Welcome to Arlington, Texas for round seven of Monster Energy Supercross, continuing to hold steady as a parity-filled championship battle. Two points are all that separate Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb, Marvin Musquin and Eli Tomac at the top of the 450SX standings, the smallest margin ever for the top four at this stage of a season. Every years starts with a wide-open field, but ee’re getting darned close to halfway through this one, and the unpredictability remains. That’s exciting.

As for specifics in Arlington, it’s cold outside in the pits again, but the roof on the massive AT&T Stadium solves all problems. The track also features fresh dirt, and it looks prime. The dirt here varies year to year, we’ve seen rock-hard dusty power, concrete-like dirt or perfect, tacky soil. This 2019 version looks tacky, and ex-pro Jason Thomas tells us it’s about as good as he has seen it here since 2012.

The track features a few unique, ahem, features, like a split lane which leads to two different jumping rhythms. That’s cool, but alas, the teams will study the data and figure out which line is best. The other side of the stadium also offers two rhythms, but the fastest one is tricky, requiring a launch over the back of the berm where the track hooks onto the start. We’ll see what rhythms survive as the dirt begins to get rutted.

In 250SX East, Austin Forkner swept the proceedings at last weekend’s season opener, clocking the fastest practice times and then leading every lap of his heat and the main event. So he’s the rider to chase this weekend for round two. A rider to watch could be Justin Cooper, who was third last week. In the free practice early today, Forkner was pushing hard, but Cooper ended up notching the fastest time. Cooper is really good at timed practice, indoors and out. Also watch for Jordon Smith, who was second last weekend. It’s early so several names are also ready to breakout in the East championship chase.

We talked to Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy this morning. He led a lot of last week’s main event but made a few mistakes and went back to fourth. Joey told us that he’s learning how the tracks develop in the 450 class. He says for about six or seven laps, the tracks are pretty fresh, and then the ruts start forming, lines change, and plywood gets exposed in ways they don’t in the 250 class. He wishes he would have changed his line in a rhythm last weekend, and not rushed one other section, and those two things might have made a big difference in his results.

We'll have more as timed practice begins here in Texas.   

250 First Timed Practice

The track is already getting beaten up here, as the rich, soft soil is now becoming extremely rutted. The track crew worked the faces of some jumps before timed practice began, but the ruts in the corners are also crazy deep, and that will keep the riders on their toes, literally.

The Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha duo jumped to the top early, with Mitch Oldenburg leading Justin Cooper in the early times. Josh Osby cased a rhythm early and went down hard, but was able to get back up and continue riding.

Late in the session Austin Forkner was able to take the top time away from the Yamaha riders.

“With the ruts the corners kind of G-out a little bit, you don’t want to stand the bike up, so you’ve just got to be smooth through them, and that’s what I was trying to do,” said Forkner.

450 First Timed Practice

The track is even more rutted now, like super deep in the corners, and Justin Barcia rode well in those conditions to go to the top of the board. Then Eli Tomac and Justin Hill went to the top, and Barcia jacked up the wheel-tap before the finish and actually hit the tough blocks on the side of the track.

Eli Tomac briefly took the top time, but then Justin Hill, who didn’t even race last weekend and didn’t get back on a bike until Thursday this week, logged a flyer and actually led the times for the majority of the session. This layout is similar to Glendale, where Hill led the times in practice. Late in the session, Marvin Musquin jumped ahead of Hill to take the top time.  Time expired just before Hill had time to get in another quick lap. This gave Musquin the top time.

“I just made sure I put a whole lap together, really easy to make a mistake out there, the track is so challenging. Super tough," said Musquin. "There are ruts, narrow sections, and slippery areas."

250 Second Timed Practice

A pattern is developing in 250SX East practice. Austin Forkner and Justin Cooper keep battling for the top spot. Cooper was ahead for most of today’s first session until Forkner got in a late flyer. This time Forkner and his teammate Martin Davalos were on top for most of the way, but Cooper logged a good time on lap eight to take the second-best spot. Forkner still had the edge by about three tenths.

 “The ruts are so tough, it’s actually tougher than Minnesota last week,” Forkner told us. “They’re sticky. You have to land in them, and then the side knobs on your tires grab the sides, and the bike wants to pull you [left and right]. Really have to be smooth.”

 450 Second Timed Practice

Cole Seely stood atop the board for awhile in this one, but then Justin Hill, after rolling around for several laps, finally uncorked another one and went to the top. Two laps later, Cooper Webb snagged the top spot. Late in the session, Marvin Musquin, the fastest in the first session, logged a flyer to take third behind Webb and Hill.

Fourteen different riders were within a second in this session. That’s surprising since everyone says the ruts are making this track very challenging.

