On this Valentine's Day in Arlington, Texas, Ryan Dungey and Marvin Musquin could only profess their love for their Red Bull KTM motorcycles, as the teammates led every lap of their respective 450 and 250 main events in Monster Energy Supercross. Even better, they both leave the event as the points leaders in their divisions, so they've got some nice red plates to go with a red heart box of chocolates.
450 Main
Dungey grabbed the holeshot, and .Davi Millsaps was second early on his Monster Energy Kawasaki. For the first two laps, Millsaps showed Dungey a wheel in spots. Then Dungey began to get away. Yoshimura Suzuki's Blake Baggett started third, but Ken Roczen was able to get past him for the spot and then go after Millsaps. Once Roczen got to second, he was about 2.5 seconds down on Dungey, and he went to work, closing in a small bit, but never getting close enough to put on any real pressure. Then Roczen made a bobble in a turn and couldn't nail one of the rhythm sections, and Dungey opened the gap back up to four seconds. It was over from there, with Dungey putting three more points on his lead over Roczen, bringing it to 11.
"Wins are important. You're especially going to need them as we get towards the end of the season," said Dungey. "We're doing the best we can each week, putting ourselves in a good spot and we need to keep doing that. I got a good start tonight and was able to ride my own race."
"It was tricky out there," said Roczen. "I got off to a decent start and made a small mistake early, but I'm happy with a second place. It's a long, hard season and the championship won't come easy."
Behind them, Trey Canard got around Baggett and then closed on Millsaps. On the wall jump, Canard just barely touched Millsaps' rear wheel with his front, but Millsaps was in the air, and the slight contact was enough to make Millsaps' bike catch and loop out. Millsaps hit the ground and smacked his chin on the bars, his race was over. Canard took over third and held it to the end. Baggett took a career-best fourth, and Andrew Short logged his best finish of the year with fifth on his BTOSports.com KTM.
250 Main
Marvin Musquin's speed was not in doubt, he just needed a start to finish things off in the main event, and when he got it, it was over. He quickly pulled away from the field, but then Kyle Cunningham went down hard, and that brought out a red flag. Since half of the race had passed, they restarted the race with a staggered start, with the riders lined up in the previous running order on the start straight. This put Musquin ahead of Justin Bogle, who was second on his GEICO Honda. Musquin pulled back away and Bogle rode solid for second. Musquin celebrated the win with a barrage of heel clickers.
"I had a great start then I just did my laps and kept doing what I had to do," said Musquin, who missed all of last year's supercross season with an injury. "Just being consistent is what it's going to take and that's what I've been preparing for. I'm just happy to get it [a win] done this early, be here feeling good and healthy, and starting out strong."
Then came the battle for the podium. Anthony Rodriguez fought and fought and fought to hold onto third on his Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha, but Joey Savatgy finally busted past him to get to third on his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Right behind came Jeremy Martin and Matt Lemoine, and they got A-Rod as well while they battled each other. After a few passes back and forth, Martin finally made it stick for fourth, with Lemoine fifth.
450 LCQ
Seely, after crashing in his semi, checked out to win the LCQ. Partridge held steady in second. The big story was behind that, as Josh HIll worked his way forward to 3rd. Kyle Chisholm got through Nick Wey to get to the last spot, but in the last turn on the last lap, Wey shoved Chizz out of a rut and knocked him into the tough blocks. Wey to the main, Chizz out.
Semis and 250 LCQ
In his heat, Chad Reed got collected in a first-lap pileup in the whoops. He was back in his semi, battling through Cole Seely to get to second, then engaging Nick Schmidt in a big battle for the lead. Schmidt rode very well against the two-time champ, but Reed got him on the last lap. Seely crashed while in third, sending him to the LCQ. In the other Semi, Andrew Short took off and won it.
250 LCQ
Poor Nick Gaines, he was all alone out front on the last lap, read t make his first ever main, when he threw it away in the whoops. Zach Williams took the win.
