After two straight third-place finishes to start the season, Justin Barcia sits fourth with three straight finishes outside of the top-five (9-7-6) as he sits over 20 points down on Tomac. Two-time 450SX champion Cooper Webb sits fifth, 23 points down, and Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen and Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin are both 31 points down. Barcia and Webb are barely under a race behind Tomac, but Roczen and Musquin are over a full race down now, which is not looking good for either of them. As Jason Weigandt pointed out earlier this week, Webb needs to start digging out of this hole if he wants a shot at the title—as does Roczen as well, who has looked “off” compared to his strong ride at the season-opener. For everyone in Tomac’s camp, the hope is the #3 can start to break away and put some more points between him and Sexton, Anderson, and the rest of the field. Tomac won Anaheim 2—could he win tonight and gain some more ground on the competition? Sexton and Anderson have both shown tremendous speed, but both had mistakes in Arizona that have impacted their results (Sexton going down twice and Anderson’s cross-rut off the track in the second Triple Crown race). Maybe Sexton or Anderson (both fast here at in the previous two Anaheim events this year as well) can grab a win of their own and put a slow to ET3’s roll out front. Dylan Ferrandis was fast last weekend, but his results did not come around fully as his 7-5-22 in the Triple Crown gave him 12th overall on the night. The French native is still searching for his maiden 450SX main event win. His name gets thrown into the hat of potential winners tonight as well. Here is a look at the top ten in the 450SX standings.

In the 250SX Class, Monster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing’s Christian Craig has an eight-point advantage over Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence. Craig was dominant in the first and third races in Arizona, but after a collision with Vince Friese, the #28 was forced to work through the field for the second time this season. Lawrence took advantage of Craig’s misfortune and held off a charging Michael Mosiman in the race and his eventual second place in the final race gave the Australian his first Triple Crown overall win and his first win of the season. Mosiman has some issues in Glendale (10-2-15 race finishes for ninth overall) and lost touch with the lead duo in the standings as he is now 23 points down from Craig. Just as Craig and Lawrence want to gain on one another tonight, Mosiman wants to show he is still a championship contender before we pack up and head east. Can Craig pull off the Anaheim sweep, or does someone else come up with the win tonight? Jo Shimoda and Nate Thrasher, fourth and fifth in points respectively, would love to end this initial West Coast swing with a win and some momentum heading into the region’s break. Here are the top ten in the 250SX West Region standings. 

And if you happened to look at the entry lists for this weekend, you might have caught this: there will be a second 125 two-stroke out on the track today! Patrick Evans has signed up to race the 250SX Class at A3 on a #271 ERA Moto-backed Husqvarna TC 125. Watch for Evans to have some fun out there with his buddy Gared Steinke. Check out his race machine below.

Super Bowl LVI Preview?

Ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl LVI (56) between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, Feld Entertainment had Twisted Tea/HEP Motorsports Suzuki teammates Adam Enticknap (Rams) and Brandon Hartranft (Bengals) battle one-on-one during Friday's press day as a simulation to the Super Bowl. Enticknap took the "win" and called the Rams to win the Super Bowl as well.

Anyways, below is the full broadcast schedule for the sixth round. Tune into Peacock TV to watch qualifying and then later tonight for the night show.

Free Practice

Riders took to the track for the first time today for the free practice, which does not count towards overall qualifying. Riders were learning the track and the rhythms. Following a knee injury that had him sidelined for round five in Glendale, Dylan Woodcock returned to the paddock today and put in a 1:08.074 in the 250SX B group qualifying free practice. Logan Karnow’s 1:10.529 was the second best until two-stroke man Gared Steinke put in a 1:09.950 down on his KTM 125 SX. Late in the session, Ryan Surratt (dealing with a wrist injury) jumped to second with a 1:09.020, then on the last lap of the session, Karnow put in a 1:07.740 to top the group.

