Aside from the military theme this evening, privateer Jerry Robin seems to just be stoked to be in San Diego as he has come prepared with a San Diego Padres themed setup. From his uniform matching Canvas gear to a brown and gold look with his bike graphics, Robin will also catch a few eyes today.

The racing in both classes has been great through two rounds but it's particularly close in the 450SX class. With nearly every rider seemingly having one good and one bad round so far, the top nine are still just 10 points apart. Ken Roczen and Jason Anderson have each won races but it's actually a consistent Justin Barcia who is riding back to back podiums to the points lead thus far. Round 3 could be a make or break round for getting the ball rolling for a lot of title hopefuls.

In the 250SX class, the unfortunate news came down this week that Seth Hammaker, who is currently second in the standings, crashed earlier this week and will miss quite a bit of time. He explained that he had ruptured his spleen in the crash and fractured two vertebrae in his lower back. Get well soon Seth.

Christian Craig carries two straight race victories into San Diego this weekend and the burden has been placed on the rest of the field to stop the momentum. Perhaps the man who could do it is Honda HRC's Hunter Lawrence who has a third and a second through two rounds. With the attrition in the class kicking up though, Lawrence will need to make some inroads on Craig quickly as the likelihood Craig has a bad race outside of the top five at this point is rather slim.

So we're just about set to get the day underway in San Diego as free practice groups will be hitting the track shortly. Follow along all day with us here at Racer X and be sure to catch Race Day Live and the night show by viewing the broadcast schedule below:

FREE PRACTICE

As the free practice sessions began on the day, the sun was shining all around the track meaning the track would dry out quickly. As the day goes on, the section before the finish line jump will be the first to become shaded and could help keep a few of the sections better off with moisture in the dirt, but the whoops will be in the sun until the sun goes down which means they will likely stay hard and dry throughout the day.

Jalek Swoll, who is back in action after suffering a concussion and some bruising in his frightening heat race crash in Anaheim, led the field around early in the 250A group. Points leader Christian Craig quickly went to the front of the train and to the top of the board as well. That has been typical of Craig this season is getting out front early in practice and qualifying to allow himself to maximize track space.

Hunter Lawrence shot into second place early on but was still a second and a half down of the pace that Craig was setting early on. The whoops are quite long today with 13 total whoops and Craig nearly made them look like another straightaway on the track. Craig then lowered his time down to a 49.848 to become the first rider to go sub-50 seconds early on in the day. Lawrence then fired back with a 50.506 of his own as the Australian was starting to figure out the track.

In the end, it would be Craig who would remain on top with his early time followed by Lawrence and Michael Mosiman.

In the 450SX A group, Alex Martin ran into some early troubles when he went down in the whoops. It’s unclear if the bike had a malfunction that caused him to go down or if the crash caused something to go wrong but Alex was left on the sidelines for the rest of the session as his rear tire was completely locked up.

As for the times, the early front man was Jason Anderson who was also working on some unique lines. For nearly a full lap, Anderson tucked to the inside in all the 90-degree corners and did wildly different rhythm lanes trying to figure out if any of them were faster. He ultimately went back to the main lines, but some of those insides could come into play later in the day.

His Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate Adam Cianciarulo shot to the top of the board with a low 49.3 and had a nice buffer on the rest of the field in times. The next closest for a while was Chase Sexton at a 49.7 but Cianciarulo held the top spot for some time.

Anderson tried to fire back last in the session but was only good enough for second fastest as he tipped Chase Sexton’s time but one hundredth of a second. So Cianciarulo topped Free Practice from Anderson, Sexton, Eli Tomac, and Malcolm Stewart.

FIRST QUALIFYING SESSIONS

As the first officially time qualifying sessions got underway in San Diego, the attention was once again on Christian Craig to see whether he would continue his strong form from free practice. Unlike in free practice, Craig let the whole field go instead looking for clean air at the back of the pack.

