Welcome to the Racer X Race Day Feed, coming to you from the season opener in Angel Stadium of Anaheim. From practice reports to the blow-by-blow from tonight’s program, you’ll find it all right here. Updates are posted in chronological order, so be sure to scroll down for the latest info. For even more updates be sure to follow us on Twitter, @Racerxonline.

Morning Report

It’s finally here. After weeks and weeks of bench racing, asking questions, and arguing, the first gate of the season is set to drop this evening, unleashing a highly anticipated season of 2020 Monster Energy Supercross. We’ve been going over the different scenarios that could play out this season for weeks, and there’s still no shortage of things to think about. However, the time for talking and debate has ended—today is all about action. Today Cooper Webb begins his 450SX title defense, Jason Anderson launches his campaign to regain what was once his, and Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen will once again attempt to take the first step toward the elusive 450SX championship that has somehow eluded them both for so many years. And with so many other riders like Adam Cianciarulo, Blake Baggett, Aaron Plessinger, Justin Barcia, Justin Brayton, Malcolm Stewart, Zach Osborne, Dean Wilson, Chad Reed, and plenty more all set to play their part in tonight’s two-wheeled battle, the stage is set for one hell of an opener.

The track tonight’s action will unfold on looks good too. There’s only one triple, which leaves more mileage for things like rhythm lanes and whoops, and there’s a sweeping left-hand sand section immediately following the over-under structure (the track doesn’t go under the structure tonight.) There are two whoop sections too, one of them long and one of them medium. The medium section, which consists of about nine whoops, looks like it has whoops that  are a little bigger than the longer section, which goes from roughly first base all the way to the right field foul pole. There are a few different options in the track’s four different rhythm lanes, and it’ll be interesting to see what options the guys start settling on. Untimed practice is just getting underway, so be sure to check back soon for an update on what’s happening here at the opener.

For a look at the Injury Report, go here. For a look at yesterday’s press conference, go here, or click here to read the highlights.

Qualifier One

To the surprise of nobody, defending 250SX West Champ Dylan Ferrandis came out of the gate swinging in the first 250 A qualifier of the season and set a fast time right away. From that point moving forward Ferrandis was in charge and even lowered his own time to a 58.624 later in the session. His teammate, Justin Cooper, was second fastest but was just a little of Ferrandis’ pace with a 59.331.

Jett Lawrence had a crash in this one in the whoops but was able to get going again without incident. He wasn’t the only one either, as both whoop sections claimed quite a few riders before the qualifier ended. Afterward Ferrandis praised the track in an on-track interview, saying it was awesome and the track crew had done a great job building it.

When the 450s rolled out it was Justin Hill who fastest initially, but Adam Cianciarulo displaced Hill’s 59.940 after a couple laps with a 58.183. Cianciarulo would go on to rule the rest of the session, eventually lowering his own time to a 57.296. Behind him Roczen was in second for quite a while but Jason Anderson took the spot as the qualifier was drawing to an end. 

Martin Davalos looked good in the whoops but it didn’t translate to a sizzling lap time, as he ended up fourteenth fastest. He also had a crash that sent his bike cartwheeling, eventually ending up a good fifty feet away. Fortunately Davalos was fine and was able to remount and get going again. Zach Osborne went down in the whoops and sat on the edge of the track for a few moments but was able to get going again. Defending champ Cooper Webb didn’t have any standout moments and ended up fifteenth fastest, far from where you’d expect him to be. We’ll see if he makes any adjustments and improves for the final qualifier.

Qualifier Two

Christian Craig kicked off the final 250 qualifying session of the day off by shooting to the top of the board with a 59.652, and would later lower it to 58.259. Dylan Ferrandis was on the move though and it didn’t take long for him to throw down a 57.834 and move to the top of the board. But then his teammate, Justin Cooper, lit the burners and busted out a 57.378, only to have Ferrandis answer back with an astonishing 56.765. The back and forth ended there, and Ferrandis’ 56.765 would hold until time ran out.

Austin Forkner had a nasty looking crash in the whoops laid on the dirt for a few moments before finally getting off the track. He looked pretty shaken up and didn’t rejoin the session, but he did end up walking out of the stadium under his own power. [Update: We checked with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki and Forkner is fine and will be racing tonight.]

In 450 action Justin Barcia briefly found himself on top initially with a 58.889. Eli Tomac then quickly spun a 57.832, only to see Adam Cianciarulo rip off a 56.854. Behind Cianciarulo the times were bouncing around quite a bit, with Ken Rozen, Tomac, Barcia, Jason Anderson, Justin Hill, and Justin Brayton all shoving their way in and out of the top five spots. As they all battled to lower their times, Cianciarulo did the same, dipping down to 56.453 on his fifth lap. Two laps later he managed to do to it again, this time dropping down to 56.169. He’d end the session with that time, with teammate Tomac about half a second back in position two. Stewart looked awesome in the whoops, and if they don't knock them down a bit before tonight's racing Stewart just might use them to make passes.

