Free Practice

Supercross Futures was the first group to hit the track all day as a strong lineup of Gavin Towers, Parker Ross, Drew Adams, Preston Boespflug, Cole Davies, Mark Fineis, the Gordon brothers of Landen and Reven, and more all hit the track. It was a pretty clean session overall as the guys worked on learning the track and Gavin Towers put in the top time at a 1:02.064.

Next to hit the track was the 250B group of free practice as AEO Powersports’ Talon Hawkins ended up back in the B group this week. Unfortunately, timing and scoring did not update during the session, so no times were gathered for this group from Free Practice.

When the 250A group hit the track for the first time, a few key rhythm lines started to get unlocked. Only a handful of guys including RJ Hampshire, Jo Shimoda, Jordon Smith, and Mitchell Oldenburg were able to go 2-3 on-on-off in the rhythm after the first set of whoops.  A lot of guys were figuring out the 2-3-4-2 option down the third base line after crossing the start. Smith used both lines to jump down to a 58.670 with Hampshire right on his heels at a 58.720. Maxwell Sanford had a crash in the whoops at one point, but he would pick it up and be okay. In the end, Hampshire would just pip Smith for the top spot as he dropped down to a 57.792 to go P1 in free practice.

Then it was time to see the 450A group for the first time as Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb led the field around. Tomac became the first rider all day to triple in out of the corner after the whoops while basically all of the 450SX guys were able to go 2-3 on in that rhythm section. Tomac jumped down to a 58.601 early in the session to go almost a second faster than his teammate Webb and Chase Sexton another tenth off Webb in third. Jett Lawrence then pounced to the top and he was not tripling in after the whoops. He put in a 58.377 to go up but two tenths of a second over Tomac. That’s how it would stay as the checked flag waved on the session.

In 450B it was Vince Friese who put in the top time over Kyle Chisholm and Jerry Robin. Friese laid in a 1:01.850 which was 3.5 seconds off the pace from the top times in the A group.

Rounding out free practice for the pro classes, 15 riders headed out for the only C group of the weekend. Henry Miller topped the times as he was actually riding a 250F to prepare for 250SX East kicking off next weekend.

The Supercross Futures riders ended up having a second Free Practice just at the end of the practice groups as they got a second chance to work on dialing in the track. Jace Allred had a crash in the whoops during this one and would end up being carted off after being down for a few laps. Team Green rider Krystian Janik also had a fall at some point and would be carted off. Updates to follow on both of their conditions. In the end, Towers backed up his first practice time to end up on top, this time with a 1:03.971.

First Qualifying Sessions

Krystian Janik was able to make it back out when qualifying started for Futures, but Allred appears to be done for the day. Landen Gordon and Noah Smerdon both crashed hard early in the qualifying session and looked to be hurt but fortunately both were able to get back up and continue going for the session. Gavin Towers continued to look strong as he set the early pace but then Drew Adams jumped up to the top of the board. A lot of track work went on between the sessions which meant times were back down to what we saw out of them during the first free practice session. Adams would end up on top with a 1:02.207 ahead of Mark Fineis on a 1:02.683 and Parker Ross laying in a 1:02.721.

The 250B group hit the track next and it seemed like the dry conditions were starting to bite some guys. Max Miller had a slide out and then Talon Hawkins skid across the whoops and went down as well. Hawkins still was able to fire in the best time of the session as he dropped down to a 1:02.523.

Nate Thrasher led the field around as 250A hit the track for their first round of qualifying and basically all the factory guys clearly went back and figured out the two main rhythm sections. Levi Kitchen jumped up to the top of the board with a 59.391 as just he and Jordon Smith sat in the 59-second range halfway through the session. Lance Kobusch and Slade Varola both crashed in the whoops late in the session and it seemed to hold up a couple hot laps. Even so, RJ Hampshire was able to get a solid lap in to just dip below Kitchen and get the top spot with a 59.058.

A lot of the early part of qualifying for the 450A group looked to be more about guys trying to feel stuff out versus putting in laps. Chase Sexton rolled around through a lot of sections and then tried a few different rhythm options as did Jett Lawrence. Ken Roczen went fastest early on with a 59.190 as he was one of the few riders still blitzing both sets of whoops. Malcolm Stewart then dipped down to a 58.993 and brought Jason Anderson and Ken Roczen with him as they were all within a tenth of each other. Justin Cooper then fired in a 58.458 to jump to the top of the board while Sexton slid out after the first set of whoops. He would be fine and get back after it. Malcolm Stewart fired one more shot as the checkered flag waved and it was good enough to go back to the top of the board with a 58.346.

