In 250 East, title contender Jordon Smith had a close call in a rhythm lane, clipping some tough blocks and nearly going down in nearly the same area of the stadium where he crashed last year. He saved it and kept on trucking. Up front, Zach Osborne made it happen with the fastest time of the session. For a moment, Osborne's time disappeared from the  top of the board, but that must have been a glitch because it came back up after the official times were posted.

In the 450s, Tyler Bowers logged an early fast lap and kept his factory Monster Kawasaki near the top for the rest of the session. The Bear has been pretty fast as of late, and did win a 250 race here in Vegas several years ago—he could be a sleeper tonight.

Late in the session Bower’s teammate Eli Tomac logged a crazy fast lap and went to the top of the board. What’s interesting is that Tomac’s lap didn’t look spectacular, but clearly it was efficient.

Final Practice

Jordon Smith led the early moments of the 250SX East practice, and he looked solid and smooth. But Zach Osborne and Jeremy Martin were waiting until the latter laps to uncork it. They were absolutely hauling through the back section of the track, outside. Osborne’s time went to the top of the board, then Martin threw down a heater but came up a few tenths short.

In 250SX West, Cianciarulo again ruled the roost with the top time, with his teammate Savatgy right behind. Plessinger looked quick, also, and was third fastest. Plessinger, by the way, even resorted to jumping through the whoops, which shows just how tough they are.  

“Big thanks to my suspension guys,” said Cianciarulo after taking the top time. “e made a shock change and it really helped in the whoops. Last race of the season and I’m out here to have a good time—I’m 13 points down but I’m going to give it my all, and hopefully I’m walking out of here with a number-one plate.”

In the 450s, Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin put on a show. Musquin’s time sat on top for most of the session, but then Tomac…..oh, Tomac. Earlier today a few riders were using the last sand roller to hop over a single jump that leads the riders out of the stadium. The track builders took that last sand roller away. Yet somehow in this session, Tomac figure out a way to jump over that single anyway! He basically bunny hopped his bike, BMX style, to make it happen. He did it once but the rest of his lap wasn’t quick enough to unseat Marvin. He did it again, though, and this time the lap held and Tomac took top time. That appeared to be the end of the session, but on the very last lap, Musquin logged another heater and took the fastest time away by two hundredths of a second.

"It’s really hard and slick, but I’m having fun,” said Musquin. “Eli is really fast, he looks good so to have a faster time than him, that’s really good.”

250 Heat 1 (East)

It was a rookie battle early in this one as Josh Mosiman and Sean Cantrell set the early pace, with Jordon Smith and Zach Osborne right behind. Smith made a move on Cantrell at the start of lap two just outside of turn one, then he started pressing Mosiman. On the second lap the red lights were turned on before a triple jump, Mosiman and Osborne rolled it but Smith jumped it—Smith realized the error of his ways and actually slowed down and let Osborne back by. They moved around Mosiman and kept battling to the end, with Smith getting to Osborne’s fender on the last lap, and even showing him a wheel. Alas, it was too late, and Osborne hung on for the win on his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna.

250 Heat 2 (West)

This was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki on Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki crime early in this one, as Joey Savatgy and Adam Cianciarulo battled hard for the first lap of this one. They passed each other probably three times, but Savatgy finally locked it down and inched away. Behind them, Shane McElrath got to third and pressed Cianciarulo a bit, too, but he also couldn’t make a move. Aaron Plessinger, holding the points lead, quietly snuck into fourth.

On the last lap Justin Hill got around his Autotrader.com/Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Phil Nicoletti to take the final transfer spot.

450 Heat 1

Eli Tomac pulled one of the largest holeshots of all time…until he didn’t by going wide in turn one. Justin Barcia and Chad Reed snuck underneath, Barcia went off the track, and Reed took the lead. The crowd went nuts! The first man to challenge Reed was Malcolm Stewart, leading to 40,000-some people suddenly making jokes about a classic Reed versus Stewart battle for the win. Well, in a heat race, and it was Malcolm not James, but hey, they battled pretty good until Tomac got back on the gas and took second from Stewart. Next, Eli would have to get Reed, but the cagey vet made it tough. Tomac was faster through the entire section leading outside of the stadium and then back in, but Reed managed to ride clean but also hold him at bay for several laps. Reed just knows where to put the bike to prevent the pass. Finally, Tomac found an opening on the table top after the whoops, got to the inside, and made a block pass. Reed held on for second and did a nac-nac over the finishline jump. The crowd exploded again. 

