250SX Main Event

Jeremy Martin narrowly edged Gannon Audette for the holeshot in this one and started taking off. Malcolm Stewart immediately got into second, but then stalled it in the sand, causing Matt Bisceglia and Gannon Audette to go down. Then Stewart crashed while trying to get going! Aaron Plessinger, who’d started in about tenth, took full advantage and sliced his way up to third and went to work on Shane McElrath while Stewart was back in about eighth. A few laps later Stewart went down again as he was blasting out of the sand section, smashing into some Tuff Blocks. He remounted in about fourteenth and slashed his way up to fifth or sixth before crashing again all by himself with just a lap and a half left. Meanwhile, Plessinger had gotten around McElrath and was going after Martin, who had about a six-second gap with eight to go. But as the laps wore on, the gap actually grew, and Martin would win his second race of the season. A terrible race for Stewart, but not total disaster. He kept his head down and minimized the damage you’d expect three crashes to inflict, finishing eighth, and kept the championship lead by a single point, thanks to gaining a position when Tyler Bowers went down on the last lap after colliding with a downed Jimmy Albertson. Plessinger and McElrath rounded out the podium, with RJ Hampshire putting in an excellent ride for fourth, followed by Gannon Audette.

450SX LCQ

The theme of this race was loneliness. Justin Barcia rode all by himself from start to finish for the win. Then came Blake Baggett all by himself, then Nick Wey, also alone. Heck, even Nick Schmidt rode around all by himself after getting by Cade Clason for the fourth, and final, transfer spot.

450SX Semi Two

Another MotoConcepts holeshot, this one going to Vince Friese. Then three turns in Justin Barcia, Blake Baggett, and AJ Catanzaro all got tangled up and went down. Up front Tickle and Reed were all over Friese, and when Tickle made the pass Reed tried to follow, only to get blocked by Friese’s extremely wide bike. Reed made a couple attempts, reloaded, and went after it again. Finally, when he had a clear wheel on Friese, Friese backed off and relinquished the spot. Then came Jeff Alessi and Alex Ray, who were all by themselves until the last few turns when Baggett came screaming up on Ray. It looked like there was going to be a smash pass, but Baggett just wasn’t quite close enough. Tickle, Reed, Friese, Alessi, and Ray all earned a ticket to the main.

450SX Semi One

Very little to talk about in this particular semi. Ryan Dungey holeshot and won, as you would expect, with almost no battling going on behind him. Justin Bogle, Jake Weimer, and Weston Peick all rode by themselves behind him, for the most part, with Christophe Pourcel taking the final transfer spot from Nick Wey late in the race. James Stewart was scheduled to race this semi but didn’t make it to the line, likely a product of his heat race crash.

250SX LCQ

For Alex Frye, this was an open and shut case. Holeshot, check out, win. Boom. Behind him Henry Miller rode to a lonely second, while Gradie Featherstone lost third to Daniel Herrlein. The real excitement came courtesy of Luke Renzland, who got a terrible start and was forced to come through the pack. He struggled to get by Cody Church, but when he did on the last lap he absolutely eviscerated Featherstone’s gap in the last few corners, but he just didn’t have enough time and Featherstone avoided getting absolutely punted off the track by mere inches. Frye, Miller, Herrlein, and Featherstone all made the main.

450SX Heat Two

Sometimes the heat races provide some of the best racing of the entire night. This was not one of those races. Justin Brayton took the early lead before getting passed by Ken Roczen who took off for the win. Behind Brayton Jason Anderson and Eli Tomac were slowly creeping up but weren’t able to get close enough before time ran out. Roczen, Brayton, Anderson, and Tomac transferred to the main.The most exciting part of this heat was when Tomac absolutely obliterated a bowl turn, whacked a big Tuff Block with his rear tire and launched it totally airborne. Jake Weimer got stuck in the gate and stalled, while Ryan Dungey went down in turn two and didn’t have time to race back into a transfer spot.

450SX Heat One

Mike Alessi with his millionth holeshot in this one, but James Stewart and Josh Grant were right on him and it seemed it was only a matter of time before Alessi would start dropping spots. But it didn’t happen. James Stewart kept making small bobbles while Alessi ever so slightly pulled out a gap. The man on the move was Trey Canard, who didn’t get a great start but came through several guys and ended up just forcing Stewart out of his way. Grant passed Stewart half a lap later, and then Weston Peick smashed into the back of Stewart as Peick was landing out of a rhythm section. Stewart looked like he was in pain but he got up and finished the heat. Alessi won fairly convincingly, followed by Canard, Grant, and Marvin Musquin.

250SX Heat Two

The holeshot went to Martin Davalos, but Malcolm Stewart and Tyler Bowers were very close, so much so they were three-wide as they entered the first jump set. The trio had a significant gap after about half a lap, but RJ Hampshire would slowly reel the group in near the end of the race. But before that happened Stewart took over the lead, with Bowers quickly following. Credit to Davalos though, who hung in there and didn’t let those two get away. In fact, all three stayed quite close until Bowers made some mistakes, doubled a triple then flubbed the next rhythm lane, allowing Davalos and Hampshire by. Stewart won, followed by Davalos, Hampshire, Bowers, Cedric Soubeyras (who is racing with an engine borrowed from Pro Circuit after blowing his during practice), Benny Bloss, Darryn Durham, Justin Starling, and Matt Bisceglia. Everyone else will head to the LCQ.