When the 250SX A group took to the track for the first time, Hunter Lawrence’s 1:02.615 and Garrett Marchbanks’ 1:02.836 were the fastest first full laps. Then Christian Craig finished his first full lap, a 1:02.836. On his third lap, Craig went below the 1:02 mark, putting in a 1:01.020. On lap four, Nate Thrasher jumped into the top five with a fast lap of 1:02.883 that had him behind Marchbanks’ initial fast lap. On his fourth lap, Michael Mosiman dropped a 1:01.018 and as it hit the live timing page, Thrasher dropped a sub-1:01 with a 1:00.818. Craig became the first rider to go under a minute as he put in a 59.058 on his fifth lap. Jo Shimoda jumped to second-fastest in the session with a 1:00.212 on his sixth lap. At the finish of the session, Craig was fastest with a 58.866 over Thrasher’s 1:00.194 and Shimoda’s 1:00.212. Again, these times will not matter.

When the 450SX A group took to the track, it was Justin Barcia’s 1:01.606 as the first fast lap, followed by a 1:01.817 from Aaron Plessinger. Jason Anderson came in fast on the third lap and dropped a 1:00.392, followed by a 1:00.940 from Malcolm Stewart and a 1:01.343 from Dylan Ferrandis. On lap four, Marvin Musquin (59.736), Chase Sexton (59.711), and Eli Tomac (59.409) all three went sub-1:00. Anderson responded with a 59.216 of his own. Then, four of the top fiver riders put in their fastest lap of the seventh lap of the session, including a 58.895 by Anderson.

And we’ll just leave this one here…

Update: Clason has posted a video of his crash.

The final free practice session (450SX group B) was led by a 1:04.384 from Adam Enticknap. Ryan Breece (1:05.889) was second fastest early, followed by mustache man Josh Greco (1:08.236). Enticknap bested his time to a 1:02.841, which topped the session. Justin Starling (1:04.854), Henry Miller (1:06.153), who is back racing supercross for the first time this season after recovering from knee surgery last summer, and RJ Wageman (1:06.309) shuffled into the top five before the checkered flag. Again, these times are irrelevant. The first actual qualifying sessions will be up next!

First Qualifying Sessions

250SX

Once the first qualifying session began, Logan Karnow put in a 1:06.412 to lead the field. Wyatt Lyonsmith put in a 1:06.900 as the second fastest time early on. Then Dylan Woodcock put down a 1:05.235. Woodcock was bested by a 1:04.052 from Karnow then Woodcock dropped a 1:03.550 to retake the top spot. At the finish, Karnow claimed the top spot of the field with a 1:03.482. A handful of riders went down in the whoops because once again they are a tough, long set.

The 250SX A group took to the track and initially it was Michael Mosiman (59.021) and Nate Thrasher (59.765) leading the field. Several riders went down in this session in the whoops as well, including Richard Taylor. Taylor was attended to by the Alpinestars medical crew and did not finish the session. On the eighth lap, Christian Craig dropped a 57.712 to take the top spot of the first official qualifying session. Derek Kelley snuck in a 1:00.422 to move into the top ten with the seventh-fastest lap.

Here are a few notes from the first 250SX group A qualifying session: Devin Harriman lost his fast lap for stopping on the hot track, and Garrett Marchbanks lost his hot lap after failing a sound test on the side of the track.

450SX

A few injury updates: Alex Ray is officially out for today as he continues to have lingering wrist issues. And we are hearing Josh Hill is out for the night with a hip injury after clipping a rhythm section and going down hard during free practice.

Early Jason Anderson went down exiting the rhythm section before the sand turn and it collected Chase Sexton and Cooper Webb. Sexton and Webb jumped up and pulled Sexton's bikes off of Anderson, who got up and seemed to be okay. Sexton went to the mechanics’ area following the pileup and his mechanic changed his front wheel, which cost him several minutes in the session. Riders shuffled for the top spot initially but a couple laps in, Dylan Ferrandis dropped a 58.132 just ahead of his teammate Eli Tomac’s 58.192. Marvin Musquin put down a 58.085 as him and Tomac went back and forth for the top time. Anderson did not appear to be impacted by his crash as he put down a 58.205. On his seventh lap, Ferrandis put down a 57.286. Anderson did not appear to be impacted by his crash as he put down a 58.205. With limited time after being in the pits, Sexton put in a 59.011, which was ninth-fastest that session, as Webb put in a 59.125 for tenth.

