Last year when Monster Energy Supercross came to Santa Clara there wasn’t much to talk about. Both titles had already been clinched, the field was decimated by injuries, and Ryan Dungey and Cooper Webb both seemed invincible. Things were different this year. Dungey was fresh off a penalty that stripped him of a win, the 250SX West region was resuming after a long break, and names like James Stewart and Justin Barcia were rejoining the series after being on the sidelines with injury. But would any of that make a difference? Check out the Race Day Feed to find out. To read how it all played out in chronological order, start at the bottom and work your way up. To jump straight to the main events, simply start directly below.
450 Main
The holeshot went to Jason Anderson, but not before he got together with Justin Brayton, who went down in the first turn, along with Nick Schmidt. Ryan Dungey, Ken Roczen, Justin Bogle managed to get by Anderson in the first lap, and a couple laps into it Dungey was looking to check out. Ken Roczen wasn’t having it though, sticking right with him. Bogle meanwhile had surrendered spots to Anderson and Chad Reed. Eli Tomac was buried way back after a terrible start. Stewart was running about sixth when something happened to his bike, and he almost went over the bars when he landed over a triple. He wasn’t the same for a while after that and it looked like something mechanical was going on with his bike. A lap or two later he pulled off, visibly upset, and went back to the pits.
Up front Roczen was all over Dungey, showing him a wheel just about everywhere but Dungey was tough, holding off Roczen and getting a bit of a gap back. Behind them the pack was pretty spread out, with not much battling going on, unless you count all the lappers Dungey and Roczen were getting into. With a few laps left Dungey had put a few seconds on Roczen and brought it home for the win. Roczen took second, Anderson third, and Reed fourth, who barely held off a hard-charging Trey Canard on the final lap.
250 Main
Zach Osborne got out to the lead immediately and started pulling a gap, while Cooper Webb and Joey Savatgy were a bit back after mediocre starts. They started picking their way through, but not before a scary moment when Hayden Mellross launched over a berm, got disconnected from his bike, and literally landed on a metal fence next to the start gate. It looked extremely painful, and his night was done right away.
Back in the race Webb and Savatgy were slicing through the pack, with Savatgy matching Webb’s pace, mirroring every move and pass, even going through Webb’s teammates, Mitch Harrison and Alex Martin. Speaking of Martin, he went down by himself and lost a bunch of spots, eventually finishing ninth. As the race wound down Osborne had a decent lead over Webb, but all of a sudden it just evaporated and Webb pounced, taking the lead. Savatgy kept charging but couldn’t get Osborne. Webb won, followed by Osborne, Savatgy, Christian Craig (who pretty much rode a lonely fourth), and Mitch Oldenburg.
450 LCQ
Cade Clason got this one going right by shooting out to the lead right away. Nick Schmidt was able to sneak up on him, and for a bit the two put on a pretty good battle. Schmidt took over the spot, while Clason held down second. Vince Friese and Alex Ray both transferred as well. Deven Raper was in the mix to qualify but went over the bars big in a whoop section. Fortunately he popped right back up.
450 Semi 2
Monster Energy Kawasaki fill-in rider Josh Grant got out to the early lead in this one but it wasn’t a cakewalk—Justin Brayton inched up and was applying the pressure. Grant held the position though took the win by about half a second over Brayton. Blake Baggett, Josh Hansen, and Justin Barcia also transferred to the main.
450 Semi 1
Nick Wey beat everyone to the first turn and led for a bit before surrendering the lead to a charging Eli Tomac. At this point it looked like Tomac would check out, but Trey Canard caught him and positively blew by him for the lead. The race was on between the day’s two fastest qualifiers, and it was Canard who prevailed. Behind them Weston Peick, Wey, and Jake Weimer rounded out the rest of the transfer spots.
