00:00Hello, welcome to the CV's Flight Channel.
00:13...here in Philadelphia, let's go in muddy wind.
00:18Treacherous conditions, and the guy who's got the most momentum at the moment, Nate Trasher.
00:23What a start.
00:24Yeah, coming off that wind last week in Cleveland.
00:29Picking up where he left off, getting another fantastic start, and oh, he messes up, comes up short on that
00:36double.
00:37Nick Romano goes to the lead aboard the 141, Monster Engine Pro Circuit Kawasaki.
00:42Marcelisi there in the third position. Check out these riders right now.
00:47This is about as good as the track is going to be for the rest of the night.
00:54Nick Romano with the best view of anybody.
00:57This is a guy who had to go through the last chance qualifier a week ago in Cleveland.
01:02Now he leads this opening heat.
01:03Well, that's right, and he was in the last position of that last chance qualifier.
01:09This is somewhat of a home race for Nick Romano.
01:11See right there, hometown Queens, New York.
01:14A lot of family and friends here, and surely that is a big help.
01:19Looking really good right now.
01:20Again, this is the best of tracks it's going to be all night long.
01:24Oh!
01:25Whoa, hang on.
01:26That was a good job.
01:29He saved that nicely.
01:31And he's got...
01:32He did have one and a half seconds over Nate Thrasher, but now that's disappeared.
01:36Really good job being done by Marcelisi and Phelps and Devin Simonson.
01:40And then Landon Gordon, fresh from his podium a week ago, runs in sixth.
01:44The championship leader, Davies, in seventh.
01:47Yeah, I was really looking forward to seeing how Landon Gordon would do after that fantastic finish last week.
01:53Only his second race as a professional.
01:57And unfortunately, with these conditions and it being wet like this, we won't get a fair shake and just see
02:03if he was able to back it up.
02:09Let's hear some words from the man who leads this race.
02:12He's Nick Romano.
02:15I think it kind of stands out to everything.
02:17I think believers, you can just read it and see it.
02:20So, for me, it was huge because throughout my process of being injured and all that kind of stuff, you
02:26just have to keep believing.
02:28So, you know, I want people to know that.
02:32Well, a wise words there from Nick Romano.
02:34And just thinking about the mud here, it's a great equalizer.
02:37And the reason it gets that moniker is look at the results throughout the top nine here.
02:42There are a lot of names that we're not used to seeing near the front.
02:44Marcelisi, as you guys mentioned, Marcus Phelps, even Bucari there in ninth.
02:48That great equalizer means that it doesn't matter if you have factory equipment.
02:52It doesn't matter if you are the most talented racer on the racetrack.
02:55These conditions command a different skill set.
02:58You're going much slower and you have to ride the racetrack in a different way.
03:02I spoke about unliker results off the top of the show.
03:05This is what I mean.
03:06You get unliker results because they did a completely different ask from the racers than a normal supercross race.
03:13JT, I was just talking to the teams less than two hours ago when it's absolutely pouring down outside to
03:19ask them,
03:20what's your prep?
03:21What's your thought process going into this?
03:23And you just matched it perfectly.
03:24But from the mechanical side of things, Ricky, this is a big challenge, too, because they have to make these
03:30bikes last.
03:31So they go from strategy to just thinking, let's get through the night.
03:34What are the biggest hazards here that they faced?
03:36Well, I think the biggest hazards right now is now keeping his vision clear and protecting his eyes.
03:43You see he took his goggles off.
03:45So that's going to be very difficult, especially if he closes up on the rider in front of him, which
03:50is Simonson.
03:53So, I mean, keeping it up two wheels, looking at big picture right here.
03:57And I'm trying to think of the last time that I've seen Cole Davies race to mud.
04:00So I don't know that he has a whole lot of Supercross experience in these type of conditions.
04:08So big challenge tonight, a lot like what JT was telling us about.
04:11There's a QR code about to pop up on your screen, and you can scan it for your chance to
04:16win an Insta360 camera.
04:18It's fast.
04:19It's easy.
04:19Scan it now.
04:20Enter the win.
04:21And good luck.
04:22These are the conditions.