Vince Friese led the group around in 250A with Michael Mosiman giving early chase. Mosiman was the first mark in the armor a week ago for Craig as the GasGas man was fastest in Q1 in Oakland before Craig eventually took back the top spot in the second session.

Craig set the early pace, though his times were a bit off what he had put down in free practice. Garrett Marchbanks was second fastest early on as he crept into the mid-50 second range with Michael Mosiman just a few tenths behind him in third.

Hunter Lawrence briefly held the top time before Craig laid down a burner to just miss hitting the 48-second mark with a 49.103. A key difference from Craig’s free practice lap was going inside before the lone SX triple down the first base line. He likely saved a few tenths of a second just right there.

Craig upped the ante right at the end to dip into those 48s with a 48.889. He ended the session on top from Hunter Lawrence and Michael Mosiman again.

The 450A group hit the track next with championship leader Justin Barcia jumping out front of the train early. Malcolm Stewart found his way to the top of the sheets in the early stages but was quickly pipped by Eli Tomac and Adam Cianciarulo. Similar to the 250 group before them, times were a bit off the free practice pace in the first few minutes but were quickly dropping.

Jason Anderson then went fastest with a 49.420 to clear Tomac by about three tenths of a second. Just like a week ago, Anderson also had a fall in the first qualifying session when he tipped over down by the home plate turn. He would be fine to continue on.

Suddenly Marvin Musquin shot to the top of the leaderboard with a 49.170. The veteran Frenchman appears to have a newfound comfort level in the whoops with his new 2022 KTM 450SX-F Factory Edition and was showing solid speed in them throughout the session. He was knocked off the top spot moments after claiming it though as Chase Sexton became the first 450 rider to dip into the 48’s with a 48.784.

Jason Anderson wouldn’t let Sexton keep it for long though as he put in a 48.678 to nab the top spot by a tenth. The track was starting to reach its limit to a degree as it simply was coming down to hitting your marks and having an excellent run through the whoops to find speed. Dean Wilson had a crash right at the end of the session in the whoops, but he was able to gingerly get back on his bike and ride away. Anderson topped the session from Sexton and Marvin Musquin in the end.

SECOND QUALIFYING SESSIONS

The final sessions of the day got kicked off in the afternoon in San Diego and for the 250SX class, the mark to beat from the first session was still Christian Craig’s 48.889. Craig, like in free practice, holeshot the practice start and had some free air to work with in qualifying for a few laps. The Dirt Wurx crew had practically freshened up the entire track and did remove the first whoop turning the second whoop in the long pad into the new starter whoop. The rework allowed for a longer run from the corner to the whoops which certainly was expected to increase the runs we’d see through the whoops.

Michael Mosiman actually fired first in Q2 with a 49.204 to go to the top of the table by a half a second over Craig. Craig then took the top spot right back with a 48.935 of his own. The mark wasn’t quite what Craig had put down in the first session just yet, but plenty of time still remained.

Mosiman dipped his toes into the 48’s with a 48.985 before Craig put another tremendous lap together to beat him time from the first session at a 48.663. He then lowered that time again as he put down a 48.216 just moments later. The successive drops in time moved Craig to seven tenths clear of Mosiman in second.

Dilan Schwartz and Logan Karnow both had some rough crashes in the whoops and shook each of them up a bit. Both riders would remount and head to the mechanics area to fix their machines a bit before continuing on with qualifying.

Hunter Lawrence took one final shot at knocking Craig out of P1 as he put down a 48.592, but it wasn’t enough in the end as for the third straight week in a row, Christian Craig topped qualifying in the 250SX class.

The 450SX class quickly followed and it was Cooper Webb who got out front with the practice start holeshot. The reigning champion was 12^th in the first qualifying session and was looking for a rebound in a big way before the night show got underway. He shot to the top of the leaderboard early with a 50.114.

Jason Anderson continued to impress as he was the next to find his way into P1 with a 48.864. Chase Sexton followed right along with him as he put in a 58.959 of his own as they were the only two riders to go into the 48’s early on.

