Welcome to the Race Day Feed, coming to you from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, for the second round of the 2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. From practice reports to the blow-by-blow from tonight’s program, you’ll find it all right here on the Racer X Race Day Feed. 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
We're not in Texas anymore. It's legit cold here in Indianapolis, which luckily has a domed building with Lucas Oil Stadium. Teams have turned on the heaters and zipped up their full tent skirts. Factory motorcycles were going through extensive warm ups all morning. Inside the building, though, things are surprisingly good. Indy's dirt is usually quite wet, but it was drier than usual as it got trucked into the stadium. Feld's Mike Muye said Indy just had a dry winter compared to usual, and they got lucky. You can expect this dirt to get rutted, but not nearly as much as year's past.
The track layout is quite complicated, including a unique design through the second turn, where riders will go a different direction on lap 1. On a regular lap, turn two is a 180 bowl turn, which shoots the riders right back toward the first turn. For safety reasons, on the first lap the riders will turn only 90 degrees and shoot across the start straight to the other side of the stadium. This allows anyone who goes down in turn one a lot more time to get up before the pack crosses over

The whoops look gnarly here but will they hold up? Way too early to tell.
This series is tight! Honda HRC's Ken Roczen holds the points lead by just one over Justin Barcia and Cooper Webb. Roczen hasn't won a race yet, we've had three different race winners and eight riders in the nine available podium spots this year. Impressive stuff. Check out Ten Things to Watch for some bench-racing ammo for today's race.
The 250s, somehow, are even tighter, as both Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha teammates Christian Craig and Colt Nichols are tied atop the standings. Double red plates for the Yamaha boys, with Jett Lawrence six points back.
Austin Forkner took to Instagram to finally reveal his injury situation. Forkner crashed out of practice last Saturday in Houston and did not compete. He has a broken collarbone but it appears he could be back sooner rather than later.
RJ Hampshire is also out after a similar crash last week. He has wrist and hand injuries.
Practice has begun here in Indy. We'll be back with more.
Free Practice
Okay, this was a weird one. The confusion of which way the track goes on lap one is leading to some problems, with riders getting confused in turn two on the first lap of practice (again, they're supposed to do a 90-degree left and go across the start on lap 1, then do a 180 bowl turn on the rest of the laps).

We saw the track crew and AMA/FIM experiment with a few different variations of track direction (see the diagram we posted to see what we're talking about). At one point they stopped the 450 seeded session and tried a new route, sending riders from turn two, straight across the start straight, and under the tunnel. Then they stopped them again and went back to the old route, sending them diagonally across the start. We're not sure which route they will use for the rest of the day. For good measure, the Twisted Tea/HEP Suzuki teammates bumped into each other in the 450 B practice, because Brandon Hartranft and Adam Enticknap were confused on what to do--one Suzuki rider did a 180 left and turned down into his teammate, who was doing a 90-degree turn.
Now they're reshaping the 180 bowl turn in turn 2 to make it less awkward to shoot across the start straight. Honestly, watching this all unfold has been quite surprising, because the tracks are usually set from lap one of practice. We just about never see major changes or experiments with the track on race day. This is odd to see, but, in reality, it's all happening in free practice. By the end of the night, no one will care or remember how chaotic it was in the morning. Chalk this up to the lack of track walk (riders get to come into the stadium and look at the track, but not walk it), and the need to build track layouts that can quickly get turned around for a different design in a few days (we'll be racing here again on Tuesday).
Here are lap times from free practice
Timed Practice 1
No surprises here, as Christian Craig, Colt Nichols and Jett Lawrence have proven to be the class of the 250SX East field so far this year, and they ended up in the top three spots in this timed session. Lawrence ran to the top of the board early over Craig, then Craig took it away. Lawrence later had a crash, but he was okay. Nichols did take the second spot in times away from Lawrence, though.
Craig said he didn’t get as much work done during the week, riding-wise, as he would have hoped.
“I worked on some things mentally, I only got to ride one day in California, it was raining all week,” said Craig. “But I’ve felt good on the bike.”
The dirt here might be harder than some previous editions of the Indy SX, but the track is starting to break down. You can see some deep ruts developing, not only in the corners but the transitions between jumps. This leads to cross rutting and other mistakes. Forget trying to figure out big rhythm combos, this race will be all about putting in consistent laps.
