On just the second lap of untimed practice, TLD/Red Bull KTM rookie Brian Moreu crashed hard. It was ugly, and he had to be taken off the track in the Alpinestars Medic Mule. That might already be it for the night for him, as it was a hard crash. We'll get an update on him when possible.

First Timed Practices

There was somehow a first-turn crash when this practice began, as sand spills out over from the sand rollers and into the turn to make it slippery. Shane McElrath was one of the riders down, but it didn’t slow him for long, as he soon had his Yamaha up to second in times, and then later he logged a flyer to get into the top spot in the session.

“It’s tough to put it all together,” said McElrath. “For one, the sand is really deep, and for two, the dirt is hard and slippery. It’s probably only going to get harder as the night goes on, but we’re in a good position.”

Chase Sexton had his Honda on top of the board for most of the session, only for McElrath to take it away late. Then came Jordon Smith, Garrett Marchbanks and Jeremy Martin. Martin then went fast on the very final lap to vault into second fastest. That put Sexton, Marchbanks and Smith top five.  

In 450s, Eli Tomac was at the top of the board early, ahead of Webb, Roczen Cianciarulo and….wait Malcolm Stewart then went to the top! On lap 10, Tomac went back to the point spot with a fast time on lap 11, Webb ended up second, followed by Roczen, Cianciarulo and Anderson. Stewart’s time, set on lap 6, ended up sixth fastest.

“It’s tough right now, it’s breaking down, and we’re having to cut underneath in some of the bowl berms,” said Tomac. “I felt like it was really important to get a good run through the sand, and I think that’s what powered me to the top there, good run through the sand. Just catching the right rhythm there, staying on the top.”

Tomac was also asked about his bar-hanging battle with Justin Barcia last week, and he said, “The last thing we said last week was that we need to be racing forward, not going backwards.”

There appear to be a few sections riders are working on, namely the double-table-triple combo out of a 90-degree corner. Justin Hill cleared the double and landed on top of the table, and then Cooper Webb rolled and then tripled all the way over it, then tripled out. That takes two leaps instead of three, but rolling the inside might be too slow to take advantage.

It’s worth noting that Cianciarulo has been fastest in qualifying in every race this year, but was third fastest in the untimed session, and fourth in this one. Can he keep the streak alive with a strong run in the final session later today?

Final Timed Practice

We chatted with several riders before that practice. Garrett Marchbanks said he’s not happy even being fourth-fastest in the first session, his goal is to win and he doesn’t want to settle for anything less than being up front this year. Marchbanks says he feels much, much better on a supercross track compared to his rookie season last year. Specifically, he’s better in the whoops. Also, he says he had arm pump last year on press day he was so nervous! He’s much calmer now and wants to be a factor.

RJ Hampshire didn’t feel good in the first session and made a bike change that should help before session two. Frenchman Cedric Souberas could be a sleeper pick, he’s been a strong main-event qualifier guy on 450s before. He says he only has three days on a 250 before this race, though.

Brian Moreau has been declared out for the evening and is in the hospital after a big crash in practice. Jimmy Decotis is hurting after a big crash a few days ago, he even skipped the first timed practice earlier today. He got a shot before the second practice that should last through the night show, but he says can’t really lift he leg or grip the bike coming out of turns or in the whoops. Going to be a tough one for Jimmy.

Immediately three of the biggest names in 250SX East were down again off the start of this one—just like what happened in the first practice. As far as times, Garett Marchbanks went to the top early, until McElrath took it away again. Riders were down everywhere, but especially in the sand turn, which claimed riders routinely. Jeremy Martin jumped into the top on his sixth lap and kept hammering—he looked good. That time held up, with Sexton third, Marchbanks and Hampshire fifth.

“It feels amazing [to be back]. I was working in a dealership last year, I was going insane, because the back hadn’t healed. It’s awesome to get this lap time and have some momentum for the night show. The start is tricky here, my teammate went down in that practice in the first turn.”

Webb was first onto the track in this session with Roczen right behind, but Roczen’s first lap was faster than Webb’s, which put the Honda rider on the top of the board. It didn’t last long, because Cianciarulo moved to the top. Would he be able to keep his podium streak alive? Well, Tomac quickly went even quicker to take the top spot. A lap later, Cianciarulo went back to the top!

Alex Ray went down which led to a red flag for this session. He got up, banged up but okay. Then the session resumed with more crashes—Benny Bloss and Zach Osborne went for wild rides in the whoops on the last lap. There might have been more crashes in today’s practice than in all the practice sessions this year combined.

I didn’t think this track would be too technical, but there were a lot of guys hitting the deck out there,” said Cianciarulo. “Setup on these things is really important, you’ve got to adapt. That and I got better in the whoops. We’re going to carry that into tonight.”

Cianciarulo is now seven-for-seven taking top qualifying in practice this year.

 250 Heats

Shane McElrath pulled the holeshot in the first 250SX East heat race of the year, Jordon Smith quickly pulled into second, but McElrath began to pull away. Soon, he had a massive lead. Garrett Marchbanks came through for third, in front of a huge battle with Kyle Peters, Enzo Lopes and John Short. Justin Starling rode steady for seventh ahead of Jerry Robin. Nick Gaines made his way into the final spot and out dueled Hunter Sayles to take last spot into the main.