Heats
Eli Tomac had a heat race dialed in after a huge holeshot, but Sean Hackley crashed hard and that caused a red flag and a restart. Ryan Dungey edged Tomac for the start the next time and headed off to the race win, Tomac was second, Millsaps and Weimer got the final spots. In the second heat, Mike Alessi grabbed his customary holeshot, but Trey Canard knifed inside, took the lead and took off. Weston Peick got to second, then on the last lap things went crazy with Alessi, Blake Baggett and Ken Roczen. Alessi bobbled, stuffed Baggett to fend him off, and Roczen passed them both. Alessi took final spot, Baggett went to semi.
250 East kicked off with a heat race win for Justin Bogle, running his red number one. Marvin Musquin, fastest in qualifying, continued his run with a heat race win.
Second Practices
The track actually got slower for the final sessions, as Ken Roczen topped the 450s again, but no one cracked the 50-second barrier (Kenny got under 50 in the first session). A lot of riders are talking about how rough and choppy the track has gotten--this is not the stuff we're used to hearing in Dallas, which usually has rock hard dirt. The softer dirt is really making a difference here.
Kenny was fast as usual, and Trey Canard, Eli Tomac and Ryan Dungey, the standard players, were there. Shoutout to Weston Peick, though, who jumped in the mix and was second fastest for most of the session. Looks like he didn't miss a beat.
A little extra news for you: Brett Metcalfe is not here, he was only scheduled to do the first six races. Ben Lamay is back, borrowing a bike from a friend after Josh Hill got his CycleTrader.com/Rock River ride. Freddie Noren is also done, he was only racing the first six and is now going to work to do outdoor testing for Honda. Fantasy folks, be aware of this!
The 250 class boiled down to Marvin Musquin versus Arnaud Tonus again. They swapped fast times until Musquin finally locked in the top spot. We talked to Tonus this afternoon after the first session, and he admitted he didn't know what to expect. He raced supercross in France on an 85, but then during his big bike time, would only race SX at Geneva and Bercy. For the last six years, he's only raced SX twice a year! Plus, he broke his wrist back in the off season and has only been back on the bike a few weeks. Impressive. Tonus' Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawaski teammate Joey Savatgy has also looked good. He's only been back on the bike about a week and a half after a crash just before Anaheim 1.
First Practices
The 250 class is all over the map, with lots of new kids showing speed in the unseeded sessions. And we don't know how they determine who gets in what session--Anthony Rodriguez is on Yamalube/Star Yamaha and rode some SX last year, he's in unseeded sessions, but SX newcomer Arnaud Tonus is in the seeded sessions. Because there are so many riders to watch, we're going to show you times from all three sessions.
Tonus definitely proved he belonged in that seeded session, though, because he jumped to the top of the qualifying charts early, then later took the top time back. Marvin Musquin stole away the top spot at the end, but Tonus, who looked very smooth, was second best.
In 450s, Ken Roczen is crushing it, becoming the first rider under the 50 second mark, and then holding on for the fastest time. Kenny looks quick, fast and aggressive. Eli Tomac was second best--stop us if you've heard "Kenny and Eli are the two fastest."
Morning Report
We've already run some untimed "free" practices here, which gives us an idea of what the track will shape up like. It's tough! The whoop section runs the entire length of the football field, with just a small double in the middle to break it up. The whoops look deep, but they're rounded on the top, which makes them easier...to a degree. It's still darned tough for the 250 East riders making their season debut, and we saw plenty of carnage out there in the unseeded sessions. The triple on the far side of the building is extra huge, too, and a lot of the 250 guys were doubling it in the first session. You know how the Anaheim 1 track is actually tamed down because it's the opener? That's not the case here.
The track also features new dirt, and it seems a little softer and sandier than the typical backed clay we've seen here for years. The traction is starting to go away, though, as the track dries out, but you can't leave it too wet for too long, because the whoops and some of the jumps are already starting to get cupped out. It will be gnarly by the end of the night.
For those watching the Vicki Golden situation, she's going to need to make up a a lot of ground. In her unseeded session, rookie Luke Renzland had the fastest time, and Golden was 16 seconds off.
Timed sessions are up next, we'll be back with more.
