The 2022 AMA Monster Energy Supercross Championship Series returns to the stadiums on Saturday with racing at Ford Field in Detroit. It’s the first race of the second half of the season, and the elite have revealed themselves. Let’s get down to the 2022 Detroit Supercross fantasy tips you need to beat your friends in the RMFantasySX.com leagues.
For the first time in 2022, picking the Top 5 feels easy. It’s never easy to get the Top 5 riders in precisely the correct order, and it’s that unpredictability that makes playing fantasy supercross so rewarding and frustrating. Yet, five riders have established themselves as solid Top 5 riders, with a couple of riders as constant threats.
Eli Tomac
Eli Tomac is steamrolling through the 2022 Supercross season, and Detroit shouldn’t slow him down. Tomac has won three of the last four races at Detroit, though The Motor City was skipped the previous two years. Regardless, Tomac has the momentum and the history at Detroit to make him the odds-on favorite.
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson is the only rider since 2015 to beat Tomac in Detroit. If Anderson can stay out of trouble, he should be right on Tomac’s rear fender. Yes, that’s a big “if”, but Anderson has five podiums this year, which is second only to Tomac’s six podium finishes. Put him down for P2.
Cooper Webb
Defending Supercross Champion Cooper Webb is back. Webb is on a 2-3-2 run, and that’s good enough to make him a podium selection. Webb still doesn’t seem to have the pace of Anderson and Tomac, but he’s up there. For those who might want to put Webb ahead of Anderson, keep in mind that Anderson has beaten Webb in five of the last six rounds. I have Webb in P3.
Chase Sexton
Chase Sexton is also on the comeback trail and looking good. Had Sexton not made his catastrophic unforced error in Minneapolis, he would be on a 1-4-3 run. Still, his P4 in Arlington and podium in Daytona put him in a good position coming into Ford Field. Sexton feels faster than Webb to me, as Sexton has a win, and Webb has yet to taste 2022 victory. However, Webb has bested Sexton in five of nine rounds this year. With that, Sexton gets the P4 slot behind Webb, even though Sexton’s always a threat to win.
Malcolm Stewart
Although Malcolm Stewart let his temper get the best of him in Daytona, Stewart still owns P5. Four P5s and two P4s in nine rounds tell you where Stewart is likely to finish. He has been a Top 5 finisher in seven of nine rounds, so if you always had him in the Top 5, he scored RMFantasySX.com points for you. P5 it is for Stewart.
There are three other Top 5 threats to consider—Justin Barcia, Marvin Musquin, and Dylan Ferrandis. With Aaron Plessinger and Ken Roczen out, these three are the only other riders at the starting gate who have cracked the Top 5 this year. Barcia is the most consistent of the three, earning five Top 5 finishes. Musquin and Ferrandis have three Top 5 finishes each—that’s only one out of every three races. If you’re behind and are ready to gamble, these three are your best outsider picks. Ferrandis and Barcia were Top 5 at Daytona, but that was with Anderson and Stewart getting tangled.
The Wild Card is P15, and there are plenty of candidates. Brandon Hartranft has finished between P12 and P17 at all nine rounds, with three P15 finishes—he knows this part of the field. Justin Bogle and Alex Martin have bounced around P15, though they haven’t landed on it this year. Finally, Garrett Marchbanks was P15 in his 2022 450SX Main Event debut at Daytona. He could do it again. I’m selecting Hartranft, though any of the riders I’ve mentioned are good choices. Warning: Kyle Chisholm has two P15 finishes in the last three rounds, but don’t pick him—he’ll be competing in the 250SX class at Detroit.
Brandon Hartranft
Last week was a good week for me, thanks to clicking on the Wild Card. For the first time in 2022, I’ve been able to crack the top 30-percent overall—not great, but I’ve been moving in the right direction consistently after a terrible start. Let me credit Ultimate Motorcycling Editor At Large Ty Cullins, who is #97 out of nearly 106,000 players. Yes, he is in the top 0.1-percent in RMFantasySX.com competition.
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This week, in the first segment Editor Don Williams talks to us about the new Kawasaki Versys 650 LT. It’s the middleweight ADV style machine that uses the same 650 parallel twin motor as the Ninja 650, so it’s an excellent performer in a user-friendly, good looking package.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my dearest industry friends—now retired Honda PR executive, Jon Seidel. Jon’s fascinating career spans some 30 years with Big Red, and gave him some great experiences with some incredible machines. I was fortunate enough to be invited on many of the press launches that he organized. His new project is documenting and saving many of the old archives from years gone by—and incidentally, if you have anything that may be of value to the project, please contact us by email at producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we’ll pass it all on to Jon.
So on that note, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
