Good, Bad and Ugly | 2023 Salt Lake City 1

'Good, Bad and Ugly' reflects on miscellaneous points from the seventeenth stop of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross series, Salt Lake City. What would you put beneath each subheading? Travel to the forum to join the discussion or share ideas on social media (@VitalMX on Twitter and Instagram). For now, however, read on for some thoughts on Chase Sexton, Hunter Lawrence and Ken Roczen.

GOOD

Chase has to be placed under this subheading, but I want to take it in a little different direction. What stands out to me from his season? There is a lot, to be completely honest, but I want to focus on two moments that are underrated and have been forgotten by most. Allow it for now. Houston is the first item on my to-do list, because the raw speed that was on display inside of NRG Stadium was incredible and will stick with me forever. '23' had the five best times in timed qualification on that day and, when it was all said and done, he was 01.095 clear of the rider in second. It was the only time all year that the fastest qualifier was more than a second up. Impressive.

How about the heat race in Houston? Sexton had four of the quickest laps in a heat that included Eli Tomac and, once again, his best time was a second faster than anyone else. Even his average lap was a second quicker! Tomac pulled off a win in the main, but Sexton had the "wow" factor that day. There is another moment that sticks out in my mind, that being the first main event in Arlington. Sexton had a terrible start and ripped through the field at an incredible rate. It was another moment that was just ridiculous to watch. Jaw on the floor kind of stuff.

BAD

"Memories" seems to be a theme here, but here we go. I hope that Hunter Lawrence's sixth at the 250SX East/West Showdown does not cloud judgement of his time on the smaller bike. There was so much said about him going up against Jett and all of that, so will people with short memories take a glance back on their final 250SX showing and take those results as fact? We know why Hunter finished sixth – he was caught up on lap one. Everyone will forget about that in five years though.

I just want Hunter to have the respect that he deserves for overcoming his troubles and matching his brother in 250SX competition, with the exception of one win and title. I honestly believe that so many people are doing him a disservice by ignoring his countless health problems and every other struggle that he faced from 2017 to 2021. Yes, his troubles spanned that amount of time. Jett is brilliant, but can we separate Hunter and put some respect on his name?

UGLY

It sucked that Ken Roczen ended a strong season with a DNF and I hope that will not taint the way in which his season is viewed. It is unlikely that will happen, in all honesty, because the season was that good, but then some people's minds work differently. Do not forget how low expectations were when bikes rolled into Angel Stadium at the start of January. The Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki squad was unproven, Roczen's prep was questionable and so was his motivation. There was no fan who was overly confident in what he would do, but he silenced the naysayers and ticked boxes that seemed a million miles away.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. Nothing is signed, but one would presume that he will be 'yellow' again when the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross series fires into life. Expectations will be higher than they were – his situation is now proven – and therefore pressure will be applied. How will he handle that role again? How will the team deal with knowing that they have to replicate the massive strides that they made this term? I think it will all be fine, truthfully, but it is interesting to think about.