Kyle Chisholm topped the B group ahead of Vince Friese with both of them running mid-1:00s. The track was drying out a ton as dust was kicking up on the straightaway throughout the entire session.

Once again in the C group, it was Henry Miller who topped the times on his 250F as he put 1.6 seconds on the rest of the group laying down a 1:02.824. Tristan Lane dropped in a 1:04.476 to go second fastest.

Second Qualifying Sessions

The final round of qualifying for the Supercross Futures class headed out on a heavily watered and groomed track after about 45 minutes of track work. Drew Adams set the early pace as he jumped down into the mid-1:03s and even ran a lower 1:03.389 later in the session. It’s been a dog fight between Adams, Towers, Fineis, and a few others today, but Adams time from Q1 held up through this session as he ends up P1 in Futures qualifying.

What was becoming obvious as qualifying progressed that there were jump lines in the whoops that could be faster than blitzing if done right. Although when it goes wrong, it can bite you, just like it did to Chad Saultz in 250B when he got cross rutted and went over the bars with his bike landing on him. Fortunately, he would be okay. Max Miller and Talon Hawkins continued their battle to be the best of the B group in the final round of their qualifying and this time it was Miller who went fastest at a 1:02.544.

As the final 250A session got underway, Levi Kitchen once again led the field around as he continues to do each week where he gets clean air and sets and early hot lap down. The man who was really laying it down early though was RJ Hampshire as he put in a 59.769 on a rapidly drying track. Hampshire improved upon that time to go down to a 59.558 but the track was a fair bit slower than the first session as the dust really started flying. Hampshire topped the session but it would be his time from Q1 that ultimately earned him P1 heading into the night show.

A handful of guys in the 450A group were starting to nail the triple into the rhythm two turns before the finish where they could go 3-3-4-1. Jason Anderson was one of them and he used it to jump down to a 59.261. The time to beat was still Malcolm Stewart’s 58.346 and Chase Sexton was trying his best to beat it despite the conditions being slower than the first session. He finally got it in the dying seconds of the session as he went down to a 58.271 but Anderson also beat Stewart’s time to go down to a 58.322. Stewart himself made a run at it with a 58.401. And then, as the checkered flag waved, Justin Cooper fired in a 57.933 to go fastest!

Developing story out of the pits following the second round of qualifying is that Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo will sit out tonight’s Anaheim 2 Supercross as he continues to nurse a broken bone in a finger on his left hand. AC had been 20^th fastest in Q1 but did not take part in the second round of qualifying and will not race tonight. Steve Matthes was first on the scoop.

250SX Last Chance Qualifier

Slade Varola grabbed the holeshot in the LCQ ahead of Maxwell Sanford while a massive pileup commenced in the second turn which took several guys down including Lance Kobusch, TJ Albright, and Geran Stapleton. Varola led for two laps until Sanford took over the lead. Matti Jorgensen was up in third with Billy Laninovich holding the final transfer spot. Jorgensen was also able to get by Varola as the top four had a massive gap on the rest of the pack as the white flag waved. The top four would stay the same from there as Sanford won from Jorgensen, Varola, and Laninovich.

450SX Last Chance Qualifier

In the 450SX LCQ, it was Derek Drake grabbing the holeshot ahead of Luke Kalaitzian. Dean Wilson was battling Benny Bloss for fourth on the first lap when he slid out and went down which also collected Cade Clason, both of which had been in every main event in 2024 to this point. Bloss then parked Jerry Robin in a battle for fourth and then two turns later Freddie Noren went down while in third. Drake held a big lead over Kalaitzian and Bloss who then had a big gap back to John Short in the final transfer spot. Justin Rodbell tried to T up Short for the final transfer spot and fell himself while Short went flying off the track. That allowed Noren to sneak back into the final transfer spot with Drake winning from Bloss, Kalaitzian, and Noren with the checkers waving.

250SX Main Event 1

As the first gate drop of the night show launched the racing to life, it was Levi Kitchen grabbing the holeshot ahead of Ryder DiFrancesco and Nate Thrasher. Mitchell Oldenburg went down heading into the second corner which spread the field out a bit. RJ Hampshire was in fourth early on and got a bit of a gap on the field when Garrett Marchbanks almost crashed in fifth and created a bit of a freight train behind him.

Jo Shimoda and Jordon Smith came together while they were battling outside of the top 10 and Shimoda went down. Smith was buried in 11^th early while Shimoda was shuffled back to 20^th place. Thrasher spent a couple laps behind Ryder D before he was able to set him up and make a pass in o second place. Hampshire wasted no time to follow suit as he moved into third only a couple of corners later as Thrasher and Hampshire were keen to set off after Kitchen in the lead.

