Race Day Feed: Anaheim 3

GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac had a good start but got shuffled around in the first few turns, he found himself chasing rival Ken Roczen, on a Soaring Eagle Casino/Jimmy John's RCH Suzuki. Roczen crashed out of the points lead last week, and didn't look quite as sharp this time as he did while winning the previous two Anaheim rounds. Tomac took a few stabs at passig him, then Roczen got through Baggett and pulled away for a lap until Tomac got Baggett, as well. While they battled for fourth, Canard made a run on his teammate Seely for second until he washed his front end out in the sand and went down. Roczen and Tomac slipped past before Canard, last week's winner, could recover.

This set up a late-race dash between Seely, Roczen and Tomac for second, third and fourth, while Dungey rolled away in the lead. On the last lap, Tomac finally found a small opening and drove it in hard on Roczen to swipe third. He gave Seely a look, too, but couldn't make it happen. Seely, the full-time 450SX rookie, snagged a career-best second, ahead of Tomac and Roczen. Canard recovered for fifth, while Chad Reed overcame a terrible start on his Discount Tire/TwoTwo Kawasaki for sixth. Baggett was seventh ahead of Autotrader.com/Toyota JGR Yamaha's Justin Barcia, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Jason Anderson, and Valli Yamaha's Josh Hill.

While he wasn't involved in most of the battles, Dungey was the star of the evening. He looked visibly faster at Anaheim 2 compared to Anaheim 1, and continued that upward climb at this round by taking the fastest qualifying laps, and winning his heat and the main event. He's also extended his points lead to 11 over Roczen.

250SX Main Event

It’s official: Cooper Webb is on fire. He passed not one, but two riders to hold on to first place on two different occasions. Let’s back up for a moment…

Matt Bisceglia initially holeshot the 250SX main event and held on to the lead for a few laps before feeling the heat from Webb. Webb got Bisceglia for lead through the inside of the sandy bowl turn, but a red flag waved shortly after. Red flags are typically reserved when a rider requires serious medical attention, but this one ended the race due to a faulty starting gate. Zach Osborne waved his hand and looked around for the officials upon the gate failure. It took officials five laps to determine that the gate was faulty. The riders lined back up on the starting gate for a restart.

Jessy Nelson took the holeshot the next time around. Webb once again followed up the lead rider, though it took a little longer to make the move into first place. Nelson didn’t take it lying down, though. He came up on the inside of Webb a few corners later and checked up, but Webb predicted the move, checked up as well, and dove to the inside of Nelson. It was all Webb’s race from there. 

As Webb and Nelson battled for the lead, Zach Osborne and Aaron Plessinger were simultaneously battling for third. Plessinger was all over Osborne for several laps and was finally able to make something stick to secure the first professional podium of his career.

450SX LCQ

Andrew Short came back from his semi race crash to nail the holeshot in the LCQ. He was followed up by Jimmy Albertson, Kyle Chisholm, Vince Friese, Freddy Noren, and Nick Wey, among others. Wey was able to pass Noren, but was unable to make any more moves into a transfer spot. The top four remained in the same order to transfer to the main event.

450SX Semi 2

Davi Millsaps grabbed the early lead and was followed by Ben Lamay, Vince Friese, Cole Seely, Kyle Partridge, and Josh Hill. Seely moved into second to challenge Millsaps for the lead, but never made a pass. Hill moved through the pack to challenge Lamay for third, but also wasn’t able pick up another position before the checkers. Nevertheless, all riders transferred, as did Jason Anderson.

450SX Semi 1

Josh Grant locked down the holeshot and was followed by Phil Nicoletti and Nick Schmidt. Andrew Short and Adam Monea tangled through the first full rhythm section and hit the deck. Short remounted but was unable to make up the ground needed during the remainder of the semi. Meanwhile, Nick Schmidt rode a great race to hold off established riders such as Brett Metcalfe, Jake Weimer, and Kyle Chisholm for several laps to make his first main event of the season.

250SX LCQ

There were a couple pileups through the first couple of turns, but Blake Lilly emerged with the lead, followed by Trevor Reis and Ryan Breece. Johnny Jerderda picked up a spot along the way to move into fourth, and with that, the top four built a sizeable lead over the rest of the pack. Both Reis and Breece were able to pass Lilly, and Reis motored on for the LCQ win.

450SX Heat 2

SmarTop MotoConcepts’ Mike Alessi unleashed his signature holeshot form on the unfamiliar elevated start, but had Ryan Dungey was right on his rear wheel. Andrew Short and Brett Metcalfe held the remaining transfer spots, but were quickly shuffled back by the likes of Ken Roczen and Trey Canard. Alessi retained his composure and held off the fast trio for several laps but eventually succumbed to a mistake over a step-on, step-off, which allowed Dungey and Roczen to blow by. Canard was able to Alessi through the whoops in the following section. Roczen pressured Dungey for the lead late in the race, but a passing opportunity never materialized.

