:29But he really started to put it together last season, ended with that title.
06:33Back now.
06:34And the restart is ready.
06:35Let's go.
06:41Joe's going to try it from the inside, and he does it again.
06:44Another hole shot for Shimoda.
06:46Oh, that is confidence right there.
06:48And that factory HRC Honda team has that bike ready to go.
06:52But look at here, Hammacher's going to have the inside.
06:55Got it.
06:55A little earlier, he was attacking Joe from that spot the first time around.
06:59How about Dax Benick?
07:00Rockstar Husqvarna taking second.
07:04Shimoda gets him back in the whoops.
07:08Yeah, what a pass by Seth Hammacher.
07:10And, again, I go back to how well Hammacher did in the championship last year coming oh so close
07:17to locking up that 250 East Division title.
07:22And, man, he had a breakout year.
07:24It was a lot of fun to watch his progression and just, you know, mistakes that he would make in
07:29years past.
07:30Get rid of those and perfect his craft.
07:36It was spectacular.
07:37Joe starting to reset here and go back after Hammacher.
07:40Well, you talked about it.
07:42He had a little bit of a fear, possibly.
07:44But I think that fear has gone to the wayside.
07:47Well, he was worried about it.
07:48He said as soon as he rode, within three laps, he was doing all the jumps.
07:52And he's like, I guess I'm good.
07:54It went away real quick.
07:56And he's riding very well right now, pressing Hammacher two laps in the books.
08:01A little bit further back, you've got Brown.
08:03Not a good start.
08:04Seventh on the 163.
08:07I think the biggest thing, like, the progression and the improvements that Hammacher made last year
08:12compared to years, well, I said that he makes a mistake.
08:17But there were times in the past where I felt like he would override the bike and maybe not anticipate
08:22what the track was like or certain conditions.
08:24And he would end up going down where he wasn't that guy last year.
08:28And, man, just looks rock solid down there at the dog pound, riding with the Lawrences.
08:33And with Joe, actually.
08:35That's right.
08:35And with Joe.
08:36Yeah, although they haven't seen much of him.
08:38Again, Joe only riding for about two and a half weeks at this point.
08:40But, yes, huge strides for Hammacher last year.
08:43A lot of credit to his coach, Michael Byrne, and Darren Lawrence, the Lawrence brothers' father, riding the tutelage.
08:49You see a little bit further back is Brown working on Derek Kelly, Luke Clout.
08:54As you watch Hammacher try to get away, Will, what are you thinking on the number 10?
08:58Well, they say nobody knows you better than your family.
09:01And speaking to his mom earlier on today, I just kind of wanted to find out what Seth's headspace was
09:06and whether this was somewhat of a redemption tour here, like you said, came up incredibly close to winning that
09:11championship last year.
09:12And she said, no, he's not in a redemption space at all.
09:15But what he does want to do is finish what he started.
09:19Ricky, you talked about the changes that he'd made going into last year with his program.
09:22And that proved to him it was validation of all the work that he had put in meant something.
09:28And he was obviously improving and he came that close.
09:31So he said, I need to finish, this is his mom words, what I've started here.
09:34And Seth Hammacher, if you've never met him, is a very mellow individual, as we know, guys, very laid back.
09:39And she said, underneath that is a guy who is extremely determined to win this championship.
09:46Thank you, Will.
09:47Battle on now.
09:49Schach has moved around Benick.
09:51Schach on the 22, the Club MX Yamaha.
09:53And Derek Kelly riding well, another rider on that MX6 Kawasaki team, hanging right now with Benick.
10:00Keep your eyes on the 22 of Cody Schach, okay?
10:02We talked about it in the East Division, Chad Reed helping this Club MX team.
10:06And I feel like a guy where Cody Schach is in his career could really benefit from the knowledge and
10:12experience that a guy like Chad Reed has.
10:15And really take Cody to that next step.
10:17Watch, he's going to go triple, triple.
10:19Quad.
10:21Massive section.
10:22I'm going to tell you right now, there is a lot of air time in these rhythm lanes here and
10:26this track in general in Arlington.
10:32Here's the pass.
10:33Here's how Schach got around.
