By the time the 450 seeded riders rolled out, you could tell the riders and teams had figured the track out. There's a split lane section but clearly the outside is faster, because after everyone experimented in free practice, all the 450 riders seemed to prefer the outside in this session. Also, the rhythm lanes are starting to see more consistent jumping combos.

Marvin Musquin had an early fast time in this one ahead of Jason Anderson, Dean Wilson, Justin Barcia and Cole Seely. Eli Tomac then jumped to the top spot and pulled Cooper Webb along with him, Webb moving into the third spot. Then Jason Anderson put in a heater to move to second. Tomac's time held on for the top spot.

Justin Barcia also put himself in the top five. He looked more like the Anaheim 1 Barcia here than the man who struggled last week in Glendale. Barcia admitted to us he couldn't get comfortable on the ultra hard and slick surface last week. This time, he was the first 450 rider on the track in the first two practice sessions and looked comfortable early.

In the 450 B group, Tyler Bowers is back after missing last weekend's race to compete at a race in Germany. Because he's far back in points, he has to ride in the B practice session, and he's been on top of the board for that group every time he goes out there.

Final Practice Sessions

Want to take a guess how this one turned out? Adam Cianciarulo and Dylan Ferrandis again battled for the top spot in qualifying, which has been a pretty consistent theme in practice this year. AC got it done in this session by .2 tenths over Ferrandis, however Ferrandis’ time in the first session will hold on for top time overall in the 250 class.

 There was a pretty big gap between the rest of the riders. RJ Hampshire jumped up to third late, .7 off of Cianciarulo’s time. Michael Mosiman—who has looked racy throughout practice today—was next, and then Shane McElrath. Points leader Colt Nichols was sixth. Keep an eye on young guns like Mosiman, the Triple Crown gives them three chances to get a start, run up front and have a breakthrough ride.

The KTM boys of Cooper Webb and Marvin Musquin put in the fast laps early in this session, but then Eli Tomac put in a charge and went to the top. Late in the session Marvin responded to retake the top spot. Marvin's time, in the 57s, was also faster than Tomac's 59 which led the first session, so Marvin will be tonight's top qualifier and gets first gate pick for the first race.

 Still working on a couple things on the track,” said Musquin. “I’m really excited, the track is pretty technical and the rain actually helped I think.”

250 LCQ

It’s been a rough start to the season for Mitchell Harrison. Bike problems kept him out of the main at A1, and then his bike broke on the starting gate for last week’s main. This time he won the LCQ to make the main races tonight.

Behind him, the battle for the final transfer came down to Australian Thomas Ravenhorst and a fast-closing Chris Howell. On the last lap, Ravenhorst made a mistake on a tabletop, came into a corner sideways and went down. This let Howell sneak off with the final transfer spot.

450 LCQ

A big first turn pileup left several riders in the dust, and Kyle Chisholm got the worst of it. He was down for awhile but was eventually able to walk away, but his chances of making the main were over. Up front, Ben Lamay and Angelo Pelligrini battled for the top spot, with Austin Politelli third. Ronnie Stewart and Carlen Gardner passed each other back and forth for the final transfer spot. Gardner took it, then Stewart took it back! Stewart pulled away for two laps, then Gardner and Cole Martinez closed back in. It was too little, too late, as Stewart took the final transfer spot.

250 Race 1

Adam Cianciarulo gets the holeshot ahead of Jimmy Decotis, but Colt Nichols quickly got to second, and then Jacob Hayes got around Jimmy to takke third. Cianciarulo pulled away in first rhythm section and opened up a decent lead on the first few laps…until he crashed on the face of the wall jump. This put Nichols into the lead. Dylan Ferrandis didn’t get a great start but moved forward, around McElrath, around Hayes, and into second. Cianciarulo got up and made a power move on Decotis, then went after McElrath. McElrath got Hayes for third and then Cianciarulo gets by Hayes for fourth. McElrath would hold on for third, with Ferrandis second. Up front, Nichols had it under control to take the win.

Ken Rocen got the holeshot but Cooper Webb tucked inside to steal second and go after him, with Marvin Musquin third and Eli Tomac fourth. Then it’s Seely, Savatgy, Hill, Reed, and Anderson, while Brayton went down toward the back of the pack.

On the third lap Reed was trying to get around teammate Hill, when Anderson snuck underneath to take the spots. Soon Justin Barcia was moving through the pack behind Anderson.

Tomac made an early moved on Musquin to take third, and then stalked Webb for second while they both kept Roczen close. 10 minutes later, though, Musquin caught back up to Tomac and then used his trademark jumping technique through the whoops to pass Eli back—who was skimming.

