Free Practice

All free (untimed) practice sessions are done here in Oakland, and while the times don’t count toward official qualifying times, we were still able to learn a few things. In Supercross Futures practice, it quickly became obvious it’s Ryder DiFrancesco’s race to lose. The Kawasaki rider was clearly better than anyone else everywhere on the track, especially the whoops, and his times were much quicker than his competition.

In the 250 ranks, some riders in the B Group had a hard time navigating the whoops, but guys like Carson Brown and Jerry Robin, who were the fastest with (1:.06.445 and 1:06.799, respectively), didn’t seem to have any issues. Gared Steinke is out here ripping on a KTM 2-Stroke, and he looked pretty good! He had a good flow and didn’t seem to be struggling too hard to clear any obstacles. He was still substantially off the pace though, and will need to find some extra speed if he’s going to be in the mix at night. In the A group there weren’t many surprises. Last week’s winner Christian Craig looked like his familiar, silky-smooth self, and recorded the fastest lap of the session, a 1:01.878. Michael Mosiman, however, also looked great and was just a hair off Craig, recording a 1:01.888. Seth Hammaker was right there as well with a 1:02.484.

In 450 action just about everyone looked fast, and a number of guys dipped down into the 1:01 range, but nobody was as fast as Chase Sexton, who ended with a 1:00.613. Several different options started developing toward the end of the A session, with guys trying out different combos jumping into the short rhythm late that precedes the whoops. That short rhythm lane leads into a 180 degree bowl turn, and if someone finds some extra speed through there it could make for a good spot to watch for aggressive passing. In the B Group it was Alex Ray fastest (1:05.542) and Josh Hill second (1:06.160).

The track is already starting to rut up pretty fast, as is usually the case with the soft dirt here. Track maintenance is being performed, but you can bet the track is going to get nasty during the longer main events. Timed qualifying is up next, so check back soon to see who’s fast when it counts.

FIRST QUALIFYING SESSIONS

The track was holding up very well after a full set of practice sessions and the slightly overcast day was holding moisture in the track when the first qualifying sessions began. Christian Craig kept his hot streak in qualifying rolling right along as he once again shot to the top of the leaderboard. With the two sets of whoops again this week, Craig’s whoop speed looked to be the difference maker early on.

But it was actually local boy Michael Mosiman who would be the first to challenge Craig’s early season qualifying dominance. Mosiman, from Sebastopol, California, is familiar with this type of Northern California soil and it showed as connected several laps together and eventually tipped Craig’s time off the top.

Moments later though, Mosiman did have a close call when he tripled onto the Tuff Blocks in the second long rhythm section and nearly hit the ground. He kept going but would not improve his time. So Mosiman ended up on top from Craig, Seth Hammaker, Jo Shimoda, and Nate Thrasher.

In the 450SX class, Justin Barcia was the first one to the top of the board as the times began to drop closer and closer to the one-minute mark. Chase Sexton was strong in free practice and kept that pace up in this one as well when he was the next one to fire a shot and go fastest taking the top spot but just a tenth of a second from Cooper Webb.

Eli Tomac then snuck into second spot but just five one thousandths of a second when his mid-session lap clocked in at a 1:01.234. Max Anstie had a fall in the long set of whoops, but he would ultimately be fine and continue on.

Sexton’s Honda HRC teammate Ken Roczen then found the top of the time sheets for a brief second before Chase took it right back away and just narrowly missed dipping below the one-minute mark at the same time. Both Honda boys were once again looking feisty but the KTM group riders of Dean Wilson and Cooper Webb would find their way in between Sexton and Roczen moments later.

Dylan Ferrandis hopped into second place with about three minutes remaining in the session as the times continued to drop. Cade Clason had a big off when he clipped a Tuff Block in the first long rhythm second and went over the bars. He would walk off under his own power and remount the bike. Ferrandis also had a little tip over but was quickly back on as well.

Eli Tomac at the very end of the session would go to the top by a tenth of a second over Sexton who would remain in second place. Jason Anderson had a fall right as the flag waved but was fine and kept riding on. So Tomac tops the first qualifying sessions here in Oakland.

