Speaking of Chad Reed, yes, he’s here, and yes, he’s racing. By his own admission—he told us he was out of shape in yesterday’s press conference—he’s not nearly where he’d like to be in terms of preparation, thanks to an ankle injury suffered at Red Bull Straight Rhythm. He also told us it’s his goal to become the oldest racer to ever win a supercross, so clearly, he’s not here to just ride around. No matter what happens, it’s good to have him back for at least another season.

While we’re on the subject of who’s here and who’s not, neither James nor Malcolm Stewart are racing tonight. In an Instagram post, which you can see here, Malcolm said he encountered a last minute issue, but still plans on going racing later this season. Jake Weimer is out after getting hurt during the off-season. He hopes to return at round three. Justin Bogle is also out after an off-season crash following the Monster Energy Cup, but should be back in action soon. For a complete look at the injury list, go here.

In other news, today will mark the beginning of multiple rule changes for Monster Energy Supercross. The two largest changes that will affect tonight are the elimination of the semi races and a different points payout. To look at those rules in depth, go here. Lastly, this morning Yamaha announced the acquisition of Ryan Villopoto, who will serve as the company’s new brand ambassador.  For more on that, go here. 

Qualifying - Session One

250SX

This one started like an actual gate drop, with a few guys up front dropping the hammer immediately. Mitchell Oldenburg, Christian Craig, Aaron Plessinger, and Justin Cooper all took off like they were shot out of a cannon! Christian Craig was first to log a fast lap with a 55.250, but it was Adam Cianciarulo who end up ruling the session with a final time of 54.090. Justin Hill didn’t at all appear concerned with pushing it at first, cruising for the most part and just eyeing the track. He finally did log a fast lap, but then live timing stopped working momentarily so it wasn’t clear how fast he actually was. In the end he ended up sixth fastest, but that could have easily gone a few spots either way. The top eight were within eight tenths of a second! It’s going to be extremely interesting to see what kind of separation that group gets when the guys come back for the second qualifying session after making adjustments. 

450SX

Eli Tomac took over pretty quickly in this one, then proceeded to improve on his initial lap several times. Jason Anderson briefly held the fastest time, but Tomac immediately threw down another heater with about a minute to go to stamp a big number three up top. Behind him the guys like Justin Barcia, Dean Wilson, Jason Anderson, and Marvin Musquin all battled for the second fastest time, with Anderson taking the spot with a 52.753. Ken Roczen was sixth fastest with a 53.912, and Chad Reed never really looked like himself. He ended up eighteenth, nearly four seconds off Tomac’s pace. Josh Grant was fifteenth after exiting the session early with his mechanic. 

Qualifying - Session Two

250SX

Just like in the first qualifier, it wasn’t long before Adam Cianciarulo climbed to the top of the board. And, just like in the first session, Justin Hill took a while to attempt a fast lap. When he did, it was fast, a 53.352, but not quite fast enough to beat Cianciarulo’s 53.179. After that not much happened until the qualifier was about to come to an end. On his final lap, Hill put his head down and ripped his way to a 52.903, the fastest 250SX lap of the night. Had Hill been in the second 450SX qualifier, that lap would have been good enough for fifth fastest!

450SX

In 450 action Jason Anderson unleashed the heat early with a 52.611, but then Justin Barcia jumped to the top of the board with a 52.604. The time held for a while, and as the qualifier was wrapping up, it looked like Barcia would be the night’s fastest qualifier. But then Ken Roczen, who wasn’t crazy fast in the first session, turned a 52.406! With the fastest lap under his belt, Roczen proceeded to spend his final practice lap busting out huge whips for the crowd. The top four in this session, Roczen, Barcia, Anderson, and Tomac, ended up separated by less than half a second. If things are that close in tonight’s main event we’re in for quite a show!

250SX Heat One

The first holeshot of the year went to Shane McElrath with Adam Cianciarulo and Aaron Plessinger right behind. Then Plessinger came on hard to take over second and started hounding McElrath. After nearly two laps McElrath gained just a bit of breathing room. Then, with two minutes to go Mitchell Harrison put a move on Chase Sexton for fourth that sent Sexton into a Tuff Block. Sexton tried to save it but ended up hitting the dirt. But then Harrison got together with Justin Hoeft and both of them went down! Hoeft got back in the race fairly quickly but Harrison didn't finish the race. On the final lap Cianciarulo reeled in Plessinger and was able to make a move stick for second. Mcelrath, Cianciarulo, Plessinger, Bradley Taft, Hayden Mellross, Sexton, Hoeft, Dakota Alix, and Ryan Breece all transferred to the main.

250SX Heat Two

Christian Craig kicked this one off with a holeshot with Alex Martin in tow. Then Martin ended up going off the track. But instead of waiting until the end of the lane to get back on, he gassed it, used the side of the track as a jump, and launched back onto the track over some Tuff Blocks. Justin Hill, meanwhile, didn’t get a great start and was working his way up from around ninth. As he was working up, Joey Savatgy passed Martin and started his pursuit of Craig with about two minutes left on the clock. It wasn’t long before Savatgy was all over Craig, and with just one lap left the battle was on. But Craig responded and was able to hang on for the win. Craig, Savatgy, Mitchell Oldenburg, Martin, Hill, Phil Nicoletti, Kyle Chisholm, Justin Starling, and Brandan Leith all transferred to the main.

