By The Numbers
5
Years between 450SX wins for Justin Barcia. Prior to Anaheim 1, Barcia’s last win came at Seattle on April 20, 2013, his rookie year in 450SX.
6
Years between 450SX wins for Yamaha. The last Yamaha rider to win prior to Anaheim 1 was James Stewart at Daytona in 2012.
18
Straight years Chad Reed has made the main event at Anaheim 1, most all-time. Reed broke a tie with Mike LaRocco on Saturday.
36 years, 9 months, 21 days
Age of Reed at the season opener. With his main event appearance on Saturday, he is now the oldest rider ever to make a premier class main. Barry Carsten (36 years, 5 months, 9 days) previously held the record. Hat tip to Racer X contributor and founder of We Went Fast, Brett Smith, for the stat.
21
250SX main event appearances for Colt Nichols before capturing his first career win at Anaheim 1.
16
Of 16 laps led for Nichols in the 250SX main event on Saturday.
14
Of 20 laps led by semi-privateer Dean Wilson in the 450SX main event on Saturday. Wilson would eventually finish fourth.
1
Career podium appearance at Anaheim 1 for Eli Tomac, which came on Saturday night. Tomac’s best finish prior to Saturday was a fourth in 2016. He did win A1 in the 250 class in 2013.
Quotes From Around the Paddock
Dean Wilson | 4th overall in 450SX
"A1 is in the books. Waking up this morning not gonna lie I’m slightly disappointed. Just because I felt like I had the best opportunity to win that race leading 15 minutes but then ran into lappers, and lost my rhythm and goggles last 5... just needed 5 minutes in me!! (That’s what she said) ??Anyways I can’t be to greedy. I have came a long ways recovering from double ACL reconstruction on each knee and worked hard with good people and will continue to! 2nd in timed qualifying, 2nd in heat, led laps and 4th in main. That’s a great start. Once again I was blown away with all the support! Thank you all for supporting teamDW15"
Cooper Webb | 5th overall in 450SX
“Anaheim I is in the books and overall it was a really good day. We started with free practice just getting the hang of the track and I was able to qualify seventh. In the heat race, I didn’t get off to the greatest of starts and I didn’t ride to my potential, so I had a bad gate pick in the Main Event. I had a pretty outside gate but I nailed the start and I was first in the first turn but unfortunately, I fell over. It was slicker than I thought but I was able to get up and really put my head down and charge really hard to come back to fifth. I guess I had the fastest lap of the race, so that was really cool and I’m feeling confident and good with that result, so I’m ready to go to Phoenix next weekend!”
Malcolm Stewart | 7th overall in 450SX
"What a night. Can’t believe this was my first A-1 race in the 450 class. It will be one to remember that’s fors ure. It was good to be back under the lights racing in front of you guys, I was nervous i won’t lie haha! But we got a long season ahead, we just gonna take it race by race and have fun this season."
Marvin Musquin | 8th overall in 450SX
“The riding was not too bad but physically it was not an easy day as I didn’t have much time on the bike this off-season. But we knew it coming in, so the goal was to score some points and I ended up eighth in the Main Event. I had a great start and Cooper did too, but we almost got into each other and he went down. I avoided him but I lost a lot of ground. It would have been a little bit easier on me to get out front – I was right there in second place behind Cooper, it was pretty cool – but almost both of us crashing. My goal, once again, was to be consistent and score points and that’s what I did. Eighth is not too bad considering and now we can move on and get better from there.”
Chad Reed | 9th overall in 450SX
“With the weather, it was an interesting weekend. I had the feeling that no matter what I was going through, it was going to drastically change by the night program. I tried to get the most out of the daytime practices and qualifying to have good data for the next round in Glendale. Once the weather came I just dealt with it. I didn’t get the best of starts in my heat race. The conditions were tough and challenging, so I had to go to the LCQ. In some ways, it rained quite a lot in the LCQ, so I had a feel for what the track was going to be like in the main event. The downside was that I was on the far outside gate for the main. I was dead last on the start and came up to ninth, which is respectable. I feel like I have the pace. There are just a few things I need to work on to allow me to feel more comfortable when I’m out of my comfort zone. I have to adapt to the pace, but fortunately that’s one of my strengths. Sometimes that pace comes naturally, and other times it’s forced. I need to be more comfortable in that area. That’s something I will work on this week.”
Cole Seely | 10th overall in 450SX
“It felt so good to get back to racing. I was so nervous and excited at the same time, but also so happy to line up again. Normally 10th is something I’d be disappointed in, and I was a little bummed at first but after putting it into perspective and considering the conditions, I’m happy with it and just excited to be back. I’m looking forward to the process and to just building on my finishes each week.”
Jason Anderson | 14th overall in 450SX
"Man yesterday did not go well... kinda overwhelmed with everything going on and wasn’t myself at all. Looking forward to bringing it back around in the next rounds and really want to thank my crew for all the support no matter how i do. Sorry guys but still looking forward and ready to give 110% the rest of the season! Also shoutout to my good friend @deanwilson15 for absolutely crushing it!"
