First Timed Practice

Rookie Pierce Brown is making his supercross debut, and he was fastest in the B practice session.

In the A group, Shane McElrath came out flying, “holeshotting” the practice start (yes) and setting fast laps early. He looked exceptionally strong in the whoops, and his lap stayed at the top of the board the whole way. Chase Sexton was second-quickest, and late in the session RJ Hampshire jumped up to third. No surprise to see McElrath and Sexton going 1-2 in this session. Jeremy Martin and Jordon Smith were top five. It was impressive to see the 250 guys triple out of a 180 and then do the 3-3-on-off in the rhythm before the whoops, but that section might be a separator, especially in this class.

Justin Hill stood at the top of the board for a lot of the 450 A group, but Ken Roczen logged a late time to jump to the top. Roczen was the fastest guy in the free practice, too, so he’s feeling it. Eli Tomac tried to put in some fast laps but had slower riders hold him up a few times. Finally on the last lap he found some room and launched up to second quickest. This pushed Jason Anderson down to third and Hill to fourth, with Dean Wilson fifth.

Final Timed Session

 McElrath is just logging motos in 250 practice today, flying once again from the drop of the gate. He was on top of the board quickly, but Sexton kept taking swings at it. After what was probably his third heater lap, Sexton finally took the top spot away. McElrath kept going fast, but he wasn’t able to beat Sexton’s lap time—and Sexton’s time was also faster than anything in the first session, giving him the fastest qualifying award. McElrath was second, Hampshire third and Pierce Brown’s time from the B group is fourth fastest. Then came Marchbanks and Martin.

 Webb was a man on a mission early here, getting to the front of the line in practice and going to the top of the board. His time didn’t hold up, though. Tomac finally got this one, edging Roczen and Justin Hill. Webb ended up seventh.

 “We were playing around with suspension, seeing if we could find something extra. Had three or four good laps, so I felt pretty good. To some degree, the track seems a little bit basic, but the way the dirt is forming up, it’s getting pretty technical, so you have to stay on your toes out there. It looks like it would have good traction, but it’s getting pretty slick.

250 Heats

Jeremy Martin grabbed the first 250 holeshot over Jimmy Decotis, then Decotis bobbled in a corner, which slowed up third-place Jo Shimoda. Piece Brown, in his supercross debut, maneuvered through that pack, then passed Decotis to take over second, while Martin continued to check out. Shane McElrath was on a run, getting around Decotis for third. Decotis later fell in a bowl berm and went to the back of the pack—rough race for Jimmy D.

McElrath eventually caught Brown, and the rookie did the smart thing and didn’t take chances fighting him off. Brown yielded the spot to McElrath, then hung on to make his first 250SX main with a solid third. Ahead, Martin took the win over McElrath.

“We’re aiming for podiums and we want to get some wins now—the goal is to keep improving," said Martin. "I haven’t been comfortable all day, but the one thing I’ve learned over having a broken back and taking a year off, is that everyday is a fight. So that’s what I’m going to do tonight.”

RJ Hampshire pulled a holeshot in heat two over Chase Sexton and Jalek Swoll. Jordon Smith quickly made the pass and Swoll, then closed on Sexton while Sexton was trying to make his way around Hampshire. Then Hampshire messed up a rhythm lane on two consecutive laps, and the second time, Sexton took advantage and passed him for the lead. Smith then started pressing Hampshire for second. Half a lap later, Smith bobbled and Hampshire got him back. Hampshire and Smith kept battling, Smith got him back, then Hampshire closed back up to him and put some pressure on right to the checkered flag. Up ahead, Sexton had the win.

450 Heats

Ken Roczen holeshot the first 450 heat with Jason Anderson right behind, then Justin Brayton and Justin Barcia. The track doesn’t appear to offer much chance to gain or lose time, so this four pack stayed about the same the whole way. Anderson made a few runs at Roczen, and Barcia made a few runs at Brayton, but no passes were made—Barcia spun out making a last ditch effort on Brayton. Ryan Breece ran a great race and held off Malcolm Stewart for most of the way, Stewart eventually got by, Breece was seventh, with Benny Bloss and Tyler Bowers rounding out the final transfer spots.

“Today is probably the best I’ve felt in general, the best I’ve been in qualifying all year,” said Roczen. “We got off to a good start here, and we’ve been hammering those out lately. Only hairy part was the last lap, there was a rock in the rut and I couldn’t do my rhythm. Other than that, I felt super solid out there.”

Eli Tomac grabbed the holeshot with Martin Davalos right behind, then Davalos bobbled and Justin Hill moved to second. Webb took a few laps to get loose, then he started closing on Davalos for third. Webb eventually made the move. Dean Wilson was fifth, he actually took on some pressure from Chad Reed early, Reed looked better in the first few laps of the heat race than he has at any point this year. Reed's pace dropped off later, though, and Blake Baggett got him. Reed took eighth over Kyle Chisholm who took the final spot. Chiz gonna Chiz!

