In 250SX West, Justin Cooper leads the points with 1-2 finishes of his own on a Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha. Austin Forkner won last week’s event after hitting tuff blocks while leading A1, and defending champ Dylan Ferrandis is in a hole after a first-lap crash last weekend. This will be a big race for the western front.

We’ll have the coverage here all day and night, so keep refreshing race day feed from now through Sunday morning!  

Free Practice

When 250A group free practice got underway, the track was very damp from over-watering in the morning. Jett Lawrence went to the top of the board early leading a GEICO Honda duo with his teammate Christian Craig. Craig was the first to bust out the large triple-triple before the supercross triple on the first base line helping him slide to the top of the board. Both sets of whoops and the dragons back before the finish line jump have been holding up and were creating some havoc for guys. Defending champion Dylan Ferrandis had a small tip-over but was quickly back up to speed. Austin Forkner went fastest with a few minutes in the session left, the first rider to go into the 54-second range. Craig was then able to top Forkner by a tenth before Lawrence again went to the top of the board just five thousandths faster. The session ended with the rookie out of Australia topping the time sheets with a 54.138 after laying down another late heater.

The 450A group was up next for their free practice, but not before the landing off the dragons back before the finish line was knocked down. That landing nearly caused a few 250SX riders to go over the bars. Once the green flag waved, Justin Barcia shot out to the front of the group still riding the confidence off his first two rounds. Eli Tomac hit the deck early with a tip over but he was quick to remount. Justin Brayton went to the top of the board early over Martin Davalos as the two led the field around. Justin Hill was the first man into the 53-second range as he put in a time with about four minutes left in the session. Adam Cianciarulo, keeping his perfect qualifying streak in tact, went to the top next beating Hill by three tenths. Tomac found his groove with a minute to go in the session and was able to go quicker than his teammate Cianciarulo as well. Cianciarulo responded by laying down a 52.852 that would see him end the session on top.

First Timed Qualifying Sessions

The first timed qualifying session of the day for the 250A group saw the GEICO Honda boys of Craig and Lawrence get out front early again. Ferrandis was quick to make amends from his fall in free practice and shot right to the top of the board. Lawrence snagged the lead back from Ferrandis right away. The whoops definitely were the make or break point of the lap with both sets being taller this week and appearing to break up some of the flow towards the end of the lap. Luke Clout made a minor error that caused him to fall on a small double in the rhythm lane before the first triple. Lawrence also fell before the first whoop section due to a high side but he was quick to run back to the bike and remount. Killian Auberson also hit the deck and appeared to be a bit shaken up but he would eventually continue on as well. Ferrandis went P1 again with two minutes left in the session just missing the 52-second mark. Christian Craig went down after the second set of whoops in just a small slide out. After a quick trip to the mechanics area, Craig was okay. Michael Mosiman got crossed up in the split section and also fell but got up immediately and continued on. In the end, it was Ferrandis who held onto the top spot beating out Lawrence by three tenths.

In 250B, the Team PRMX duo of Logan Karnow and Mathias Jorgensen topped the sheets with Cheyenne Harmon just off their pace. Karnow’s time would have him sitting 16^th in combined times after the first sessions were complete. With the track being more technical, there were a few instances of riders hitting the deck hard. Most notably was Niklas Hallafors in 250C who would need to be helped off the track and would not continue on in the session.

In the 450A group, it was Justin Bogle getting out front early as he tried to build off a solid free practice session. Malcolm Stewart went to the top of the board but was quickly knocked off by Cianciarulo, Tomac, and then Jason Anderson. The left side of the split lane became a more viable option in this session with many opting to use it for their fast laps. Martin Davalos was the next man to hold the top spot as he laid down a 53.064 with about four minutes of the session left. Cianciarulo tried to put in a flyer with time running down but couldn’t beat Davalos’ time. For the first time this season, Martin Davalos topped the time sheets just edging out Anderson and Cianciarulo.

Shadows began casting across half the track as 450 Groups B and C hit the track. Dylan Merriam had a big crash on the tricky dragons back and would need assistance getting off the track. Bryce Stewart would go down in the whoops during the C session and spent a few moments with the Alpinestars medical crew as he gathered himself. His forks were entirely collapsed as he rode off the track, but he appeared to be okay. Ryan Breece topped the B group with Deven Raper taking the top spot in the C group.

Second Timed Qualifying Sessions

Jett Lawrence shot right to the top of the sheets in the second 250 A Group qualifying session with Forkner trying to quickly lay down times behind him. Michael Mosiman fell on the 3-3 before the first triple but would get back up right away. Ferrandis lit up the board around halfway through the session laying down a time a full second quicker than Lawrence at a 53.2. Lawrence responded by laying down his own 53.2 but just missed tipping Ferrandis off the top spot. Last week’s winner, Austin Forkner, went to second on the board with a couple minutes left in the session but couldn’t quite beat Ferrandis’ improved time from the lap prior. Ferrandis then had a small fall but regrouped to finish out the session. Alex Martin slid out on his last lap but was fine. Ferrandis ultimately ended on top from Forkner, Lawrence, Cooper and Craig.