Cianciarulo jumped out first in this 450 A group ahead of Roczen, but Roczen and Tomac ended up spending most of the time in the top two spots. Roczen was fastest.
“It’s brutal,” said Roczen of the track. “It’s deteriorating like crazy. The transitions are tighter and steeper and it’s rutted with g-outs in the bottom. I hope they smooth it out, but I’ll be prepared for it either way. I think it’s going to be more of me personally adjusting to the track. There’s always something that can be better on the bike but I’d rather work on it myself.”
Dean Wilson announced he had hurt his foot and knee during a practice crash on Wednesday. He tried going out for practice but pulled out of this session, so his day is over.
Final Timed Session
For the practice start of the 250 seeded group, Max Vohland got an amazing jump off the gate but Jett Lawrence went inside in turn 1 to lead the field around. Christian Craig was all over him, then Lawrence washed the front tire in the last turn of the lap and went down. Yes, this sounds like a race, but the way Craig and Lawrence were battling, that’s what it looked like. Lawrence later came back to clock the top time, and then Vohland went down in the whoops, and the session was red flagged. It looked like the Alpinestars medics were attending to his leg. Vohland was taken off by the medics, by the looks of it that leg is broken. Really tough break for the first-year pro.
Lawrence's time held on for tops in the session.
“Yeah the track is really techie right now, you have to be on your marks," said Lawrence. "Definitely softer in the g-outs and the rhythms. It bit me on the first lap in the whoops, and sadly Vohland went down over there as well."
Lawrence twisted his leg in a qualifying crash last week in Houston.
"My leg is better, did therapy all week, rode twice," he said. "It’s not 100% but it’s good enough to race."
Indianapolis 1 (East) - 250SX East Combined Qualifying
January 31, 2021Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() Jett Lawrence | 47.2780 | Landsborough, Australia ![]() | Honda CRF250R | ||
2 | ![]() Christian Craig | 47.5720 | Temecula, CA ![]() | Yamaha YZ250F | ||
3 | ![]() | 47.6300 | Sebastopol, CA ![]() | GasGas MC 250F | ||
4 | ![]() | 47.8650 | Muskogee, OK ![]() | Yamaha YZ250F | ||
5 | ![]() Jo Shimoda | 48.1120 | Suzuka, Japan ![]() | Kawasaki KX250 |
Roczen jumped to the top again early in the final 450 A session, but Tomac took it away, and by a big margin—over half a second. Musquin has looked good all day and was third fastest over Osborne and Webb, then later went to second-fastest. Don't sleep on Marv tonight. A few riders are still blitzing the whoops but if they become jumpers, Marv will have a big advantage, as he worked on the jump line throughout the session.
Tomac had the speed in this one, and no one could catch him.
“It’s important for the gate pick, inside is going to be really important tonight,” said Tomac. “That was my goal. Track is really tricky for us with the softer soli, it’s really tricky in those rhythm lanes.”
Indianapolis 1 (East) - 450SX Combined Qualifying
January 31, 2021Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() Eli Tomac | 47.1940 | Cortez, CO ![]() | Kawasaki KX450 | ||
2 | ![]() | 47.3630 | La Reole, France ![]() | KTM 450 SX-F | ||
3 | ![]() | 47.3840 | Abingdon, VA ![]() | Husqvarna FC 450 | ||
4 | ![]() | 47.3880 | Port Orange, FL ![]() | Kawasaki KX450 | ||
5 | ![]() | 47.4280 | Mattstedt, Germany ![]() | Honda CRF450R |
250 Heat Races
Christian Craig led the field into turn one but went wide, so Mitchell Oldenburg went underneath to holeshot the first heat. Josh Osby snuck into second, pushing Craig back to third, and co-points leader Colt Nichols was fourth. The Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha teammates went to work to get to the front, but Oldenburg and Osby rode well to try to hold them back on their Hondas. Finally Craig was able to make the move on both to take the lead, and Nichols followed him through. Nichols kept charging and closed the gap on his teammate all the way down to the last lap, and then Craig bobbled in the whoops and nearly crashed in the final turn. Craig rolled the finish and just held off his teammate.
“Yeah I think it’s who makes the least mistakes the track is going to get beat up. I got tight there at the end and Colt almost got me, I need to clean that up for the main.”
Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() Christian Craig | 9 Laps | 0:47.779 | Temecula, CA ![]() | Yamaha YZ250F | |
2 | ![]() | +00.458 | 0:47.285 | Muskogee, OK ![]() | Yamaha YZ250F | |
3 | ![]() | +06.554 | 0:48.425 | Alvord, TX ![]() | Honda CRF250R | |
4 | ![]() | +12.913 | 0:49.066 | Valparaiso, IN ![]() | Honda CRF250R | |
5 | ![]() | +24.836 | 0:50.228 | Topeka, KS ![]() | KTM 250 SX-F |
Curren Thurman and Jett Lawrence battled for the holeshot in this second 250 heat. Mosiman had some bad blood with Lawrence after a take out in last week’s main, and he paid it back immediately by knocking down Lawrence for the lead. This put Mosiman into the lead, and he knew what to do with it from there. Lawrence made a big mistake and couldn’t jump one of the doubles, so he lost more time, but he was able to ramp it back up and get to second. In the battle for the final transfer, Grant Harlan made a last-ditch effort in the whoops to try to get Thomas Do, but he went down, and Do held on for the final spot.
“Yeah I think we’re even, I just have to show that I’m not going to get rolled over on,” said Mosiman to NBCSN’s Daniel Blair.
“Man this is critical, start position and the way this track ruts up, helps to get up front,” said Mosiman. “The ruts are going to get deeper.”
Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 9 Laps | 0:48.314 | Sebastopol, CA ![]() | GasGas MC 250F | |
2 | ![]() Jett Lawrence | +13.414 | 0:48.303 | Landsborough, Australia ![]() | Honda CRF250R | |
3 | ![]() Jo Shimoda | +23.432 | 0:49.797 | Suzuka, Japan ![]() | Kawasaki KX250 | |
4 | ![]() | +25.545 | 0:51.042 | Perris, CA ![]() | KTM 250 SX-F | |
5 | ![]() | +26.527 | 0:50.547 | New Canaan, CT ![]() | Honda CRF250R |
450 Heats
Adam Cianciarulo sliced underneath Marvin Musquin to get the lead, then Cooper Webb passed Musquin when Musquin made a mistake in a rhythm lane. But Musquin quickly got Webb back in the whoops to retake second, and he spent most of the race keeping Cianciarulo in sight. They both made a few mistakes, but Cianciarulo outlasted him to take the win. Musquin was second and the leaders had built a bit of a gap on Webb and Malcolm Stewart. Then came Joey Savatgy. Justin Barcia got a terrible start and raged forward, he tried a last-ditch pass on Savatgy in the whoops. Bam-Bam banged into Savatgy but went down. Savatgy escaped with the position, Barcia got up in time to hold sixth. Davalos, Bloss and Hartranft rounded out the top nine to go to the main.
Vince Friese went down on the landing of a double and Alex Ray landed on him and went flying. They’re both heading to the LCQ.
Up ahead, Cianciarulo said he could feel the pressure from Musquin behind him.
“Marvin has done really well in Indy before, he rides well in technical conditions,” said Cianciarulo. “I tried skimming the whoops and jumping the whoops, you need to do both and in most of the races we’ll be jumping in the main. That rhythm lane on the side, that’s really technical, too, you really have to work on lifting the bike to get through there.”
Ken Roczen got an amazing jump out of the gate in heat two, with Zach Osborne right behind him. Roczen rode as close to a flawless race as you can on this very rough, rutted and tricky track, pulling away with ease. Everyone else had issues, with mistakes and crashes throughout the field. Osborne managed to hold on under fire from Dylan Ferrandis and later Eli Tomac. Tomac made a slick move to pass Ferrandis around the outside, and then he went after Osborne in the last turn, but Osborne held him off. There was quite a bit of drama behind this, as Justin Brayton got a bad jump off the start and got held up when Justin Bogle went down in turn one. He started last and likely wouldn’t have made it to the main, but Jason Anderson crashed late and Brayton got by. Aaron Plessinger also made several mistakes and tagged tough blocks on his way forward., Broc Tickle took fifth, Aaron Plessinger sixth, and then Chiz Chized by taking seventh. Adam Enticknap snuck into the main with eighth, and Brayton got the last transfer. This sends Anderson into the LCQ.