“It’s just when you get on a good roll, you believe if yourself,” said Tomac. “It’s a combination of everything, had a good start there, was able to just tuck inside and get going. It’s going to be a tough track tonight, a long 20 minutes.”

250 LCQ

In the 250 LCQ, a first turn pileup put Lorenzo Locurcio on the ground. Then he got and fell down again about 10 feet later! That ended any hopes of making the main, but to his credit, he rode hard the whole way from nearly three-quarters of a lap down, and took 18^th.

 Jimmy Decotis is JGR’s lone hope, and he didn’t start well in this LCQ. He had to have the team on pins and needles, but he eventually made a pass on Jeremy Hand to take the final spot. You have to hand it to Hand, he tried to keep Jimmy D in sight, but a late mistake ended his bid for the main.

Up ahead, Grant Harlan took the win over Lance Kobusch. This will be young Kobusch’s first supercross main (he was supposed to debut in Tampa but crashed in practice). Cedric Soubeyras took third over Decotis.

450 LCQ

TPJ’s James Weeks holeshot and checked out in the 450 LCQ. Kyle Cunningham and Adam Enticknap worked forward on their HEP Suzukis and got to second and third, with Daniel Herrlein holding on for the final spot into the main. Jared Lesher was just short in fifth.

Hampshire grabbed the holeshot, just edging Sexton for the lead. McElrath and Martin came through next. Brown went down on the  third lap while running sixth. MCElrath made a slick move on Sexton in the flat turn across the start to take second, but Sexton came right back in the sand to pass him back. Sexton started attacking Hampshire for the lead, but Hampshire held up well under pressure lap after lap. He messed up a rhythm lane once and Sexton got close, but Hampshire still edged ahead. Finally at about the halfway point, Sexton finally got a run down to the inside and made a block pass for the lead. McElrath had to respond and started looking to make moves on Hampshire for second.

Then McElrath had a bad lap, allowing Hampshire to open a gap, and Martin to close up from fourth. Then, while Martin was on McElrath, Hampshire landed on the side of the track and kicked a tuff block onto the track. Martin landed on it and went down hard. Luckily, he was able to get back up, but all the way back in 21^st place.

McElrath pressed Hampshire over and over but Hampshire held tough, and finally with two laps to go he pulled away and McElrath settled for third. Jordon Smith won a battle with his teammate Marchbanks for fourth, then Marchbanks crashed, and when he got up, he was off the pace. Jo Shimoda caught him and passed him for fifth. Enzo Lopes logged another good ride for sixth, Marchbanks was seventh. Nick Gaines rode what was probably the best race of his supercross career, getting a good start and holding steady in sixth for a long way. He finished eighth. Jalek Swoll was a quiet but effective ninth (second week in a row for him) and Josh Hill came from way back to tenth

“It was really hard to pass out there, track was one lined, RJ was riding good and wasn’t making any mistakes. I saw McElrath behind me and I knew I had to go. He cased that triple a little bit and I just dove to the inside. I didn’t really want to him hit, but he committed to that corner and I was already there. I didn’t really feel great all night, but I got it done.”

Hampshire commented that he felt good and is happy that he continues to improve. McElrath was bummed for third, saying he was trying hard but just couldn’t find his flow.

Ken Roczen grabbed the holeshot over Martin Davalos and began to pull away, Vince Friese was third ahead of Hill. Not good starts for Tomac, Webb, or Barcia. But the field was fighting—Anderson passed Tomac, then Barcia passed him, then Tomac got Barcia back with contact. Barcia, naturally, started doing everything in his power to repay Tomac. A few turns later, Tomac tried to get inside of Baggett, but the pass was not there. He was in too deep, and Baggett collided with him and they both went down. Tomac got up in 15^th. A few laps later, Tomac stalled it in the sand and lost even more time!

Up front, Roczen was cruising, and Davalos made it to the halfway mark solidly in second. Then it was Hill, Friese, Barcia and Anderson. Anderson got close to Barcia, then Barcia made a key move on Friese to get back away from him. Just behind that, Webb worked his way around Plessinger and Wilson.

Barcia then launched past Hill in the sand for the podium spot. A lap later, Wilson, Anderson and Hill all collided in a corner, and Wilson went down.

With three minutes to go, it was Roczen, Davalos, Barcia, Hill, Anderson, Webb and Tomac. Barcia passed Davalos for second, then bobbled and Davalos nearly got him back.

Anderson tried everything to get by Hill, but Hill bumped him as they raced through turn one, Anderson couldn’t do the first rhythm, and Webb and Tomac snuck through. Then Webb passed Hill for fourth. The final minutes were turning furious, with Tomac trying to get Webb and Webb trying to get Davalos. It came down to the final lap, with Webb cutting underneath Davalos, then Tomac passing him also. Tomac tried an outside line to get a run through the whoops and get Webb, but he bobbled, and Webb hung on for third.

There was only one position without drama: the lead. Roczen absolutely dominated. Barcia was strong for second. Roczen, with a win combined with Tomac's fourth, erases his seven point championship gap, with he and Tomac now tied for the lead.