Final Qualifying Sessions

Carson Brown, who had a big crash last week in which he lost some teeth and later required stitches, looked great in this one, and had the lap times to back it up. His initial fast lap of 1:03.627, was over a second faster than Cheyenne Harmon’s 1:04.806. Several laps later, Brown lowered his own time even more, laying down a 1:03.565. Credit to Gared Steinkie in this one, who ended the session fourth fastest with a 1:05.162 on a KTM two-stroke.

The 250 A group got off with a bang when Carson Mumford forced his way past Christian Craig right before the finish line jump right before the finish line. It wasn’t dirty, but it was more aggressive than guys usually get during qualifying. Craig passed him back about half a lap later though and immediately went on to set the first fast time, a 1:01.453. Craig lowered it more, recording a 1:00.757, but Michael Mosiman came alive immediately after, squeaking out a 1:00.730. One lap later, Mosiman went in for a quick adjustment in the mechanic’s area. As Mosiman was getting going again, Craig went out and greased out a scorching time of 59.677! Amazingly, Craig would lower that time yet again, dipping down to 59.510. Mosiman tried to respond, but seemed to have a tough time consistently maintaining solid flew through the longer whoop section. Craig’s 59.510 would hold as the fastest time in the 250 class.

In the 450 class there was a scary moment when Ken Roczen got out of shape in the whoops, went down hard, and got run over by his teammate, Chase Sexton, who also went down. As bad as it looked, it could have been much worse, as Roczen’s head was in the danger zone in relation to Sexton's wheels as Sexton went by. Roczen was able to get back on the bike, but he did so slowly with his visor pointing straight up awkwardly. After taking a break in the mechanics’ area, Roczen was able to rejoin the session. Sexton himself would later go down all by himself in the exact same section. Up front, meanwhile, times were dropping rapidly. Dylan Ferrandis was at the top of the board, then a lap or two later he’d dropped down to eighth fastest! Eli Tomac had set a fast time of 59.541, but Ferrandis responded, recording a 59.258. Webb was up top briefly, having edged Ferrandis by two-thousandths of a second, but Ferrandis wasn’t having it and busted out a 59.180. It wouldn’t last though, as Tomac threw it down on the final lap to top the field with a 59.108. Roczen ended up eighth fastest with a 1:00.337, but threw a Nac-Nac over the finish line jump on his final lap.

In the B Group Josh Hill was looking good and spent most of the time up top, but Alex Ray put in a heater near the end of the session, which required dodging a downed bike and rider in a rhythm lane, and took over with a 1:02.698. Shortly after Kyle Chisholm displaced Hill with a 1:02.893.

SUPERCROSS FUTURES MAIN EVENT

The first same-day Supercross Futures Main Event was the final thing to happen in the afternoon before the night show. This was a race that riders qualified for at local events, and they would be greeted with a full blown supercross track.

Ryder DiFrancesco grabbed the holeshot and immediately began pulling away from Nicholas Nisbet in second. Nisbet dealt with some pressure from Dylan Cunha for a few laps before Cunha had a big moment while running third and dropped back a ways.

Blake Ashley found himself outside of the top five early but slowly worked his way into fourth around Joe Desimone after Desimone landed on a Tuff Block and got a cover caught in his wheel which forced him to pull off and remove it. There was also Luis Macias who was riding aboard a TM, and he moved into fifth after Desimone was forced to stop.

Ryder DiFrancesco eventually cruised to the win ahead of Nisbet and Cunha on the podium.

250SX Heat One

The first holeshot of the night went to Michael Mosiman, but he made a small bobble in the first section and gave up a few spots. The benefactor was Jo Shimoda, followed by Chris Blose, but half a lap later Mosiman was back in second and hounding Shimoda for the lead. Shimoda hung in there, despite heavy pressure, which allowed Seth Hammaker to creep up on the lead duo, making it a three-rider melee. Mosiman looked to have the pass made at one point, but he bobbled in a rhythm lane and gave Shimoda a couple lengths back. One lap later Shimoda pulled alongside Shimoda in a rhythm lane and dove to the inside of the next turn to make the pass. Just when it looked like Mosiman was going to sprint away he got a bad drive through the whoops and Shimoda rocketed back by. But then Mosiman got him right back in the same spot as before, this time taking him high in the following turn. That would be the last pass fort the lead, with Mosiman taking the checkers by about a second and-a-half. Shimoda, Hammaker, Chris Blose, Cole Thompson, Carson Mumford, Ryan Surratt, Logan Karnow, and Hunter Schlosser all transferred to the main, in that order.

