The final stretch of the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross season was undoubtedly one of the most exciting ever and it was capped off by two incredible main events in Las Vegas. Ryan Dungey and Zach Osborne came away with the championships, but neither won their race.
Let’s dive into the lap data to figure out how these championships were won and lost with this week’s Sign of the Lap Times. First, our traditional lap time charts.
450SX Class Lap Times
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | On Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 2nd | 1:05.215 | 6 | 1:07.441 | Eli Tomac |
2 | 22nd | 1:05.779 | 9 | 1:07.213 | Marvin Musquin |
3 | 4th | 1:05.862 | 5 | 1:07.693 | Ryan Dungey |
4 | 1st | 1:05.906 | 2 | 1:07.260 | Jason Anderson |
5 | 3rd | 1:06.019 | 10 | 1:07.265 | Josh Grant |
6 | 6th | 1:06.183 | 15 | 1:07.757 | Chad Reed |
7 | 7th | 1:06.349 | 10 | 1:07.868 | Blake Baggett |
8 | 8th | 1:06.651 | 8 | 1:07.748 | Davi Millsaps |
9 | 21st | 1:06.850 | 5 | 1:08.771 | Justin Barcia |
10 | 5th | 1:06.873 | 8 | 1:07.581 | Dean Wilson |
11 | 10th | 1:07.304 | 13 | 1:08.423 | Cooper Webb |
12 | 9th | 1:07.379 | 7 | 1:08.192 | Justin Brayton |
13 | 11th | 1:07.540 | 17 | 1:08.316 | Christian Craig |
14 | 12th | 1:07.560 | 12 | 1:09.238 | Malcolm Stewart |
15 | 13th | 1:08.070 | 5 | 1:09.579 | Justin Bogle |
16 | 14th | 1:08.762 | 5 | 1:09.667 | Jake Weimer |
17 | 15th | 1:09.115 | 5 | 1:11.868 | Vince Friese |
18 | 16th | 1:11.356 | 3 | 1:13.663 | Alex Ray |
19 | 18th | 1:11.545 | 4 | 1:13.726 | Adam Enticknap |
20 | 20th | 1:11.564 | 3 | 1:18.272 | Scott Champion |
21 | 17th | 1:11.570 | 5 | 1:14.499 | Dakota Tedder |
22 | 19th | 1:12.051 | 3 | 1:16.177 | Ronnie Stewart |
250SX Class Lap Times
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | On Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider | Region |
1 | 1st | 1:07.186 | 2 | 1:08.552 | Adam Cianciarulo | East |
2 | 3rd | 1:07.292 | 12 | 1:08.499 | Aaron Plessinger | West |
3 | 4th | 1:07.416 | 8 | 1:09.104 | Dylan Ferrandis | East |
4 | 18th | 1:07.605 | 2 | 1:10.394 | Martin Davalos | West |
5 | 5th | 1:07.757 | 7 | 1:09.425 | Mitchell Oldenburg | West |
6 | 7th | 1:07.786 | 8 | 1:08.375 | Zach Osborne | East |
7 | 2nd | 1:08.109 | 6 | 1:08.687 | Justin Hill | West |
8 | 6th | 1:08.336 | 7 | 1:09.420 | Jimmy Decotis | West |
9 | 11th | 1:08.388 | 7 | 1:09.754 | Shane McElrath | West |
10 | 9th | 1:08.625 | 5 | 1:09.728 | Mitchell Harrison | East |
11 | 8th | 1:08.755 | 3 | 1:10.071 | Hayden Mellross | West |
12 | 10th | 1:08.756 | 5 | 1:10.189 | Cameron McAdoo | East |
t-13 | 12th | 1:08.816 | 13 | 1:09.652 | Austin Forkner | West |
t-13 | 13th | 1:08.816 | 8 | 1:10.247 | Dan Reardon | West |
15 | 14th | 1:08.918 | 8 | 1:11.070 | Joey Savatgy | East |
16 | 15th | 1:09.076 | 8 | 1:11.233 | Tyler Bowers | West |
17 | 16th | 1:09.584 | 6 | 1:11.576 | Kyle Chisholm | West |
18 | 17th | 1:10.359 | 13 | 1:11.803 | Cole Martinez | West |
19 | 19th | 1:10.525 | 3 | 1:12.356 | Anthony Rodriguez | East |
20 | 21st | 1:13.668 | 2 | 1:13.668 | Jordon Smith | East |
21 | 20th | 1:13.894 | 3 | 1:16.185 | Justin Starling | West |
22 | 22nd | DNF | DNF | DNF | Dakota Alix | East |
Keep 'em Bunched
Probably the most debated topic once the race finished was Eli Tomac's strategy to slow down and bunch up the riders behind him. He even threw a few block passes on Dungey to slow him down even more. On the broadcast they made it seem like Dungey had found some next-level speed and was reeling in Tomac, but if you look at their lap times below it's clear that Tomac slowed down on lap seven and controlled the race from there.
Now let's look at the times for some of the riders behind them. Josh Grant and Jason Anderson were directly behind the leaders for a large part of the main event. While their lap times didn't mirror Tomac's as close as Dungey's did, you can see that in the final few laps both of their lap times dropped from earlier in the race.
Chad Reed also made a brief appearance in the top five before getting pushed off the track by Anderson on lap 17. From lap 13 on where the riders ahead of him were increasing their times, Reed was actually dropping his time, with his best lap of the race coming on lap 15 with 1:06.183.
Tomac's strategy didn't win him the championship, but it did get him close. You can vote in our poll that we posted earlier today to let us know what you thought about the strategy.
The Final Laps
The 450 race was intriguing, but the 250 race had that get you out of your chair and scream at your TV kind of action. If you visit this site somewhat often you already know what happened, but in short, Zach Osborne made a dramatic comeback to pass Joey Savatgy on the last lap of the main event to clinch the championship.
Savatgy clearly wasn't riding his best throughout the entire main event with an early crash and getting passed frequently, but on the last two laps it felt like he was going extra slow. Here are his segment times compared to Osborne's over the last two laps.
Lap 14 Segment Times
Zach Osborne | Joey Savatgy | Difference | |
Segment 1 | 12.907 | 13.295 | -0.388 |
Segment 2 | 20.868 | 21.040 | -0.172 |
Segment 3 | 17.973 | 18.519 | -0.546 |
Segment 4 | 16.128 | 17.382 | +1.254 |
Lap 15 Segment Times
Zach Osborne | Joey Savatgy | Difference | |
Segment 1 | 12.877 | 12.756 | +0.121 |
Segment 2 | 20.758 | 21.282 | -0.524 |
Segment 3 | 17.985 | 18.612 | -0.627 |
Segment 4 | 16.458 | 30.027 | -13.569 |
In an update team statement Savatgy said, "It was a rollercoaster season to say the least. What happened on the last lap I didn't see coming and should have. I would have probably done the same thing in that situation, but it hurts being on the losing end of a take out."
Whether it was the pressure of the situation or just a lack of awareness of where Osborne was on the track, Savatgy was a lot slower than Osborne on the last few laps.
For a more detailed look at this main event, check out Jason Thomas' Breakdown column posted earlier today.