Saturday Night Live: Oakland

“I don’t know where I was last week,” said Plessinger of his huge turnaround. “I was in a different mindset. I regrouped this week, and it was a good week. We did some testing and the whole crew and I spent some time at the track and man did it turn it around. I’m stoked. My second podium ever in the 450SX class and I can’t thank these guys enough.”

One rider who didn’t have a big up or down from last week was Barcia. In fact, he finished in third, the same exact spot as he did in Anaheim! How crazy is it that a rider nicknamed BamBam and has often been described as wild, or rowdy, has been the most consistent rider through the first two rounds this season? Thanks to his back-to-back podiums, his red GasGas will have the red plate next weekend in San Diego.

“I had no idea [I would be the points leader],” Barcia said. “I was just riding my own race. I got a little tight in the middle and I was able to regroup well. I saw Eli coming and I knew I needed to put the hammer down. I really wanted those two in front of me, but they rode awesome. I want to dedicate this race to Fed [Ryan Fedorow]. He unfortunately passed away last week. I feel like he would be proud of me tonight. He worked hard and was a good dude, and it was a great race.”

Tomac had a better week than last. He was the fastest qualifier and was able to make moves happen a little quicker. After a so-so start he found himself in fifth place by the fourth lap. He caught and passed his old teammate, Cianciarulo a few laps later, but that’s where his forward motion stopped. He closed on Barcia as the race wore on but Barcia responded and Tomac had to settle for fourth. That’s still a good result, especially in this deep field, and given that Tomac usually starts slow. Malcolm Stewart and Dylan Ferrandis were surging late in the race, but they weren’t able to get to Tomac.

Last week was good for Cooper Webb. As always, he was strong when he needed to be, but that was not the case today. He didn’t get out of the gate well, and even after he got going he was picking dudes off. He didn’t show the same finishing strength that saw him take over second in Anaheim and finished in seventh ahead of his teammate, Marvin Musquin. Speaking of Musquin, he’s another rider who seemed totally different than he did just seven days prior. Last week Musquin charged up to fourth, despite having a crash, but this week eighth was all he could muster after a poor start. At one point he got into a good battle with his teammate Webb, but Webb got away in the latter laps.

Finally, it was a horrible night for the Honda boys, Chase Sexton and Ken Roczen. Sexton was fast in qualifying and won his heat, but after stalling his motorcycle and taking a substantial amount of time to get it re-fired, simply wasn’t able to get back in the groove. He finished ninth, which is still better than thirteenth, where Roczen ended up. Roczen didn’t get a particularly bad start, but got shuffled back a few spots early on. Then Roczen, who had a hard crash in the whoops during qualifying, went down again in the main, this time in the track’s other set of whoops. Roczen wasn’t able to remount quickly and when he did, didn’t have the speed he did last week. It could’ve been worse, as Roczen is still right in there in points and is tied for fifth with Tomac, just six back of Barcia.

In the 250  Class, at least right now, it could not be more clear that Christian Craig is the man everyone else is going to have to go through if they want earn a 250SX west title. Craig was on another level today—he was the fastest qualifier, led every single lap of his heat race and led every lap but one in his main event. If you’re keeping track, he has yet to lose a race, be it heat or main event, in 2022. As a result, he’s got an eight-point lead over Hunter Lawrence and Seth Hammaker, who are tied for second.

“It’s always cool to win and to do it two weeks in a row is something special and something I’m very thankful for,” Craig said. “It’s cool to start off the season like this. I couldn’t do it without my family and my kids back at home. I know Jagger’s watching. My wife here and my mechanic and my whole team. I have a good support group and people that push me every day to get me to where I am. But yeah, it was a great race. I got a good start in the main and got in behind Jo [Shimoda] and then he stalled it here before the whoops and man after that I just clicked off my laps. The track got really tricky. I had a couple sketchy moments in the rhythm sections, but other than that I just managed the race.”

Lawrence was second tonight, and if he’s able to get a good start could probably do some damage with a lead. Problem is, Lawrence didn’t even have a chance to fight Craig for the lead—Lawrence didn’t get by Seth Hammaker for second place until late in the race and by that time Craig was long gone.

“I’m not stoked,” Lawrence said. “I rode great but just took myself out of it with the start. I just didn’t get a good enough start so it’s all on me. We’ll go back and keep working and hopefully give ourselves a better chance from the get-go next weekend.”

Third was Hammaker, who held second for a good portion of the race. Early on he battled with Jo Shimoda and local hero Michael Mosiman, but Shimoda crashed spectacularly when he dropped a front wheel in the whoops and went over the bars, and Mosiman had a problem too, more on that in a minute. All this chaos allowed Hammaker to get away, which was good for him, but was a bummer for the fans, because it looked like those three were going to put on a fantastic battle. Credit to Hammaker for maintaining poise under pressure on a tough track that took plenty of other riders out of contention tonight.

“It was a solid night here in Oakland,” Hammaker said. “I’m going to take it and learn from it. I’m not like super pumped with how I rode tonight, but I’m glad to be back on the box and honestly just being up on the box each weekend and putting myself in a good position. But yeah, we definitely need to start clicking off those wins and I’m going to work hard to try to get it done next weekend in San Diego.”

Mosiman was great yet again. Initially. He was very fast in practice and won his heat race after a some great back-and-forth passing with Shimoda. And, yet again, it was another small mistake that ruined his chances of fighting for a win or getting on the podium. Shortly after Shimoda went down Mosiman tucked the front in a right-hander and dropped several positions. He was able to get Vince Friese back pretty fast, but it took him a while to track down and pass Nate Thrasher, who was having a good race in fourth. By then Mosiman was simply out of time. He’s got a lot of speed and is one of a handful of guys in the class who should be battling for podium spots and wins, but he’s not doing himself any favors with these errors.

If you’re a two-stroke fan you had something big to be happy about tonight. Gared Steinke piloted his KTM 125SX straight into the main event from the heat race. He was elated and so was the crowd. Unfortunately he only made it seven laps in the main event and finished 21^st ahead of Jerry Robin. But even so, scoring supercross points on a 125 is a big achievement!

If you were wondering about some of the riders who may have jumped through a rhythm after a medical flag was being flown, wonder no more. There was a review of what happened, but no penalties were issued.