The opener has a way of creating more questions than answers, so when the second round of Monster Energy Supercross at Petco Park in San Diego got going the hope was some mysteries might start getting solved. Would Jason Anderson put on another clinic? Would James Stewart race after that vicious crash he took last week in Anaheim? What about Chad Reed? Would he hang around the top five yet again or would San Diego help bring back the Australian's podium speed? To find out, check out the Racer X Race Day Feed below. It's written and posted in chronological order, so to start at the beginning of the day, scroll to the bottom and work your way up. Otherwise start directly below to jump straight to the mains.
450 Main
Chad Reed's San Diego magic almost returned tonight, but the immovable object of Ryan Dungey proved just too hard to move, as the duo checked out on the field and traded fast laps all the way to the end. Dungey sliced through traffic with Reed behind him until they were 1-2, and from there the gap stayed between 1-2 seconds the whole way. Dungey made a few mistakes and Reed closed, but then the defending champion would pull it back out as needed. Dungey snagged the win, and with it he will retake the points lead.
"It was a good race, I couldn't afford a big mistake, Chad was keeping me honest," said Dungey. "Good to have the red plate back."
"Hat's off to Dunge," said Reed. "The big sweeper he was eating me up. I'm old but I still love it and I love standing here."
Behind them came a big battle for third, and last week's winner Jason Anderson got it, busting through Cole Seely to do it. Seely was fourth ahead of Eli Tomac. Ken Roczen was third early behind Reed but went off the track and down, he recovered for sixth ahead of Trey Canard, while Jake Weimer turned in a fantastic ride from the back to eighth. Marvin Musquin and holeshot winner Justin Brayton rounded out the top ten. -We later learned Anderson was docked two spots for jumping through a section under a red cross flag.
250 Main
Joey Savatgy was probably credited with the holshot in this one, but it was Jordon Smith who rocketed out with the lead. But right before the finish line he flubbed a jump, allowing riders to close up on him. Jimmy Decotis was on him but he went down in a turn, handing second to Zach Osborne. At this point Cooper Webb was running roughly eighth, but he was making moves in a hurry and forcing his way into spots. Up front Jordon Smith had stretched the lead back out a little bit over Osborne and Joey Savatgy, but Webb was closing fast. Then Osborne caught and found a way around Smith, but it didn’t take long for Webb to get into second and the chase was on.
For several laps Webb had his hands full trying to catch Osborne—it wasn’t the quick seek and destroy we’re starting to expect from Webb—but when he did catch him he made relatively quick work of him. Osborne tried to put in a block right before the whoops, but the move resulted in an extremely slow run through the whoops for Osborne and Webb got the spot right back. Osborne would crash a few laps later all by himself and drop a bunch of spots, ending the night in sixth Webb, Savatgy, Smith, Christian Craig, and Colt Nichols rounded out the top five.
Tough night for Hayden Mellross, who was pretty quick today, but his performance in the main was limited by crashes. Mitch Oldenburg also looked great during qualifying but his night was ruined by a nasty crash. Mitchell Harrison crashed and DNF'd.
450 LCQ
Dakota Tedder with the holeshot, followed by Broc Tickle, Kyle White, Nick Schmidt, Cade Clason, Tommy Hahn, and Wil Hahn. Tickle wasted no time in taking over the lead, and the Hahns quickly started moving up as well. Tommy passed up to second, while Wil was forced to make a last-lap pass on Tedder for fourth. After making the pass Will went wide before a triple, preventing Tedder from mounting a counterattack. Tickle, T. Hahn, Schmidt, and W. Hahn all transferred to the main.
450 Semi 2
Marvin Musquin holeshot this semi but Trey Canard was right on him and it didn’t take long before he started making moves. After about a lap and a half Canard had the spot and disappeared for the win. The next battle was between Jake Weimer and Vince Friese for third. Weimer was faster but took his time, finally making a clean block pass on the final lap. Wil Hahn was all over Phil Nicoletti but bobbled slightly in the final rhythm lane, which gave Nicoletti all the room he needed to get into the main. Tickle got a bad start in this one and just didn’t have time to recover and went on to join Hahn in the LCQ. Canard, Musquin, Weimer, Friese, and Nicoletti all transferred.