It was interesting to see the approach of Webb and Hill. Webb was all sharpness and aggression, while Hill was scrubbing and floating things. The track has a bunch of singles and wall jumps, so Webb would charge them and even over jump at times, while Hill would scrub it like he was on a BMX bike. But with the lap times so close between so many riders, and the track rutting up so badly, you can’t read too much into the practice times.

Hill told us earlier his rib injury [which kept him out of last week’s race] actually started with his huge crash in practice at Oakland, and then it didn’t heal since he kept riding to try to prepare for San Diego. Taking the Minnesota weekend off helped him feel better, and he knew by this week he’d be okay.

“Yeah the track is okay, but it’s going to breakdown a lot, the main event is going to be different,” said Webb, who is the fastest qualifier in 450SX for the first time in his career.   “Pretty cool to be up here and be first.”

 Also, a nod to Zach Osborne who was third-fastest for a lot of this session before Musquin bumped him in the final minutes. This is Zach’s first-ever 450SX, and his first race of the season after off-season shoulder troubles kept him out of the first six rounds. He was fourth fastest in this session. Seely, normally a better racer than qualifier, was fifth.

250 Heat Races

Mitch Oldenburg and Jordan Bailey battled for the lead, with Oldenburg locking down the top spot, soon to be challenged by his teammate Justin Cooper. Marshall Weltin had a good start and came in next on his Live It Extreme backed privateer KTM. Soon Alex Martin and Chase Sexton were on the move and moved into the third and fourth place spots.

Lorenzo Locurcio held the final transfer spot late in the race, with Ramy Alves behind him. Kyle Cunningham, who went down on lap two, put in a hard charge to steal tenth on the last lap from Alves but ran out of time trying to catch Locurcio for the final spot.

In heat two, Austin Forkner grabbed the holeshot but Jordon Smith ran it in on him to take the lead away on lap one. Forkner was then under pressure from his teammate Martin Davalos and making mistakes all over the place…but three laps in he settled down, smoothed out and started tracking Smith back down. On lap five, Forkner got past Smith in the whoops, but Smith retaliated with several inside lines, getting side-by-side several times in an attempt to regain the lead. They even used two different lines in the split lane, leading to two different rhythms. Smith refused to give up, still pushing Forkner hard on the final lap, but Forkner held on to take the win. Davalos was third. Josh Cartwright took the final transfer spot.

Could be a little drama coming in the LCQ, as Rockstar Energy Drink Husqvarna’s Thomas Covington, in his second supercross since moving back to the U.S., ended up 17^th.  

450 Heats

Ken Roczen grabbed the holeshot in Heat 1, but Joey Savatgy sliced inside to take the lead. Roczen fought back to retake the spot, and then Justin Hill shot past Savatgy to second. Roczen made a slight bobble and then Hill started making tracks toward him, closing up slightly on the Honda rider. Meanwhile, Zach Osborne had his welcome to the 450 class moment when he went down on lap one and found himself in dead last.

Hill bobbled in a rhythm lane on the fifth lap though, and that ended his pursuit of Roczen. Behind him, Dean Wilson was all over Joey Savatgy for third and then pulled the trigger with a pass right before the whoops. Two laps later, Savatgy came back and repassed Wilson in the exact same spot!

Osborne kept charging and moved past Kyle Chisholm for the final transfer spot. Chisholm pushed hard on the final lap and actually got inside of Osborne at one point and showed him a wheel, but Zacho hung on for the direct transfer to the main.

The fans came to life as Chad Reed grabbed the holeshot in the Heat 2—his first good start this season—but Cole Seely was all over him early and then took the lead away in a rhythm lane on lap two. Eli Tomac then got around Reed, and set about trying to catch Seely. He made up ground in inches not feet, closing a bit, but Seely did a good job maintaining a decent gap. As the white flag came up, Seely still had a few bike lengths, but Tomac then got close enough to show him a wheel. Seely hung on for the win.

250 LCQ

Covington grabbed the holeshot but TJ Albright got around to take the lead. Steven Clarke then passed Covington in the whoops for second and made his way past Albright to take the lead. Covington was locked in a battle with Ramy Alves and Kyle Cunningham, he bobbled and doubled a triple, and both riders got by him. Cunningham kept charging and moved past Clarke to take the lead in the whoops, while Alves locked in third. Jayce Pennington was charging hard late trying to take the final transfer spot from Albright. Pennington made the pass in a rhythm, Albright came back inside, then Pennington went for the block pass and went down himself! This allowed Albright to hold on for the final spot. 