250SX Heat One

Josh Cartwright pulled a big holeshot to get the evening going, coming into turn one so hot he probably would have overshot the turn if he didn’t have the landing of the finish line jump to berm off. Shane McElrath then took the lead and led the entire race, but the real story from this one revolves around Aaron Plessinger, who was definitely the fastest rider. Plessinger got a mediocre start and charged, totally eating up McElrath’s big gap, but then fell when attempting a tight, inside pass on McElrath. Then he remounted and started reeling McElrath in again but ran out of time. Elsewhere Jeremy Martin rode back up to seventh after crashing in the first turn. McElrath, Plessinger, Dakota Alix, Gannon Audette, Jimmy Albertson, Paul Coates (who was nearly  landed on when he doubled a triple), Martin, and Cartwright all transferred to the main.

450SX – Second Qualifier

It’s official, the preferred method of navigating the whoops is jumping through them, not blitzing and skimming. Just about everyone who set fast times, including James Stewart who is a certified whoop slayer, did it by jumping through them. It started early too, when Eli Tomac set a fast time right away. Stewart and Trey Canard both took turns at the top after that, but Tomac would not be denied, topping Canard’s 53.967 with a 53.347. Afterward he said the track was a lot of fun and the dirt was fantastic. We’ll see if tonight’s the night Tomac avoids the ups and downs that’ve been plaguing him most of the season.

Ryan Dungey didn’t make much noise in this one, as far as lap times are concerned, but he did have a nice move in a rhythm lane by going three-two-three and still managing to hit the next triple from the inside. Most guys had to go three-two-two-one to do that.

250SX – Second Qualifier

More of the same in this one between Malcolm Stewart and Aaron Plessinger, only they were finding each other on the track too, not just at the top of the leaderboard. Whether they were scoping each other’s lines or just coincidence, they seemed to be within twenty feet of each other for much of the qualifier. Tyler Bowers temporarily broke up the party by laying down a 55.413, but Plessinger bumped him almost right away. Then, of course, Stewart threw down again and set the fastest 250SX time of the day, a 54.260.

250SX – First Qualifier

If this qualifier is any indication of what’s to come later today we’re in for a battle between points leader Malcolm Stewart and last week’s winner, Aaron Plessinger, if they both get good starts. The two weren’t going at it bar to bar, but both looked great and were exchanging blows on the leaderboard. First it was Plessinger up top, then Stewart, then Plessinger again. It looked like Stewart was poised to light up the track yet again, but a small crash in the sand section ruined his time. Just when it seemed Plessinger was going to close out the session on top, Tyler Bowers, who crashed earlier and went off the track, came out of nowhere to log the fastest lap on the final lap. With a good start, Bowers could be the sixth winner in the East. If he does, Kawasaki would be the fifth brand to win a 250SX East race this year.

450SX – First Qualifier

The first timed 450SX practice seemed almost like a main event initially when Jason Anderson, Ryan Dungey, and Eli Tomac all charged hard up front right away. The three were pushing hard and were pretty close to each other and for a moment it even looked like Tomac might put a move on Dungey, which isn’t something guys do frequently in qualifying. The party broke up after about a lap and a half when Tomac slowed slightly after setting the fastest lap. Moments later James Stewart took the top spot away with a 55.475, only to see Trey Canard shove him off the top of the mountain with a 55.317. Then Tomac, who was looking good, reclaimed his territory by dipping into the 54-second range. It didn’t last long though, as Canard responded by taking it into the 53-second range.

In other practice news the sand section is very deep, and if anyone goes down there in today’s races they’re going to lose a ton of time. Elsewhere ruts are starting to develop, although it’s hard to tell how deep they are from the press box, which is literally at the edge of the ceiling in Edward Jones Dome. What we can tell you is several turns have four to five defined ruts to choose from. We’ll see how they develop as the day progresses.

Morning Report

First, the track. The dirt it’s made out of is considered by many to be the best on the circuit, and during track walk this morning it was nice and sticky and almost completely free of rocks and random debris. Hopefully it stays nice and tacky, as the added grip could produce multiple lines. And if we’re lucky, we’ll see it rut up nice and big like last week in Indianapolis. There are a few big bowl turns which could produce some banging, a single whoop section, a long 180-degree sand section, and all the other normal obstacles you’d expect from Monster Energy Supercross. The finish line jump also goes over the first turn (only used once), which is kind of cool.

On the injury front things are looking better than we’ve seen for many weeks, with our weekly Injury Report shrinking considerably this week. It’s a bummer for the unfortunate racers still hurt, but we’re glad to see a lot of the guys back in action. One of the riders getting back to it this weekend is James Stewart, who was sidelined last week after hurting his ankle. He appeared to be walking with a slight limp on track walk, so we’ll see how things go for him this afternoon.

We mentioned things can get crazy in St. Louis, but no matter what happens to Ryan Dungey it’s impossible for him to lose the points lead—he’s up by 45 points over Ken Roczen. That doesn’t mean things won’t get nuts though, and hopefully we’ll see yet another epic twenty-lap duel between Dungey and Roczen.

In 250SX action we have yet to see a repeat winner, and the way things have been going this year we may not see one today. Malcolm Stewart leads Aaron Plessinger by ten points, and tonight could prove critical in the championship. Even if Plessinger only cuts into Stewart’s lead by three points, a seven-point deficit looks much better than a thirteen-point gap with just three rounds to go. And let's not forget Gannon Audette, who scored his first career podium last week in just his first race as a fill-in rider with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki! If things go well he might be showing us his go face.

Qualifying is coming up shortly, so check back soon for a report on the action.