In other 450SX news, tonight’s racing will unfold without Chad Reed and Justin Brayton (Ben LaMay is filling in for Brayton), who were both injured last week early in the 450SX main event. For a complete list of who’s in and who’s out in Houston, go here. 

In 250 action Dylan Ferrandis took his first 250SX win of his career in Seattle, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Had Adam Cianciarulo won he would have boosted his lead to eighteen points over Ferrandis with just three 250SX West rounds remaining. Instead, Ferrandis now trails Cianciarulo by twelve points. That’s certainly a larger gap than Ferrandis would like, but it’s much better for him than the alternative. Elsewhere in the class both Michael Mosiman and Chris Blose, who went fourth and fifth last week, are coming off season best rides. For Mosiman, fourth is a career best. We’ll see if they’re able to keep things clicking tonight in Houston. Colt Nichols DNF’d the 250SX main event last week after crashing and lacerating his thigh. He’s bruised up but plans on racing tonight. Shane McElrath has been dealing with back problems and will not be racing in Houston.

The track, which seemed a little drier than normal during track walk, has three rhythm lanes, two whoop sections, an over/under bridge, and a sand section. It does not reuse the start stretch, so there won’t be a long straightaway tonight. The whoops aren’t tiny by any means, but they’re not like the monsters we had last week in Seattle. They’re shorter in length too, and so far in free practice the guys seem to be skimming them without any major drama. Timed qualifying is just around the corner, so check back soon for a report on who's throwing down heaters in Houston.

Qualifying - Session One

Cameron McAdoo was fastest at first, but Dylan Ferrandis wasted no time in knocking McAdoo off the top with a 48.591. Adam Cianciarulo wasn’t far behind with a 48.598, but then Blose briefly snuck to the top with a 48.494. Adam Cianciarulo was then fastest, and at that point he and Ferrandis went back and forth at the top, each besting the other’s fastest lap multiple times until Cianciarulo would turn a 47.959, which ended up being the fastest lap of the first 250SX qualifier. Ferrandis  was second with a 48.162, and Blose and Mosiman, who took their best finishes of the season last week, were third and fourth fastest.

RJ Hampshire and Devin Harriman both lost their fastest laps due to exceeding the sound limit. Enzo Lopes is out for tonight after hurting his shoulder in untimed practice. 

When the 450s rolled out it was Cole Seely who fired the first shot, but his teammate Ken Roczen took over with a 48.674. Cooper Webb threw down a 48.447, but qualifying then came to a temporary stop when AJ Catanzaro crashed hard in the beginning of a rhythm lane. He spent several moments lying down, and when he tried to get up he took a few unsure steps and sunk back to the dirt. He eventually left, sitting up, in the back of the Alpinestars Medical Mule. When qualifying resumed it was Eli Tomac up front with a 47.580, with Dean Wilson not too far back with a 47.725. Then Roczen came roaring back with a 47.386. At this point there was just enough time on the clock for Tomac to get one more lap in. He tried to make it a fast one but he had to slow up when the medical flag came briefly. Roczen’s 47.386 held for the fastest time of the session.

Blake Baggett, John Short, and Jared Lesher lost their fastest laps after exceeding the sound limit.

Qualifying – Session Two

Not surprisingly, Dylan Ferrandis came out of the gate quick in this one, but so did Adam Cianciarulo, and the two were evenly matched early on. In fact, just a few laps into it the two were only separated by a thousandth of a second! Late in the session Cianciarulo uncorked a bit more speed and ended up logging a 47.431.

Afterward Cianciarulo mentioned getting through the first set of whoops quickly as being key to logging a fast lap, and referenced the sand as one of the tougher sections on the track. That particular section claimed a number of riders too. Jacob Hayes, Dylan Ferrandis, and later in 450SX, Marvin Musquin, Alex Ray, and Zach Osborne all had crashes in the sand. All the crashes occurred in the vicinity of a roller the track crew added on the inside between practices. Speaking of crashes, Jimmy Decotis  had one of his own when his front wheel washed in a fast, flat right-hander. It was several moments before he was able to get back up, but when he did he looked okay.

In 450 action Justin Hill was fast at first, but Eli Tomac displaced him with a 47.651on his sixth lap. Dean Wilson was able to best that with a 47.438. Tomac tried to respond with a fast lap just as time was running out, but he had to check up when the yellow flags came out in the sand section when Zach Osborne went down. Wilson would end up fastest, but it wasn’t quite enough to beat Roczen’s time from the first 450 qualifier. Just like Cianciarulo, Wilson talked about the sand section being one of the tougher sections of the track.

“The sand section is really tough, especially on a fast lap,” Wilson said. “One little mistake is so costly. When you jump the wall in front of the sand you just have to hope you land in a good line.”