There appears to be an issue with timing and scoring. The 450SX B group was sent back to the pits and now the KTM Junior riders are on the track putting down some practice laps.

The 450SX B group got back on track after an issue with timing and scoring. Ryan Breece led the field with a 1:03.555 early on. Justin Starling topped Breece with a 1:02.849 of his own. Starling improved his time with a 1:02.849 a few laps later.

second Qualifying Sessions

250SX

Karnow topped the session with a 1:02.740, followed by Ryan Surratt (1:04.211), Maxwell Sanford (1:04.994), Chris Howell (1:05.158), and Dylan Woodcock (1:05.410).

When the 250SX A group took to the track for the final qualifying session of the day, Vince Friese took the fake holeshot Michael Mosiman had the first fast lap with a 59.632, then Christian Craig’s 58.674 topped Nate Thrasher’s 58.626 and Hunter Lawrence’s 58.573. A few laps later Craig dropped a 57.300, besting his 57.712 from the first qualifying session. Jo Shimoda shuffled into second in the session with a 57.948. Then Craig dropped a 56.813 at the end of the session! Craig's second fastest time even bested Shimoda's fastest lap. Craig was absolutely crushing the whoops each and every lap. He takes the top 250SX qualifying spot for the fifth time this season. 

450SX

When the 450SX A group took to the track for the final time today, Justin Barcia got the fake holeshot and led the field early. Riders were shuffling back and forth for the top time. It was Eli Tomac with a 56.772, besting his teammate Dylan Ferrandis’ top time from the first session (57.286). Then Jason Anderson went and dropped a 56.700 to take over the top spot. Anderson’s late fast lap allowed the #21 to take the top 450SX spot for the second time this season as he becomes the first repeat fastest 450SX qualifier. Chase Sexton’s 57.213 was third fastest this session. Ferrandis, who was P1 from the first session, was eighth this session with a 58.154. Ken Roczen was 18th that session—no, not a typo, 18th—with a 1:01.716.

In the final 450SX qualifying session (450SX B), Kevin Moranz with a big case and crash in the rhythm section after the whoops. He got up and going again no problem but went to the pits to straighten out his bars. Justin Starling was leading the group with a 1:02.234, but he had a get off late in the session and had a slight lip when he got back up to his feet. Starling’s best time of 1:01.441 topped the session.

250SX Heat 1

When the riders blasted out of the gates for the first 250SX heat, it was privateer riders Robbie Wageman and Carson Brown leading the field. Brown snuck to the lead on the outside of the turn following the whoops and he led the field as riders continued to shuffle for early positions.

Garrett Marchbanks jumped ahead of Wageman to take over second place as Jo Shimoda worked his way towards the front. Marchbanks then made his way around Brown to take over the race lead. Brown has a mistake that cost him several positions and Justin Rodbell tucked the front end, going down while in a transfer position. He remounted slowly but had bike issues it appeared (front tire looked locked up). Shimoda caught up to Marchbanks and went to scrub with only a few turns left, Shimoda went to scrub and lost control, slamming down hard to the ground. He did not finish the race. Marchbanks went on to take the race win, his first heat race win of 2022. Shout-out to Tre Fierro, who finished ninth and will make his first career 250SX main event!

250SX Heat 2

At the start of the second 250SX heat race, it was the three championship contenders: Christian Craig, Michael Mosiman, and Hunter Lawrence. Craig led and tried to check out but Mosiman and Lawrence kept him honest at first. While running second, Mosiman made a mistake in the turn before the double-whoops section that killed the GasGas rider’s momentum, allowing Lawrence to take over second place. Craig took the win by 3.802 seconds over Lawrence, with Mosiman just 2.988 seconds back of the Honda HRC rider. Watch for these three to battle once again when the gate drops on the main event here in a few hours.