450SX Heat 1

GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac used a holeshot to quickly put a gap on the field and demonstrate how to ride the Anaheim 3 track with smooth and stylish. Though Blake Baggett and Chad Reed were close during the opening lap, nobody was able to contest Tomac for the win through the rest of the heat. Reed used his whoop speed to pass Baggett in the first full lap for second place. Justin Barcia started in sixth but was able to pass both Jake Weimer and Vince Friese for the final transfer spot. Cole Seely had a dismal start and will also have to go to the semi.

250SX Heat 2

Troy Lee Designs KTM’s Jessy Nelson took the holeshot and never relinquished the lead. He put a comfortable gap over second-place Josh Hansen and third-place Justin Hill—Hill started in fifth—during the opening laps. Tyler Bowers didn’t get the best start (8^th), but joined a battle for fourth with Chris Alldredge and Aaron Plessinger rather quickly. Alldredge dropped back while Plessinger and Bowers charged. Hill put a last lap charge on Hansen for second, but Hansen raced smart minimized Hill’s passing lines to retain second place.

250SX Heat 1

GEICO Honda’s Matt Bisceglia blasted off to a holeshot in his first gate drop since Phoenix SX. He had close company in his teammate and Oakland 250SX winner Malcolm Stewart, as well as 250SX West point leader Cooper Webb.  The top three riders separated themselves from the rest of the pack, and Stewart was able to drag race past Bisceglia through a step-on, step-off section just a few laps into the heat. Webb was also able to move past Biscelgia through the inside of the first turn shortly after.

We don’t recall seeing Webb pull this off in timed qualifying, but he doubled out of the corner following the sand section and proceeded to launch over both tabletops. It’s debatable whether that combo was faster, but Webb was quickly making ground on Stewart in some sections of the track. It came down to the last few sections. Webb was right on Stewart, and even pulled up past Stewart’s back wheel through the last section, but Stewart held on for the win.

Qualifying Session 2

Riders had a chance to test out the elevated start in the second timed qualifying session. With just one lane separating the start straight from stretching across the entire field, riders are really hauling by the time they get on the binders. There’s a little bit of a berm building up leading into the first turn, so we’ll see if that’s enough to keep the riders from pushing wide off the start in the night show.

Other than a couple get-offs from Jason Anderson and Justin Barcia, it was business as usual in 450SX Group A Qualifying Practice 2 for the most part. The most noticeable difference, though, is Ryan Dungey. The Red Bull KTM rider took pole position in both timed qualifying sessions and is looking pretty solid heading into the night show. Chad Reed looked to be eyeing up the step-on section through the two tables that Tomac did in the prior session, but opted out. We didn’t see anyone give it a shot, so it’s unlikely we’ll see anyone pull the trigger on that section in the main. Josh Hill has been looking aggressive all day today and found himself inside the top ten at the end of the session. His streak of bad luck may be coming to an end tonight. Cole Seely also looked more aggressive this time out, and it paid off with the fourth fastest time before the clock hit zero. And of course, Trey Canard and Ken Roczen continue to look as impressive as usual.

Tyler Bowers solidified his lines in 250SX Group A Qualifying Practice 2 and landed atop the leaderboard. Justin Hill took the top spot briefly, but Bowers was just moments away from regaining the position. Malcolm Stewart looks prepared to challenge for the win again this weekend, taking second place in the last timed qualifying sessions and looking smooth all around. Add in Cooper Webb and you have the only four 250 riders to land inside of the 58-second club.

Qualifying Session 1

Jason Anderson was out front first as usual in 450SX Group A Qualifying Practice 1, but was unable to make it into the top five after the opening laps. Ryan Dungey assumed the top spot early on, fell back, and then regained the number-one position with about a minute left in the session. Justin Barcia held onto pole position for some time, but ultimately landed behind Trey Canard and Ken Roczen in fourth place. Eli Tomac was nowhere to be seen in the top five until the final lap.

We saw Tomac eyeing up a step-on section through two tables after the sand section during free practice, but he never pulled the trigger until the final lap of the first timed session. Tomac was able to pull it off clean, and if he can do it consistently, it may be his ace in the hole later in the night. Aside from the step-on section through the two tables, going 2-3 into the triple seems to be a popular choice for most of the top guys. However, we’ll see if it remains a viable option in a racing scenario, as it leaves the inside line through the preceeding corner wide open.

Jessy Nelson blasted off the start to lead the first 250SX Group A Qualifying Practice 1. He held the lead just for one full lap before being overtaken by Cooper Webb. Justin Hill and Tyler Bowers stepped up in the following laps to push Nelson down to fourth, but Nelson jumped back into second on the last lap of the session. Webb, however, never relinquished the top spot.

The most popular option after the second set of whoops was to step on, step off, then triple into the corner. A few riders toyed around with flip-flopping that order, but it was a lasting choice. The top guys are going 3-3-2 through the first full rhythm on the track, but only Webb and Hill were seen going 2-3 into the triple in the following section. Bowers was the only 250 rider to attempt the step on through both tables as Tomac did, but was never able to clear the final single when stepping off and into the turn.