“The transitions are steep and short and it throws the bike around like crazy,” said Roczen. “I really wanted to get the start so I could ride my own race, and that’s what I did,” said Roczen. “I got into a good rhythm. It’s really important to get a good gate for the main because it’s getting really chopped up coming out of the gate.”
LCQs
Hunter Schlosser grabbed the 250LCQ holeshot but was soon under pressure Lorenzo Camporisi. Grant Harlan, who went down trying to get the final spot in the heat, was the fastest man on the track and made his way to the lead. Max Miller was way back early but kept moving forward, catching Scott Meshy for the final transfer spot. Then he went off the track! It all led to a crazy final lap with three guys going for two spots. Miller passed Camporisi at the finish to get third, and Camporisi was fourth, with Meshy just short.
Indianapolis 1 (East) - 250SX East LCQ
January 31, 2021Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 8 Laps | 0:51.186 | Justin, TX ![]() | Honda CRF250R | |
2 | ![]() | +05.311 | 0:52.087 | El Paso, TX ![]() | Yamaha YZ250F | |
3 | ![]() | +09.208 | 0:50.974 | Springfield, OR ![]() | KTM 250 SX-F | |
4 | ![]() | +09.853 | 0:52.775 | Campodarsego, Italy ![]() | Kawasaki KX250 | |
5 | ![]() | +13.031 | 0:52.763 | Zephyrhills, FL ![]() | Husqvarna FC 250 |
Carlen Gardner grabbed the holeshot, but Vince Friese was quickly around him. Then Jason Anderson moved to second (Anderson crashed in his heat while in a transfer spot) and later took the lead from Friese. Justin Bogle started way back but worked his way forward, eventually passing Cade Clason for the final transfer spot. Then Bogle get Gardner to take third. On the last lap, Austin Politelli managed to get inside of Gardner in the whoops, and then they stopped and tried to square each other up in the last turn. Politelli edged ahead and took the final transfer spot over Gardner.
250 Main
Nichols grabbed the holeshot with Craig quickly to second, meanwhile Jett Lawrence got a bad star, about mid pack. Mosiman was third and made a brief run at Craig as they exchanged mistakes, eventually Craig was able to pull a gap on Mosiman, while Nichols was checking out with the lead. Jo Shimoda was fourth. Lawrence crashed on the wall jump and found himself at mid-pack again, then he rallied back for fifth. Over the final laps, Lawrence started putting in an amazing charge, getting Shimoda on the table top and then closing on Mosiman. At that point, there was the potential for Lawrence to tune up Mosiman to continue their rough-riding rivalry, but a lapped rider was stuck between them, so Lawrence just ducked inside and passed the lapped rider and Mosiman at the same time.
Lawrence wasn’t done! Late in the race he started tracking down Craig for second and then Craig bobbled in the final rhythm lane, setting Lawrence up to try to pass him around the outside. So, Craig simply went straight to shove Lawrence off the track! It was a bad move, because Craig went into the tough blocks and over the bars, and Lawrence got stuck behind him. This allowed Mosiman and Shimoda to sneak through for second and third! Lawrence took fourth, Craig went from second to fifth with his last-lap defense gone over the edge.
This all benefitted Nichols, who has two-straight wins and now an eighth point lead on Craig.
Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 20 Laps | 0:48.022 | Muskogee, OK ![]() | Yamaha YZ250F | |
2 | ![]() | +09.852 | 0:48.578 | Sebastopol, CA ![]() | GasGas MC 250F | |
3 | ![]() Jo Shimoda | +10.657 | 0:49.077 | Suzuka, Japan ![]() | Kawasaki KX250 | |
4 | ![]() Jett Lawrence | +12.482 | 0:48.040 | Landsborough, Australia ![]() | Honda CRF250R | |
5 | ![]() Christian Craig | +13.075 | 0:48.466 | Temecula, CA ![]() | Yamaha YZ250F |
“That’s ideal get a good start and put yourself in a good position,” said Nichols. “I’ve been struggling with that. I was really just managing the race, I had an eye on everyone, and the lappers were kind of crazy. It was just awesome, man, definitely takes the stress off getting that good start.”
Mosiman and Shimoda made the podium.
“Great night, got off to a better start and I was able to see those guys,” said Mosiman. “It was an all-out battle. To be honest I have some things I need to work on, but that pace isn’t out of my reach.”
