Ken Roczen grabbed his first win of 2016 in Glendale and RCH co-owner Carey Hart was pumped on it. “It was a great night,” stated Hart in a team statement. “I was hoping to get a win and hopefully this means that Ken will be on a heater and he'll win a lot of races. He was solid all night and his starts were great. His start in the main event was pretty much flawless. The track got really loose and he adapted well. Hopefully, this will translate into some momentum as we go back to San Diego and start to head east.”
After last week’s race, we saw Eli Tomac, his father John, and a bunch of Monster Energy Kawasaki brass in a serious meeting outside the team truck. After a disappointing seventh-place finish, changes had to be made. The team worked on new settings for three days between the races and it paid off with Eli’s first appearance on the box this season, with a third place finish. “It feels great to finally get up on the podium”, said Tomac. “This is exactly how we wanted to rebound after last weeks’ performance. We worked really hard all week and it paid off. Overall, the day was smooth and the team and I are making steps in the right direction. It’s a long season, we just need to keep riding, working hard and we’ll end up where we want to.”
Honda HRC’s Cole Seely started the main off with a fifth place start, but on lap four he stalled his bike while in third. He dropped to ninth before getting going again and eventually finishing in eighth. “I’m not happy with how tonight went at all. I felt like I was riding well all day, and I was running third in the main event when something happened and the bike stalled,” Seely said in a team statement. “By the time I got going again I was about ninth or tenth and was only able to make up a few spots before the end of the race. Definitely not what I wanted but we’ll work on things this week, figure out what happened and try to improve next weekend.”
Hey look! Wil Hahn was tenth again. After two horrible years with injuries, and a few too many trips to the LCQ, The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider is starting to show positive signs. “Tonight was a huge improvement,” said Hahn. "From the start of qualifying to the Main Event, we made progress all the way through the day. I can’t thank Monster Energy Kawasaki enough with how patient they have been with me and for allowing me to grow. Another 10th tonight but I really felt I earned this one. Looking forward to next weekend and continuing to progress.”
Jake Weimer struggled in Glendale. He had a big crash in practice that we suspect took some starch out of the Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s RCH Suzuki rider. “It was a tough night,” Weimer explained in a team statement. “All day was just a little bit of a struggle. I really struggled in the whoops and trying to get some confidence on that part of the track, in particular. We had some big whoops at an earlier round and I kind of struggled there. I need to improve on that. I crashed in practice so I was sore and had to deal with that. I think the bike is good. It was just me. I’m comfortable. I like the bike but I still need to work on a couple things. I was just a bit off but I know what I need to work on and we’ll be ready for San Diego.”
Kudos to 450SX privateers Alex Ray (Spider Energy/PRL/Noleen) and Bryce Stewart (BarrettHeritageRacing.com) for making their first 450SX mains of the year. Cade Clason (K1 Speed, BWR Engines) made his second-straight main.
450SX Class
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 1 | 01:02.548 | 3 | 01:03.592 | Ken Roczen |
| 2 | 3 | 01:02.602 | 4 | 01:04.148 | Eli Tomac |
| 3 | 2 | 01:02.727 | 9 | 01:03.575 | Ryan Dungey |
| 4 | 4 | 01:03.219 | 4 | 01:04.382 | Jason Anderson |
| 5 | 9 | 01:03.367 | 5 | 01:05.334 | Marvin Musquin |
| 6 | 8 | 01:03.456 | 3 | 01:05.309 | Cole Seely |
| 7 | 7 | 01:03.573 | 5 | 01:04.815 | Justin Brayton |
| 8 | 5 | 01:03.595 | 2 | 01:04.698 | Davi Millsaps |
| 9 | 6 | 01:03.669 | 3 | 01:04.734 | Chad Reed |
| 10 | 10 | 01:04.325 | 5 | 01:05.985 | Will Hahn |
| 11 | 11 | 01:04.491 | 4 | 01:06.242 | Weston Peick |
| 12 | 12 | 01:04.687 | 4 | 01:06.605 | Mike Alessi |
| 13 | 15 | 01:04.691 | 4 | 01:08.120 | Tommy Hahn |
| 14 | 13 | 01:05.029 | 8 | 01:06.758 | Christophe Pourcel |
| 15 | 17 | 01:05.281 | 4 | 01:07.134 | Phil Nicoletti |
| 16 | 14 | 01:05.639 | 18 | 01:06.866 | Jake Weimer |
| 17 | 16 | 01:05.748 | 5 | 01:09.198 | Lawson Bopping |
| 18 | 18 | 01:06.715 | 5 | 01:09.390 | Vince Friese |
| 19 | 19 | 01:07.953 | 4 | 01:10.803 | Nick Schmidt |
| 20 | 21 | 01:08.409 | 2 | 01:13.478 | Alex Ray |
| 21 | 20 | 01:08.543 | 5 | 01:13.032 | Cade Clason |
| 22 | 22 | 01:10.628 | 2 | 01:18.472 | Bryce Stewart |
No huge surprises when you look at these 450 fast laps, as they reflect the race results pretty closely. But when we dig into the individual lap and segmented times through the race, there’s a lot to learn.
