The fourth annual Monster Energy Cup took place last night here in Las Vegas and we know this report is called Saturday Night Live but it’s Vegas, cut us some slack. Here comes “Sunday Day Live” from the MEC!
There’s was a lot going on at the MEC. Feld Motor Sports pulled no punches at this race inviting forty top 450SX riders, the very best supermini kids, an amateur all-star race, some FMX in the form of a best whip contest and so many things going on in the pits that it was hard to keep it straight.
Well, we didn’t see any riders miss the Joker Lane like the last couple of years but we still got a bit of a shock at the race when newly signed Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Davi Millsaps captured the crown with 3-4-1 finishes in the three ten lap main events. Millsaps was racing for the first time on the Kawasaki and for the first time in a year-and-a-half as he hasn’t had a gate drop since Las Vegas Supercross in 2013.
Millsaps rode a smart consistent race and was strong all day even though in the second main event he fell exiting the Joker Lane on the last lap and lost some spots. It was a remarkable ride for the #18 and a signal that you can indeed miss a lot of time and still stay sharp and on your game.
The Monster Energy Kawasaki team isn’t happy about some of the whispers in the pits about how they’re not going to amount to much with the loss of four-time AMA Supercross Champion Ryan Villopoto. Newly signed Millsaps and Wil Hahn (who didn’t race the MEC) don’t have as many titles on the mantle as RV but the team was very happy to show everyone that they don’t plan to let go of their status as a title winning team easily.
Heartbreak for factory Honda rider Trey Canard as he looked to be in prime position to get the one million dollars for sweeping all three main events but instead ended up third overall. Winning the first two mains with ease, Canard, who was racing the MEC for the first time, didn’t get the holeshot in the third race but was onto the back of Millsaps and all he needed to do was get by one rider, win the race and one million bucks was his. Unfortunately he made contact with Millsaps’ rear tire in a dry and slippery sweeper and went down. Canard got back up in fifth and just needed to pass Malcolm Stewart to get the $100,000 first place prize but unfortunately for him, he washed out again. And just like that a million bucks that had gone to $100,000 went to a third overall. Still, Canard looked very impressive all day long and his late run in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series looks to have boosted his confidence.
GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac snuck in there for second overall via 4-3-2 scores and as usual with the #3, his starts hurt him. With the mains being just ten laps there wasn’t much Tomac could do when he couldn’t gate inside the top three so it was tough from there. Tomac has made another suspension change on his CRF450 as he slapped on the KYB suspension front and rear like Canard did late this past summer.
Justin Hill is new at Red Bull KTM and will race the 250SX class in 2015. The MEC was just supposed to be a throw-in race for Hill on the 450SXF to get some experience. Well he showed that he’s a fast learner as the kid stalked Canard for the first two mains and went 2-2. He rode fantastic all day long and looks right at home on the orange bike that he truly doesn’t have a lot of time on. Hill crashed out at the end of the third turn in the third main event, but no matter he opened some eyes out there.
The MEC was stacked! There were a lot of riders that didn’t even get to line up for the night show as the track kept everyone pretty close in qualifying. One small mistake and you were in the 450 LCQ before you knew it. Big names like Mike Alessi, Kyle Chisholm, Nick Wey, Ben LaMay, Alex Martin, Jimmy Albertson, Chris Blose, Bobby Kiniry (who broke his hand), Matt Goerke and more were loading up and watching the night show. The riders that did have to race the LCQ and made it in were Josh Grant, Weston Peick, Zach Osborne and Cooper Webb.
Chad Reed hadn’t gotten a lot of time on the bike in the last couple of months and it showed. The 22 Kawasaki wasn’t on his game as much as usual and pulled the plug before the third main event as his night wasn’t going as well as he would’ve liked.
Malcolm Stewart, Josh Hill and Jake Weimer were three riders who showed up at the MEC trying to impress some people in the hopes of picking up a full ride in 2015. Stewart did the best on his privateer Honda scoring a fifth overall with Weimer eighth and Hill fourteenth.
Blake Baggett debuted his new Yoshimura Suzuki ride and looked pretty good out there. Predictably he got good starts and until his crashed out in the third moto there were some flashes of speed for the 450SX rookie. Baggett went 5-8-DNF on the night.
The fastest qualifier of the day was not a familiar 450 big time superstar but none other than Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson. Yes, you’re reading that right. Last year’s 250SX West Region Champion showed that just maybe he’s got the right stuff to put the white bike up on the podium. His races didn’t go awesome but he showed speed. We can work with speed!
New factory Honda rider Cole Seely (by the way, the team lost Muscle Milk—it’s title sponsor the last few years) looked pretty good out there but crashed in practice and hit his head. Seely and the team decided to shut him down for the day and that meant the fifth place rider in the LCQ, Austin Politelli, got the final spot into the main event.
Fresh off his win at the Motocross des Nations, Frenchman Dylan Ferrandis made his U.S. supercross debut riding a Kawasaki and pitted off the side of Reed’s truck. He had a decent qualifying time and looked okay in the main events in his first taste of supercross. If he reaches certain performance goals this year he will be on the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit team in 2016.
Mitchell Falk was dominant in both of his main events as he swept his way to the Supermini crown. Garrett Marchbanks was second and Chase Sexton third.
Lots of carnage in the Amateur All-Star race and in the end it was Aaron Plessinger standing atop the podium with 1-1 riders. Plessinger already has a ride locked up with the Yamalube/Star Yamaha guys and looks to be right there to be another great young rider for that team. GEICO Honda’s Jordon Smith was thought to be Plessinger’s main competition but he went over the bars in the first race and crashed again in the second one as well. Smith’s 10-2 scores placed him fourth overall.