250 LCQ
In a word, carnage. A wreck right after the first turn prompted the red flag when Bradley Lionnet went down and got hurt. Killian Auberson must not have seen the red flag until it was too late, and he hit the brakes at the last second over the finish line jump, ejected, and smashed into the back of the landing ramp. On the restart it was all Hayden Mellross. He won, followed by Ryan Breece, Cole Martinez, and Blake Lily.
450 Heat 2
Ryan Dungey got out to the lead right away in this one, shocker, followed by James Stewart, who hung with Dungey for a few laps before conceding a second or two to the champ. Behind them Marvin Musquin was by himself in third, while Justin Brayton was under attack from Justin Bogle and Eli Tomac, who suffered a bad start. Bogle was able to get around Brayton as the race was winding down, but Tomac wasn’t able to replicate the move before time ran out. Dungey, Stewart, Musquin, and Bogle all move on, while everyone else is headed to the semi.
450 Heat 1
Mike Alessi notched his 8,791th holeshot in this heat, but Jason Anderson and Ken Roczen quickly went around him and proceeded to check out. Roczen was all over Anderson, and in one corner even came in extremely hard. It looked like he was going to clean Anderson out, but he somehow kept it tight. One lap later Roczen made a move stick as they two motored through the whoops. Behind them Justin Barcia and Chad Reed were all over Alessi, but Barcia went down in a turn, handing the final transfer spot to Reed, who then quickly went around Alessi for third. Back in the pack were Weston Peick and Trey Canard, who both went down in the first turn. Rocze, Anderson, Reed, and Alessi went through to the main.
250 Heat 2
Alex Martin shot out to the lead in this one and for a moment it looked like he was going to gap the field, but Zach Osborne had other ideas. After a lap Osborne went by Martin and it was over from there. Martin hung with him, finishing less than a second behind him, but Osborne had the heat firmly in hand. Behind them Cooper Webb had to come through the pack after a bad start, but was able to work his way up to third by the end. The best battle of the race was for the final transfer spot between Kyle Cunningham, Noah Mcconahy, and Cole Martinez. The three were going back and forth, and Cunningham and Martinez were both faster than Mcconahy, but Mcconahy was able to maintain a small gap as Cunningham and Martinez were battling it out. Finally Cunningham got by and took off, eventually taking eighth, while Mcconahy hung on for ninth. We’ll see Martinez in the LCQ. Osborne, Martin, Webb, Mitchell Harrison, Jordon Smith, Mitch Oldenburg, Chris Howell, Cunningham, and Mcconahy went to the main.
250 Heat 1
Joey Savatgy got the action going by getting the first holeshot of the night just ahead of his teammate Chris Alldredge. Christian Craig was right on them and it wasn’t long before Craig dispatched of Alldredge and went after Savatgy. He was able to close the gap but wasn’t ever able to make a move for the lead. Savatgy hung on for the win, and behind them Jimmy Decotis had caught and passed Alldredge for third. If you’re Alldredge, quietly transferring to the main via fourth is probably just fine, especially after the big crash he had in practice earlier today. Kyle Peters, Michael Leib, Scott Champion, Fredrik Noren, and Colt Nichols rounded out the remaining transfer positions.
Qualifying – Session Two
Zach Osborne was fastest at first in this session, then Colt Nichols, but Alex Martin quickly stepped up and took over the top spot. Then, before you could yell “Fifteen minutes or less,” Christian Craig busted out the fastest 250SX lap of the day, a 45.051. He went on to better that time, but, just like in the first qualifier, Cooper Webb would post the fastest time of the session right near the end. His lap, a 44.505, was so hot the track crew had to hose down his tires with fire extinguishers as he was pulling off the track.
Not much to report from the second 450SX qualifier. Canard was fastest right off the bat and held the fastest time for a while. But then Eli Tomac, Ryan Dungey, and Jason Anderson all topped Canard’s time, with Tomac at the top of the heap. Tomac’s time, a 43.555, would stand as the fastest of the session, and the day.