For example, after the race, both Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin told us they lost some steam in the second half of the race. Tomac said he got tight, Musquin said some mistakes in the whoops and a big battle with Chad Reed and Cole Seely knocked him off of his rhythm. The lap times prove it. From lap 2-9, Tomac stayed in the 1:02s for all but one lap, and the only time he missed, on lap seven, he posted a 1:03.1. Then he logged a 1:03.2 on lap 10, and never got into the 1:02s again for the rest of the race. By lap 13 Tomac was into the 1:04s, then hit 1:05 on lap 16 and 1:06 on lap 18.
In contrast, Roczen ran in the 1:03 range every single lap from 6-17. He only went into the 1:04s for laps 18 and 19, then cruised to a 1:06 on the final lap. Then there’s Ryan Dungey, who was 1:03 or better on every single lap of the main save for a 1:04.025 on lap 13, and a 1:06 on the final lap. These dudes are strong!
Musquin got a bad start, but charged up to sixth at one point. Then it started falling apart. On lap nine he ran a 1:03.4. On lap 10 he ran 1:05.0, then bounced around the 1:04s until hitting 1:07 on lap 14. He got tagged by Cole Seely on lap 15 and went down, causing him to hit 1:10.
Now lets have a look at the segment times. Here’s the track map. S1 is segment 1, S2 segment two, S3 is segment three. Segment two was the key this week, because it holds that gnarly whoop section.
We always hear about the advantages of a good start, and this data offers mind-blowing proof. With a clear track on lap one, Roczen ripped through segment two, posting the fastest time all night with a 25.488. Davi Millsaps also had a good start and a clear track and got through that segment on lap one in 26.332. Everyone else on that lap was 27 or higher, and some riders in the back of the pack took over 30 seconds to get through that segment on the first lap. That’s SIX SECONDS slower than Roczen in one lap on one section of the track. Ryan Dungey is certainly no slouch in whoops, but as a by product of starting mid pack, his time in segment two on lap one was 28.5. That’s over three seconds slower than Roczen. Roczen’s final margin of victory over Dungey was 4.5 seconds.
After getting clear of the mess on lap one, from laps 2-19, Dungey never ran slower than 26.7 in that segment. He backed it down to a 28 on the last lap. As a comparison, Tomac went over the 26.7 in that section five times during laps 2-19. That made a huge difference in the battle for second.
Let’s check out the times through segment two, with the whoops, for four riders: the podium boys, and Musquin, who admitted the whoops were not good for him. The differences in that section alone can be startling.
Segment 2
| Lap | Ken Roczen | Ryan Dungey | Elic Tomac | Marvin Musquin |
| 1 | 25.488 | 28.514 | 27.557 | 29.119 |
| 2 | 25.985 | 26.413 | 25.779 | 27.234 |
| 3 | 25.718 | 25.873 | 26.48 | 26.333 |
| 4 | 26.358 | 26.127 | 25.516 | 26.193 |
| 5 | 25.804 | 26.519 | 25.56 | 26.217 |
| 6 | 25.786 | 26.868 | 25.541 | 26.216 |
| 7 | 25.918 | 26.058 | 25.853 | 26.403 |
| 8 | 26.055 | 26.252 | 25.838 | 27.269 |
| 9 | 26.049 | 25.999 | 25.873 | 26.177 |
| 10 | 25.721 | 26.417 | 26.054 | 27.069 |
| 11 | 25.706 | 26.13 | 26.328 | 26.975 |
| 12 | 25.856 | 26.144 | 26.553 | 26.406 |
| 13 | 26.178 | 26.64 | 26.834 | 27.178 |
| 14 | 26.346 | 25.929 | 26.288 | 29.539 |
| 15 | 25.988 | 25.939 | 26.997 | 32.129 |
| 16 | 26.234 | 26.75 | 27.965 | 27.753 |
| 17 | 26.348 | 26.496 | 26.795 | 26.919 |
| 18 | 26.552 | 26.438 | 27.514 | 27.22 |
| 19 | 26.536 | 26.523 | 27.874 | 27.67 |
| 20 | 27.566 | 28.058 | 28.455 | 28.171 |
Now onto the 250 lap times.
