By Racer X Staff
450 Main Event
The 450 main, while not quite as crazy as its 250 counterpart, had its share of intrigue. Ryan Dungey, using the same inside line as he used in the heat, grabbed the early lead. His KTM teammate Marvin Musquin made a quick move, trading paint with his training partner. Dungey was quick to adjust, though, and passed Musquin back on lap two. That was pretty much all she wrote up front, as Dungey stretched his lead to just over six seconds at checkers.
It got crazy after the race. See below.
But… there was some other happenings. Ken Roczen, Trey Canard and Eli Tomac—all fast throughout the day—were buried off the start. Cole Seely made a big mistake early in the race and went over the Tuff Blocks in the corner.
While Dungey was running away from Musquin, Justin Brayton was holding down fourth for much of the race over Chad Reed before he exited with a rear flat tire. Blake Baggett would also experience the same fate. Josh Grant and Jake Weimer also went down at some point, with Weimer unable to finish.
Musquin would fall late in the race and give up second to Jason Anderson, with Reed in fourth. Tomac would work back to fifth, with Roczen right behind him. Weston Peick took seventh. Meanwhile, Canard got together with Baggett (before Blake’s flat) and went off the track. He would still finished eighth somehow. Mike Alessi and Justin Bogle rounded out the top ten.
Dungey's win marks his 27th straight podium in supercross -- a record -- and his sixth win on the season.
[Update: Ryan Dungey was docked two positions for jumping on a red cross flag, giving Jason Anderson the win. Read more here.]
Updated results and standings are below.
250 Main event
Can the 250SX East Region get any crazier? No, no it can’t. Let’s start from the beginning. Martin Davalos, who was leading the points at the time, missed Toronto last weekend due to visa issues. Jeremy Martin finished second—after a crazy first turn pileup—and took over the points lead. Justin Hill, last week’s winner and second in points, went down hard in practice earlier today and missed the main. Okay, now that we’re all caught up, let’s get to the main event.
Arnaud Tonus grabbed the early lead, but chaos was going on behind. Jeremy Martin and Tyler Bowers tangled and went down. Martin Davalos was also caught up in the first turn. Malcolm Stewart was third behind Aaron Plessinger. Stewart got past Plessinger and then Tonus, who went down in the whoops and did not finish the main.
Deep breathe.
Martin was charging through the pack, just like last week, but washed the front end. Eventually he had to go to the mechanics area and finished thirteenth. Oh, and he went a lap down in the process. He is now down 7 points to Stewart.
Malcolm, who is sick (did we mention that?), ran away from Plessinger to take the win—and the points lead. Meanwhile, Davalos worked his way back to fifth—and got right back into the championship chase. Plessinger would finish second.
Oh, and we never even mentioned Shane McElrath, who looks to be back on track after off-season wrist surgery, who finished third for his first podium of the season.
Bowers and Davalos would round out the top five. Gannon Audette, RJ Hampshire, Paul Coates, Cedric Soubeyras and Jesse Wentland would round out the top ten.
Got all that?
450 lcq
This was a wild one. (Of course it was, it’s the LCQ.) Nick Wey got the holeshot, but was immediately passed by Cade Clason. Kyle White and Tony Archer occupied the final transfer spots.
Clason went for a wild ride through the whoops, which allowed Wey back by for the lead. Shortly after, Archer got into Clason and both went down. This allowed Jeff Alessi and Cody Gilmore to get into transfer spots.
Wey would take the win ahead of Alessi, Gilmore and White.
450 semi 2
Vince Friese (shocker) grabbed a great start to snag the holeshot in Semi 2 over JGR teammates Weston Peick and Phil Nicoletti. On the first lap, Nicoletti and Peick got past Friese in the whoops, with Peick also getting Nicoletti. Peick was never challenged after that, taking the easy win.
Early in the race, Chad Reed was struggling, getting passed by Cody Gilmore for fourth, but he regrouped and finished second, 3.9 seconds behind Peick.
Nicoletti would hang on for third over Jake Weimer, who passed Friese on the final lap. Friese would take the final transfer spot.
Gilmore, Deven Raper, and Tony Archer, among others are headed to the LCQ.
450 Semi 1
Marvin Musquin grabbed a HUGE holeshot from the WAY outside in the first 450 semi. The inside had been favorable for the start all night—this was impressive.
Musquin was never challenged en route to the win. Blake Baggett started, and finished, second. On lap 3 Josh Grant passed Mike Alessi in the whoops to nail down third. TPJ/FLY Racing Suzuki’s Nick Schmidt grabbed the final transfer spot.
Cade Clason and Nick Wey, among others are headed to the LCQ.
250 LCQ
Henry Miller led the 250 LCQ early on over Martin Castelo, Grandie Featherstone, Daniel Herrlein and Dylan Slusser. Miller would crash giving the lead to Castelo. Herrlein would eventually pass Castelo and take the win.
Castelo would hold on for second over Featherstone and Slusser.
450 Heat 2
Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey used the very inside to sneak around and grab the holeshot in the second heat. Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin were up front early, along with Cole Seely and Justin Bogle.
Musquin was wheel tapping prior to the finish line to make up time, but made a mistake in the section while running third and went down. He got back up and rode around for a bit before pulling off.
With Musquin down, Seely and Bogle were able to transfer directly to the main. Dungey cruised to the heat win by 6.1 seconds over Tomac.