Early on it looked like Cooper Webb might have a better go of things when he was around the top five, but as the times steadily dropped Webb didn’t keep up. When time expired he was once again in fifteenth place. It’s enough to make you think Webb must be experiencing some sort of issue, as even on a bad day last season he was better than fifteenth.

250 Heat One

The first gate drop of 2020 resulted in a holeshot for Alex Martin with Austin Forkner and Justin Cooper giving chase. Before long the three started distancing themselves from Jacob Hayes who was alone in fourth in the beginning phases. Fireworks came a couple laps in when Cooper came in hot on the inside of Forkner, leaving Forkner on the ground. Cooper wasted no time in going after Martin and a couple turns later Cooper took over the lead and started checking out. Forkner, meanwhile, got up quickly and started working his way back up and in about a lap or so had sliced back up to third. Hayes found himself under heavy pressure from Derek Drake on the last two laps, and with about half a lap left Drake finally took over the spot. Cooper went on to win, followed by Martin, Forkner, Drake, Hayes, Jett Lawrence, Jay Wilson, Robbie Wageman, and Derek Kelley rounding out the transfer positions.

250 Heat Two

The second holeshot of the night went to Christian Craig, but defending 250SX West Champ Dylan Ferrandis immediately took over the lead. Craig latched on to Ferrandis for a little but it wasn’t long before Ferrandis started inching away. In third was Cameron Mcadoo all by himself, with a Brandon Hartranft and Luke Clout about six seconds behind. Back in tenth was Mitch Oldenburg who was working on Martin Castelo for the final transfer spot. When Oldenburg made a move on Castelo, Castelo didn’t put up a fight and Oldenburg took off. Ferrandis took the win, with Craig, McAdoo, Hartranft, Clout, Killian Auberson, Michael Leib, Oldenburg, and Carson Brown taking the remaining transfer spots.

450 Heat One

Ryan Breece came extremely close to nabbing the holeshot on his Suzuki, but he was pushing so hard he lost it and slid out, igniting a pileup and handing the lead to Justin Brayton. Aaron Plessinger was in the pileup too and after rolling the first lap he went into the mechanic’s area before riding out of the stadium and back to the pits. Eli Tomac also had a small issue and went off the track briefly but he recovered quickly and started charging in about sixth. Behind Brayton Vince Friese was desperately trying to fend off Ken Roczen, but his attempts were futile and Roczen went around Friese with about two minutes left. Tomac, meanwhile, was up into fifth and was all over Malcolm Stewart. Finally Tomac came in hot in a left-hander on Stewart and Stewart got the worst of it and ended up on the dirt. That’s as far as Tomac would get though, as Friese had a big enough gap he wasn’t in danger. Brayton won, with Roczen, Friese, Tomac, Martin Davalos, Blake Baggett, Stewart, Chris Blose, and Kyle Chisholm taking the final transfer spots. Chad Reed was in this one but got caught up in a first-turn crash and could only work up to twelfth.

450 Heat Two

Zach Osborne shot out to the early lead but he had some heat on him in the form of Justin Barcia and Adam Cianciaurlo, who’d sliced through several riders in just the first lap. Barcia was able to get around Osborne for the lead, and a moment later Justin Hill took Cianciarulo wide in a corner and ran him off the track. Cianciarulo hit some Tuff Blox but saved it and got back on the track in fifth. A lap later he gently took Cooper Webb wide in a turn, blocked him, and went after Hill. Cianciarulo dogged Hill for a few turns, then pushed him wide, forcing to come to nearly a complete stop to avoid going off the track.

The action kept coming in this one when Osborne got a little out of shape, hit a Tuff Block, and had a nasty crash off the side of the track. He looked dazed at first but was able to walk back to his bike and rejoin the race far out of a transfer spot. With two laps left there was a huge battle for third between Hill, Webb, and Jason Anderson. Anderson lost a bit of time, but Webb and Hill continued to go at it, banging each other in turns and scrapping hard. Webb finally lined up a  pass in the whoops and blitzed by Hill as the crowd roared their approval. Barcia took the win, while Cianciarulo, Webb, Hill, Anderson, Justin Bogle, Dean Wilson, Fredrik Noren, and James Decotis took the rest of the transfer spots.

250 LCQ

Michael Mosiman took the lead in this one and didn’t look back. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t action though, as Aaron Tanti got sideways in a rhythm lane and left Martin Castelo nowhere to go. Castelo plowed into him like a train hitting a car on the tracks and bikes flew through the air as both riders went down hard. They were on the side of the track for a while but were both eventually able to walk off on their own.