Dylan Ferrandis then jumped to the top with a 48.718 but his time lasted for only a few moments before Chase Sexton put in a 48.650 and then Malcolm Stewart went all the way down to a 48.352. Ken Roczen shot into second with a 48.382 while Adam Cianciarulo went third fastest with a 48.509.

The times kept dropping as then Sexton went fastest overall again with a 48.141 to clear Stewart by two tenths of a second. Suddenly, Dylan Ferrandis became the first person all day to go sub-48 with a 47.966.

Bad news for Adam Cianciarulo as he hurried off the track and out of the stadium with two minutes left in the session. He apparently got the whoops wrong and didn’t crash but his shoulder couldn’t handle the situation any longer. There is not update currently on whether he is expected to race tonight or not.

Back to the times, Jason Anderson put down a last lap burner to go to the top of the board again with a 47.896. So it was Anderson fastest qualifier on the day from Ferrandis and Chase Sexton in the top three.

250SX HEAT 1

Carson Mumford grabbed the holeshot in the opening heat race of the night. Nate Thrasher was in second early on, but he was quickly passed by Hunter Lawrence as Chris Blose also moved by and got into third place before the end of the first lap.

The top three began to stretch out a little gap on new fourth place man Carson Brown as Thrasher had slid back a little bit after a strong start. Hunter Lawrence then shot into the lead on the third lap of the race after Mumford made a small bobble coming out of the whoops.

Blose immediately put pressure on Mumford after that as the veteran was trying to move up into second place. Moments later, he made the pass on Mumford in the exact same spot that Lawrence had taken the lead the lap before.

Thrasher then stalled after the whoops and that pushed him back to 10^th behind Brandon Ray for the final transfer spot. Mumford was then passed by Garrett Marchbanks for third place as the Suzuki rider was falling off his early race pace.

Marchbanks continued marching forward and got around Blose for second just a lap after he got around Mumford. Marchbanks was also the fastest rider on the track by this point as he had much better speed through the whoops than Lawrence out front.

He gave it a run but, in the end, it was Lawrence who would hang on for the victory ahead of Marchbanks, Blose, Mumford, and Brown.

250SX HEAT 2

It was Vince Friese grabbing the holeshot in the second heat race of the night with Christian Craig giving him an early elbow trying to take it away. Friese would hold on and lead the first lap from Craig, Dylan Walsh, Michael Mosiman, and Robbie Wageman.

Craig and Friese then went back and forth for the race lead for a few turns before ultimately Craig was able to snatch is away. Friese then missed the SX triple just after that, and it allowed Mosiman to close right up onto him for second place. The exchanged pleasantries a couple of times before Mosiman was also able to make it by.

Jo Shimoda had made some early moves to get up into fourth while Walsh began to slip backwards. Dilan Schwartz, Jalek Swoll, and Robbie Wageman all found their way around Walsh a lap after Shimoda had made the move on the Kiwi.

Mosiman in second kept trying to eat away at Craig’s lead and slowly he was bringing the gap down. But tine was quickly running out and Craig looked relatively on control as he started working through lapped traffic. Mosiman did bring the gap down to just 1.2 seconds in the end, but Craig would hold on for the victory ahead of Mosiman, Friese, Shimoda, and Schwartz.

450SX HEAT 1

Cooper Webb grabbed the holeshot and early lead in the first 450SX heat race with Ken Roczen right beside him. Roczen got pushed wide in the second corner and that allowed Webb’s teammate Marvin Musquin to make the pass into second place.

Roczen and Musquin went back and forth for a few corners on the second lap of the race, but a small bobble by the German allowed for Musquin to open up a bit of a gap. Behind them, Justin Brayton was closing in and sticking his nose into the battle with Justin Bogle rounding out the top five.

Webb and Musquin began matching pace out front and both of them were slowly inching away from Roczen and Brayton. The top four were dropping Bogle in fifth as he slipped back into the battle with his teammate Brandon Hartranft, Dylan Ferrandis, Josh Hill, Max Anstie, and Dean Wilson.