04:23This is what's going to be difficult.
04:24See how he's closed up to Simonson right here.
04:28You're going to have to take an alternate line.
04:31Again, big picture in mind.
04:33Get into that main event.
04:35Give yourself an opportunity.
04:37Speaking of that big picture, Cody Schock has just got himself on the right side of that red line.
04:42The cutoff, the transfer for the main event.
04:45You do not want to be doing any more racing than you have to tonight.
04:48You don't want to go to that last chance qualifier.
04:50Well, you don't.
04:51And it puts a lot more pressure, not only on the rider, but the mechanic as well.
04:57If you have to go back, you don't transfer straight from the heat.
05:00He's got to go back, clean that motorcycle, make sure that it's good to go for just a short time
05:05to where you have to line up for that last chance qualifier.
05:08And again, the mud being an equalizer, I mean, anything can happen.
05:16So, less than a minute to go, plus a lap in these really tricky conditions.
05:21Nick Romano, who, by the way, has never won a heat race, has done an outstanding job to maintain his
05:27two-plus-second lead over last week's winner, Nate Thrasher.
05:32This is an incredible story.
05:34I mean, having the opportunity to be a fill-in at Pro Circuit Monster Energy Kawasaki team, and I think
05:41he's done a fantastic job.
05:43He didn't have a lot of time on the bike before the championship started.
05:46So, for JT to be able for this guy to ride as well as he is, it's fantastic to see.
05:54All right, Ricky, I was just going to add to your point there, I love what you were talking about,
05:57the mechanics.
05:58It's such a difficult ask on them.
06:00It puts so much pressure to go to the LCQ, and remember, different than the Triple Crown race last weekend
06:06in Cleveland,
06:06they're only allowed to use one motorcycle, so they had an issue in their heat race.
06:10This goes for the 450 guys as well.
06:12They're not able to use a second move.
06:13Oh, JT, down goes Nate Thrasher.
06:16He thought he had a run.
06:17He felt he had a run on Nick Romano, and down in the whoopsie goes.
06:22Well, you've got to respect the effort.
06:24Like, this is so hard to pick this bike up.
06:27You can see he's on the wrong side of it.
06:30Leverage point is much different right there.
06:32Now, here's the key, and this is the thing about mud races, is keeping that bike going,
06:36because when these things build up, a lot of engine heat have a tendency to not want to fire back
06:42quite as quickly.
06:44And that is another thing about the mud, is staying upright and preserving that motorcycle.
06:50When you fall down, then you're not moving and going forward, and it builds more engine heat as well.
06:56And that, on this final lap, has relieved what was a lot of pressure on Nick Romano.
07:02How about Luca Marsalisi, the 24-year-old from Danbury, Connecticut,
07:07aboard his Triumph of Harrisburg machine, doing a terrific job.
07:12Davies has worked his way a little forward, several positions very effectively.
07:19Yeah, going back to Nate Thrasher, he was trying to blitz the whoops and started to lose control from the
07:26back end.
07:26Rear tire was probably spinning, dropped the front, and down he went.
07:30Now, this base of this track is really, really hard.
07:34And traction is going to be interesting, and it's going to be a struggle to find it.
07:42Look how slick that is right there.
07:43But the good thing about it being so hard is it won't get overly deep.
07:48Well, look, the conditions aren't ideal, but he'll remember this for the rest of his life.
07:52That's Nick Romano's first heat win.
07:55Well done.
07:56And for Luca Marsalisi, this is an awesome result as well.
08:00Second in the heat and going straight through to the 250 East Main.
08:05Yeah, he's pumped.
08:07All right.
08:07That feels good.
08:10Showed some good speed earlier today, and he's proud of that result, and so he should be.
08:16And Cole Davies slips and slides his way up to third.
08:22Well, he'll probably have some relief right there, knowing that he has an opportunity to lock that championship up.
08:32Let's remember Nick Romano's story.
08:35Stepped away from the sport for several years, got the call.
08:39project.
08:39Thank you.
08:39Thank you.
08:41Thank you.
08:42Thank you.
08:42You're welcome.
08:46You're welcome.
08:47Thank you.
08:47All right.
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