Slaw Dog
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Welcome to the 2023 Slaw/VurbWes/Troy Dog Combined 250/450 Top Ten Power Rankings! Slaw, Wes, and Troy each have created their own list of who they believe carry the most power in the sport. They each have created their own categories and have weighted these riders accordingly, whether its speed, following, SX skills, you name it.
Each week these rankings will be updated so that you guys can argue about how wrong they are in the comment section! Feel free to tell us if we’re right/wrong/or completely dumb.
VurbWes’ Pre-Houston Rankings
It’s no coincidence that I show up to the Honda Test Track last week, throw out the vibes, and Chase Sexton finally gets that first win of 2023; the second of his career. He thanked me big-time after the podium and I super appreciate that. I have a feeling that things are just starting to heat up now that Tomac‘s armor has a few dents in it. Not only does Sexton have a massive leap of confidence, but Roczen and Webb have to be right there mentally as well. LFG, right? It was hard to make the right call on this list, but I think I’ve got it right for now.
Huge shoutout to Daxton Bennick for the win in his first SX Futures event at Anaheim 2. While completely under the shadow of Haiden Deegan and not the hottest qualifying times, I’m not sure anyone expected Dax to go out there and CRUSH… but that’s exactly what he did. I can’t imagine the nerves of racing in front of a sold out stadium for the first time, but he didn’t let that get to him and most certainly put his name on the map to the rest of the world.
250 East Coast kicks off this weekend and I feel like the massive injuries list unfortunately could’ve taken the top spot in the power rankings, but we stay on the positive over here. So let’s hype up that J-Mart return PLUS the handful of rookie debuts that are potentials in reference to the pre-entry list. We know for sure Talon Hawkins and Caden Braswell are making the jump, but I think it’s TBD whether we’ll actually see Chance Hymas, Gage Linville, and Haiden Deegan.
Team Oakley makes the list because apparently Vurbwes here is part of the team. The same box that Drew Adams was opening up yesterday… yea SO DID I! I just didn’t film myself doing it, but maybe I should to prove how elite I am as well. I’m gonna look so damn stylish in my new Oakley Sutros sunnies, that’s for sure.
JS7 Spring Championship right around the corner. I posted an EPIC clip from 2016 yesterday that featured Sexton, Fornker, Cantrell, Taft, and Charbz battling it out in pro class that year. Stoked to head to Texas at the beginning of March to kick off another year of insane amateur racing.
Shoutout to Brixdog, my now TWO year old son. He met his hero Mickey the other day and then ate 3 pounds of custom cake when we got home to Idaho. That’s what being two is all about; doing what the hell you want, when you want. So take that third spot, minidoggie.
Slaw Dog’s Pre-Houston Rankings
Slaw: I will bullet point my thoughts so it is easier to read. Troy Dog has a hard time reading, so I’m making it easy for him to see how much better my rankings are.
- Pretty sure Mister Hahn is 3-0 this year vs Steve so he stays at the top.
- Cam comes in second because he is Slaw’s Dawg of the Week.
- Ken got Suzuki’s first podium since 2019. Amazing. Even more amazing: I called it last Friday.
- Phil had lights! And led laps!
- Great job to the rest.
Troy Dog’s Pre-Houston Rankings
Troy Dog: I put VurbWes at the number one spot for the second time in two weeks because he spent the day at Disneyland and then filmed supercross. Do you know how many steps that is? I’m no Clinton Fowler, but it’s at least a bajillion. You wonder why his calves are so huge? Also, he got me some great content for my Squad, so he just keeps doing things for us and coming through in the clutch moments. Eli Tomac continues to be snubbed by the Wes domination. The Chef, Levi Kitchen, makes his debut on the list after his first career win! Levi has all the tools at his fingertips to make a name for himself in the history books and in his fifth attempt at supercross he got it done. He also told me that he wasn’t completely satisfied with winning with consistency and he wants more.
Sexton, Webb, and Roczen file in behind the 250 winner. Roczen I feel like is a little snubbed in this situation since he gave HEP Suzuki their first ever supercross podium. Sorry, Roczen, I’ll do better next time. Oh, Benny Bloss makes the list because he returned to racing without letting anyone really know and made the night show with his practice time. He also is heading to the Super Bowl again after helping the referees beat my Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game. Look man, you can have third down for eight more tries, okay?
Rounding out the list is my pick for the 250SX East Championship, which is none other than Hunter Lawrence. Hunter was awesome last season and I think this will be his year to truly show how dominant that he can be indoors. Bring on Houston!
