00:00Crash, but a 17th place after suffering from food poisoning in the afternoon
00:04really took him out of any championship hunt.
00:06So to win this title, he's going to have to turn it around here tonight.
00:10He cannot give that man, Cole Davies, 20 points the way he did a year ago.
00:15All right, Jake, so we'll see how Seth does.
00:17How about Cole Davies?
00:19We did some math for you coming into tonight's event.
00:22Up against the superstars, Hayden Deegan, Jet Lawrence.
00:26Where is he in comparison to those two after four races in their sophomore season?
00:31Have a look at this.
00:32He leads four of the five categories.
00:35So when you watch Cole Davies, when you hear us talk about Cole Davies,
00:39this kid is off to a flyer in his career.
00:42He sure is.
00:43He's a lot of fun to watch.
00:44250 East Division.
00:46He won here in Detroit.
00:48Let's go.
00:49And he gets a flyer on the inside.
00:51Good start, Davies.
00:54That's his teammate, though.
00:56The rookie, Dunn, he slips up the inside.
00:58Nice work.
00:59Really nice work from him.
01:01And Romano.
01:02Nick Romano got away to a great start aboard the Kawasaki.
01:05And this for Kayden is a nice comeback because he had a pretty hard fall earlier today.
01:10Well, he did.
01:10And we were down there on the track.
01:12Track side, I should say, when he went down.
01:15And it was a really hard crash at the end of the whoops.
01:18Glad to see he's back up and running.
01:19But I want to talk about the number 141 and Nick Romano.
01:22He gets a call from that Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team, Mitch Payton and the
01:27crew, to fill in for Drew Adams, who is injured, healing up.
01:33What an incredible opportunity for this young man.
01:36An incredible opportunity for Kayden, doesn't he, as well?
01:39Because he got the big promotion.
01:40He got the big call-up after running an SMX next.
01:44But he's found a top going in the mains.
01:46He's yet to crack the top 10 as he leads this heat.
01:50Will?
01:51Just going back to Romano there, Lee.
01:53And Ricky, it was incredible, the ride that he got.
01:55But he told me that he kept himself in the best shape of his life.
01:59Without a ride, his agent, Jimmy Button, they were putting out the calls, asking, trying to
02:03sort of get a filling spot where they could.
02:05And he said, look, worst case scenario, I'm in the best shape of my life.
02:08Best case scenario, I'm ready when a ride comes.
02:11And it has come.
02:12You said he was on Drew Adams' bike there.
02:14Also, Ricky, with his settings, this week, this past week testing, he said this is tailored
02:19now more to him.
02:20And his expectations are higher coming in here tonight.
02:23Yeah, I would agree with that, too, and how he is riding right now.
02:26I mean, this is a kid who's had an unbelievable amateur career.
02:29He showed some speed and some promise.
02:31But, man, it is so great to see him.
02:34Track is fresh right now.
02:36And, hey, the rookie, Dudney, out there making it happen.
02:40All right, watch third place.
02:41All in red there.
02:42Here comes Cole Davies.
02:43He will not be enjoying seeing his teammate out in front, nor Nick Romano.
02:49And how about Joe Shimoda?
02:50Bottom box.
02:51Joe's got some work to do.
02:53He's buried down at seventh.
02:54And that's a rare position for Joe to be in.
02:58Rarely do you see him get a bad start like that.
03:01He is so consistent in his starts, has been all season.
03:07Looking a little further down the order, behind Casey Cochran, who makes his return to racing.
03:12We'll talk more about him in a moment.
03:14He's behind Luke Clout.
03:15And then you've got Luca Marsalisi.
03:18He is the only triumph rider in this 250 East division here in Detroit.
03:24So he's off to a terrific start as well.
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03:48There goes Joe Shimoda.
03:49Bottom box.
03:49Pass.
03:49Marsalisi.
03:51So Joe's made progress.
03:52Meanwhile, look at the top three in the top box.
03:55Dunney Romano Davies.
03:58Let's talk more about the race leader, JT.
04:00Yeah, it's just an interesting dynamic here.
04:02You think about Caden Dunney leading out front.
04:04He was a graduate of that SMX Next class just this year.
04:08Nick Romano used to be on Monster Yamaha Star Racing.
04:12That's where that break came in.
04:13And then you have another graduate of that SMX Next a year and a half ago in Cole Davies.
04:18So all three of these riders have spent their time on Monster Yamaha Star Racing.
