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Sign of the (Lap) Times: Oakland

Sign of the (Lap) Times: Oakland

February 7, 2018, 10:00am
Dan Carlson Dan Carlson Jason Weigandt Jason WeigandtEditorial Director
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  • Sign of the (Lap) Times: Oakland - Supercross
Oakland, CA OaklandMonster Energy AMA Supercross Championship

What a race! The Oakland SX brought the action for the second straight year, and we'd have to think the gnarly, chewed up, rutted track conditions have something to do with that. Last year, Eli Tomac pulled off an epic comeback to track down Ryan Dungey for the win late in the race, and this year Cole Seely, Ken Roczen and Jason Anderson took turns leading. Roczen appeared to have it under control, but the track struck and Kenny made a mistake that allowed Anderson to catch him. That set up a fantastic duel over the final two laps, with Anderson pulling out a clutch win.

The tough track will be a theme of this week's Sign of the (Lap) Times, as we have several ways to illustrate that. But first, let's start with our traditional lap time charts.

450SX Class — Main Event — Lap Times

Lap Rank Finish Best Lap On Lap Avg Lap Time Rider
1 1st 50.930 5 52.664 Jason Anderson
2 6th 51.083 6 53.298 Cole Seely
3 3rd 51.154 6 53.076 Blake Baggett
4 2nd 51.239 5 52.809 Ken Roczen
5 4th 51.365 5 53.359 Marvin Musquin
6 5th 51.436 7 53.383 Justin Barcia
7 12th 52.170 4 54.155 Weston Peick
8 7th 52.202 7 53.697 Cooper Webb
9 9th 52.305 6 54.124 Justin Brayton
10 21st 52.347 6 54.394 Tyler Bowers
11 10th 52.374 7 54.589 Josh Grant
12 15th 52.683 4 55.339 Vince Friese
13 20th 52.758 5 55.275 Benny Bloss
14 8th 52.864 4 54.425 Broc Tickle
15 11th 53.172 8 55.122 Dean Wilson
16 14th 53.279 5 56.890 Chad Reed
17 13th 53.307 2 55.327 Eli Tomac
18 17th 53.577 8 56.506 Justin Bogle
19 18th 53.820 8 56.908 Kyle Cunningham
20 16th 54.860 6 57.432 Alex Ray
21 19th 54.705 7 58.298 Ben LaMay
22 22nd DNF DNF DNF Malcolm Stewart

250SX Class — Main Event — Lap Times

Lap Rank Finish Best Lap On Lap Avg Lap Time Rider
1 4th 51.498 3 53.279 Christian Craig
2 1st 51.556 9 52.870 Aaron Plessinger
3 2nd 51.987 3 53.016 Joey Savatgy
4 7th 52.010 3 53.059 Adam Cianciarulo
5 15th 52.060 3 53.581 Shane McElrath
6 6th 52.070 8 53.684 Chase Sexton
7 3rd 52.204 10 52.956 Justin Hill
8 5th 52.468 5 54.085 Alex Martin
9 10th 52.629 6 54.746 Hayden Mellross
10 9th 52.774 6 54.597 Mitchell Harrison
11 8th 53.102 2 54.472 Kyle Chisholm
12 11th 54.120 2 56.297 Justin Hoeft
13 16th 54.196 3 58.436 Cole Martinez
14 17th 54.493 3 58.224 Ryan Breece
15 12th 54.747 3 56.948 Jean Carlo Ramos
16 13th 55.303 3 56.973 Justin Starling
17 14th 55.340 9 57.866 Martin Castelo
18 19th 55.661 3 58.143 Chase Marquier
19 18th 57.086 5 1:01.143 Julio Zambrano
20 20th DNF DNF DNF Dakota Alix
21 21st DNF DNF DNF Killian Auberson
22 22nd DNF DNF DNF Phil Nicoletti

Roczen vs. Anderson

Now, onto that Roczen and Anderson battle. Watching two supercross superstars fight for the win on the final two laps is all too rare. What's interesting is to see the impact that battle had on lap times. While Roczen and Anderson were no doubt pushing to their limits on the final laps, they were also making mistakes, passing each other and slowing each other down.

Have a look at the lap charts below, specifically on laps 21, 22 and 23. Anderson was running a strong, consistent pace, but his times slowed up significantly when the battle began. Same for Roczen, who is probably losing some sleep thinking about those final final laps. 

Also, check out Anderson versus Roczen on laps 23 and 24. That's getting it done under pressure.

Tricky Track

Last week's track in Glendale was challenging, but Oakland was next level. Let's compare the lap time consistency of the race winner for the last two weeks.

The difference between Anderson's best and worst times at Oakland was 4.45 seconds. The difference between Eli Tomac's best and worst times at Glendale was 2.682 seconds. This data gets slightly skewed because Tomac holeshot the Glendale main event, so he got to run on clean race track, while Anderson spent much of Oakland battling through traffic. Still, the charts tell a story. There are larger variations in Anderson's times on the tricky Oakland track in comparison to Tomac's night leading in Glendale.

Anderson's Oakland Lap Times

Anderson was all over the map while battling traffic and ruts.
Anderson was all over the map while battling traffic and ruts.

Tomac's Glendale Times

Tomac's times from Glendale show some variation, but far less than Anderson in Oakland.
Tomac's times from Glendale show some variation, but far less than Anderson in Oakland.

The Deficit 

Oakland was not kind to Tomac this time, as his 13th-place finish stopped the momentum of back-to-back wins in Anaheim 2 and Glendale. After failing to finish Anaheim 1 and not racing in Houston, Tomac's title hopes were slim anyway, but now things are even darker.

Last year Tomac pulled off an amazing comeback and was actually able to wrestle the points lead away from Ryan Dungey at one point. This year's comeback would be far, far crazier. Here's Tomac's points deficit after round five for both 2017 and 2018. 

Tomac is 36 points further back after round five this year compared to last year.
Tomac is 36 points further back after round five this year compared to last year.
Previous Next
Redux: Oakland Tue Feb 6 Redux: Oakland Observations: Oakland Wed Feb 7 Observations: Oakland
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