450 Semi 1
Justin Bogle up front right away followed by Christophe Pourcel, Justin Barcia and Davi Millsaps. Barcia and Pourcel diced for a few turns but it didn’t take long before Barcia gapped him and Millsaps quickly followed. Millsaps went to work on Barcia on the final lap but slid out in a turn and went down. He remounted quickly though, only losing two spots, and got one of them back when he passed Mike Alessi in the very last section. Bogle, Barcia, Pourcel, Millsaps, and Alessi transferred.
250 LCQ
Bummer deal for Fredrik Noren in this one when he got bumped on the start, crashed, and went into another lane and fell again when he tried to get going again. Bracken Hall led for a while but Chris Howell eventually got by him. Stay tuned for official results on this one, Hall might be disqualified—he jumped on a red cross flag but it came out at the last second and they might rule he didn’t have time to back off the throttle. As it stands right now Howell, Hall, Martin, and Zach Commans all got through to the main.
450 Heat 2
Chad Reed came extremely close to taking the early lead in this one but Ryan Dungey snuck in and took the lead. Reed then had to hang up in a rhythm section which gave Dungey a few bike lengths. That was all he needed and the race for the win was over almost as soon as it started. Behind Reed Justin Barcia and Ken Roczen were going at it, with Jason Anderson lurking in fifth. Roczen eventually got to the inside of Barcia and Barcia bobbled in a rhythm trying to get him back. That set up a fantastic battle between Barcia and Jason Anderson, with Anderson struggling to pass the wide bike of Barcia. Anderson finally put a wheel on him but Barcia didn’t back off and he ended up in the Tuff Blocks and went off the track. Jake Weimer looked great in this one and when Anderson got by Barcia he hung right on Anderson but never got close enough to make a move. Dungey, Reed, Roczen, and Roczen made it through.
450 Heat 1
Justin Brayton took the early lead in this one but Dean Wilson stole it after about a lap. Pourcel held down third, but it wasn’t long before he got shuffled back by Cole Seely, Eli Tomac, and Trey Canard. The top five were extremely close and a great battle was shaping up for the final transfer spot, but six laps go by quick and Canard just didn’t have time to try to make a pass on Tomac. One more lap and things would have gotten crazy. Wilson was visibly happy afterward. He and Brayton, Seely, and Tomac all transferred.
250 Heat 2
CycleTrader.com Rock River Yamaha rider Colt Nichols ripped out a holeshot ahead of Zach Osborne. Mitch Oldenburg wasn’t far behind and the three quickly started gapping the field. Nichols held his own over Osborne for a while, but Osborne had a faster line in the whoops, got inside Nichols in a corner and shut the door. Nichols and Oldenburg stayed pretty close, but the trio finished over ten seconds ahead of Cooper Webb, who had a terrible start. He also got together with another rider in a corner and almost went down. Final transferring order was Osborne, Nichols, Oldenburg, Webb, Trevor Reis, Cole Thompson, Chris Alldredge, Scott Champion, and Cole Martinez.
250 Heat 1
Christian Craig got the first race of the night going with a holeshot and slowly started gapping Joey Savatgy, but he went down all by himself exiting a bowl turn. Savatgy inherited the lead and ran away with it, while Craig remounted and charged back up to sixth. Alex Martin crashed on the first lap and will head to the LCQ. Elsewhere Kyle Cunningham was pressuring Hayden Mellross for fourth, but Mellross rode a wide bike and held him off. When it was over, Savatgy, Jordon Smith, Jimmy Decotis, Mellross, Cunningham, Craig, Mitchell Harrison, Kyle Peters, and Michael Leib all transferred to the main.