In terms of multiple options in the rhythm lanes, there just aren’t a whole lot of varying lines today. A bunch of the riders, both 250SX and 450SX, started tripling into a rhythm lane instead of doubling, but it wasn’t anything mind blowing. In another section some guys were jumping to the backside of a tabletop and doubling out, while others were landing on top of the tabletop, shooting to the backside of the next jump and singling out. There didn’t appear to be a major difference, but we’ll see what happens when the gates start dropping tonight.

250SX LCQ

Eleven riders lined up for the 250SX LCQ, but it wasn’t long before the field was thinned even more. After Vann Martin took the holeshot four riders had gone down within three turns!  After the crashing died down it was Vann Martin, Brandan Leith, Killian Auberson, and Mathias Jorgensen holding qualifying positions. Devin Harriman wasn’t too far out and could see fourth place about half a lane ahead of him and was desperately trying to close within striking distance. Martin Castelo, who’d gone down early, was on the move though and took fifth away from Harriman and went after Jorgensen for the final qualifying position. But then Martin, who was leading, went down at the end of the whoops section all by himself just as he was about to begin the final lap. Castelo ended up passing Jorgensen, then got passed back by Jorgensen in the final turn, but both qualified for the main events in tonight’s Triple Crown.

450SX LCQ

Austin Politelli blasted out of the gate and into the lead right away in this one. Behind him transfer spots were held by Carlen Gardner, Adam Enticknap, and Casey Brennan. Enticknap quickly took over second place and closed big time on Politelli when Politelli blew a rhythm lane, but Politelli stretched it back out, leaving first through third pretty spaced out. A battle was raging for fourth between Ryan Breece and Scott Champion, but Breece went down and Champion got caught up in the carnage. That put Charles Lefrancois in fourth. John Short was reeling Lafrancois in on the final lap but made a few mistakes and ultimately ran out of time.

250SX – Main Event One

When the first gate of the night dropped it was Cameron McAdoo who shot out to the lead, but he tangled with a Tuff Block and went off the track. When he got going again he found himself in dead last. That handed the lead to Adam Cianciarulo, with Jimmy Decotis and RJ Hampshire in tow. Decotis was hanging right with Cianciarulo, but he got sideways jumping into the sand section and landed crooked. He saved it but went off the track and lost a few seconds to Cianciarulo, and found himself under fire from Hampshire. After several laps of fierce battling Decotis relinquished the spot to Hampshire.

Ferrandis didn’t get a great start and was in seventh after one lap. He battled forward though and about halfway through had moved up to fourth. He kept charging and was able to pick up Decotis for third with about two minutes left in the race. Then, with about thirty seconds left, Ferrandis looked like he was going to put a move on Hampshire for second but Hampshire hung on to the position. Ferrandis was finally able to block Hampshire with one lap left, but Hampshire refused to let Ferrandis off the hook. He shadowed Ferrandis all the way to the line, but wasn’t quite close enough to try anything. Cianciarulo won by almost eight seconds, with Ferrandis, Hampshire, Michael Mosiman, and Colt Nichols rounding out the top five. Decotis wound up in sixth after running second.

450SX – Main Event One

Ken Roczen and Cooper Webb came into the first turn at almost the exact same time in this one but Roczen was able to take sole possession of the lead. Dean Wilson then went by Webb, shuffling the Red Bull KTM rider back to third. Musquin was next to go by Webb, but Webb stayed right on Musquin’s rear wheel. Webb came back in the whoops and bumped Musquin in the following corner. Moments later Webb got into Musquin again, this time right before the sand section, which sent Musquin off the track. Musquin managed to save it but lost a spot to Eli Tomac. With seven minutes to go Tomac was all over Webb, but always seemed to be half a bike length out of striking distance. After a while Webb stretched it out a bit on Tomac, who then found himself under fire from Musquin with about three minutes left. As the two were exiting a rhythm lane Musquin pulled up next to Tomac and tried to block him in a left-hander, only to have Tomac cut back down and blitz down the whoops next to him. Musquin was able to get him in the next corner, but then went off the track and crashed later as he and Wilson were exiting the whoops before the finish line.

Speaking of Wilson, he ran second for most of this race, but Webb was able to take over the spot after the two put on a tremendous battle. Wilson had an opportunity to park Webb in a left-hander after Webb finally made the pass but opted not to. Up front it was Ken Roczen, who won by just over eight seconds. Webb took second, with Wilson, Cole Seely, and Marvin Musquin rounding out the top five. Tomac took sixth after getting passed at the very last second by Musquin. How close was it? Musquin crossed the line less than five hundredths of a second ahead of Tomac!

