As I said, it’s been a great series and it’s been exciting to watch, despite two pre-season contenders for the crown going out, as well as Hunter Lawrence. But let me express some concerns.

I know lawyers rule the roost. For years, because of Matt Goerke flying into the stands, we had flat turns on the outside of the track. Then we got some nets put up (Sidenote #1: You’re welcome) and we were back to bowl turns (Sidenote #2: We still need more nets). Then starting last year it was determined that most injuries (Sidenote #3: We’ve never seen the data) happen in whoop sections longer than nine whoops, so we had nine whoops all last year and in most of the races this year (Sidenote #4: After having a low injury count last year, we’ve had lots of injuries this year) and no dragon backs because, well, Nashville had a really tough, square-edged, hardpack one and a bunch of dudes got hurt on it (Sidenote #5: I’m glad we’re not scalping the backs of dragons anymore and they can roam free with their backs intact, but one poorly designed obstacle gets it banned forever?). Now this weekend in Dallas, the track map showed a small three jump combo before the whoops (like we had in Tampa) but nope, the powers that be determined they don’t want the riders carrying too much speed into whoops. Which, uhhh, bikes have brakes, right? If you're not comfortable tripling and carrying speed into the whoops, don't triple. Most riders didn't do it in the Tampa main and that was fine. Malcolm was able to handle it and was also fine.

And also, Jordon Smith crashed hard in the whoops this weekend without having the speed of tripling in, right? Shouldn’t a rider, like Stewart in Tampa, be rewarded for being a bit brave to grab fifth gear (!!) in the whoops like he was? Jett and Tomac got hurt this year in the most innocent of ways and the point is, you can’t do anything and everything to prevent these things from happening. This just in, SX is dangerous.

So, we have these rules but yet, and I’ve been saying this for years, there’s nothing done to secure the Tuff Blocks down to the track! There’s plenty of ideas out there, inflatables staked down, triangle shaped to give the riders some room, my idea of tuff block “trays” for them to sit in and so on and so on, but nope, nothing has been done for years and Tuff Blocks continue to cause crashes. I watched it this weekend in practice as a matter of fact. So just nothing we can do with Tuff Blocks but all these other (mostly unproven) rules are out there to help riders stay healthy?

Also, I’m not sure what’s happening with the track maps/plans, but there have been starting gates where the insides and outsides aim straight into sides of berms or jumps. Like, congrats on making the main event and here’s your gate! You’re effed no matter what and maybe that leads to riders trying to muscle their way into a start and that causes issues?

Anyway, off my soapbox and onto Dallas Observations and more.

Cooper Webb got a most unlikely win with his 6-1-1 rides and that’s because, as we all saw, Chase Sexton threw away the overall with his last lap crash while going after Webb. First the overall was Ken Roczen’s and he didn’t want it I guess, then Sexton didn’t want the 100K and 25 points either. It was a Christmas miracle for Webb! But that’s what he does, right? Two in a row for Webb and now a five-point lead for him.

As far as Sexton, I’ll just copy my thoughts from Monday night’s PulpMX Show: I dunno man!!! I know he said he knew he had the overall, but he wanted to win and I get that, these guys are competitors like no other but bro, it’s the last lap! It’s Cooper Webb. You have the overall and the points lead. “We” gotta settle down here. So many points thrown away here recently by Sexton. Sexton, by all rights, should have 2-1 (maybe second at worse)-1 finishes the last three week instead of 5-3-3.

I can’t stress enough how big Daytona SX is for Sexton this weekend. I feel like he needs to stop this bleeding of the last three weeks somehow, some way. He’ll be desperate and hungry to win Daytona, but you know what? So will Webb and Roczen! It should be an epic night down at the Speedway.

The Haiden Deegan we thought would be there most weekends finally showed up in Arlington. Not even a fall in the sand could stop him from domination and thanks to crashes and not-stellar riding by his other title threats, he’s got the points lead and is looking good.

Deegs was really good. Like really, really good. He was down-siding jumps/tabletops perfectly and he was able to take any line and make it work for him. He had some close calls and even fell in the first main, but he was not to be stopped on this night.

Except well, his starts. They weren’t good. At all. It didn’t matter on this night though.

Now the thing for him will be to stay away from mistakes and bad starts at Indy in two weeks for the East/West Showdown. He’s not ripping through a Showdown field with his Dallas starts/early race crash, that’s for sure. I feel like in Indy can only go two ways: he’s gonna dominate and crush everyone or he’s in for a tough night. No in betweens. Let’s see how this prediction looks after that, yeah?

Super awesome to see Coty Schock and Michael Mosiman on the podium at the end of the night. Both guys have been through some stuff, Schock being a fill-in after being screwed over by Phoenix Honda Racing last year, and Mosiman after losing a ride and suffering a ton of injuries the last couple of years. Mosiman in particular has been building the last couple of 250SX west races and Schock really broke open last year with third in 250 East points. We had Schock on the PulpMX Show on Monday, and he said he would’ve laughed in your face if you had told him he would ever podium a SX. Cool stories!

We had Justin Hill on the PulpMX Show on Monday, and he really got deep into his season and the reasons for its success. Hill qualified quickest this weekend and got a solid fifth in the main as well. He outlined the changes he’s made to his diet, dedication to the sport, and what he would do if he got a big money offer for next year.