250 Class
1st Place: Adam Cianciarulo. Adam needs to win asap if he wants to keep his title hopes alive. All the top riders have shown great speed and consistency so if Adam wants to be the new west coast champ he is going to need to start finishing in front of these guys each weekend to make up the gap in points between them.
2nd Place: Shane McElrath. Shane is tied for the points lead with Joey Savatgy and although Joey beat him last week, Shane looked really fast all day and won one of the three mains while Joey won the other two. I think Shane gets a good start and grabs a 2nd place finish.
3rd Place: Joey Savatgy. Joey is tied for the points lead with Shane McElrath and was able to win the overall last week in Anaheim. Joey is playing it relatively safe this year and is trying to make sure he doesn’t “throw away” any races this year that will cost him a chance at winning the title. I think he settles for a third place finish and continues to focus on the long run.
4th Place: Aaron Plessinger. Aaron might possibly be the fastest rider in the 250 class right now, but his inconsistent starts are holding him back. I see him playing catch up to the leaders this week and doesn’t have enough time to get on the podium although I think he will be as fast or faster than some of the riders on the podium.
5th Place: Christian Craig. Christian has been around the 5th place spot for most of the year and it wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone to see him finish here again. I think he has a pretty quiet race and finishes in the 5th place spot.
450 Class
1st Place: Eli Tomac. Eli rode unbelievably well here last year and it is also where he got out of the “funk” that he was in that caused his mediocre results at the beginning of 2017. I think this is where he will gain momentum and start to cut down Jason Anderson’s points lead.
2nd Place: Jason Anderson. He has the points lead and I guarantee he is going to do everything he can do to win this title. He has the experience, fitness, and training program to make 2018 the best year of his career.
3rd Place: Cole Seely. I think he will ride the momentum wave he started last week in Anaheim and have it carry over to this week in Glendale. Cole is usually between 4th and 6th with a few podiums throughout the year, but I think last weekend really helped his confidence and helped him realize he belongs on the podium on a consistent basis.
4th Place: Ken Roczen. He didn’t ride well last weekend but keep in mind that was the event where he had his terrible injury last year. I don’t know if he bounces back completely mentally and is ready to go for the win. I see him doing good but not great and ending up in 4th at the end of the night.
5th Place: Marvin Musquin. It’s hard for me to say where he will be this weekend. We know he has a hurt shoulder and he was fast enough to be around 10th place. Will one extra week of rest be enough to help his shoulder recover? I don’t see him finishing any better than 5th this weekend and might even be closer to 10th than 5th depending on how his shoulder is feeling. I guess we will find out tomorrow.
The Moto Report 