450 Heat 2

Marvin Musquin grabbed the jump in this one and held it tight enough on the inside to hold on and get the holeshot. Benny Bloss started second and briefly made a run at Musquin in the whoops to try to get the lead. Why? Well, Bloss and Reed have been battling all year almost every time they line up, so if Reed is going to lead a heat, Bloss needed to, also. The run was short-lived, though, as Musquin began pulling away, and Bloss fell into the clutches of Jason Anderson and his own teammate Blake Baggett. Anderson settled into second while Musquin took the win. Kyle Cunningham made a pass on Austin Politelli with two laps to go to secure ninth, the final transfer spot.

250 LCQ

#PoorPhil Nicoletti was passed on the final lap of his heat race for the final transfer spot (by his teammate Justin Hill). He started mid-pack in the LCQ, Chase Marquier slid sideways in the first turn, leaving Phil with nowhere to go. He hit him and went down. Up front, Martin Castelo took the win over Josh Osby. Osby even showed him a wheel on the last lap. Brandon Hartranft and Justin Starling took the final transfer spots.

450 LCQ

 Dakota Tedder got the jump and lead early, but Austin Politelli slid past to get the number-one spot. Henry Miller was under pressure from Josh Hill the whole way, and they both went around Tedder to continue their fight in second. Tedder then came under pressure on the final lap from Scott Champion. Champion showed him a wheel twice but wasn’t close enough to make it happen.

250 East/West Dave Coombs Sr. Showdown

Savatgy led into turn one but went wide, allowing McElrath to slice to the lead with Jeremy Martin right behind. Meanwhile title contenders Zach Osborne and Aaron Plessinger suffered bad starts. Osborne was especially far back but somehow passed about ten riders on the first lap to actually get ahead of Plessinger. From there, the two points leader started managing the race and reducing the risks.

A few laps in, Cianciarulo started rolling, passing Jordon Smith and then Savatgy to take third. He began to close on second place Martin, who was not far behind McElrath. Then Plessinger made a big bobble coming out of a corner, nearly losing the back end and crashing—a quick heart-stopping moment for his crew.

The battle for the lead started to heat up, as Martin closed on McElrath and then Cianciarulo closed on them both. Martin tried a move on McElrath on the inside down the start straight, but it backfired and let Cianciarulo close in. Then Cianciarulo made a pass on Martin on the big sweeper around the outside of the stadium.

Next up was McElrath, and Cianciarulo made short work of him in the whoops and the on-off tabletop to grab the lead. Cianciarulo, ranked second in 250SX West coming into the race, was now doing what he had to do. Would Plessinger hold on?

Indeed. In fact Plessinger and Osborne ended up close throughout the main, in seventh and eighth. The stayed out of trouble and stayed away from the drama.

Late in the race, McElrath, ahem, did not race aggressively with his teammate Smith, allowing Smith to cruise through to second to gain max points. It wasn’t enough though because Osborne was cruising.

It did get a little crazy down at the end, but between Martin and Savatgy, who crashed into each other in the last turn. Final laps are always crazy for Savatgy in Vegas!

Cianciarulo went on to win the race, his first victory of 2018 but his second-straight in the Dave Coombs East/West Showdown in Las Vegas.

Osborne and Plessinger crossed the line a few moments later and congratulated each other as the new champions of 250SX East and 250SX West, respectively.

“This year’s been tough for me, I struggled a little bit,” said Osborne. “I really had to work for this, this was the hardest one so far, I’d say. I never thought I’d have a chance to say I’m a three-time champion.”

450 Main Event

For Jason Anderson, there was just one mission: stay out of the drama. Spoiler alert on that: he did that. He started just inside the top ten and rode within himself securing a soid fifth, and with that, the Monster Energy Supercross Championship. Last week’s broken spokes made him sweat a little, and he definitely didn’t ride with the same aggression as usual this week, but that was the goal coming into the race.

Anderson becomes the 21^st different rider to win the 250/450 championship in the series, and this is the first title for Husqvarna in this division.

As far as the race, Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin put on another show up front. Tomac grabbed the holeshot but Marvin made a few runs at him to try to put some pressure on. Tomac responded each time, first by getting through lapped traffic efficiently, and then by busting out his big jump out of the sand. In the second half of the race, Musquin started losing ground, and Tomac was on to win his eighth race of the season.

“Marv was putting pressure on the whole time, so there was no room for mistakes,” said Tomac.

“I messed up a rhythm with the lappers, and that’s how he got away from me like that,” said Musquin.

Blake Baggett finished a solid third, which breaks a tie in the standings with Justin Brayton to take fourth in the final rankings. Behind him was Christain Craig, who was fourth for the second-week in a row. Anderson was fifth, plenty to win the title.

“We put our whole lives into this,” said Anderson. “We’ve been riding dirt bikes for so long. To win this championship with my team, this is the most surreal moment of my life right now. I’m so happy!”