Julien Beaumer almost came together with Talon Hawkins in a battle for seventh and then he got a little sideways and ended up going down. He would remount in 14^th just behind Cole Thompson. Hampshire found an opening up the inside of Thrasher after the first set of whoops to move into second place with a bout 3:30 left to go in the race. They both had started to reel in Kitchen out front so suddenly Hampshire found himself in a battle for the lead.

Jordon Smith was making good progress as he moved around Marchbanks into fifth place with only three laps left to go. The battle for the lead was close as they got into lapped traffic but they both were pulling away from Thrasher behind them. Smith was able to find his way around DiFrancesco on the final lap to move into fourth pulling together a great salvage ride after a rough start. Shimoda ended up getting back to ninth at the flag. Kitchen felt the heat from Hampshire all the way to the flag but was able to hold on to win the first main event of the three main event format.

450SX Main Event 1

The first 450SX main event went firing into the first turn and it was Chase Sexton narrowly grabbing the holeshot ahead of Jorge Prado. Jett Lawrence went down in the first rhythm section and was dead last until Christian Craig and Justin Barcia crashed in the next turn which put Craig at the back of the pack. Cooper Webb moved to second early while Ken Roczen and Jason Anderson were locked in a heated battle for third place with Aaron Plessinger right behind them.

There was a huge battle for sixth between Prado, Tomac, Hunter Lawrence, Stewart, and Ferrandis early on when Stewart tipped over from ninth and went back to 16^th behind Jett Lawrence. Tomac then moved up to sixth and out his head down to catch the lead group.

Sexton continued to lead from Webb, Roczen, Anderson, Plessinger, and Tomac who were all pretty tight in a freight train. Tomac slowly got to the back of Plessinger and was able to make the move on the points leader to get up into fifth place as 2-6 on the track still essentially ran nose-to-tail. Jett Lawrence made it into the top 10 around the halfway mark as he got around Jorge Prado and then passed his brother Hunter for eighth with about three minutes left in the main. He then caught and passed Dylan Ferrandis for seventh on the next lap as he was absolutely flying in the late stages of the race.

Though there were a couple battles that started to materialize, nothing came of them. In the end, Chase Sexton took the win head of Webb, Roczen, Anderson, and Tomac. Plessinger finished up in sixth with Jett Lawrence getting pretty close to him in the end and coming home seventh.

250SX Main Event 2

Phil Nicoletti grabbed the holeshot in the second main event of the night with RJ Hampshire right behind him. Jordon Smith and Nate Thrasher crashed together in the first turn with Mitchell Oldenburg and both of them were way back as Nicoletti led the opening lap.

Smith crashed again on the second lap entering the second set of whoops and was way back. He was soon joined back there by Garrett Marchbanks who crashed on the third lap while battling for a spot in the top 10.

Meanwhile out front, Hampshire wrestled the lead away from Nicoletti after a spirited back and forth. Levi Kitchen was right there to then get by Nicoletti two corners after Hampshire and the battle between first and second in the first main was on again at the front of the second main.

Jo Shimoda was in a heated battle with Ryder DiFrancesco over seventh as they both applied pressure to Julien Beaumer. Beaumer then went up trying to make a pass on Mumford and Mumford ran him high in the berm after the whoops which allowed Shimoda to get by both of them into fifth place.

Smith was left to do another salvage ride as he made it into the top 10 right as time expired and he moved around his teammate Thrasher to get the spot. They both then got Robbie Wageman and moved up to ninth and 10^th, respectively. Shimoda put the finishing touches on a solid ride to catch and pass Nicoletti for third on the final lap.

Kitchen gave it one last run to get Hampshire as he got right alongside of him on the final triple before the finish. Hampshire read him well to push him to the top of the berm and nearly stop so Kitchen couldn’t cut back underneath. Hampshire took the win ahead of Kitchen, Shimoda, Nicoletti, and Beaumer in the end.

450SX Main Event 2

Jorge Prado narrowly grabbed the holeshot in the second 450SX main event before Cooper Webb snagged the lead coming out of the second corner. Jett Lawrence was buried mid-pack, but Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton, and Ken Roczen were super buried as they all were outside of the top 15.

Jason Anderson followed Webb out front for a little over a lap before he was able to set up a nice pass to take over the lead. Webb seemed a little out of sorts early as Anderson began to sneak away, and Aaron Plessinger closed up for second. Roczen, Tomac, and Sexton started to catch the main group as they all started battling with Hunter Lawrence, Ferrandis, Prado, and Barcia while also battling each other.