450SX Heat 1

Gates dropped on the first 450SX heat of the night and as the riders funneled together in the first turn, one rider was sent to the ground tumbling as the others exited the turn. Dylan Ferrandis got pinched off—he was on the inside of Eli Tomac but the #3 got a better jump than Ferrandis. Ferrandis’ front wheel got clipped and he flipped over. He eventually got up and, down significant time, went to the pits to grab his mechanic and then left the stadium to head for the team truck and prepare for the LCQ. Out front, Justin Brayton grabbed the race lead ahead of Justin Barcia, Marvin Musquin, Justin Bogle, Cooper Webb, Justin Starling, Brandon Hartranft, and Eli Tomac. Barcia made a pass on Brayton to take over the lead as Webb and Tomac both got around Bogle to take over fourth and fifth, respectively. Then, Webb and Tomac went back and forth. Tomac had a pass made but he went outside in the sand turn and anticipated a move from Webb to the inside. Tomac let up and Webb snuck to the inside. A few laps later, Tomac made a pass stick in the whoops. Out front, Barcia continued to lead as Musquin battled with Brayton for second place. Musquin made a pass to take over second and then Tomac went after Brayton as well. ET3 made a pass stick on Brayton and out front, Barcia took the heat race win—his first of 2022.

450SX Heat 2

Jason Anderson blasted out of the gates on the start of the second 450SX heat race and I think that was the last everyone saw of him because he absolutely checked out! Anderson led Aaron Plessinger, Shane McElrath, Chase Sexton, Max Anstie, and Mitchell Oldenburg. Ken Roczen moved his way up to and around Anstie and Malcolm Stewart followed the #94 through as well. Dean Wilson crashed in the whoops, and he cut off the rest of the whoops section and the following 180-degree turn as he remounted and went straight into the rhythm section that followed the turn. Afterwards, Wilson was penalized one position for the cutting the track. Roczen and Stewart battled for fifth, and Stewart made a pass in the sand turn to take over the spot. Out front, Anderson won by 5.176 seconds over Plessinger, Sexton, and McElrath, who were all smooth in their own right.  

250SX LCQ

The 250SX LCQ got out of the gates, and it was Devin Harriman leading Mitchell Harrison, Kaeden Amerine, and Chance Blackburn. When the field hit the whoops the first time, someone went down at the start of them, and a handful of riders went down. Geran Stapleton made his way into the fourth and final transfer spot. Then race leader Harriman went down in the whoops! He remounted and was still in a transfer spot because the top three had separated themselves so much from the rest of the field, and Hunter Schlosser tucked the front end in the turn before the whoops, giving Harriman more time. A lap later, Harriman crashed in the whoops again! Still, he somehow remounted in a transfer spot! Harrison caught Amerine at the very end, but the #432 held on for the checkered flag. Harrison came through second, Stapleton came through unmatched in third, and somehow, Harriman got it done coming through in the final transfer spot!

450SX LCQ

Fredrik Noren grabbed the holeshot in the 450SX LCQ ahead of Kevin Moranz, Dean Wilson, and Dylan Ferrandis. They hit the whoops and Ferrandis quickly blasted from fourth to first! Wilson and Noren both got around Moranz after the KTM rider got wild exiting the whoops section. Somehow, he stayed up. Moranz suddenly had company in the form of Adam Enticknap and Ryan Breece. Both riders got around Moranz as Enticknap moved into the final transfer spot. On the last lap, Noren lost momentum in the whoops and got caught by the last few, slamming to the ground and his bike collected Breece on the outside, as well! Joan Cros slid up and passed Moranz but with two turns to go, Moranz bumped Cros right off the track! Ferrandis took the race win ahead of Wilson, who was followed through by Enticknap. Moranz held on to come through the checkered flag next, but he did not know it at the time. He looked over to double check and then realized he had made his first main event of the year! Moranz pulled up close to the fans and gave a big fist pump!