There’s not much variation in the rhythm lanes out there, the guys are all pretty much using the same combos and lines. A few guys went three-three-one in one of the long rhythm sections, but ended up going back to the same two-three-two combination everyone else has been using. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though—if a group of guys who have podium speed get together it could be fun watching them battle for position on a track like this. The track’s also looking a little dry, despite attempts to keep the moisture in. It’s going to cool off significantly tonight, so it may be less of an issue for the night show.
Qualifying – Session One
Christian Craig got afternoon qualifying going by setting a fast time initially, but it didn’t take long before Cooper Webb bested him. The two then took turns at the top of the board as they steadily worked their way downward in the 45-second range. It looked like Craig might emerge with the fastest time, but toward the end Webb pulled out a 45.139 to own the session. Joey Savatgy looked good, but going strictly by his lap times, was just a tick off Webb and Craig. The good news is he was faster than everyone else. Elsewhere in this qualifier Alex Martin had to pull into the mechanic’s area for a rear wheel swap. We’re not sure what went wrong, but given the number of rocks on the track we’d guess he had a flat tire. To add insult to injury, his fastest time was invalidated for failing sound. Chris Alldredge had a big crash in untimed practice and spent a considerable amount of time on the dirt with what looked like a hurt foot or ankle. He still came out for qualifying though, but seemed a bit off his normal pace, setting the nineteenth-fastest time.
When the 450s hit the dirt James Stewart set a fast time almost immediately, despite having a scary run through the whoops that saw him swap a few times. From there names like Ken Roczen, Trey Canard, and Ryan Dungey were all fastest at one point or another, but it ended up in a duel between Canard and Dungey. As soon as one would set a fast time the other would come along and beat it. Finally, at the end of the session Canard laid down an ultra-fast lap, becoming the only rider to dip into the 43-second range.
Morning Report
For starters, we’re coming off the only break of the season so riders who may have been nursing some small injuries have had extra time to rest up and come back to Santa Clara refreshed and ready. We’ve also got several big names returning to action this weekend. James Stewart will be back racing for the first time since deeply bruising his lower back in Daytona, and Justin Barcia is back at it after bowing out early to let his thumb heal, which was injured in a mountain bike crash early in the season. Even Josh Hansen is racing today! For a full list of who’s in and who’s out, go here. Unfortunately, Cole Seely should be on that list. Seely crashed during the week and will miss tonight's action. Go here for more info.
There’s plenty happening in the 250SX Class as well, which is back after being on break for several weeks. When we left off Cooper Webb had retaken the points lead from Joey Savatgy after Christian Craig and Savatgy got together in the whoops in Arlington, with Savatgy going down hard. No doubt Savatgy, who sits eleven points back of Webb, wants to get back to the winner’s circle tonight, but you know Webb, as well as the rest of the boys, want the same thing. Oh, and if you’ve caught wind of the internet rumor about Webb being questionable for tonight after a big crash during the week, his team says it’s false. We stopped by the Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha pits this morning and they told us Webb hadn’t had any notable crashes and is completely fine. In fact, they didn’t even seem to be aware of the rumor at all! For a full recap of 250SX West, go here.
When the riders hit the track for qualifying they’ll be greeted with a layout that Adam Enticknap described as a little tighter than normal. We overheard a few riders calling it a bit weird, although it didn’t come across as positive or negative. The track is pretty rocky, but it didn’t seem as bad as last year, when everyone was jokingly comparing it to an Endurocross track. There are two sets of whoops—one long, one short—but the whoops in the long (thirteen whoops) set are substantially larger. They seemed big, but Kyle Cunningham told us they were about average. Elsewhere the track was a bit dry, and with the sun already shining directly overhead, the track crew is going to have their hands full keeping the dust down. The hoses are out as this report is being typed, so it appears they're on top of the situation.
Untimed practice is scheduled to begin shortly, so check back soon for updates. For news on practice as it unfolds, check us on Twitter, @Racerxonline.