450SX Heat 1

Blake Baggett took the early lead in this one but Jason Anderson and Cole Seely were all over him. After almost a lap, they both went by and Seely immediately went inside of Anderson to take over the lead. But then Anderson took Seely high and went back by, taking Baggett with him. Seely responded by returning the favor in the following corner and retaking the lead, but then half a lap later he went down all by himself! Dean Wilson had been lurking in fourth but went over the bars in a rhythm lane and didn’t get back in the race. During all this Eli Tomac was working his way up, and with about a minute to go he was in third, just behind Baggett. Tomac made the move right before the clock ran out, giving him two laps to try to reel in Anderson. Tomac wasn’t able to get close enough though and Anderson took the win comfortably. Bummer for Benny Bloss, who had a small crash late in the race and was unable to restart his machine.

450SX Heat 2

Broc Tickle took the lead right away, and before you could say orange, started building a gap. But after a couple laps Tickle overjumped when exiting a rhythm lane and couldn’t slow down in time before hitting a Tuff Block and went down. That handed the lead to Brayton, who was under fire from Justin Barcia, who didn’t wait long to take over the lead. Roczen, meanwhile, was making his way toward the front but got together slightly with Cooper Webb, hit a jump crooked, and bumped into Marvin Musquin. Nobody went down, but it slowed Roczen’s roll slightly. A lap or two later Cooper Webb went down all by himself, allowing Roczen and Musquin by. Musquin tried to make a move on Roczen two turns before the finish, but Roczen was just barely able to hang on for third. Barcia, Brayton Roczen, Musquin, Weston Peick, Webb, Josh Grant, Kyle Cunningham, and Broc Tickle all transferred to the main.

250SX LCQ

Killian Auberson did himself a favor by getting the holeshot, but immediately found himself under fire from Justin Cooper and Mitchell Harrison, who both passed him just before the finish line jump. Cooper  took the lead and built a gap, while Harrison rode comfortably in second. Auberson took a comfortable third, with Jean Carlos Ramos taking the final transfer spot.

450SX LCQ

Benny Bloss nabbed the holeshot, but roughly a lap later he crashed hard in a rhythm lane, bounced hard off the dirt, and was unable to rejoin the race. That put Dakota Tedder in the lead with Tyler Bowers lurking in second. Matt Bisceglia and Alex Ray held the final two transfer spots with just over a minute to go. Late in the race Bowers made a move and took over the lead and pulled a gap to take the win. Bowers, Tedder, Ray, and Bisceglia took the final transfer spots of the night.

250SX Main Event

Shane McElrath took the holeshot with Alex Martin close behind, but Christian Craig quickly went after Martin to take over second. Behind them there was a crash involving Killian Auberson, Jean Carlos Ramos, Phil Nicoletti and Justin Cooper. Nicoletti, who was trapped under a bike for a while, got the worst of it and didn't rejoin the race. Meanwhile, up front, McElrath was gapping everyone while Craig struggled to hold off Aaron Plessinger. After a few corners Plessiger sliced to the inside of Craig and took over the spot. Craig then lost another spot to Adam Cianciarulo. Hill ran eighth after a poor start, and wasn’t making much forward progress. In fact, with a few minutes left, Hill found himself under pressure from Mitch Oldenburg. He was able to pick up a spot though when Alex Martin made a mistake and went over a berm, but not long after Oldenburg made a move to the inside of Hill to take over sixth. But as soon as he did his bike started emitting small puffs of smoke! Fortunately for Oldenburg it held together until the checkers. McElrath took the win, with Plessinger just over two seconds behind. Cianciarulo, Savatgy, and Craig rounded out the top  five.

450SX Main

The first 450SX main got underway perfectly for Eli Tomac. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider edged out Justin Barcia and wasted no time in attempting to sprint away from the pack. Barcia ran second, with Weston Peick in third. Marvin Musquin ran fourth while Ken Roczen was roughly midpack after a bad start. Several minutes in Peick saw Musquin go by, and a lap later, he started feeling pressure from Jason Anderson, who also proceeded to go by. Tomac, meanwhile, lost it in a rhythm lane all by himself, giving the lead to Barcia. Tomac, who looked stunned, was able to remount and rejoin the race but immediately started dropping spots. He was clutching at his back, and eventually pulled over. Turns out his pants had come undone and he had to fasten them to avoid a wardrobe malfunction. He tried to get going again but ended up just rolling around and pulling into the mechanic’s area. He must have had an additional problem because shortly after he rolled out of the stadium and into the pits.

Up front Musquin caught and passed Barcia, who then fell under pressure from Anderson. Barcia held his own as the battle started to heat up, but Anderson was too strong and was able to get by after a couple laps. Musquin, meanwhile, maintained roughly three seconds over Anderson with a lap to go. He’d hold that lead to win the first 450SX race of 2018. Roczen, who somehow lost his visor somewhere, had worked up to fourth by the time the checkers flew.