Race Day Feed: St. Louis

450 Main

This one started with the same script we've seen over and over this year: Andrew Short holeshots, Ryan Dungey starts second, Dungey immediately takes the lead. Except Short then crashed HUGE before they hit turn two. The veteran got up unhurt but his bike was mangled and his race was over. Dungey took off from there and was gone for yet another win.

A good battle for the podium spots remained. Weston Peick was second early, Jason Anderson battled past him, and Eli Tomac and Cole Seely came to the front as well. All four did some battle, but Tomac was eventually able to get through them thanks to a big quad jump. He took second, with Anderson scoring third for his first podium since the opener. Seely was fourth, Peick fifth.

450 results--Shorty was 22nd, bike too bashed to continue but he's okay.

Ryan Dungey is coming atcha! Or, away for ya' if you're one of his competitors in 450SX. Photo: Cudby

Josh Grant (33) had a solid ride and a sixth after getting a good start. Cole Seely didn't start quite as well but worked his way forward to finish fourth. Both of these guys are much, much better than they were at the start of the year, when they were routinely out of the top ten. Photo: Cudby

Tomac started okay, but not great, then made a bobble trying to pass Anderson for third early. Took him a few laps to regroup, and then there was no chance of catching Dungey. He did rally back to re-pass Anderson and get Weston Peick, too, to finish second. Photo: Cudby

Anderson took a hard hit last week, shrugged it off, and finished third this time. Photo: Cudby

250 Main

Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha's Jeremy Martin was anxious to prove he was all the way back from his dissapointing night in Indy two weeks ago, where he didn't make the main. He holeshot the St. Louis main event, but Marvin Musquin, the dominant series' points leader, used what has become his patented move: good start, cut inside in the first bowl turn and take the lead.

But J Mart wasn't having it! Half a lap later he got inside of Musquin and took the lead back. They battled side-by-side and entered the split lane section on oppposite ends. All day, the left side had been the better line, and Musquin used it to edge just ahead and lead the first lap. Then he put the hammer down and started to pull away. The Red Bull KTM rider was unchallenged from there, taking his fifth win in five races this year. Martin was second.

Marvin is getting a lot of practice in on his last-lap tricks. Photo: Cudby

Bogle got his first bad start of the year, and finished off the podium (fourth) for the first time, too. Photo: Cudby

We like this scrub pic of J-Mart. Photo: Cudby

Dakota Alix started third early on his Orange Brigade KTM, but was quickly overhauled by Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Joey Savatgy. Savatgy rode solid to net third. Justin Bogle, Musquin's only remaining competitor in the points hunt, started off about ninth and sliced his way to fourth. It was an okay ride, but Musquin now holds a 20-point lead with just one round left in 250SX East. J-Mart's teammate Anthony Rodriguez rounded out the top five for the second week in a row.

Riverside Harley-Davidson's Jimmy Decotis was back up to speed after being sick for a few weeks, he worked his way to a solid sixth. CycleTrader.com/Rock River Yamaha's Luke Renzland scored a career-best seventh, getting around veteran Kyle Cunningham, who rides on the AG Motorsports/Gurnaid Honda. Jace Owen, of Owen Motorsports, took his third-straight top ten with ninth, and Kyle Peters got around Alix to steal the final spot in the top ten.

450 Heats

KTM KTM KTM KTM. Andrew Short holeshot his heat on a BTOSports.com KTM and won it, then Ryan Dungey did the same on his Red Bull KTM. Two holeshots and two heats wins for the orange boys.

Short had to take on some pressure from Cole Seely to win his heat, Seely got around Short's teammate Justin Brayton to grab second but couldn't get to Short. Davi Millsaps and Brayton rounded out the top four.

Dungey outpaced Weston Peick in his heat, Peick held on over Chad Reed and Jason Anderson for the transfer spots.

250 Heats

The second 250 heat will not surprise you--Marvin Musquin continued his perfect night by grabbing the start and checking out. Justin Bogle was second, again no surprise.

There's another contender for the win tonight though in Joey Savatgy, who looked very quick in the final qualifying session to place second, and then rolled to the win in the first heat. Pro Circuit really needs a win this year, and he has a shot at doing it tonight.

Final Timed Practice

In the 450s, Tomac and Seely went out and started crushing it early again, immediately going to 1-2, respectively, on the lap charts. You could tell by now the riders had most of the track dialed--the quad Tomac tried in the first session wasn't attempted, it wasn't faster, plus, you can't get jump it and get to the inside of the split lane. And everyone now wants to use the inside/left side of the split. Once again, you throw them a split decision and the team video analysis will tell them the decision is actually quite easy.

Tomac was fastest in the first session and was again the man to beat in the final timed session. Photo: Cudby

But just when all seemed set, Ryan Dungey went out and posted a huge time, besting Tomac's mark by a half second. Tomac ran another heater but came up just short of Dungey's mark. Remember, always, with Dunge: he's strong, he's consistent, he's the Diesel, but he's also fast.