04:22And all three of them were stars in the amateur ranks just a few short years ago.
04:26Hey, massive shout out to Dunney and Romano right now.
04:30Okay, we just talked about how awesome you saw those stats that Cole Davies is doing, how well he's doing.
04:35Look at this game right now.
04:36But look at Joe trying to make a move by...
04:39What did that be?
04:40Cochran.
04:41Yep.
04:42Perfect.
04:43Straight up the inside.
04:44As simple as the corners, as it seems, around that right-handed,
04:47sweeping turn, you can make up a lot of ground, really trusting the bike mechanically there
04:52to get the job done for you and get some help.
04:55Nice comeback by Joe.
04:57Next one on Joe's list is the Kawasaki-mounted rider, Luke Clout.
05:03Keep your eye on this section right here where Joe is at.
05:05Some guys electing to go over that tabletop over a huge single to triple out.
05:10It is so hard to get over that single, and if you don't, you flip your back tire, you have
05:15a high risk of going over the handlebars off that nice jump.
05:18So make sure you keep your eye out there all night long.
05:20Had a good chat with Luke yesterday.
05:22He said he's been struggling with his starts, so he'll be much more pleased with this to be running in
05:27the top four.
05:28Look at this.
05:29Nick Romano, Cole Davies.
05:30Positions have not changed.
05:32Again, a testament to how well these two guys are riding.
05:37I for sure thought that Cole Davies would have made the move by now, just with how fast he was
05:43early today in practice.
05:46Look at him, but there he misses the rhythm lane right there, and those guys just pull out.
05:52Pull out a lead.
05:55I mean, JT, you're watching Davies.
05:57What are you thinking right now?
05:59Yeah, well, you know, I'm wondering, Ricky, if it's really a product of the track being so fresh.
06:04You know, we know Davies has this big advantage in the whoops, but if the whoops are brand new, there's
06:09really no edge to be had.
06:10Look how quick those guys are going through there.
06:13Oh, that's a massive crash from Caden Duttony.
06:16That's where he went down earlier today, but on the other side of the whoops.
06:20Yeah, very, very hard crash, but he was extremely lucky to roll out.
06:26He didn't come to a complete stop, and like Lee said, that is exactly where he fell in practice.
06:31You could imagine what you just saw there, how he went down in practice was way worse.
06:37Glad to see him back up hustling, but everything is good.
06:40Bike starts hopping left to right.
06:43Feet come off the foot pegs.
06:45Down he goes.
06:46Oh, boy.
06:47And just like that, Cole Davies has got by Nick Romano, and there's a different Monster Energy star Yamaha bike
06:54out in front.
06:56Things happen quick right here.
06:58Romano may have slowed down or was distracted by watching Duttony crash, but talk about these whoops.
07:05He had a huge advantage in the qualifying practices, and the whoops were a bit bigger, and I think over
07:11time,
07:11and as the SMX track crew have worked on these whoops, they've flattened out a little bit.
07:16So maybe Davies doesn't have the advantage like he had early on in practice.
07:20And you see Joe Shimoda has elevated himself to third.
07:24That's because Luke Clout went down right in front of him and has dropped outside the transfer zone.
07:31Jeremy Hand is in that all-important ninth and final position.
07:35This track is really sticky here tonight.
07:37The rhythm lanes and the ruts are kind of pulling these riders from one side of the track to the
07:43other.
07:43I heard Hunter Lawrence talking about it after practice.
07:46It's going to be difficult.
07:47Davies looks very calm.
07:49He looks like he's cruising.
07:51This is well and truly in his control.
07:53He's waiting for Cole Davies, championship leader.
07:56Starts the night the right way.
07:58Well done, Nick Romano.
07:59He went to the LCQ last week.
08:01Fabulous.
08:01So to go straight through tonight, well done to him.
08:03Big gap back to Shimoda.
08:04Here comes the Honda HRC progressive rider.
08:07That's a good comeback for him.
08:09Wow, great for Caden Dudney to get back up and still finish fourth.
08:15And to Casey Cochran.
08:17Here is that pass that we missed while we were focused on Caden Dudney's crash.
08:21You see that Romano overjumped the first jump of the rhythm.
08:25And he got off sequence.
08:27Oh, contact by Davies and Romano.
08:30Cole has a quick look around and say, what was that?
08:33Anyway, nonetheless, another win.
08:36Cole Davies.
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