250SX Main Event

When the gate dropped on the 250SX main event, Hunter Lawrence looked like he was about to grab the holeshot, but he ran wide, pushing Christian Craig wide as well. this allowed Vince Friese to sneak up to the inside, but Craig blew by both Lawrence and Friese in the whoop section to quickly get to the lead! Jalek Swoll endoed in the whoops and his bike caught Nate Thrasher, who went down hard, too. Derek Kelley tried to avoid Swoll and went into the Tuff Blox to the left of the whoops. Kelley would go on to finish a career-best eighth as both Swoll and Thrasher were done for the night.

Behind the lead trio of Craig, Lawrence, and Friese were Chris Blose, Carson Brown, Nique Thury, and Michael Mosiman. As Mosiman picked off rider after rider, Brown stayed tow with the GasGas rider as he went after Blose for fourth. Mosiman pulled away from Brown and made a pass on Blose. Jerry Robin crashed hard in the whoops and his night was over after only four full laps.

On the seventh lap, Lawrence took a wild ride in the whoops before slamming down hard. He crawled off the track with the help of the Alpinestars medical crew and did not finish the remainder of the race. Thury had a crash of his own in the whoops, too, crashing out of seventh place. Garrett Marchbanks pushed through from what was a horrible start—he was literally crossing the holeshot line as Craig and the lead crew were heading into the sand turn. But Marchbanks continued to navigate through the carnage, eventually finishing in fourth.

Out front, Craig had a 14-second gap over Friese. Mosiman caught Friese but was not able to get close enough to make a pass yet. A few laps later and the GasGas rider blew by Friese in the whoops to take over second….until he crashed in the whoops, handing second place back to Friese! Then Blose had a crash of his own, which gave Marchbanks the position. Craig took the main event win, his fourth of the season, as he went three-for-three at Angel Stadium to take a commanding lead in the final 250SX West Region race before the break. Not only did Craig win the race by 25.423 seconds, but he now has a whole race-worth of points on Mosiman (now second again, 28 points back) and Lawrence (third now, 29 points back).

The following riders earned career-best finishes on the night: Friese (second), Brown (fifth), Robbie Wageman (seventh), Kelley (eighth), Ryan Surratt (10th), Kaeden Amerine (11th), Devin Harriman (13th), and shout-out to Tre Fierro, who recorded a 14th in his first career 250SX main event.

450SX Main Event

Coming out of the first turn in the 450SX main event, Jason Anderson grabbed the holeshot. Several riders back, Ken Roczen got bumped wide and onto a Tuff Block, which resulted in him rounding the holeshot line in dead last. Out front, Anderson lead Eli Tomac, Marvin Musquin, Malcolm Stewart, and Justin Barcia. Tomac and Anderson battled back and forth for the race lead, but no matter what Tomac tried, Anderson was able to counter it and hold onto the lead. After three laps, Roczen had worked his way up to 14th. However, the #94’s charge would stop at 11th come the checkered flag. He was jumping through the whoops (as were Cooper Webb, Aaron Plessinger, Chase Sexton, and a few others), but Roczen’s jumping line was not good. Dylan Ferrandis, unofficially 14th at the holeshot strip, came up to fifth. Shane McElrath, who was in the top six off the start, was getting shuffled backwards lap after lap. Musquin went down in the sand turn after lapper Cade Clason went left and Musquin had nowhere to go, colliding his front wheel into the back of Clason’s bike. Barcia inherited third as Musquin remounted in seventh behind Sexton and Ferrandis.

Race-leader Anderson seemed to keep getting slowed up as he exited the whoops and Tomac kept gaining on the #21. Tomac had a slip up of his own, and it allowed Anderson some breathing room to finish the race without contest. Anderson claimed his second 450SX main event win of the 2022 season. He now sits 12 points behind Tomac in the standings. Barcia held on to claim his third third-place finish of the season as he returned to the podium after three straight finishes out of the top five.

Musquin got back around Sexton and then on the second-to-last lap, Musquin bumped Ferrandis from fifth back to sixth. Webb started eighth and finished eighth in an uneventful eighth-place finish ride.