50 Years of Pro Motocross: 2019

Then Sexton ripped off his first AMA Supercross win the following week in East Rutherford, New Jersey. At the wild finale, Sexton came through fourth ahead of Cooper’s eighth, which gave the GEICO Honda rider his first professional title. And on the West Coast, in heart-breaking fashion, Cianciarulo crashed at the finale while in the top five with one hand on the trophy, opening the door for Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Showdown finale winner Dylan Ferrandis, who caught the hot hand late in the season after earning his first two supercross main event wins in back-to-back rounds. Cianciarulo’s first professional title slipped away with only a handful of laps left in his final season in the 250SX class. Little did we know it at the time, that lost championship would be the fuel to Cianciarulo’s fire that summer in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship.

In the premier class of supercross, many thought 2019 was the year Eli Tomac would put it together and finally win that elusive 450SX title following Jason Anderson’s surprise 2018 title. Justin Barcia won a muddy season opener at Angel Stadium after mistakes from Dean Wilson and Malcolm Stewart cost both riders their maiden 450SX win. Defending champion Anderson had a sub-par start to the season and went backwards at the opener. At the second round Glendale Supercross, it appeared Ken Roczen was going to grab his first main event win post-arm injury in 2017. Unfortunately, several laps into the race Stewart suffered a broken leg in the whoops after his chain derailed, causing his momentum to stall before his bike pulverized his leg. The race was reflagged in a staggered order—something we do not see often—which allowed second-place Anderson to start right on the tail of Roczen, who had a gap on the #21 before the red flag came out. Anderson put on a block pass that sent Roczen to the ground, but the Nex Mexico native eventually came under fire by Blake Baggett. Baggett pulled of the win to earn his maiden 450SX win.

2019 Glendale Supercross highlights:

It was not the only time Roczen had what appeared to be a win snatched out from under him (2018 Oakland Supercross) and unfortunately it was not the last. The third-round Anaheim 3 Supercross Triple Crown saw Roczen lead all 13 laps in the first race, only to get passed by Cooper Webb in the whoop section before the finish line just as the checkered flag came out. Webb hit Roczen with the famous finger-gun point and went on to claim his maiden 450SX overall win with 1-1-3 race finishes.

At the Arlington Supercross, Roczen had the points lead and passed and pulled away from championship rival Eli Tomac. Tomac started the season 3-4-3-4-1-6 with his win coming in the muddy San Diego Supercross but struggled in Arlington as he had a front-end wash and came home with 12th. Roczen was clicking off lap after lap out front, but little by little Webb was gaining on the #94. With two turns to go, Webb got side-by-side on Roczen as they entered the final whoop section with Roczen on the right (inside). Roczen got a better drive and entered the final turn first, but Webb shot from the left side of the whoops to the right, bumping Roczen with a block pass! Both riders grabbed a handful of throttle to get over the two rollers and get to the finish line first, but they literally went through the checkered flag side-by-side! It took only a second for the scoring to show up: Webb claimed the victory by 0.028 seconds—the closest finish in AMA Supercross history since 2004 and possibly the closest race finish ever! The crowd erupted as Webb stood up with a huge fist pump and Roczen shook his head in disbelief. This race was not only huge in the eyes of the never-quit Webb, but it also gave the #2 the series points lead. From there, he did not look back. And looking back now, it was a real preview of what was to come the next few years with the #2.

2019 Arlington Supercross highlights:

After two dismal years with Yamaha’s factory 450 team, Webb put on an unbelievable career turnaround, picking up not only his maiden 450SX main event win, but six more in his first season with the Red Bull KTM team! He would edge out Tomac for the title as the #3 was still searching for that elusive 450SX title. Tomac would click off a few wins towards the end of the season, but it was too little too late. Webb held the #1 2019 450SX plate high in Sam Boyd Stadium to become the third different champion in three consecutive years. Marvin Musquin finished third in the standings after picking up two back-to-back wins at round 11 (Indianapolis) and 12 (Seattle) as Roczen finished fourth.

