450SX First Timed Practice

Honda HRC’s Cole Seely rerecorded the fastest lap through the first three laps, before Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac finished at the top of the board. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Dean Wilson recorded the second fastest lap, followed by Seely and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy.

“I’m liking it, I’m feeling good,” said Tomac. “Track has the right amount of moisture in it right now. There are some ruts but nothing over the top—it’s just a good track right now.”

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne down exiting the whoops section and Cole Martinez went down hard as well before being helped off the track by the medical staff.

250SX East Second Timed Practice

Troy Lee Designs KTM’s Jordon Smith recorded the fastest few laps early on and battled with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit’s Austin Forkner and GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton for the top time in the final qualifying session of the day. But when the session was done, Sexton finished on the top of the board.

“I was fifth in the first session and that’s not good enough,” said Sexton. “I didn’t know if my lap was good enough to be first, Austin [Forkner] is doing that triple right by the finish and I’m not doing it yet. The whoops are pretty ate up right now, but I got a good line in the there and I think that helped me in my fast lap. I’m looking forward to having some skim whoops tonight.  I’m looking forward to the Triple Crown and the three 10-minute mains. I think the first one will be an all-out sprint, and the other two will be who makes the least mistakes.”

Forkner, who triple-quaded in the split section in practice yesterday, did so again this session. He also tripled-singled the section before the finish line jump, something no one else had tried.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Thomas Covington is out tonight with a knee injury. Covington tweaked his knee last weekend and gave it a try earlier today and will not return to race tonight.

450SX Second timed Practice

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac finished on the top of the board in the second practice session. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Dean Wilson and Smartop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda’s Justin Brayton finished behind Tomac, and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Joey Savatyg and Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen rounded out the top five.

“We’re putting ourselves in the right positions, the gate picks will be key, so we are off to a great start,” Tomac said.

We saw riders trying the different lanes in the split section: a handful of riders opted to go through the right section and triple-quad and a handful of riders opted to go to through the left section and triple-quad. While the top variation was mostly triple-quad in both sections, the right section features a lower, softer landing than the left section. Earlier today, the Dirt Wurx track crew changed the right section’s last jump from a true, tall landing to more of a soft, lower bump that seems to be a softer landing (compared to the landing of the quad variation in the left section) if the jump is cased.

Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb tripled-singled the double-double section into the finish line that Forkner had done in the 250SX East practice. Webb also double-double-singled the two-tabletop section that we had seen usually been double out of the turn jump-on jump-off into the turn. Several riders in this session tried this variation through the section—watch for the riders to use this line tonight in the main events.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne, who went down in the whoops in the earlier practice session, returned and finished in 13th in qualifying. Honda HRC’s Cole Seely, who was blasted by a rock in the earlier session, only did two slow laps in this session, although he finished in sixth from his fastest time in the earlier qualifying session, his status is currently unknown.

250SX East region LCQ

Wilson Fleming struggled earlier in the day after going down in the second timed practice but bounced back to take the first spot in the 250SX East LCQ. Fleming was followed by Chase Marquier, Lorenzo Locurcio, and Justin Thompson, who will advance to tonight’s program.

450SX LCQ

AJ Catanzaro grabbed the holeshot and led all the laps of the 450SX LCQ, grabbing himself a spot in tonight’s main events. Catanzaro worked up a lead early and although he lost some of his lead at the end, he was able to hang on to claim the first transfer spot. Carlen Gardner, Kyle Chisholm, and Ryan Breece rounded out the top four spots and will all advance into tonight’s program. 

This just in: Cole Seely is out for tonight's race. He was fast in practice today but was then hit in the chest by a rock (from roost). He tried to go out for the final practice and rolled for two laps, then pulled back in. At 6:50 p.m. we received word from Honda HRC that Seely was out for the night show.

250SX East Region Race 1

Forkner takes the holeshot and battled early with Smith. Smith and Martin Davalos both started to triple-single into the finish line, like Forkner had been doing, but despite that, Forkner continued to pull way. Justin Cooper passed Davalos in the split rhythm section, as Davalos went to the right and Cooper went to the left. Cooper’s line was faster as that left side appears to be lower and therefore quicker.

Cooper started to close a bit on Sexton and Smith, who were battling back and forth for third place throughout the race, but Forkner built a 10 second lead over the two. On the last lap, Sexton went hard into the whoops trying to pass Smith but went off the track and had to go around the last berm—which resulted in Cooper passing Sexton to claim third place. Sexton returned to the track to finish fourth. 

Forkner took the win over Smith with Cooper rounding out the podium.

450SX Race 1

Justin Brayton got the holeshot and charged ahead of the pack early. He was followed by Blake Baggett, Chad Reed, and Cooper Webb. Roczen battled Webb for fifth early on and Eli Tomac, who came through lap one in 11th, battled his way past Justin Barcia. Barcia got Tomac back within the next lap but Barcia bobbled in a turn and Tomac capitalized, getting back around Barcia for good. 