Chase Sexton pulled the holeshot ahead of his teammate Jeremy Martin. He began to pull away, while Josh Hill ran in third. Briefly, Jo Shimoda took over third from Hill to make for a GEICO Honda 1-2-3, but then Shimoda bobbled and went back to fifth. At mid-race, Martin made a run at Sexton and closed the gap, but then Sexton got away again to win the race by five seconds. RJ Hampshire overcame a so-so start to get to third, ahead of Hill and Shimoda. Jace Owen was sixth ahead of Joey Crown, who came from nearly last. Jordan Bailey was credited with eighth, but, he went off the track and skipped the entire sand turn, so there may be a penalty coming there. Cedric Soubeyras rounded out the top nine.

450 Heats

Eli Tomac snaked through the first turn perfectly to emerge with the lead over Vince Friese. Malcolm Stewart snagged second from his teammate Friese and even made a run at Tomac, using, of course, his tremendous whoop speed. Cooper Webb then moved to third ahead of Justin Brayton and Dean Wilson. Justin Hill was pretty far back but moved forward. Aaron Plessinger then came from way outside the top ten to grab a qualifying spot.

 Zach Osborne snaked inside the tricky first turn to get the lead in heat two, but he couldn’t jump the best rhythm from the inside, allowing Adam Cianciarulo to leap past him. Ken Roczen quickly moved to second and the battle between the buddies was on, Kenny closing, then making a mistake, and then Adam bobbled allowing Roczen to get by. On the last lap, Roczen couldn’t triple due to a lapped rider, and that allowed Cianciarulo to draw close. This left them in a one-on-one battle racing through the whoops headed to the finish, and Roczen hung on for the win.

LCQs

Curren Thurman held the lead early in the LCQ but got into a huge battle with Jimmy Decotis. Hunter Sayles held third ahead of a big battle for the final transfer spot. Isaac Teasdale held it, but Jalek Swoll was closing in a hurry (he was third in his heat but crashed in the whoops). On the last lap they battled, Swoll made a block pass, then couldn’t carry his speed into the whoops, allowing Teasdale to fight back. They raced up the finish line side-by-side with Teasdale stealing the spot back by half a bike length. Swoll, in his first pro supercross race, didn’t make the main.

 Chad Reed grabbed a clutch holeshot in the 450 LCQ  but got tagged from behind and nearly went down. He stayed up, then held up under some pressure from Kyle Cunningham to take the win. Cunningham’s HEP Suzuki teammates Ryan Breece and Adam Enticknap came in next, but not without a mistake from Daniel Herrlein. Herrlein held fourth until a bobble in the sand opened the door for Enticknap to take the final spot.

250 Main Event

Shane McElrath pulled the holeshot and immediately starting putting a hurting on the field just like he did in his heat race. Jordon Smith ran second, but soon the GEICO Honda duo of Jeremy Martin and Chase Sexton were there. The three had a great battle, first Martin and Sexton getting Smith, then Sexton getting Martin, then Sexton bobbled allowing Martin and Smith to get next to him. Martin nearly got Sexton back, but Sexton held on to maintain second. Then Garrett Marchbanks was on a charge, passing RJ Hampshire and then Smith to get into fourth. It got wild from there. First, Marchbanks made a charge at Martin, then he succumbed to a Hampshire, who found serious speed at the halfway point. It was Hampshire’s turn to press Martin for the last podium spot, until he crashed in the whoops with two laps to go. He ended up stuck on the side of the track, allowing Marchbanks and Smith to get by.

 At the checkers, it was a perfect night for McElrath, dominating his heat and the main to win his first race with Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha. Sexton and Martin held on for second and third on the GEICO Hondas.  

Vince Friese grabbed the holeshot but Adam Cianciarulo was in perfect position to leap inside and grab an immediate lead. Eli Tomac had a good start and worked quickly past Friese, as did Malcolm Stewart. Then came Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen.

Webb and Roczen got around Friese, and then Roczen began to close on Webb, while Tomac started to close on Cianciarulo.

Eight minutes into the race, Tomac had caught Cianciarulo, and the battle was on. They battled through the split lane but Tomac bobbled and AC held on. Then next lap, Tomac stayed out of the deep stuff, railed the outside and took the lead.

The Roczen and Webb battle was heating up. They caught Malcolm Stewart and sliced through , but then Roczen washed the front in a corner and went down. Moments later, Cianciarulo crashed from second in the whoops. He was okay, but was caught in an awkward position and lost a ton of spots. Webb found himself in second, with Tomac still out front.

Stewart looked tired late in the race and both his teammate Hill and Monster Energy Yamaha’s Justin Barcia got by him. This put Hill in fourth, but Barcia was closing. This one went down to the wire! Barcia passed Hill on the last lap, then Hill fired back, taking three different shots at Barcia on the last lap, but Barcia held him off for a hard-earned fourth. It was close right behind, with Wilson, Stewart, Anderson and Cianciarulo flying across the finish nearly in formation. Brayton rounded out the top ten.

With the win, Tomac takes over the points lead from Roczen, with Webb third.