Prior to the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship start, the 250 Class championship was more rather open. Two-time champion Jeremy Martin had to undergo a second surgery on his back from his 2018 crash and he would be sidelined all season long. With 2018 250 Class Champion Aaron Plessinger moving to the premier class, there were no champions in the starting gate at the opener. Cooper and Ferrandis, who had previously won motos, were two preseason favorites and at Hangtown, Cooper and Cianciarulo battled early on. Cooper struck first, claiming the race win over Cianciarulo. Rain fell between motos, so the second go round was a little sloppier. Cianciarulo picked up the race win and his 2-1 bested Cooper’s 1-4 as the #92 picked up the second Pro Motocross overall of his career (unbeknownst at the time, it would be the first of many more!). Cianciarulo would never give up the red plate all season long. Round two came and went just as round one, Cooper won moto one, and Cianciarulo won moto two, this time after battling with new GEICO Honda rider, Australian Hunter Lawrence, for P1.

At the third round, Cooper once again struck with the first moto win—which was red/checkered flagged with over six minutes left due to hard rain and lightning in Colorado with Cooper up two seconds on his Cianciarulo. The second moto saw Cooper leading until the halfway point when a hiccup handed the lead and race win to Cianciarulo.

However, the fourth round was different, as it was not Cooper who won the first moto, but Lawrence! In just his seventh moto start in the U.S., Lawrence delivered a seven-second win over the championship leader! Mr. second moto struck once again, winning his fourth consecutive moto two race, giving him four straight overalls to start the year. It was an unbelievable start as AC92 would eventually claim P1 overall at six of the first eight events! The Florida native had one Pro Motocross overall to his name entering the season but put on a dominating run to start off the year.

Although AC got off to a hot start, Ferrandis and Cooper would keep him honest throughout the season. Sexton joined the party with a moto one win at the fifth round Florida National but the grueling conditions in late June knocked the #23 out of the second moto. Ferrandis went on to earn his first moto win of the season but a 2-2 day from Cooper took P1 overall for the New York native’s maiden professional win over his teammate’s 4-1 finishes. The Yamaha duo continued to give AC a fit as Ferrandis would go 1-1 at RedBud. The trip to Minnesota for the Spring Creek National brought the worst conditions of the year as rain caused for one muddy mess. Lawrence won moto one over hometown man Alex Martin (now on a JGRMX Yoshimura Suzuki RM-250), but sixth for the #196 in moto two gave him third overall behind Cianciarulo (3-1) and Martin (2-3).

At the Washougal National, a blue wave came across the starting gate as the entire Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha squad of Cooper, Ferrandis, Colt Nichols, Mitchell Oldenburg, and rookie Ty Masterpool all started in the top eight. Cooper led until Ferrandis took over as Cianciarulo sat third. That was how they would finish. Come the second moto, the blue wave once again came through as a pack together, but AC and Michael Mosiman split the Yamaha group up as they ran second and third between leader Ferrandis and fourth-place Cooper. Ferrandis would lead but the championship leader would give it all he had on the final lap in a wild duel. Ferrandis would hold on for a 1-1 day, keeping alive in the title fight as he sat only 28 points down.

Ferrandis, Cooper, and Cianciarulo would battle on track a handful of times again at the remaining races. Ferrandis would better Cianciarulo at the final few rounds, winning five out of the last eight motos—a 1-1 day from Shane McElrath in Maryland counted for two of those non-Ferrandis motos—but Cianciarulo would clinch the title one moto early.

“I would never be the person I am without the things I’ve went through,” Cianciarulo said after the title.

It was a remarkable bounce back from what had happened only several months prior.

Watch the full 250 Class season highlights:

In the premier class, Ken Roczen returned to the center of the podium for the first time since his arm injury in 2017 to win the Hangtown Motocross Classic. It was Roczen’s first national overall win since the 2016 Ironman National finale when he had a dominating year en route to his second 450 Pro Motocross title. In a muddy day, Roczen finished 1-2 to beat out Tomac’s 4-1 for the overall spot.

Tomac went 1-1 at the second round ahead of Roczen and Musquin. In the Colorado race where rain and lightning were an issue, Tomac had to pit mid-race for goggles as Roczen won the first moto. Then, the #1 charged hard once the gates dropped again to catch and pass the Honda HRC rider for the race lead, although Roczen’s 1-2 bested Tomac’s 5-1 for the overall on the day. Roczen was back in the points lead—but just barely. Zach Osborne, who missed a majority of his debut 450SX season with injury but came on late for a podium, rounded out the overall podium with 2-4 finishes for his maiden Pro Motocross 450 overall podium. He slowly became a podium threat. The fourth round High Point National saw a surprise first moto winner—just as the 250 Class—when Blake Baggett struck for his first (and only) moto win of the season by almost 10 seconds. However, he was not a factor in moto two, finishing 15th. He would eventually pull out of the championship early due to a lingering sinus infection that turned into a staph infection in his right eye. Tomac and Roczen would share the points lead heading to Florida.

