On Saturday night, all was going to plan mid-way through the Detroit Supercross 450SX main event. We had seen several lead changes, but riders were settled into positions as small battles formed around the course. Then, chaos ensued. On the 17th lap, Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton were battling for fourth place until Webb over jumped a double and cased the landing of the next jump. Sexton had nowhere to go and landed on the Red Bull KTM rider, slamming them both to the ground hard. Sexton was then also hit by his bike, and his rear wheel ate his jersey right off his back.
Somehow, Webb remounted and rolled around for about three laps with one hand (going around the whoop section) until, according to our Kellen Brauer who was on site, he was pointed to by an AMA official and told to head to the mechanics' area. He recorded 20th on the night.
The KTM post-race press release stated Webb was banged up but initially checked out okay, although he will undergo more tests on Monday. They said the following:
“In the Main Event, Webb got off to a great start and asserted himself into the podium battle right away. Passing his teammate Musquin for third on lap four, the defending champ continued to mix it up with an intense group of top riders up front. While running fourth later in the race, Webb made a mistake through the rhythm section and got clipped mid-air by another rider, resulting in both riders crashing to the ground. Webb re-mounted and attempted a couple laps before pulling off to receive on-site medical attention.”
“The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team provided an update as of Saturday evening: ‘It’s fair to say that Cooper was pretty banged up when he was landed on. Upon initial observation by the doctor here at the track of his shoulder and hand, it doesn’t appear that anything is broken, but he plans to have further evaluation and X-Rays when he returns home to Florida on Monday.’”
Webb posted the following update on his Instagram, with a video of the crash:
Glad we both walked away from that one in Detroit. I made a mistake that ended Chase and I’s nights. That one’s on me. Thought I could get back on and salvage some points, but had to call it a night early.
Going to get checked out and plan on seeing you guys in Indy 👊🏽
Sexton’s night was over following the crash, as was carted off on the Alpinestars medical mule. He recorded 22nd on the night. Today, the Honda HRC rider posted an update to Instagram this afternoon, saying he has “some minor bruises.”
“Wrong place wrong time… thankful to walk away from that one with some minor bruises. Hope you’re all good @CooperWebb2. See you guys in Indy 💪🏼”
The Webb-Sexton incident appeared to be the door opening for more carnage. Only a few laps later, Jason Anderson ran into issues of his own. Brauer wrote in his post-race recap:
“Tomac made the pass stick just after the finish line jump coming through halfway, but Anderson did not want to let the championship leader get away. He pushed and perhaps pushed too hard as he tucked the front end after the finish line just four minutes later and was slow to remount. When he did get back up, he stumbled through the next section of the track and crashed at the end of the rhythm.
He would not remount the bike and walked off gingerly under his own power.”
Brauer also said he checked on Anderson's condition afterwards: “Anderson he’s also fine, but a bit banged up after his two crashes in the main event.”
We suspect Anderson hit his head in the crash.
On Sunday evening Kawasaki released a quote from Anderson.
“I was feeling really good today from the start of the first practice," said Anderson in his team statement. "Probably the best I’ve felt racing in Detroit, and I think my performance throughout the night showed I had what it took to win tonight. Unfortunately, I pushed a little too hard while challenging for the lead and had a crash that ended my race early. It’s unlucky, but these things happen. I’m just glad I feel fine right now and am planning on giving it my all in Indianapolis next weekend.”
As for Webb rolling a few laps and recording 19 full laps, he finished ahead of Anderson, who completed only 17 laps.
Dylan Ferrandis ran into an issue of his own, pulling into the mechanics’ area holding his right wrist as his mechanic hopped onto the bike and rode them back to the pits. His crash was not caught on camera, however, Brauer’s post-race report also said, “Updates on some of the injuries include that Ferrandis was okay according to team manager Jeremy Coker. Apparently Ferrandis cased a jump very badly and thought he injured his wrist, but he’ll be fine.”
Ferrandis’ wife, Nastasia, posted the following update this morning on Instagram:
“Saturday didn’t go as expected. Thankfully @dylanferrandis is fine!! X-ray doesn’t show any fracture but tough race once again.”
Dean Wilson had a couple of crashes in the main event as well, which he shared on Instagram today.
Wilson said the following in the post-race press release from Husqvarna:
"The Main Event didn’t turn out very well for me. I was in a good position, top-five actually, but I crashed in the whoops. I got up from that and had another fall, so unfortunately, not a good night. The track caught a lot of riders tonight and unfortunately, I was one of them. But I am healthy, so we’ll be back next weekend.”
Wilson remounted and finished the main event, but at one point four top riders were out with crashes as Sexton, Anderson, Webb, and Ferrandis' nights all ended prematurely. Losing four factory riders is a tough blow for a single race! Anderson’s crash might have been the biggest in terms of the 450SX championship because it allowed race winner Eli Tomac to open his 18-point advantage to now 42 points. Webb was already over a full race down (33 points to be exact) from Tomac in the standings, but his 20th in Detroit means he now sits over two full races down (56 points) following round ten.
In the press conference after the race, Tomac commented on the track:
“[This track] was one of the tougher surfaces I’ve ever raced on. It had both conditions which was sticky and hard in the rhythm sections which would pull you left or right and then it had the base in some of the bottoms of the turns where you could lose your traction. I made the move early through the guys and then it was like everything got wild after that. I felt so good on the motorcycle tonight though.”
Check back later this week for our Injury Report before round 11 in Indianapolis. Here is a look at the current points standings.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO  | 359 |
| 2 |  Jason Anderson | Edgewood, NM | 350 |
| 3 |  Malcolm Stewart | Haines City, FL | 314 |
| 4 |  Marvin Musquin | La Reole, France  | 305 |
| 5 |  Justin Barcia | Monroe, NY | 302 |