250SX Heat Two

Christian Craig holeshot this one, but several spots behind him there was chaos coming out of the first turn with roughly ten bikes tangling and ending up on the dirt. In second was Hunter Lawrence, followed by Garrett Marchbanks, Vince Friese, Nate Thrasher, and Dominique Thury, although they were pretty spread out. The battle to watch, amazingly, was between Gared Steinke on a two-stroke and Maxwell Sanford, who were battling for the final transfer spot. At one point Sanford was all over Steinke, but Steinke put a couple of really clean laps together and squeaked out a bit of a gap. Sanford started closing it back up on the final lap but Steinke hung on for the final transfer spot. When he crossed the line, the crowed went nuts as Steinke windmilled his arm in the air. Craig won, with Lawrence, Marchbanks, Friese, Thrasher, Thury, Carson Brown, Devin Harriman, and Steinke transferring to the main.

450SX HEAT ONE

Chase Sexton grabbed the holeshot and the early lead in the first 450SX heat race of the night with Jason Anderson and Max Anstie right behind him early. Anstie then fell halfway through the first lap and was way back in the pack.

That moved Malcolm Stewart into third place as the front three began pulling away from Dean Wilson and Aaron Plessinger behind them. Sexton was slowly opening up the gap over Anderson as Stewart closed in behind. A week ago in Anaheim, Stewart put Anderson on the ground while they battled in the heat race and Anderson injured his hand, so that was the topic of discussion before the battle commenced.

Stewart made the pass on Anderson in the whoops, but Anderson squared him off and got him right back. Moments later, Stewart misjudged his angle in the sand section and went straight into the Tuff Blocks next to the wall jump. The crash dropped him back to fifth momentarily behind Dean Wilson, but he quickly made the pass back into fourth.

The battle for the final transfer spot wasn’t much of a battle halfway through as Ryan Breece made his way into ninth and slowly pulled away from Justin Startling and Max Anstie behind him. But Anstie after his early crash was reeling him in and sure enough, he caught him with three turns to go. The Brit threw it down the inside in the last corner to make the pass to secure ninth.

Chase Sexton cruised to the win out front leading home Jason Anderson and Aaron Plessinger.

450SX HEAT 2

Adam Cianciarulo shot out to the early lead in the second heat race with Shane McElrath and Eli Tomac right behind him. Tomac wasted little time to get around McElrath for second and set his sights onto his former teammate Cianciarulo out front.

Tomac made the block pass on Cianciarulo moments later and Roczen got around McElrath for third moments later. Alex Ray had a big crash while just outside of transfer spot and gingerly got back on his bike and would not rejoin the race.

Roczen caught Cianciarulo and made the pass with two minutes left to go as Tomac had stretched his lead out to a few seconds. Next up behind Cianciarulo was Justin Barcia who had pulled away from Cooper Webb and Shane McElrath behind him to start closing in on Cianciarulo for third.

Barcia then made the move on Cianciarulo as AC started jumping through the whoops and Barcia blitzed right by him. Meanwhile, Marvin Musquin had moved up into sixth and was starting to close on teammate Cooper Webb.

In the end, Eli Tomac claimed the victory from Ken Roczen and Justin Barcia with Tomac holding on for the fastest lap as well.

250SX LCQ

Dylan Woodcock took the holeshot in this one, but he had a Robbie Wageman, who had problems on the first lap of his heat, all over him right away. Dilan Schwartz was a few lengths behind, with a battle for fourth starting to unfold between Max Sanford and Jerry Robin. A few laps in Wageman took the lead away from Woodcock and sprinted away. That set up a battle between Schwartz and Woodcock, while Robin had gotten away from Sanford and was relatively alone in fourth. As the laps wore on Schwartz was able to get around Woodcock, and at that point the transfer positions were set. Wageman won, with Schwartz, Woodcock, and Robin taking the remaining transfer spots. Credit to Dylan Walsh, who never gave up and had closed right up on Robin’s tail on the final lap.

450SX LCQ

In the 450SX LCQ, it was Kevin Moranz grabbing the holeshot and early lead as he battled with Alex Martin out front. AMart was able to nab the lead in the whoops while Josh Hill moved into second place moments later.

Alex Ray and Bubba Pauli got together battling for eighth place and it caused a huge pileup that collected Vann Martin, Nick Schmidt, and others. Moranz meanwhile fell way behind and out of transfer.