At mid pack, Blake Baggett tried to get inside of Vince Friese, snagged a tuff block cover and saw his bike immediately come to a stop. That ruined his race.

Webb kept stalking, kept stalking, kept stalking Roczen. With two to go he got on Roczen’s fender, and on the last lap he started looking to make a move. The crowd came to life as they came battling through the final set of rhythms, and Roczen bobbled, and Webb shot past. Roczen squared him up in the next corner to get side-side-side, setting up a battle into the final bowl turn. Webb checked up, held him off, and charged through to the checkers to get the win. Roczen was second and Musquin third.

250 Race 2

Nichols and Ferrandis powered into turn one together, with Nichols controlling it for the lead. McElrath, Blose and Hampshire were next, and then Mosiman and Cianciarulo.

Not much was happening early, but Mosiman bobbled at the halfway point, allowing Cianciarulo to pass him. Then Ferrandis picked it up and started stalking his teammate Nichols for the lead. Nichols inched away again, but then bobbled in the whoops. Ferrandis got close, and Nichols tipped over in the next corner, handing the lead to his teammate. McElrath also slid through for second.

With two to go Cianciarulo crashed and had to ride between rhythm lanes to get back on the track. That dropped him to 12^th.

Ferrandis hung on to take the win, and will now lead the standings with 3 points heading into the final race via a 2-1. Nichols has 4 with a 1-3 and McElrath 5 with a 3-2.

450 Race 2

Webb sliced inside in turn one, just like in the first race, and grabbed the holeshot. Seely was second and Marvin stuffed inside of Anderson on the second lap to take third. Anderson was then passed by Roczen and Barcia.

Up front, Webb was steady in the lead, with Musquin getting around Seely for second, and Roczen closing from fourth. Seely then jacked up the long rhythm lane, and Roczen blew by for third. Roczen started putting heat on Musquin for second when he threw it away in the whoops. He got back on track just ahead of Dean Wilson in eighth.

Anderson was having a strange race. After getting zapped by Barcia and Roczen, Tomac nearly made the move on him, but Anderson got fired up and pulled back away! This put him in fourth, ahead of a huge battle with behind him Roczen, Seely and Tomac.

But it wasn't over! Anderson faded again and Tomac and Roczen got back around him. 

Musquin made some runs at Webb but with two to go he made a mistake in a rhythm and allowed Webb to pull a small gap. Went held on to take the win and 1-1 scores heading into race three. Could we be looking at a Barcia-Baggett-Webb winner trio for the first three races of the year? Quite possibly.

Musquin was second, and Barcia a solid third. Then Tomac fourth and Roczen fifth.

Seely had a strong first few laps, but then it fell apart for a few laps, and he ended up behind Anderson in seventh.

250 Race 3

Great start again for Nichols, but Sean Cantrell showed some aggression and moved inside to take the lead. It was short lived, because half a lap later Cantrell jacked up a rhythm lane badly while leading, which led to a scary moment while Cianciarulo tried to avoid landing on him. He managed to go left, just miss him, and bounce through with the lead. Nichols was second, but McElrath got by him for the spot, ahead of Blose and Ferrandis.

By holding second, McElrath held the overall lead, but he was on fire and went after Cianciarulo for the race lead, and got it. He needed to, because Ferrandis was flying and battled his way past teammate Nichols for third. He kept charging, stalking Cianciarulo for second, with the overall hanging in the balance. He challenged the Kawasaki man and even got next to him, but couldn’t complete the pass, and then Cianciarulo pulled back away. Ferrandis gave it one last-ditch effort to catch Cianciarulo again on the last lap, but he couldn’t get there. With the race win and 3-2-1 scores, McElrath collects his first win of the season.

450 Race 3

It was crazy intense early in this one, with Tomac grabbing the holeshot and Webb using his inside turn move again to get to second. Bar banging ensued after that, with Jason Anderson bumping Chad Reed for third, Reed bumping back, then Anderson getting slowed and bumping Blake Baggett, which sent both Anderson and Baggett off the track.

So Tomac led Webb and Musquin, and Reed was feisty. Roczed passed him in the whoops, but Reed came right back across the start straight and re passed him to reclaim fourth.

Musquin then passed Webb for second, but Webb still stood in control of the overall.

Justin Barcia crashed at the halfway mark and had to be taken off the track by the Alpinestars medics.

The race settled in late, with Tomac, Musquin and Webb locking in the top three ahead of Roczen and Reed.

With the third, Webb grabbed the overall victory with 1-1-3 scores. It's an incredible start to the season, with two brand-new winners in back-to-back races.