Tomac was on fire and continued to battle through the pack. He used the quad  through the split lane and a slick cut down in the big 180 after it to make one pass after another. He kept picking riders off, getting Baggett and then Reed to get into podium position. Just as the white flag was about to wave, Tomac caught up to Brayton, the race leader. Tomac then passed Brayton, who had led the first 15 laps, and Tomac led the last two laps to take the top spot when the checkered flag waved.

“Had a lot of work to do, but I feel really good,” said Tomac. “Track had a lot of good lines, split rhythm section and then cutting under in the next corner. That was a lot of fun. That line saved me because I was definitely buried.”

Brayton was second and Reed held on for a popular third.

"As long as I ride like that I don't care where I finish," said Reed with a smile. "Having a lot of fun out there."

Lots of back and forth battles and we saw some of the riders switch up their lines, changing from the right to the left split section. We saw a few riders triple-single into the finish line, but that stopped about halfway through the race. However, we did see the riders continuing to triple-quad in the split section. 

250SX East Region Race 2

Smith takes the holeshot and had the lead early, but then Forkner got around him on the turn after the huge triple section when Smith got on the gas too soon and went squirrely, giving Forkner just enough time to pass by. Sexton didn’t get a good start but was in fifth early on. Forkner started to pull away from the pack immediately after passing Smith.

Sexton set the fastest lap time early, as he was quicker than the four riders ahead of him, and he was catching Martin, Smith, and Davalos. Up front, with no one bother him except lapped riders, Forkner would then set sail, finishing over six seconds ahead of Smith.

Sexton was able to get Martin for third, but then bobbled and Martin got him back to steal third back—that's back-to-back races where Sexton made a mistake that cost him third place.

450SX Race 2

Webb grabbed the holeshot and lead early. Savatgy, Wilson, Tomac, and Musquin were the top five through the first lap, and right behind that Reed battled Justin Brayton in the 180-bowl turn before the split section. Reed then triple-quadded through the right section past Justin Brayton, who was in the left section, and came into the next 180-bowl turn to get the inside line on Wilson, who was just in front of the two going into the split section.

Up front, Savatgy closed in on Webb but Tomac was coming. Tomc passed his teammate in the whoops, then on the next lap, he passed Webb in the turn following the whoop section and get a nice lead of his own. Then he pulled away from everyone—this looked like the Tomac we have seen over the last two years: catching and blowing past everyone in front of him.

Musquin was in the top four but bumped the back of Savatgy in the turn following the finish line jump and went off his bike. In the process, he dropped one spot to Reed, who took over fourth. Kyle Chisholm went down in the turn following the dragon’s back. We’ve got Alex Ray up in the press box with a team headset (no, we have no idea why either) and he got the word that Chizz’s bike was a little bent up but he is okay.

With Tomac and Webb secure in the top two spots, Musquin battled back through, getting around Reed for fourth and then challenging Savatgy in a big battle for third. Savatgy held on to make it two Monster Energy Kawasaki riders on the podium.

250SX East Region Race 3

Austin Forkner took the holeshot in the final race of the night, edging out Chase Sexton early on. Sexton was off to a better start than the last race and it looked like we would finally have a tight battle between Forkner and Sexton, but Sexton had a slight slip up in the turn following the finish line jump then Forkner ran away—again. Sexton was solid through the rest of the night, but he wasn’t making up any time on Forkner because of how smooth Forkner was. We didn’t see anything sketchy from Forkner in practice like we did the first two rounds, and we didn’t see him slip up really at all during the night show—except casing the huge triple before the whoops once, just enough for Smith to sneak by and lead for a few sections. (This slip up allowed for Smith to finish the first lap in first place, which was the first time anyone other than Forkner has led a lap in the 250SX East Region so far). Justin Cooper and Mitchell Oldenburg battled for sixth through side-by-side through the split section. Cooper would pass Alex Martin and eventually finish in third.

450SX Race 3

Blake Baggett gets the holeshot in the final race of the night. Wilson was next to Tomac in the gates and bumped him back—not the start Tomac wanted. Through the first lap, Tomac was in 12th. Baggett and Barcia battled back and forth for the top position, which Barcia got on lap six. When Barcia got the lead, Baggett fell to third and Webb moved into second—at the same time Barcia took the lead, Tomac was in 11th. Unlike last week, when Tomac was outside of the top three and went backwards, Tomac worked his way up to sixth. Savatgy was in fourth through lap seven, but he fell trying to get around Baggett in a turn and dropped to 15th by the time he came across to start the next lap.

Bam-Bam would lead for five laps until Webb would take over on lap 11. When Barcia dropped to third, he battled Wilson and Roczen. On the next lap, Wilson and Roczen got together in the turn before the whoop section and Wilson went down, dropping back to 12th. Baggett stayed close to Webb and made a hard charge at the very end of the last lap—mostly the whoops section, last turn and the doubles into the finish line—but Webb held it off. With Tomac’s sixth place finish, he earned the overall victory for the night.