10:35Benick.
10:36Yeah, Benick starting to jump through the whoops.
10:38And Schach just turns it loose.
10:41He's doing the blitz options.
10:43That is faster right now.
10:44But I do believe at the end of the night, come main event time, as those whoops start to tear
10:50down, that jumping is going to be pretty consistent.
10:54Maybe the most consistent.
10:56Because when you're blitzing, they're getting so slick.
10:59Guys are going to be going sideways and they're getting edgy as well.
11:02So maintaining a straight line is going to be extremely difficult for these athletes.
11:07Darcy, you mentioned Schach two years ago, third ranked in this championship while on this team.
11:12So probably more capable than some realize.
11:14Yes.
11:15And he's in the hunt right now as he makes some moves.
11:18Gets up to third.
11:19Starts to close a bit on Shimoda.
11:20And he starts jumping now.
11:22The track's starting to go away right there.
11:24So keep an eye on all these guys and 450 heat races coming up as well.
11:29But Cody Schach, he is so close and on the verge.
11:33Remember last year he won a couple heat races.
11:36And I've talked about it many, many times.
11:38Those heat race wins eventually comes to podium finishes in the main event.
11:43And, you know, thirds become seconds.
11:45Seconds become first.
11:46So it's been fun to see his improvement here throughout his career.
11:50Oh, yeah.
11:51He was not heralded as an amateur racer or even a young pro at all.
11:54I never knew the guy until he was in the pro ranks.
11:57Right.
11:58And I just love who he is as a person.
12:01He's a hard worker.
12:04It's like Pierce Brown's made a couple moves.
12:07He's gotten around both Kelly and Clout.
12:13There's Hardy Munoz, 67.
12:15Remember how I talked about the bike?
12:17These whoops are like ice.
12:19That was a perfect example.
12:20Great, great camera work.
12:22That bike started dancing around on the rear end.
12:26But this is going to be the money spot for these guys when it comes to points, pay, and position
12:32later on.
12:33Yeah, Munoz just inside a qualifying spot now at night.
12:36You picked up on that in qualifying.
12:37We were watching next to the boots.
12:38Right.
12:39Big separator tonight, you're saying.
12:40Yeah, 100%.
12:41That's where the money's going to be made for sure.
12:43And I think they're going to start jumping.
12:46A lot of riders are going to because of how difficult they are.
12:49And it will be the most consistent way around there, especially if you're not comfortable blitzing whoops.
12:55Here's the difference in triple-triple quad.
12:59Not much different.
13:01You talked to someone earlier today what the difference was between quadding and not quadding.
13:06No, but they thought the corner out would be better, leading to the whoops.
13:09And it works for Brown, who overhauls Dax Benick.
13:13And he didn't even need that section to get it done.
13:17So Brown moves up now to fourth.
13:21Ryder out of Utah.
13:22Told that story before the gate dropped.
13:24Starts have been a problem throughout his career.
13:26A little bit, probably less than he wanted off the start in this heat race.
13:31See if he can rectify that because he was definitely high speed in qualifying.
13:34Oh, battle for the transfer spot.
13:36You got Clout on the 101 in green.
13:39And John Short, the veteran out of right here in Texas.
13:43That's the number 90.
13:44Short, outside looking in.
13:46Oh, no.
13:47Is that Munoz again?
13:48That is Munoz, I think.
13:50Uh-oh.
13:51Oh, man.
13:52Checkered flag.
13:53It is going to be Seth Hamaker winning heat two.
13:56And that might be very costly for Munoz.
14:01Short could be the beneficiary here on that number 90.
14:05Yeah, I believe he's going to be.
14:09And two crashes for Munoz,
14:11who will always give you everything out of the track.
14:13And that cuts in both ways.
14:15See if Short can bring this one home.
14:17Pilot Point, Texas, still right there with Clout.
14:21So Derek Kelly is going to put it through in fifth.
14:24Kyle Peters, a multi-time arena cross champ,
14:26back in Supercross 6.
14:29Clout and Short are in.
14:33It's been about three years since Clout has made a main event in the United States.
14:37He's in, and Seth Hamaker is in.
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