Roczen was the one leading the train through as he got Ferrandis and then Barcia fell before Roczen was able to go up and get Jorge Prado to move into sixth. Sexton followed him through on the next lap and then Tomac on the next lap after that. Jett Lawrence spent a couple laps battling with Justin Cooper for fourth until the #18 machine was able to slot into fourth place behind Webb and Plessinger. Sexton went up and passed Roczen for sixth with two minutes to go in the race as they had a long way to go to catch Justin Cooper for fifth.

Anderson was cruising out front with a five second lead as Webb started to feel the heat from Plessinger and Lawrence behind. Sexton then crashed out of sixth the very next lap after he got Roczen and lost all of those spots he had meticulously gained falling back to 12^th behind Malcolm Stewart. Jett Lawrence then found his way around Aaron Plessinger into third as he was still trying to get Webb for second with the white flag waving.

Jason Anderson would go on to take the win in the second main ahead of Webb, Lawrence, Plessinger, and Justin Cooper.

Supercross Futures Main Event

The Supercross Futures main event launched into turn one and the holeshot went to Cole Davies with Landen Gordon quickly taking the lead when Davis came up short on a jump heading into the second corner. Landen Gordon led almost the first two laps before Gavin Towers jumped by him to take the lead. Davies passed Gordon in the next corner to stick right with Towers for the lead.

Davies followed Towers for a lap and then was able to make a pass on him for the lead in the second set of whoops at the halfway mark. Towers fought back the next lap and got the lead for a split second but then Davies repassed him in the whoops in the exact same spot again.

Davies and Towers absolutely went at it for the win as they continued to exchange passes back and forth several times. Towers made one last run at Davies for the win, but it wasn’t quite enough. Davies held on to win the Supercross Futures main event by six tenths of a second over Towers, Parker Ross, Preston Boespflug, and Blake Gardner.

250SX Main Event 3

The final 250SX main event kicked off and this time it was Nate Thrasher grabbing the holeshot ahead of Levi Kitchen. RJ Hampshire was buried off the start as he just snuck into the top 10 right behind Jordon Smith and Jo Shimoda at the end of the first lap.

Thrasher and Kitchen quickly got away from the rest of the pack, but all eyes were on Shimoda, Hampshire, and Smith coming through the field. Particularly Hampshire, who picked off about six spots on the first lap and then went by Shimoda, Smith, Mumford, Beaumer, Marchbanks, and then Bourdon. He almost went down in that battle though and Shimoda, who followed him at every step, was able to sneak by and get into third as Hampshire was working on the move himself.

When they were up to third and fourth, Hampshire then got sideways in the second set of whoops and went down. He fell from fourth back to eighth but quickly remounted and repassed Anthony Bourdon. Smith then went by into fourth ahead of Beaumer and Marchbanks.

Shimoda was able to work down the massive gap up to Kitchen and get around him for second place in the race, but it did not change anything in terms of the overalls. Nate Thrasher was still able to go on and win the final main event, but it was Levi Kitchen and his 1-2-3 overall scores for six points who took the win in Anaheim 2. Kitchen ended up on the podium overall with Hampshire and Thrasher in the end.

450SX Main Event 3

The final main event of the night kicked off and it was Chase Sexton grabbing the holeshot ahead of Eli Tomac, but Tomac immediately snuck into the race lead. Roczen went down in the first corner and was about 15^th at the end of the first lap. Jason Anderson then crashed right before the whoops and came across at the end of the first lap in 19^th. Cooper Webb held the early overall win with 10 points as he sat in sixth, but he quickly moved around Vince Friese to get into the top five.

Anderson was absolutely ripping through the field from his early crash as within five minutes he was into the top 10 around Hunter Lawrence. He then passed Vince Friese for ninth as his eyes were fully focused on trying to get up to Cooper Webb in fifth to battle for the overall win. Jett Lawrence was on Aaron Plessinger for quite some time before he made the move around the points leader into third place. Tomac was pulling away from Sexton as the battle for second heated up.

Lawrence found a way through on this inside to move into second place in the race and that also moved him to second overall just one point ahead of Eli Tomac. Anderson was moving as he got around Malcolm Stewart and then Dylan Ferrandis a few laps later. He was two spots behind Cooper Webb and needed to pass Cooper Webb to win the overall. It seemed liked he might just not have enough time to get it done.

Tomac would go on to win the main event while Jett Lawrence crashed out of second place on the last lap. Cooper Webb would win the overall with his fifth-place finish as Jason Anderson and Eli Tomac rounded out the podium overall.