In the following rounds, Musquin topped the field at both the Florida (1-1) and Southwick Nationals (1-2), although Osborne earned his maiden 450 moto win in moto two. Tomac reclaimed sole possession of the points lead leaving Florida as the Red Bull KTM rider shuffled into second following his moto wins, just two points ahead of Roczen. 

At the Spring Creek National that saw Lawrence pull off a moto win, the 450 Class saw an even bigger surprise: Webb went on to win both motos, despite a big battle with Roczen, to claim his one and only premier class overall win to date. A 14th the second moto from Roczen gave both Tomac and Musquin a slight buffer in points by day’s end. 

The circuit landed in New York for the 50th Unadilla National and Roczen was flying from the second he touched the track. His qualifying time of 2:11.482 was almost three seconds faster than P2 Webb’s 2:14.628, signaling what was to come as Kenny put in a dominating 1-1 day where he led all but two laps. Still Tomac led with Musquin just one single point ahead of Roczen as ET3 eyed the three-peat with only two rounds remaining.

Tomac went on to pull off a 1-1 day at the Budds Creek National, where he would make history tying Ricky Carmichael and Tony DiStefano as the only riders to win three consecutive premier class Pro Motocross titles.

Although the championship was already Tomac’s, the top three put in the race of the year in the first moto at the finale. Musquin bested Roczen and Tomac in an all-time battle but would suffer a crash early in moto two and not finish the race. Rightfully so, Tomac claimed the win in the final moto of the year ahead of Osborne. Osborne ended his debut 450 Pro Motocross season fifth in points with that moto win and several moto and overall podiums.

When it was all said and done, Roczen had led the most laps (151 to Tomac’s 105 and Musquin’s 58), but Tomac had claimed 11 moto wins and six overalls, to Roczen’s five moto wins and three overalls, and Musquin’s four moto wins and two overalls. After his injuries kept him out of his supercross defense, Anderson put together a solid summer with several moto and overall podiums as he finished fourth. Still, that first Pro Motocross win eluded him.

Watch the full 450 Class season highlights:

2019 250 Class Overall Points

2019 450 Class Overall Points

The 2019 FIM Motocross of Nations took place in wet conditions yet again, but this time in the Dutch sand at Assen TT Circuit in The Netherlands. After Jeffrey Herlings and Glenn Coldenhoff swept every moto at RedBud the year before, expectations were sky high for the first Dutch victory at MXoN as they ran back the exact same team of Herlings, Coldenhoff, and Calvin Vlaanderen again.

Team USA was once again without Eli Tomac as the now three-time Pro Motocross champion was not on the team after Kawasaki USA announced they would not be attending the race. That also left newly crowned 250 class champion Adam Cianciarulo out as well since the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team would not go either. Team USA called on Zach Osborne again to this time take on the Open class while Rockstar Energy Husqvarna teammate Jason Anderson would head up MXGP. Monster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing’s Justin Cooper filled the MX2 seat which still proved to be a promising roster for the Americans. They even went over to Europe early to prepare for the sandy conditions as best as possible. Cooper started the weekend off strong with a big win in the MX2 qualifying moto and Anderson (sixth) and Osborne (eighth) put in top ten results as well and it appeared the USA was set for a solid weekend.

It ultimately didn’t matter who you threw onto the track though as the Dutch team simply dominated on home soil. The King of The Netherlands even came to watch as Glenn Coldenhoff again over-delivered to go 1-1 in his motos and easily lead The Netherlands to victory by 29 points. Herlings struggled with crashes but still finished 2-4 on the day and a 10th in race one from Calvin Vlaanderen was more than enough for a home victory to The Netherlands. Belgium and Great Britain rounded out the podium as Team USA sloshed their way to a sixth-place finish. Cooper suffered a broken hand off the start of the first race and then he and Anderson collided, furthering the damage. Despite the tough conditions and Cooper’s injured hand the American trio fought to the checkered flag.

2019 Motocross of Nations Results

And a teaser for 2020...