The Dallas supercross took a big leap forward when the old Texas Stadium went away (literally, it was blown up) and was replaced by the 8th Wonder of the World level AT&T Stadium. But the old dirt always remained, and it was hard as a rock. This year’s track featured new dirt, and it was much sandier and tackier, and the riders loved it. It got slick in a few spots, though, but nothing compared to the old stuff. The dirt was so soft in areas that it got really beat up in practice, but good track maintenance (and the fact that the dirt kept drying) made it good by the night show. Passing was tough, though, as there wasn’t much that anyone could do to make moves.
To be honest, there wasn’t much battling. Ryan Dungey grabbed the holeshot and that was it for the 450 main. Maybe Ken Roczen was a smidge quicker, or maybe Dungey was just managing things out front, but either way Kenny closed up only by about a second, and then lost all that and then some after a bobble. Dungey’s a darned machine when he has an early lead like that, so there wasn’t much drama in the race for the win. Similarly, there wasn’t much third-place Trey Canard would do with Roczen, so he took the points.
Blake Baggett is damned good—better than expected, perhaps? After flirting with the top five the last few weeks, he started third, went back to fifth, and stayed there. Then Davi Millsaps crashed, and he rode steady in fourth, unchallenged the rest of the way. “I could even see Canard’s jersey for a long time,” the Yoshimura Suzuki rider told us. Fourth? That’s pretty good.
Also pretty, pretty good? Andrew Short. His starts continue to rule, and tonight he seemed to have some pep back in his step after a few rough weeks of recovering after a big crash at Anaheim 2. This was short’s best finish of the year, with fifth.
Jason Anderson was sixth on his Rockstar Husqvarna. Not great, but a steady improvement, it seemed, over the last few weeks. Anderson hasn’t been bad lately, he just hasn’t been as incredibly good as he was at Anaheim 1, when he hit the podium.
Oh, Eli Tomac. He killed his start in his heat race, only to see the race red flagged when Sean Hackley crashed hard. Then his start on the restart wasn’t quite as good, and then it wasn’t really bad in the main. Then he had a crash in a corner, and ended up seventh. "I'm never one to make excuses but I was just down on power today, to be honest,” said Tomac in a team statement. “I think I might have overdone it a bit in practice and maybe having to travel east hurt. I'm not sure. I just didn't have anything in the tank.”
Last week, Tomac ran into Chad Reed early in San Diego and went down. Reed called it a “dumbass pass.” As usual with those types of pass attempts, there’s usually an incident that starts it that fewer people notice. “In San Diego, he roughed me up pretty good in the corner before the finish line, and plus, he ran me pretty wide up the finishline face itself,” Tomac told us. “That’s what gave me the fire in my gut to go back after him, and when I went back after him, my rear wheel actually got caught in his footpeg, which was a complete freak accident. I don’t know, I obviously wasn’t too far behind if my rear wheel can be in his footpeg, for the people saying I was too far back to make a pass.” In tonight’s main, Tomac block passed Reed and Reed went down. “It was just a good block pass, and when you’re the outside guy if you don’t let off, you go off the track. I don’t know what to say,” said Tomac. “I didn’t try to saw his front wheel off or break his ankle, but, I don’t know, obviously I’m more fired up at the guy when he verbally abuses you without saying it to you in person. That’s just not cool. So that’s the reason I was a little bit more fired up.” Was Tomac trying to take Reed out? “No, but I was going to give him a little bit of love back.”
So is there something going on here between Reed and Tomac? “Seems that way,” Reed told us. “He hooked me up pretty good. He’s got a lot more to lose than me, I’m out of this championship, and I’m sure he wants to be in it. But I don’t think he’s going to be in it.” Reed, on the Discount Tire/TwoTwo Kawasaki, came back through to finish 11th.
Behind Tomac came Reed’s teammate Josh Grant, in eighth, who is starting to turn things around after a terrible start to the season. Broc Tickle, on a Soaring Eagle Jimmy John’s RCH Suzuki, continued his season of solid top-ten riding with a ninth. Tenth went to Honda’s Cole Seely
Marvin Musquin had a clean sweep in the 250s, taking the fastest qualifying time, winning his heat, and leading every lap of the main. It was very impressive. Remember Musquin missed all of the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross season with a torn ACL, so this was his first SX race since May of 2013.
“It feels so great to get a win tonight,” said Musquin in a team statement. “Both the team and I have been working so hard in the off-season to get where we need to be to run up front. I have had a lot of injuries in the past few seasons, particularly in the Supercross season, and I am happy to finally be completely healthy at the start of the season. Normally, I have improved as the Supercross season went one but this year, I started strong. Both Ryan (Dungey) and I led every lap of our races and I’m proud to be a part of such a strong team. I am so happy tonight and very thankful to my team for their support and great bike.”
Justin Bogle was solid in second. "It's nice to get out of here with a lot of points and bunch of knowledge," said Bogle in a team statement. "I learned a lot tonight. I know where I was a little off, so I'll go back and do some work this week to get ready for the next one. I fully believe I'm capable of winning; there are just a few things I need to clean up and I'll be good.”
Joey Savatgy scored his first supercross podium ever with a third. Savatgy told us he’s only been back on the bike for about a week and a half after a crash leading into Anaheim 1, so this was impressive for the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider. He had to fight for it, trying to get around Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Anthony Rodriguez, who fought hard to hold onto a podium spot. Once Savatgy finally got around, the flood gates open and Matt Lemoine and Jeremy Martin got around Rodriguez as well. Martin and Lemoine had a good fight, but Martin made it happen to secure fourth. Lemoine, a privateer on the JAB Kawasaki, was still impressive. Rodriguez, unfortunately, crashed back to 13th.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Martin Davalos is hoping to be a title contender after battling for last year’s championship, but he crashed on the first lap of the main and went way back. He clawed back to ninth.
Arnaud Tonus is a newcomer to supercross with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, but he rode really well in practice, battling with Musquin for the fastest time in both sessions. In the main, he got caught with the downed Davalos, and had another bobble trying to come through. He ended up eighth in his U.S. supercross debut.