“It wasn’t really a podium, because Jett went around me, he was riding really good tonight and Christian was ahead of me, too,” Shimoda admitted. “So it ended up being a podium, but the next time I get a podium, I want to get a podium myself.”
Lawrence was quite emotional after the race.
“I had a really rough start, neutral off the start, and on the wall jump I stalled and I was an idiot for that,” he said. “I thought I could get Christian in that last corner, we came together and I wasn’t too phased but we got tangled up and I couldn’t go. I put my heart into these last two rounds and it sucks that it ends up like that.”
450 Main
Joey Savtgy just dumped the clutch perfectly off the gate and got an incredible jump, he led the field into turn one, but Tomac used the outside to get around him, and soon his teammate Cianicaurlo was second. Then Tomac pulled away for two laps…and went down after the whoops! Now it was Cianciarulo u the lead over Roczen. Way back, Justin Barcia and Malcolm Stewart were down, and then Marvin Musquin crashed too and was last.
Tomac closed back up on the lead duo while Roczen tried to figure out how to get Cianciarulo for the lead. Behind them it was Ferrandis, Savatgy, Webb, Anderson Osborne, Brayton, Barcia, Stewart.
Roczen finally found an inside line to get Cianciarulo for the lead, and Cianciarulo almost collided for second. Tomac completed the pass on Cianciarulo, then Cianciarulo fell but got up ahead of Ferrandis.
Roczen started pulling away from Tomac. Behind them it was heatng up, as Ferrandis made a mistake, and Savatgy and Webb went by. Then Webb got Savatgy to take fourth. Osborne was on the move and he passed Ferrandis also with an aggressive move.
Osborne was on the move big time, catching up to Webb as they both stalked Cianciarulo. Webb finally made the pass on Cianciarulo and then Osborne tried to get him on the last lap, but Cianciarulo hung on. Then came Ferrandis Anderson Savatgy Plessinger Musquin and Stewart.
Up ahead, a classic Roczen versus Tomac battle raged. Roczen’s mistake had opened the door for Eli, and Eli’s mistake handed it back. They kept digging, and on the last lap Tomac was right there challenging for the lead, but Roczen hung on for a huge win, his first of the season, and sweet revenge after a coupe of frustrating race weekends. Tomac was second, Webb third.
“What’s the toughest was, Adam, I feel like he was holding us up a little bit so I had to ride defensive,” said Roczen. “I was a little stuck right there, but I’m so glad we made it happen. I made a mistake on that double, I was off the track and I didn’t know what to do so I let Eli by, I felt that was the right thing to do. I put the pass on right away, he was pushing it the whole time behind me. I just couldn’t let it go.”
"The start there was cool, hell of a race for both of us," said Tomac. "We both made out mistakes, and he schooled me in that sweeper. I was sleeping on that one, I gave it away on the outside. That was one of the best races of my career, to battle like that, it was really exciting. I’d love to be on top, but that was fun and we’ll get them next week.”
"It was weird, my start was really good, Joey [Savatgy] came out like a rocket ship, he braked gnarly and Eli came around us on the outside," said Webb. "I got bottled up behind him, and ended up going back to fifth, then I made a mistake in a rhythm and went back. Early on I saw who was out front and I was like “Shit, track position is key.” I was trying to get around and I started making little mistakes trying to force things. I kind of took a deep breath and calmed down and accepted those guys being out there and out front. I knew if I could get Ferrandis or Savatgy a fourth would be there, and if someone would make a mistake we would be good. Adam ended up going down and that kinda made third more reachable. Yeah, like the guys are saying, it’s track position right now, and it wasn’t great for those two laps.”
Rider | Time | Interval | Best Lap | Hometown | Bike | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 20 Laps | 0:48.022 | Muskogee, OK ![]() | Yamaha YZ250F | |
2 | ![]() | +09.852 | 0:48.578 | Sebastopol, CA ![]() | GasGas MC 250F | |
3 | ![]() Jo Shimoda | +10.657 | 0:49.077 | Suzuka, Japan ![]() | Kawasaki KX250 | |
4 | ![]() Jett Lawrence | +12.482 | 0:48.040 | Landsborough, Australia ![]() | Honda CRF250R | |
5 | ![]() Christian Craig | +13.075 | 0:48.466 | Temecula, CA ![]() | Yamaha YZ250F |