In the final 450 A session, Chad Reed led the field around early. Justin Hill put in the first top time of the session before Ken Roczen would snag the fastest time with a 52.8. Eli Tomac laid down a 51.9 next putting nearly a full second between him and new second-place man Cooper Webb. Roczen then dropped his time down to a 52.2 as the pace of the track continued to increase. Crucially, everyone started jumping a triple-triple in the second rhythm section after the start that contributed to the times dropping down. Cianciarulo put a strong lap together and just got Tomac’s top time to put the rookie back on the top of the sheets. For the third time in three races, Adam Cianciarulo was the fastest qualifier in the 450SX class.

250 heat 1

Austin Forkner grabbed the holeshot in the heat race from Mitchell Oldenburg and Alex Martin. Cheyenne Harmon passed Martin in the whoops early for third place before Martin crashed in the whoops on the next lap. Luke Clout then crashed from fourth in the next section after the Martin crash. Justin Cooper was making up for a bad start and clawed his way up to third on Lap 3. Forkner began running away out front pulling a five second lead on Oldenburg rather quickly. Alex Martin would pull off the track and head back to the semi, bound for the LCQ. Derek Drake was coming through the field after a bad start as well and climbed his way up to fifth by the end. It was Forkner taking the win in the end from Oldenburg and Cooper in the top three.

250 HEAT 2

The holeshot in the second heat went to Michael Mosiman from Christian Craig and Jacob Hayes. Craig immediately went to the lead with Mosiman falling on the second lap dropping back to eighth. Dylan Ferrandis continued his streak of bad starts but recovered well after one lap to find his way into the top five. Mosiman fell again dropping him down to 17th. Jett Lawrence was flying and bringing Ferrandis with him as they moved up to second and third, respectively, around Hayes. Craig walked away out front with no pressure from his teammate Lawrence who stayed about seven seconds down most of the way. Mosiman put in a late charge to close up on the transfer spots but would just miss out as Logan Karnow made it in. So, it was Craig from Lawrence and Ferrandis.

450 HEAT 1

Cooper Webb ran everyone wide in the first turn giving Eli Tomac the holeshot. Webb quickly snatched the lead back before Tomac finally grabbed it from him for good before the end of the first lap. Justin Hill and Justin Brayton went down in the first turn melee with Brayton remounting quickly and getting back to transfer spot almost immediately. Hill lost his visor and would have to slice his way through the pack. Chad Reed fell early but recovered to pass Ryan Breece for a transfer spot around the halfway point. Tomac ran away out front from Webb and Dean Wilson. Championship leader Justin Barcia was riding a relatively lonely race in fourth for most of the heat. Hill came from way back to pass Reed for the final transfer spot, sending Reed to the LCQ for the third week in a row. Up front, Tomac took the win ahead of Webb and Wilson.

"Yeah I felt really good in practice earlier today, had some good flow in that last session and carried it into the heat race," said Tomac. "Cooper Webb tried the dive to the inside, but I was able to get him back in the whoops. Bike is really working nice tonight so it’s a breath of fresh air right now, let’s see if we can do it in the main."

450 HEAT 2

Zach Osborne grabbed the holeshot but Adam Cianciarulo quickly took the lead. Ken Roczen also got by Osborne to move right into second place. Osborne made a few mistakes and quickly dropped back to eighth while Jason Anderson moved up to third. Roczen caught Cianciarulo for the lead about halfway through and the two went to battling. Kyle Chisholm fell from 11th and needed to be helped up off the track. He would eventually take a ride in the medical mule back to the pits. Roczen finally battled the lead away from Cianciarulo and began to establish a bit of a gap out front. Roczen would hold on for the win from Cianciarulo and Anderson.

"It was good racing AC, you know, we’ve been battling all year, but that was the first time we got to do it on race track," said Roczen. "I have to figure out a better race line through the whoops, I went a little too far over one with the front wheel."

As for battling his buddy Roczen, Cianciarulo had this to say:

"It’s awesome, it’s super cool. I told Ken before the year started, not to blow it out too much, but I always wanted to know what it’s like racing your brother. That’s what it feels like. Sucks he kicked my butt like that, he was just doing the whoops so good, and yeah I’ve seen that many, many times at the practice track. I want to beat him, he knows that. I need to be better in the whoops."

250 LCQ

Alex Martin grabbed the holeshot in the LCQ from Michael Mosiman and Luke Clout. Taiki Koga was in fourth early on but crashed in a rhythm section and pulled off the track. Mosiman snagged the lead from Martin before the end of the first lap. Mathias Jorgensen held down the final transfer spot early but received heavy pressure from Deegan Vonlossberg, Brian Marty, and Robbie Wageman. Wageman would work his way through everyone and take over the final transfer spot with a few laps to go. The top four would stay in the same places the rest of the way and fill out the final spots in the main event.

450 LCQ

Jason Clermont took the holeshot ahead of Ryan Breece and Chris Blose. Breece cleaned out Clermont for the lead before the end of the first lap. Chad Reed snagged the lead away from Breece on the second lap and Blose would also make the pass into second. Kyle Cunningham fell from fourth while Jerry Robin and Josh Cartwright got together further back ending both of their nights. With Cunningham out of the front group, Alex Ray assumed the final transfer spot ahead of Adam Enticknap trying to chase him down. Reed took the victory and brought Blose, Breece and Ray with him to the main event.