250SX – Main Event Two

If you were hoping for a wild race, this one delivered! There was all kinds of bumping going on as the pack rocketed into the first turn with Cameron McAdoo, Jacob Hayes, and Adam Cianciarulo all going off the track. Cianciarulo didn’t go down and got going again in about mid-pack. McAdoo and Hayes weren’t so lucky. McAdoo rejoined the race in close to last, and Hayes, who’s riding with a hurt hand, had to take a few moments before he was able to regroup and get back on the bike. Later, Cianciarulo tangled with Sean Cantrell and went down after the over/under bridge. It was a blind area for oncoming traffic and it took Cianciarulo forever to retrieve his bike and get rolling again. In fact, he got hit in the process!

Up front Chris Blose was leading, but Dylan Ferrandis got into him in the turn right before the finish line jump. Blose went down and Ferrandis roosted way with the lead. There was so much craziness going on it was almost impossible to keep track of it all, and in what seemed like the snap of your fingers the race was already half over.  Things had stabilized somewhat at this point, with Ferrandis holding a comfortable lead over RJ Hampshire and Colt Nichols. Cianciarulo was running fourteenth but was still moving forward. When the checkered flag flew he’d managed to salvage a tenth.

450SX – Main Event Two

Ken Roczen’s race was ruined before the pack even made it to the front turn, as something happened to him and he went tumbling hard, narrowly avoiding getting run over. He got back on and completed one lap, but that was it for Roczen and he rolled out of the tunnel and back to the pits with his mechanic.

Up front it was Cooper Webb, who didn’t take long to start stretching out a lead over Dean Wilson in second place. Wilson was riding well, but ended up getting shuffled back to fourth by Cole Seely and Marvin Musquin. That’s how the running order stayed for a while, but with about four minutes left Musquin took over second, and a few laps later Wilson got back by Seely. Musquin was gaining on Webb ever so slightly, but with two laps to go he needed to make up about two-and-a-half seconds on Webb. Musquin picked up the pace even more and just when you thought he might be able to make something happen by the end, he bobbled in the sand, went off the track, and crashed on a Tuff Block. Webb won, followed by Wilson, Musquin, Seely, and Justin Bogle. Eli Tomac didn’t get a great start and was never a factor up front. He took seventh.

250SX – Main Event Three

There was another pileup in the first turn in this one involving Garett Marchbanks, Jacob Hayes, and more.  A few seconds later Adam Cianciarulo went down and dropped a ton of spots. Up front it was Colt Nichols and his teammate Dylan Ferrandis running first and second. RJ Hammpshire ran third, but was pretty much all by himself for most of the race. Cameron McAdoo started creeping up on Hampshire after the halfway point though, and before long he was only a few bike lengths off Hampshire. They teammates would end up having other problems, however, as Cianciarulo was ripping off fast  laps and closing fast. With just under a minute left Ciancicarulo sliced by McAdoo, then forced Hampshire wide in a right-hander to take over third. At this point Cianciarulo could see Ferrandis, but it was too much ground to make up in just one lap. Nichols took the win, followed by Ferrandis, Cianciarulo, Hampshire, and McAdoo. Hayes managed to claw back to tenth after going down in the first turn.

Cianciarulo ended up fourth overall, while his title rival, Ferrandis, took first. As a result, Cianciarulo now leads Ferrandis by just five points with only two races remaining in the 250SX West Region.

450SX – Main Event Three

Joey Savatgy holeshot this one but Marvin Musquin took the lead almost immediately started checking out. Webb, who started around fifth, made some quick moves to get around Eli Tomac and Joey Savatgy to move into third. Tomac wasn’t done though, and soon he and Webb got bunched up behind Zach Osborne in second. The three were so close at times they were all in the air at the same time over some of the jumps. But, as close as they were they all managed to keep it clean. It continued on like this for quite a while until both Webb and Tomac were able to slip by Osborne, who was unable to maintain their pace. Tomac then went on the offensive, leaping past Webb as the two exited the whoops. Webb, fully aware the pass was coming, checked up and cut back down in a slick move to take second place right back. Tomac wasted no time in running it in on Webb in the next corner though and this time the move stuck. Webb seemed content to let Tomac go at that point, and Tomac quickly stretched out a few seconds on the Red Bull KTM rider. 

With about three minutes left Musquin had about four seconds on Tomac, and the gap would continue to grow as the race wound down. Back in fourth Osborne had closed back on Webb a bit but needed to make up about two seconds on the final lap. It would prove to be too much of a gap for Osborne to erase, and he had to settle for fourth. Musuqin won by nearly seven seconds, with Tomac, Webb, Osborne, and Dean Wilson filling the top five.