Qualifying - Final Sessions
Cooper Webb kicked the final set of qualifiers off with the fastest time, but there were a lot of guys going fast in this one and it wasn’t long before Mitch Oldenburg, Zach Osborne, Christian Craig, and Jimmy Decotis all beat Webb’s time. Webb retaliated, but it took several attempts before he was finally able to best Oldenburg. When he did, Christian Craig followed, setting nearly an identical time, less than seven hundredths behind. We’re getting reports from riders that this track has great flow, so if Webb gets a bad start he might have a hard time coming from behind like he did last week. Plus, Craig, who topped Webb in session one, is on it.
In 450 action the biggest news was the lack of James Stewart, who was using afternoon practice to decide whether or not he’d be able to race the night program. We now have our answer, as Stewart has pulled out for the day. Ryan Dungey on the other hand, has definitely not pulled out and set an absolutely blistering lap about halfway through the session nobody could beat. There was a lot of back and forth for second between guys like Christophe Pourcel, Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Davi Millsaps, and Jason Anderson, but nobody was able to top Dungey. Still, Tomac, Roczen, Pourcel, and Anderson weren’t far behind, and the top ten are less than a second apart. Buckle up folks, tonight’s going to get wild!
Qualifying - First Sessions
Cooper Webb was fastest at first, no surprise there, then Christian Craig took over the fastest time with a 49.883. Welcome back to supercross, Craig! "Last week I rode tight, this is where I belong, up front." That’s how it stayed for the rest of the session, with a lot of the guys looking like they were feeling out the track more than trying to lay down fast times. Webb actually had his fastest lap deleted for jumping when a red cross flag was out, but Craig's fastest lap was still faster.
A bit more randomness in the 450SX session. Jason Anderson and Eli Tomac were fastest at first, with Tomac even beating his own times, but then with the session about to end, Christophe Pourcel whipped out a fast lap out of nowhere! This is just the kind of thing Pourcel is known for so it shouldn’t be surprising, but it’s still pretty interesting. We saw Pourcel in the pits and asked how he's been able to be so quick in his first supercross races since 2010. "I got lucky," he said. Never a dull moment with CP. So, will he be fastest again in the final qualifier? Will he be slowest? Nobody knows! Stay tuned for the unpredictable answer.
As far as the track itself goes, the long rhythm lane has produced some variation, with three lines emerging—double-double-triple-triple-single, triple-triple-double-double-single, and triple-triple-triple double. So far it’s only the 450s that have been able to enter with three straight triples. Elsewhere, the whoops must be easier on the left side because most guys are opting to go through them on that side.
Morning Report
One of the biggest questions from last week has already been answered, and if you haven’t heard yet the answer is yes, James Stewart is racing today. Last week's 250 runner up Jessy Nelson is out, though, after a practice crash this week.
Another question is if the weather would hold out, and while rain is not expected to fall today or tonight, plenty of it came down last night. Nowhere near what Anaheim experienced in the days leading up to the opener, but it was more than just a little sprinkle last night. That said, the track still looks great, and while it is soft and wet in places, it should come around nicely as the afternoon practice sessions progress.
Speaking of the track, initial rider reactions are that it’s not very technical and has better flow than last week. Even so, some riders felt a few of the jump faces were a little peakier than normal, and the whoops are definitely bigger and tougher than last week. Expect the whoop section to act as a bigger separator for some of the guys tonight.
Bikes are rolling out now for the first practice so check back soon for a report on the action.
We talked to a few riders this morning. James Stewart has passed the concussion test but tells us he's "going to take his own test" by riding practice this morning and seeing how he feels. If he doesn't feel right, he won't race. We did see him in the first untimed session today and he looked okay, but we'll see if he stays with the program all day and night.
Justin Barcia admitted to us that last week's arm pump was based mostly on a thumb injury suffered the Monday before Anaheim 1. "The thumb is bad," he told us point blank. Barcia said he felt like his speed was good last week but he's having a tough time holding on, hence the arm pump.
We also talked to Trey Canard, who looked like he was a contender to win last week as he worked his way up to second early in the main. He ended up crashing back to seventh. Trey told us he was happy with the riding but also admitted the first round is always weird, and it almost takes a few rounds before everyone is riding like normal.