RJ Hampshire | 4th overall in 250SX
“Glad to get back to racing, we had a really good offseason,” said Hampshire. “Practice went well and then the rain came. The heat race was a little sloppy but I was able to get a good start and get out front. I won my first heat race in a while, which I was pretty pumped on. Main event came around and it was still raining pretty heavy. Got a decent start and was just kind of riding around in third for a few laps. I made a dumb mistake and went for the quad-quad in the rhythm before the whoops and came up way short and went down pretty hard. Then once I got up I was in fifth and had a couple more close calls throughout the race. Happy to get out of round 1 healthy and ready to go racing next weekend!”
Adam Cianciarulo | 5th overall in 250SX
“I’m pretty disappointed I wasn’t able to contend for the win tonight, but with the conditions and going down, we’ll take what we can get,” said Cianciarulo. “It makes me want to win that much more when we get to Phoenix. I want to win, but we also have to think long term.”
Jimmy Decotis | 7th overall in 250SX
“The first round of the year with the JGRMX/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing crew was a blast. I was excited to debut the new Suzuki RM-Z250. I felt very comfortable all day. Unfortunately, I had a crash on the start of the heat race that put me in a tough spot for the main event. The conditions were tough due to the rain. Overall, I’ll take a seventh given the circumstances. We have lots of racing to come, and I’m excited to grab some more starts. I want to show the industry what the new RM-Z250 can do. Thanks to the whole team for supplying me with the best equipment. I’m looking forward to Glendale!”
Lap Times
Moving forward, we will not be doing our weekly “Sign of the (Lap) Times” feature on Racer X Online, which has run since 2006. Instead, we will feature some lap data in Redux this year.
Since it is the first round, we figured we’d post the best laps and average lap times of the entire field—450 and 250—which you can check out below:
450SX
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | On Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 5th | 1:02.476 | 12 | 1:05.808 | Cooper Webb |
| 2 | 1st | 1:03.362 | 3 | 1:05.549 | Justin Barcia |
| t-3 | 4th | 1:03.548 | 2 | 1:06.322 | Dean Wilson |
| t-3 | 7th | 1:03.548 | 7 | 1:06.812 | Malcolm Stewart |
| 5 | 2nd | 1:03.652 | 13 | 1:05.644 | Ken Roczen |
| 6 | 6th | 1:03.680 | 10 | 1:06.818 | Aaron Plessinger |
| 7 | 3rd | 1:03.727 | 10 | 1:05.544 | Eli Tomac |
| 8 | 8th | 1:04.426 | 3 | 1:07.929 | Marvin Musquin |
| 9 | 9th | 1:05.237 | 10 | 1:08.198 | Chad Reed |
| 10 | 10th | 1:05.240 | 4 | 1:08.927 | Cole Seely |
| 11 | 11th | 1:05.599 | 5 | 1:09.109 | Justin Brayton |
| 12 | 15th | 1:05.559 | 10 | 1:09.505 | Justin Hill |
| 13 | 16th | 1:05.682 | 8 | 1:10.214 | Joey Savatgy |
| 14 | 14th | 1:05.806 | 2 | 1:09.561 | Jason Anderson |
| 15 | 19th | 1:06.010 | 7 | 1:08.393 | Justin Bogle |
| 16 | 13th | 1:06.455 | 10 | 1:10.630 | Vince Friese |
| 17 | 12th | 1:06.541 | 11 | 1:09.719 | Blake Baggett |
| 18 | 20th | 1:07.552 | 2 | 1:13.849 | Ryan Breece |
| 19 | 17th | 1:07.668 | 4 | 1:13.349 | Carlen Gardner |
| 20 | 21st | 1:08.477 | 8 | 1:13.310 | Tyler Bowers |
| 21 | 18th | 1:09.965 | 6 | 1:14.231 | Ben LaMay |
| 22 | 22nd | 1:10.341 | 2 | 1:17.196 | Kyle Chisholm |
250SX West Region
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | On Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 5th | 1:01.432 | 4 | 1:09.697 | Adam Cianciarulo |
| 2 | 1st | 1:01.447 | 3 | 1:02.734 | Colt Nichols |
| 3 | 2nd | 1:01.928 | 4 | 1:03.524 | Dylan Ferrandis |
| 4 | 3rd | 1:01.961 | 4 | 1:03.882 | Shane McElrath |
| 5 | 4th | 1:02.134 | 5 | 1:05.299 | RJ Hampshire |
| 6 | 6th | 1:03.349 | 3 | 1:06.170 | Garrett Marchbanks |
| 7 | 11th | 1:03.542 | 2 | 1:09.022 | Cameron McAdoo |
| 8 | 7th | 1:04.234 | 10 | 1:06.597 | Jimmy Decotis |
| 9 | 9th | 1:05.182 | 3 | 1:08.333 | Chris Blose |
| 10 | 12th | 1:05.586 | 11 | 1:07.246 | Michael Mosiman |
| 11 | 8th | 1:05.619 | 8 | 1:06.890 | Jacob Hayes |
| 12 | 14th | 1:05.833 | 3 | 1:10.238 | Jerry Robin |
| 13 | 13th | 1:05.892 | 4 | 1:09.697 | Martin Castelo |
| 14 | 15th | 1:06.450 | 8 | 1:09.569 | Enzo Lopes |
| 15 | 10th | 1:06.531 | 3 | 1:08.418 | Jess Pettis |
| 16 | 20th | 1:08.005 | 3 | 1:15.218 | Carson Brown |
| 17 | 18th | 1:08.493 | 3 | 1:12.580 | Bradley Lionnet |
| 18 | 16th | 1:08.501 | 6 | 1:11.125 | Sean Cantrell |
| 19 | 19th | 1:08.898 | 3 | 1:14.942 | Brandan Leith |
| 20 | 17th | 1:09.544 | 3 | 1:12.975 | Matthew Jorgensen |
| 21 | 21st | 1:09.732 | 5 | 1:15.761 | Thomas Do |
| 22 | 22nd | 1:14.126 | 2 | 1:19.877 | Logan Karnow |
Rookie Report
Even with Zach Osborne sidelined for the next few rounds due to a collarbone injury, the 450 rookie class is one of the deepest in recent memory. In fact, the group of four—Osborne, Joey Savatgy, Aaron Plessinger, and Justin Hill—have the most combined 250 wins (25) since 2013, when Eil Tomac, Ken Roczen, and Justin Barcia entered the class full-time. They had a combined 28 250SX wins.