450 LCQ

In the heat race, Tyler Bowers punted Justin Barcia hard in a corner. Neither rider made it to a transfer spot, and then Bowers was DQed for the night for rough riding. Barcia returned for the LCQ, took the lead from Ronnie Stewart and Alex Ray, and took off for the win. Ray and Kyle Chisholm then battled over second and third, with Scott Champion trying to get Stewart for the final transfer. Champion powered through the whoops and scrubbed the finish to get under Stewart and grab the spot as the white flag waved. But with two corners to go, Champion swapped in a rhythm lane and went down! This handed the final transfer spot back to Ronnie Stewart.

250 Main

Forkner grabbed the holeshot over Kyle Peters, Chase Sexton and Justin Cooper. Jordon Smith pulled a sweet pass on Cooper on lap three to take fourth, while Sexton tried to get Peters, and then finally found an opening. Alex Martin was making moves, but then fell.

On lap five, Forkner held a 2.3 second lead, but Sexton was closing actually taking three tenths out of that gap. Smith stood another two seconds back. Sexton closed further on the next two laps, getting it down to two seconds, but then Forkner stretched it back to 2.4 on lap 8. Sexton went to work again as Forkner began to approach lapped traffic, and got the gap down to 1.7….and then he stalled coming out of a corner, ending his bid for the lead, and handing second to Smith, and third to Cooper.

In the late stages, Smith kept the hammer down and started closing on Forkner. He got the lead down to 2.3 seconds with three laps left. Then Smith crashed in the whoops! This was a huge shakeup, as it allowed Cooper and Sexton to go past into second and third, and Davalos passed him for fourth as well. A lap later, Smith recovered and repassed Davalos for fourth. Davalos wasn’t having it and put in a big charge on the final lap to try to pass Smith back, and he brought Oldenburg right with him. Davalos tried in the final rhythm lane, but couldn’t make the pass, and then Oldenburg showed Davalos a wheel in the final corner but came up just short.

Forkner held on to win. In the practice sessions this year, Forkner has been on the ground several times, but in the mains he's making the fewest mistakes. 

“It was hard to break away,” said Forkner. “I did a really bad job breathing my first five laps. Seems crazy to have to focus on breathing, but I was focused so hard on fixing things from my heat race I forgot to breathe. I’m kinda not super pumped on that main event, but if that’s a not good race, and we win, I’ll take it."

“The way to keep going is to keep doing what I’m doing,” said Cooper of taking second. “My confidence is growing each week. Last year was a disaster for me in supercross, this is a long season and we’re still in the points hunt.”

“I felt super good on the bike, I was right behind Austin, but I made two super dumb mistakes,” said Sexton. “I want that win bad. The team made really good strides on the bike today, I felt really good but made two dumb mistakes. Podiums are great but I want to win."

450 Main

Roczen grabbed the holeshot but Tomac gots by, and Musquin followed him through for second. Roczen responded and quickly got Musquin back for second, followed by Savatgy, Baggett, Hill, Webb, Seely, Osborne, Reed and Plessinger. On lap three Webb shot past Hill, and Seely followed him.

On lap 4 things started to heat up as Musquin started pushing Roczen, and both closed up on Tomac for the lead. Roczen then got inside of Tomac after the finished line jump to take the lead on lap five, with Musquin right there. A lap later  Tomac was all over Roczen ttrying to get him back, but then he tucked the front and went down! By the time he got up, he was back to 7^th, with Osborne all over him. Osborne charged up next to Tomac in the whoops, but he had nowhere to go, tagged a tuff block, and went down.

It took awhile, but Baggett was finally able to get Savatgy for third, and then Webb followed him through.  

Tomac was struggling. He was passed by Wilson and then Hill, going to the back of the top ten. Webb kept charging forward, he passed Baggett for third and put in a bid to catch his teammate Musquin for second, while Musquin sat 2.3 seconds behind Roczen.

Then Webb caught fire. It was simply unbelievable ride, first catching Musquin (as Musquin closed on Roczen) and then figuring out a way to pass his teammate clean, without losing time to Kenny. Webb's charge continued, with three to go he even busted out a huge quad out of nowhere to draw up on Roczen’s rear fender. The crowd was going crazy, but then Roczen weathered the storm to pull a small lead back out. As the white flag waved, Webb closed back in, and Roczen was forced to deal with incredible pressure as he tried to get his first race win since 2017. Into the whoops they went, and with one turn remaining Webb drew alongside, then sliced inside in the last corner. He ran it in deep, but also gave Roczen room, leaving them in a drag race to the checkered flag. What an incredible finish—it was so close it was almost too close to call at the line, but Webb edged ahead, winning by .028 seconds, stealing victory in the final corner, his fourth win in seven races. Simply incredible--and very likely the closest finish in the history of supercross. Roczen finished second again, with Musquin third, Baggett and Savatgy rounding out the top five.