Practice is complete here in Phoenix Arizona's Chase Field, and we have only confirmed what we already know: the 450SX field is deep. Deeeep. Riders were exchanging fast times all day, with Justin Barcia ultimately topping session one, and James Stewart topping session two. But along the way, the likes of Ryan Villopoto, Ryan Dungey and Trey Canard hovered around that top spot, too. You want to know how close it is? Stewart's final-session time was just one tenth of a second quicker than both Villopoto and Barcia. And Villopoto and Barcia TIED. TIED! Identical 51.643 lap times for them, right behind Stewart's 51.505.

Yes, Stewart does have a knee injury of some sort, but, so far, so good for him. We'll see if it holds up through 28 laps of a heat and main event.

Dungey's fastest time was three tenths further back with a 51.9, then Canard, Weimer, Brayton, Millsaps, Short and Reed rounded out the top ten. Reed is still working through some bike setup scenarios. Last week he ran the Showa air fork during the day and switched back to the conventional spring fork at night, this week he has been running the air fork during practice again.

In the 250 Class, Eli Tomac's 51.5 led the field, Ken Roczen's 51.8 was second. But Roczen logged that 51.8 in the second session, while Tomac logged a 52.0 in that one (his 51.5 came in session one). So Roczen is close, but he was also very close in practice last week but wasn't able to hang in the main.

Martin Davalos was third, Cole Seely was fourth and rookie Joey Savatgy was fifth-fastest overall on his JDR KTM. Well done. Jason Anderson, Jake Canada, Ryan Sipes, Jessy Nelson and Christian Craig was tenth.

Eli Tomac was fastest overall in the 250SX class, but Ken Roczen did top him in the second session.
Simon Cudby photo

As mentioned earlier, Blake Baggett is out for the night (and possibly the entire SX season) with broken bones in his hand and wrist suffered as part of last week's first-turn wreckage. And Zach Osborne dinged his shoulder in the second practice and did not ride the third one--his status for the night is still unknown.

450 SX Times

1 7 James Stewart Suzuki RM-Z450 51.505
2 51 Justin Barcia Honda CRF 450 51.643
3 1 Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki KX 450F 51.643
4 5 Ryan Dungey KTM 450 SX-F 51.986
5 41 Trey Canard Honda CRF 450 52.080
6 12 Jake Weimer Kawasaki KX 450F 52.440
7 10 Justin Brayton Yamaha YZ450F 52.667
8 18 David Millsaps Suzuki RM-Z450 52.730
9 29 Andrew Short Honda CRF 450 52.801
10 22 Chad Reed Honda CRF 450 52.966
11 20 Broc Tickle Suzuki RM-Z450 53.075
12 33 Joshua Grant Yamaha YZ450F 53.323
13 800 Mike Alessi Suzuki RM-Z450 53.328
14 14 Kevin Windham Honda CRF 450 53.566
15 42 Vince Friese Honda CRF 450 53.773
16 62 Matthew Goerke KTM 450 SX-F 54.203
17 85 Kyle Partridge Suzuki RM-Z450 54.238
18 47 Matthew Lemoine Kawasaki KX 450F 54.393
19 11 Kyle Chisholm Yamaha YZ450F 54.398
20 46 Weston Peick Suzuki RM-Z450 54.426

250SX Times

1 1 Eli Tomac Honda CRF 250 51.529
2 94 Ken Roczen KTM 250 SX-F 51.895
3 40 Martin Davalos Kawasaki KX 250F 52.373
4 43 Cole Seely Honda CRF 250 53.248
5 176 Joey Savatgy KTM 250SX-F 53.399
6 21 Jason Anderson Suzuki RM-Z250 53.402
7 23 Jake Canada Honda CRF 250 53.435
8 35 Ryan Sipes Suzuki RM-Z250 53.510
9 36 Jessy Nelson Honda CRF 250 53.862
10 59 Christian Craig Honda CRF 250 53.921
11 338 Zach Osborne Honda CRF 250 54.027
12 4 Blake Baggett Kawasaki KX 250F 54.107
13 32 Malcolm Stewart KTM 250 SX-F 54.218
14 28 Tyla Rattray Kawasaki KX 250F 54.221
15 38 Kyle Cunningham Yamaha YZ250F 54.240
16 31 Travis Baker Yamaha YZ250F 54.474
17 76 Austin Politelli Honda CRF 250 54.604
18 205 Josh Cachia KTM 250 SX-F 55.324
19 80 Michael Leib Honda CRF 250 55.367
20 992 Jean Ramos Kawasaki KX 250F 55.452