While Adam Enticknap was running comfortably in third, Ryan Breece started closing up on him and punted him to the ground for third place. Enticknap got up clearly frustrated and rolled around. It appeared he may actually play a factor when Breece came back around but as Enticknap rolled through the rhythm section Breece cartwheeled right next to Enticknap.

He then picked it up behind Bryson Gardner and Joan Cros who were battling for the final transfer spot and tried to catch them.

Cros eventually made the pass in the final turn on Gardner as Breece again crashed right behind them going into the final corner. Alex Martin took the win ahead of Josh Hill, Justin Starling, and Joan Cros.

250SX Main Event

When the gate dropped it looked like it was going to be Jo Shimoda nabbing the holeshot, then Christian Craig started sneaking forward, but then Vince Friese came up the inside! Shimoda would end up with the lead though, with Craig all over him. Friese started losing ground right away, and soon had Seth Hammaker and Michael Mosiman swarming him. Up front Shimoda had some sort of issue, possibly stalling it, and gave up the lead to Craig. What developed next was a three-way dogfight for second between Shimoda, Hammaker, and Mosiman, while Craig started checking out with the lead. Hunter Lawrence ran a somewhat distant fifth.

A few laps in disaster struck for Shimoda, who dropped the front wheel in the whoops and went over the bars hard. He got going again, but the damage was done, putting him in about ninth. Shortly after that, Mosiman tucked the front in a right-hander and dropped to sixth. He was able to start charging again, getting back by Friese for fifth pretty quickly, but it was tough going from there, as Nate Thrasher was going pretty fast in fourth. Mosiman did eventually catch and pass him, but he used up a lot of the clock in doing so.

With about six minutes remaining the battle to watch was between Lawrence and Hammaker for second. Lawrence had caught Hammaker, but Hammaker wasn’t ready to give up the spot and fought back. Finally Lawrence was able to sneak up the inside right before the finish line, take Hammaker high, and knife back down the berm in second. From this point, the top eight of Craig, Lawrence, Hammaker, Mosiman, Thrasher, Friese, Shimoda, and Garrett Marchbanks, were spread out quite a bit. Robbie Wageman tried to put in a charge on Chris Blose at the end for ninth, but just wasn’t able to close the gap. Craig took the win, increasing his points lead and taking his second consecutive win.

450SX MAIN EVENT

In the 450SX main event, it was Adam Cianciarulo grabbing the holeshot from Shane McElrath and Jason Anderson. Aaron Plessinger ran in fourth with Justin Barcia, Ken Roczen, Chase Sexton, Eli Tomac, Marvin Musquin, and Malcolm Stewart.

Anderson was the first one on the move as he made the pass around McElrath to get into second place and Plessinger quickly followed suit. Justin Barcia then also got around McElrath as the field was starting to sort itself out.

Roczen was just about to make the pass on McElrath when he fell from sixth place. Roczen was then stuck upside-down in the corner before the finish for a few moments and would remount down in 16^th spot.

Then Anderson made the move into the race lead around Cianciarulo on the fourth lap of the race and Plessinger was all over AC right after that for second place. He finally made the pass stick with a beautiful inside move down the long rhythm section and immediately set his sights on Anderson out front.

Barcia was closing in from fourth then quickly on Cianciarulo and the front four had a little gap working for them over Tomac now back there in fifth. Chase Sexton then stalled it on the wall jump after the finish line and went from sixth back to 10^th as the line kept moving.

Justin Barcia then made the pass stick on Cianciarulo, but they had both lost touch a bit with Anderson and Plessinger out front. The battle between the two somewhat pushed them back into the clutches of Eli Tomac and the #3 was all over AC for fourth. Within the next lap, Tomac was through into fourth place.

Cianciarulo kept slipping backwards as Stewart, Ferrandis, Webb, and Musquin all got around AC within successive laps. Plessinger tailed Anderson fairly closely for much of the race but then made a late mistake with less than five minutes to go and lost the tow of Anderson out front.

In the end, Jason Anderson held on for his first win of the season, his first win with Monster Energy Kawasaki, and his first win in over four years since his championship run in 2018. Plessinger held on for second with a huge turnaround from a week ago and Justin Barcia rounded off the podium to take over the points lead as well.