250SX Class
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 2 | 01:03.650 | 3 | 01:04.768 | Cooper Webb |
| 2 | 3 | 01:04.196 | 3 | 01:05.312 | Joey Savatgy |
| 3 | 1 | 01:04.207 | 4 | 01:04.800 | Christian Craig |
| 4 | 5 | 01:04.520 | 5 | 01:05.806 | Colt Nichols |
| 5 | 4 | 01:04.660 | 2 | 01:05.917 | Mitchell Oldenburg |
| 6 | 9 | 01:04.687 | 2 | 01:07.689 | Jimmy Decotis |
| 7 | 6 | 01:05.048 | 5 | 01:06.462 | Chris Alldredge |
| 8 | 7 | 01:05.193 | 6 | 01:06.360 | Alex Martin |
| 9 | 8 | 01:05.365 | 6 | 01:06.169 | Kyle Cunningham |
| 10 | 10 | 01:06.083 | 5 | 01:07.669 | Kyle Peters |
| 11 | 13 | 01:06.235 | 5 | 01:08.292 | Cole Thompson |
| 12 | 14 | 01:06.269 | 3 | 01:07.876 | Fredrik Noren |
| 13 | 12 | 01:06.345 | 4 | 01:08.107 | Cole Martinez |
| 14 | 11 | 01:06.441 | 6 | 01:07.591 | Michael Leib |
| 15 | 15 | 01:06.547 | 5 | 01:07.795 | Hayden Mellross |
| 16 | 16 | 01:07.656 | 7 | 01:09.707 | Scott Champion |
| 17 | 17 | 01:07.949 | 5 | 01:09.625 | Trevor Reis |
| 18 | 19 | 01:08.188 | 2 | 01:11.630 | Chase Marquier |
| 19 | 18 | 01:08.556 | 3 | 01:10.640 | Noah Mcconahy |
| 20 | 21 | 01:08.696 | 3 | 01:12.130 | Austin Politelli |
| 21 | 20 | 01:08.747 | 4 | 01:13.527 | Chris Howell |
| 22 | 22 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Zach Osborne |
No big surprises here, as the lap chart is pretty darned close to the final result. Cooper Webb still has the edge on speed, but a crash cost him
250 Notes
Another Kawasaki rider had reason to be happy after his main. Chris Alldredge took sixth, which betters his previous season best by four spots. “My day was pretty good,” said Alldredge in a team statement. “I had the track dialed early in the first practice which I’ve been struggling with a bit. I didn’t have the start I wanted in my heat but I worked my way up into third which I was really happy with, especially because I ran some good lap times, much faster than I was in practice. I finally got the start I wanted in the Main Event, unfortunately a couple guys got by me but I kept it together for sixth. Sixth is a lot closer to where I should be, and I’m going to keep working hard, and keep getting better.”
On the not so good side comes Zach Osborne. The 250SX West title contender got caught in a massive crash in the second turn after the start of the main event, hurt his arm, and was unable to get back onto the race. At the track, the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team feared Wacko Zacho had broken his arm, but we texted Zach yesterday and he confirmed that he’s checked out with a (relatively) clean bill of health, and will be okay to race this weekend in San Diego. The only problem is Osborne went from four points out of the points lead to 24. So it still kind of hurts.
Nice to see some consistency out of Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GoPro KTM’s Mitch Oldenburg, who was starting to garner the nickname “fantasy killer” for going really, really fast, but then crashing to the back of the results chart. The goal of late has been to calm down, and it has paid off with back-to-back fourths in 250SX West. “I’m really happy that we’ve been able to put together a few good weekends,” said Oldenburg in a team statement. “We have a few races before the break to get up on the podium where I think we have the speed to be. I’ve always liked San Diego so we’ll see if we can make it happen.”
Looked like it might be a good night from GEICO Honda’s Jordon Smith, who was leading his heat race until the last lap. Then he had a huge endo in the whoops. “Day started out pretty good, I think it was my best qualifying of the year with sixth, and all the times were pretty close so I felt good about that,” said Smith in a team statement. “Got a good start in the heat race and made a few passes, found myself in the lead. That was the best I’d felt all year, and then on the last lap I had a really unfortunate crash in the whoops. They were really big and tough this week. That put me out for the rest of the night. It’s a bummer but we’ll be back.”
Smith’s teammate Jimmy Decotis also got to do some leading by nailing the holeshot in the main event, but was feeling ill and couldn’t hold up to the lead pace. “In the main I got the holeshot and rode the first couple of laps great, then it went downhill,” Decotis said. “I’ve been sick for the past three weeks and can’t seem to kick it. Ended up finishing ninth which I’m not happy about. Hoping I can get this sickness out of my system and get on the podium soon.”