Plessinger had the best result of the group with a sixth; Hill and Savatgy both crashed in the first turn, and finished 15th and 16th. Here is what they had to say after the race:
Aaron Plessinger
“Anaheim 1 went pretty well. I got better and better every time I went out on the track. The heat race went awesome. I started out about fifth or sixth, got past some guys and finished third. I was pretty amped on that and I went into the main event pretty happy with myself. I got a great start and just maintained it. There were sometimes where I felt a little winded, but I couldn’t back down and pushed on to the finish and got sixth. I’d say Anaheim I, my first 450 race, was pretty good in my eyes. We’ll keep making improvements and head into Phoenix hot on the ball.”
Justin Hill
“For a moment in time, before I fell in the slop, that was the best I had ever felt in a mud race. I’m very bummed about the end result, but there are several good things that I learned from this weekend that I can apply to the next 16 rounds.”
Joey Savatgy
"I've been working so hard this off-season and feel really comfortable on the bike, but the weather made quite the challenge for us. I had a tip over on the bike and some issues with my goggles in the rain, but I remained focused on finishing the race to my best ability. We have a long season ahead of us, I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike and continuing to grow and improve."
The 250 class also saw a pair of rookies make their Monster Energy AMA Supercross debuts. Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Garrett Marchbanks had a sneaky good sixth place finish, while JGR/Yoshimura Suzuki’s Enzo Lopes finished 15th.
Garrett Marchbanks
“Being able to be a part of this team and lining up for my first supercross race has been a dream come true,” said Marchbanks. “With the conditions, I was focused on staying up and keeping it on two wheels. It’s nice to get a race under my belt, and we’ll see how it goes in dry conditions next weekend.”
Enzo Lopes
“Practice and the heat race was awesome. I don’t know what happened in the main event. I somehow stalled my bike, and then I crashed, so that made it worse. It was unreal to line up on the gate for my first Supercross race. I had that dream as a kid. I had a perspective of watching from the stands or from home. Placing third in the heat race was incredible. I had the speed, but the track was sloppy, so I couldn’t attack. The main event wasn’t what I wanted, but there’s another race. I learned a lot.”
Injury News
Tough opener for the Gas Monkey/AJE Motorsports team, as both Justin Starling and Dylan Merriam had big crashes. Starling went down in qualifying and was taken off the track by the Alpinestars Mobile Medical Unit. He didn’t return to practice, but having already qualified for the night show, he attempted to race his heat but only made it two laps before calling it a night. He wrote on social media that he was having a lot of pain in his right hip area. We will update his status for Glendale later this week.
“Was feeling amazing going into today, bike was great and knew it was gonna be a good day. I had a big crash in lap 4 of the first timed practice... probably the hardest hit I’ve ever had. I was able to get one fast lap in before I hit the ground to at least qualify me I believe 18th for the night after skipping the second timed qualifying round. I’m in a lot of pain in my right hip area and I am struggling to walk with it, but I’m gonna line up for the heat race and give it a go. I’m not one for quitting and I won’t stop now.”
Meanwhile, Merriam had a big crash in his heat and the LCQ and did not make the main event. He wrote on social media that nothing was broken and that he will race this weekend.
“A1 was a rough one. Had a huge crash in the heat race due to the mud and smashed me up pretty good. I toughed it out in the LCQ but got cross jumped on lap 1 and went down hard again ending my night early. Nothing broken, but a lot of trauma to my body. I will rest up this week and be back 100% for Phoenix. Can’t thank the team enough for sticking behind me.”
Zach Osborne
Osborne had surgery last week to remove a plate from his collarbone and replace it with a new one. He wrote on social media that he’s already back training, so we may see him back on the track sooner than four to six weeks.