250 MAIN EVENT

Christian Craig ripped the holeshot in the main leading his teammate Jett Lawrence and Luke Clout fresh out of the LCQ early on. Forkner moved into third right away. Lawrence immediately started working on his teammate for the lead as the duo tried pulling away out front. Lawrence ripped down the inside of the second set of whoops to take the lead before the end of the second lap. Dylan Ferrandis moved into fourth place behind Forkner early on while his teammate Justin Cooper passed Clout for fifth. Ferrandis stuffed Forkner at the end of lap three to move into third.

Clout would get shuffled back to ninth as Brandon Hartranft, Michael Mosiman, and Alex Martin all moved by him as well. Ferrandis was making up tons of time in the whoops and worked onto the back of Craig with about nine minutes left in the race. Ferrandis sent it down the inside after the finish cleaning himself and Craig out for second. That left a huge lead for Lawrence out front.

Ferrandis would remount in second albeit over ten seconds behind Lawrence out front. Forkner has a massive crash after the whoops and appeared to hurt his lower back. He was able to remount but would be over a lap down by the time he got going.

After the chaos settled a little bit, Cooper had moved up to third with Hartranft fourth and Martin in fifth. Lawrence then fell from the lead with about three minutes to go allowing Ferrandis to close down the gap. Lawrence started getting wild once he settled back into the lead as lappers again were circulating everywhere. Lawrence then made another mistake that allowed Ferrandis to really close it down on the lead with two laps left to go. Alex Martin fell from fifth and gave a spot up to Mosiman late.

Ferrandis passed for the lead on the final lap as Lawrence crashed heavily after the whoops. That moved Cooper into second and Hartranft up onto the podium. Lawrence still was classified ninth as he was over a lap ahead of tenth place when the final lap started. Lawrence was eventually able to get up under his own power and walk to the medical mule. Sources say that Lawrence has a broken collarbone and concussion as a result of his late crash.

450 MAIN EVENT

Ken Roczen grabbed the holeshot in the main ahead of Aaron Plessinger and Cooper Webb. Blake Baggett quickly moved into second and Zach Osborne into third. Webb moved back into third and Jason Anderson followed him through into fourth. Eli Tomac started charging forward after another patented bad start and passed Plessinger for sixth on lap three.

Baggett took the lead momentarily before Roczen got him back. Then Baggett fell from second and slipped back outside of the top ten. Tomac forced his way into third around Anderson and immediately went after Webb for second. Tomac moved into second and set sail after Roczen out front. Cianciarulo then began to size up Anderson and Webb as Anderson made the move on Webb to move up into third.

The gap between Roczen and Tomac out front began slowly creeping down as the halfway mark of the race approached. Championship leader Justin Barcia moved up into seventh but found himself in another lonely race. Tomac made the pass on Roczen for the lead with 13 minutes still left in the race. Roczen immediately tried settling in behind him to follow his lead pace.

Aaron Plessinger, Martin Davalos, and Justin Hill all had falls during the main event that dropped them down the order. Webb started getting caught once again by Cianciarulo at halfway and would have to put another charge together to catch Anderson in third. Justin Brayton then made the move on Barcia for seventh that further pushed the championship leader back. Barcia would lose the points lead when all was said and done.

Webb and Cianciarulo both shuffled Anderson back to fifth as they worked on putting a charge into catching Roczen in second. Osborne then put together a couple strong laps to catch Anderson and pass him. Anderson was having none of it and stuffed his teammate to take fifth place back. Osborne eventually made the pass stick and caught Cianciarulo for fourth on the next lap.

Tomac settled into a pace out front and took his time with lappers, as Roczen was only about five seconds back for much of the race. Osborne then made the pass on Cianciarulo and set his sights on Webb for third. Anderson then passed Cianciarulo as well. It was essentially a battle of musical positions for P3 through P6 for much of the main event. Webb began to work his magic with a few laps to go and really closed the gap down to the leaders. With two laps to go, he had virtually closed the gap down to Roczen entirely.

Eli Tomac would hold on to take his 28^th career victory over Roczen and Webb. Roczen now takes the points lead by three points over Barcia and five points over Tomac.

“It was a big push," said Tomac of the charge to move forward after the bad start. "Luckily I was able to get inside in the first few corners there. I was way more comfortable today, very happy with my motorcycle. Past halfway, the moisture was coming up in the whoop section, the motorcycle was dancing around, really had to focus down. Want to give it up for Monster Energy Kawasaki, this was a good comeback for us."

"It wasn’t the best of main events, had some problems in the whoops, I wasn’t comfortable at all," said Roczen. "Eli was really strong. Cooper was coming on at the end and I had to keep my head down. But, yeah, second place, red plate. It’s great, we just want to keep it up. We have a lot of rounds to go."

"Oh man I was trying," said Webb of his late effort to get Roczen for second. "I think I waited a little too long. I was pushing, just wasn’t close enough."