In the race Mitchell Falk ran a lonely second, Logan Karnow held down third, while Taiki Koga and Chris Howell scrapped for the final transfer spot. Howell was really close to making a move on Koga a few times, but Koga responded and inched back out on Howell. Then Howell blitzed the whoops hard, nearly made the pass, and bobbled, allowing Koga some breathing room yet again. With one lap remaining you knew something was going to happen, and with one more run through the whoops Howell went super wide to get a good run. He didn’t end up making the pass there, but Koga left the door open just a little bit in the final turn and Howell took advantage. The two banged and Howell sent it hard over the finish line to take the final spot and cased it hard on the landing. All's well that ends well though, at least for Howell.

450 LCQ

Zach Osborne got the holeshot in this one with Chad Reed right on him. Reed tried a move almost immediately but Osborne didn’t allow him by and started inching away. Behind Reed was Kyle Cunningham, with Ryan Breece not far back. The man to watch was Aaron Plessinger, who’d gotten a bad start and was forced to rip through the field. With a couple minutes to go he was in sixth stuck behind Tyler Bowers, but finally he slid up the inside and went by and started chasing Breece for the final spot. Breece fought hard, but Plessinger was too strong. Next on Plessinger’s hit list was Cunningham, but Cunningham held tough well into the final lap when Plessinger lined up a pass in the whoops. But then Plessinger bobbled and Bowers closed on the two in an instant. A three-rider brawl ensued, with Bowers and Plessinger barely edging out Cunningham in a battle that went all the way to the line. Osborne won, with Reed, Bowers, and Plessinger advancing to the main.

250SX Main Event

The 250SX Main got off with a bang when Austin Forkner and Justin Cooper started right next to each other and went into the first rhythm lane side-by-side. Cooper took command of the lead, but he left Forkner the opportunity to clean him out in the exact same place Cooper had taken out Forkner in their heat race. Forkner opted to keep it clean though and waited a few turns before cutting by Cooper. Forkner dropped the hammer at that point in an effort to get away from Cooper. Not too far back were Christian Craig and Michael Mosiman. Ferrandis, who’d been fast all day, hadn’t gotten a great start and was working his way through the field and had made it up to fifth in a couple laps. Mosiman fell to Ferrandis’ charge next, although Ferrandis had a scary moment in the whoops when it looked like his feet were off the pegs the whole way through. Craig was Ferrandis’ next target, and with eight laps remaining the Frenchman was all over Craig. The pass finally came when Ferrandis took a different option than Craig in a rhythm lane.

Up front meanwhile, Cooper had reeled Forkner back in and was nearly within striking distance. The crowd could sense blood in the water, but just when it seemed like an attack was only a few turns away, Forkner dialed up the heat and logged a lap about a second faster than Cooper, which handed Forkner some breathing room. The fastest rider on the track was Ferrandis though, and with about five minutes left you could see the gap to the leaders slowly start shrinking as Ferrandis continued his blistering run. Turns out Forkner never had to face Ferrandis though, as Forkner got too close to a Tuff Block when landing off a jump and came to a complete stop. He didn’t go down, but he lost a couple spots and ended up cutting a section of the track when he got going again.  A penalty will probably be assessed due to that move.

Cooper and Ferrandis were into some pretty heavy traffic at this point and Cooper seemed to be getting the better of it, as Ferrandis’ furious charge seemed to have slowed slightly. Cooper ended up taking the win by about two-and-a-half seconds over Ferrandis. Forkner finished third, but stay tuned, a penalty may be issued later.

[Update: Forkner was penalized two spots for cutting the track.]

450 Main Event

You couldn't have asked for much more from an opening race. Vince Friese holeshot but Justin Barcia was all over him. In about half a lap Barcia had gone around Friese and started sprinting away while guys like Justin Brayton and Adam Cianciarulo took a bit of time to get around Friese. Ken Rozcen was in about fifth, while Eli Tomac had had a poor start and was mired in about tenth. In second place Brayton was struggling to hold off Cianciarulo, but after a few laps the rookie made a move stick and set off after Barcia, who had almost three seconds on him.

Cooper Webb, who hadn’t done well in qualifying at all, was circulating in fourth, just ahead of Ken Roczen, but was reeling in Brayton for third. Then, with just over twelve minutes to go the crowed exploded when Barcia made a mistake and went off the track in a rhythm lane. He didn’t crash but he lost a bunch of time and handed the lead over to Cianciarulo. Barcia wasn’t too far back of Cianciarulo, but a bobble in a whoop section later gave Cianciarulo even more room to play with. Back in third traffic was starting to stack up behind Brayton. Webb finally made it by and Brayton was left to deal with the heat from Roczen and Blake Baggett. Brayton later went down and lost a few spots.

Another electric moment took place up front with about five minutes left when Cianciarulo bobbled in a rhythm lane and Barcia came roaring back in and made the pass. After a couple laps Barcia had roughly three-and-a-half seconds on Cianciarulo. As the race wound down it became clear Cianciarulo wasn’t going to catch Barcia, leaving the Yamaha rider the luxury of completing the final lap with no pressure from behind. Cianciarulo took second, with Webb, Baggett, and Anderson rounding out the top five. Roczen slid slightly to sixth, while Tomac never got a run going and finished a puzzling seventh.