The top three tightened up at the front as the race went on with Musquin catching Webb and Roczen catching both of them. Webb kept a cool head throughout though and ultimately prevailed from his teammate Musquin and Roczen challenging behind. Justin Brayton and Dylan Ferrandis rounded out the top five.

450SX HEAT 2

The final heat race of the night saw Shane McElrath get the holeshot and lead for a few turns before stalling the bike and going back to seventh. That put Alex Martin in the race lead for a brief moment until Jason Anderson swooped in on the second lap and took over the lead.

Aaron Plessinger and Joey Savatgy got tangled up in the first corner and Savatgy actually ended up underneath Plessinger’s bike for a few moments. Plessinger would continue on while Savatgy was left to limp his bike back to the mechanics area and get ready for the LCQ.

Adam Cianciarulo then was rolling around three laps into the race and pulled off. It appears the moment he had at the end of qualifying that he initially had gone back to the pits for is still lingering and it’s unclear at this time whether or not he will continue for the rest of the evening.

Anderson continued to lead with Justin Barcia moving into second place. Eli Tomac had moved up to third early on and he was beginning to put the pressure on Barcia for second place with less than a minute to go. Behind them, Chase Sexton had also recovered from a bad start to move into fourth place, and he was reeling in the battle for second as well.

Jason Anderson took the race victory convincingly with Eli Tomac coming through to finish second ahead of Justin Barcia, Chase Sexton, and Malcolm Stewart.

250SX LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER

In the 250SX LCQ, it was Ryan Surratt who grabbed the holeshot as Cheyenne Harmon went down coming into the first corner. Surratt led for the first straight away, but Justin Rodbell took over the lead going into the second turn. Rodbell then led from Hunter Schlosser, Surratt, and Brandon Ray, but Schlosser almost went down in the whoops and stalled which pushed him back to seventh.

Rodbell continued to lead while chaos ensued behind him. McClellan Hile crashed while battling for fourth in the whoops and collected Schlosser with him as the #79 machine came through moments later. That pushed Brandon Ray up to third with Devin Harriman right behind him and the two suddenly had a little gap established back to fifth.

In fifth place, it was Maxwell Sanford dealing with pressure from Dominique Thury as the duo tried to close the gap to the group in front of them. Ray was then passed by Harriman and slowly was slipping back to the clutches of Sanford behind him in what would be the battle for the final transfer spot.

Sanford then made a mistake on the penultimate lap and that allowed Thury by as Ray suddenly had some breathing room. The white flag waved with about two seconds in it between Ray and Thury for the final transfer spot. Thury made a small bobble in the whoops, and it was just enough to allow Ray to establish a gap and get into the main event. Rodbell won from Surratt, Harriman, and Brandon Ray.

450SX LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER

Unfortunate news before the 450SX LCQ even got underway as it was announced that Joey Savatgy and Adam Cianciarulo would both be out for the remainder of the evening. Once the race got underway, it was Kyle Chisholm who grabbed the holeshot and led early from Ryan Breece, Joan Cros, and Fredrik Noren.

Noren and Josh Hill both move around Cros to take over third and fourth, respectively, on the second lap of the race. Meanwhile, SGB Racing Honda teammates Cade Clason and Alex Ray were in the midst of a battle for sixth behind Cros as everyone settled in after the second lap,

Ray then passed Cros for fifth but was already about three seconds down to Hill in fourth by the time he got the move done. So, it was a four-rider train of Chisholm, Breece, Noren, and Hill who were starting to pull away a bit out front.

All was status quo until Fredrik Noren tipped over in third and got up in fourth but right in front of Alex Ray. Ray then sent it to the inside in the next corner and T-boned Noren off the track. Noren stayed up but Ray went down.

Chisholm took the win in the end from Breece, Hill, and Noren in the transfer spots to the main event.