450 Heat 1
We got some action in the first 450 heat race, although it wasn’t at the front. Ken Roczen grabbed the first 450 holeshot of the night, but was quickly passed by Trey Canard. While it was close at the end—.98 seconds—Roczen never really challenged after getting passed on the first lap.
The action was for the final transfer spot. Josh Grant held fourth for most the heat, with Chad Reed and Jason Anderson in tow. With two laps to go, Anderson blitzed the whoops and got Reed and Grant in the following corner. Grant would pass Anderson back at the end of the rhythm section after both riders had to roll through a red cross flag. Anderson attacked quickly, though, and got Grant back as they went to the grandstands. Grant appeared to have a problem after that, as he looked down at his bike and let Reed by.
Reed, Grant, Jake Weimer, Mike Alessi and Nick Schmidt are all headed to the semi race.
250 heat 2
Early on, it appeared we may get a battle, as Malcolm Stewart and Martin Davalos jumped out to an early lead. It never materialized though, as Malcolm separated himself from Davalos and won by 4.18 seconds.
Jeremy Martin was around seventh off the start, but used the whoops to make his way past Alex Frye, Jesse Wentland and Gannon Audette to capture third.
A pair of privateers—Audette and Wentland—would take fourth and fifth, respectively. Rookie Alex Frye and Benny Bloss took sixth and seventh. Anthony Rodirguez and Jacob Williamson would take the final transfer spots.
250 heat 1
Tyler Bowers ran away with the first 250SX heat race. The Monster Energy /Pro Circuit rider grabbed the early lead and led every lap en route to the win. The top five of Bowers, RJ Hampshire, Shane McElrath, Arnaud Tonus and Aaron Plessinger didn’t change much throughout the heat, except for Plessinger passing Tonus late for fourth.
Matt Bisceglia, Cedric Soubeyras, Paul Coates and Justin Starling would all transfer to the main event.
second timed practice
450
It was a Baker’s Factory duel in the second 450 timed session. Marvin Musquin grabbed the top spot early, only to have points leader Ryan Dungey steal it away with a 46.860. Musquin would take it back with a 46.402, which would hold up as the fastest.
The third member of the Baker’s squad, Jason Anderson, snuck in late to clip Dungey with a 46.756. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac finished fourth in the second session, but his time of 46.708 for the first was good enough for third overall.
Trey Canard, Chad Reed, Cole Seely, Josh Grant, Ken Roczen and Weston Peick will round out the top 10 in the second session.
250
GEICO Honda’s Malcolm Stewart didn’t need a last second run to the top in the second timed session in Detroit. Stewart took the lead away from Tyler Bowers midway through the session with a 47.513 that would hold up over Bowers’ teammate Arnaud Tonus (47.931). Martin Davalos was third with a 48.094.
Toronto winner Justin Hill had a big crash at the end of a fast rhythm section. He would get back up but did not continue. He qualified sixth fastest with a 48.953. We’ll update his status for tonight once we hear more.
Points leader Jeremy Martin finished fifth (48.589), over Hill, Jesse Wentland, Aaron Plessinger, Benny Bloss and RJ Hampshire.
A week after his first podium finish of the season, Matt Bisceglia would finish eighteenth.
[Update: Hill is out for the main event.]
First Timed practice
450
We still don’t know which Eli Tomac we’ll see tonight, but in the first practice session, the Monster Energy Kawasaki pilot set the pace with a 46.708. “The whoops are going to be a big factor, as usual,” said Tomac after the session. Trey Canard would file in behind Tomac with a 46.786.
In his first ride with Monster Energy Kawasaki, Josh Grant briefly sat atop the leaderboard before Tomac stole the top time. Still, his 46.982 was good enough for third fastest. Justin Bogle, Jason Anderson, Ryan Dungey, Marvin Musquin, Ken Roczen, Justin Brayton and Jake Weimer would round out the top ten.
Honda HRC’s Cole Seely had a big crash in the first session after coming up short in a rhythm and going over the bars. Seely appeared to be okay, but would miss the remainder of first practice due to bike issues—a result of the crash.
[Update: The AMA result sheet is showing Anderson with the fastest time. According to Race Day Live, Anderson's top time was taken away.]
250
Malcolm Stewart made a brief stop in the mechanics area before going out and setting the fastest time late in the first 250 A qualifying session with a 47.895. Stewart’s time would push Monster Energy/Pro Circuit’s Arnaud Tonus (48.145), who was at the top of the board for much of the session, to second.
Martin Davalos is back, albeit minus the red plates, and was second for a majority of the session before being pushed to third. Points leader Jeremy Martin was fourth, with Tyler Bowers fifth. Last week’s winner Justin Hill would end the first session in sixth.
Morning Report
We're back in Detroit for the third consecutive Monster Energy Supercross at Ford Field, and to no surprise, it's cold in the D. The pits are packed tight and the privateers are pitted inside along with the addition of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team. They're the only factory team that opted to pit inside this year. Martin Davalos is back, albeit without the red plate. Jeremy Martin is now sporting the red background and points lead on his Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha.
The dirt was pretty tacky on track walk earlier, but it will likely dry out completely after a couple practices. As an homage to the old Pontiac supercross, the track goes back into the stands this year and has a high speed exit that send riders down an 80-yard stretch. There's an atypical whoop section that runs the full length of the field and is split by 10-foot flat section. There's an opportunity to quad over a step-on step-off, but we'll have to wait a few practices to see if it has an ample payout. Darryn Durham and Tyler Bereman were [likely] joking about doubling from a roller over the corner and down-siding the wall jump. Remember those poles they used to put in the corners to combat creative lines?