Then Dungey took Tomac's time and raised the bar--he's fastest overall in 450 qualifying. Photo: Cudby

Also, signs of life from Jason Anderson, who had a rough go of it the last two weekends. He was third, getting ahead of Seely near the end of the session. Seely did try something key, though, in jumping through the whoops. They're going to get rough and rutted tonight and jumping might become the fastest technique. We can tell you though that it did not look easy when Seely tried it--they're going exceptionally fast through them so lining up the perfect landing spot isn't going to be easy.

Weston Peick had a rough set of practices, looping out in the first timed session and crashing out of the final one. He somehow still ended up fifth fastest. He should be fine for the night show and the track better hope he's not mad at it.

Track getting faster with each session. Photo: Cudby

In 250s, Marvin Musquin was the class of the field again. Late in the session rookie RJ Hampshire went down hard, leading to a red flag. He took a ride in the Asterisk Mobile Medic mule, we'll check on his status for the night. When the session resumed, Joey Savatgy busted out a quick one to get to second fastest behind Musquin.

Jordon Smith had a good crash in the first session, but came back with a solid 6th quickest here. Meanwhile his teammate RJ Hampshire took a digger and might have to take a trip to the hosital for a check up. Of course he wants to get right back and race immediately, though. Photo: Cudby

Here's Marvin Musquin showing you the international flavor of the series in more ways than one. Photo: Cudby

First Timed Practice

Eli Tomac is on fire right now. He carried his speed from Detroit here to the STL, and was experimenting with a variety of jump combos. Watch fellow Honda man Cole Seely, too, who is fluid and fast. Justin Brayton was quick but isn't sure he has 20 laps in him yet (see an update on him below).

In the 250s, Justin Bogle kept trying to raise the bar but Marvin Musquin kept matching and exceeding him. It took awhile for Jeremy Martin to finally log a quick lap, but once he did, he was in the hunt. J-Mart needs a rebound here.

Dungey logged a late fast one to jump into second behind Tomac. Anderson also experimented with some jumps and dialed one in late. Photo: Cudby

Musquin on top of the 250s. Photo: Cudby

Morning Report

Monster Energy Supercross has reached perhaps its most underrated event of the year, at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. Now, St. Louis in March might not have have the glitz, glamour, prestige (or warmth) of Anaheim or Daytona, but this race has a lot going for it.

First the dirt here is always great, probably the best we'll see all year. It's soft and tacky but somehow doesn't rut up the way most of the softer tracks do. It will get rutted, but not "Atlanta in the 90's" rutted, so it's raceable. Second, the crowd here is always big and raucous. The pits here and indoors and packed, too. Folks around here don't get too many races so they show up early and stay late.

Maybe it's some combination of those things that have made this one of the better races, historically, as far as action goes. We've seen some crazy ones here, starting with Jeff Emig's snapping of Jeremy McGrath's perfect season bid at the first STLSX in 1996, through a crazy one just two years ago with Ryan Villopoto prevailing over, ahem, a series of red and yellow flags. Oh, and one night Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart both DNFed, and Chad Reed won the race to make up basically 1,000 points in one night.

The championship could use such drama right now, as Ryan Dungey is rolling toward a title on his Red Bull KTM. GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac might have figured things out now, but he's 77 points behind Dungey in the standing. It would take St. Louis blues of epic proportions for Tomac to get back in this--although he's going very, very fast.

Easy whoops, yes. But a few were quadding the single-table-single into the corner right above them. Photo: Weege

Similarly, Dungey's teammate Marvin Musquin has a 13-point lead on GEICO Honda's Justin Bogle with two 250SX East races to go. Bogle won last week and needs to do it again to keep some level of pressure on.

In other news, Rockstar Energy Racing's Jason Anderson is back despite a huge crash last week. He told us this morning he's just sore but otherwise okay. Justin Brayton is in his second race back for BTOSports.com KTM. He says his shoulder gave out after about eight laps last week in Detroit. He said he got up to 15 laps this week at home before he had troubles, so that's a big improvement. Also watch for Cole Seely and Davi Millsaps, who have been making strides as of late.

Most years the St. Louis track features huge whoops, but this year they're the least-difficult section on the track. There are some big rhythms, though, and even a split lane that maybe, maybe, just might offer similar speed on both sides, and hence something more than "half of the track will just go unused." You can hook the inside in a corner and go 2-2-3 or go outside and 2-3-2. There's also a big quad here similar to watch Tomac used last weekend in Detroit. He did it a few times in practice here. We also like a super steep, slow double with a bump in front of it. It slows the laptimes down but is much more fun than a wall jump.

Stay tuned here for all the action from the STL--will it be another one for this race's storied history? Like we said, stay tuned.