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Morning Report

After two mud races, we're set for a beautiful day here in Denver for round 16 of Monster Energy Supercross. The sun is out and a high of 72 degrees is expected this afternoon. The riders will have plenty of challenges today, but adverse weather won't be one of them! 

The action to watch today will be in the 450SX Class. With just two rounds remaining Ken Roczen leads Hunter Lawrence by four points, making tonight an extremely important race. If Roczen is able to stack more points on Lawrence, even just two points, it’ll be much more difficult for Lawrence to win this title next week at the finale in Salt Lake City. With a six-point lead, Roczen could finish third next week and win the title no matter what, and with the way Roczen has been riding lately, worse than third seems pretty unlikely. Clearly, a win for Lawrence tonight is of the upmost importance.

Further complicating things in the 450SX Class is the return of Eli Tomac, who crashed hard during qualifying in Cleveland and hasn’t raced since. He’s back in Denver though, and if he’s back in top form he’ll be a factor up front tonight. Cooper Webb, although out of the title chase for all intents and purposes, is still in the mix too and has been riding very well lately. He’s taken second at the last three races in a row! Keep an eye on Justin Hill today also—he lives and trains at high elevation in Wyoming, so these Mile High conditions should suit him well. Go here to check out an interview Eric Johnson did with him earlier this week.

In the 250SX Class the West Division is back in action, but Haiden Deegan has already clinched the championship. And considering how dominant he was before the West went on break, there’s no reason to think he won’t win tonight. The battle for second in points is tight though. Levi Kitchen, in second place, leads Max Anstie by just three points, and Ryder DiFrancesco is only another three points back of Anstie. That’s tight enough that any of those three could end up in second after the checkered flag flies! For more storylines coming into this weekend, like Gage Linville making his debut with Triumph Racing, go here.

The track features a fairly long start stretch with a very small drop, about the height of a curb, about fifteen feet out of the gate. It’s likely there to help keep riders from accidentally drifting in to the mechanic’s area during the races, and it probably won’t play a huge role in how the starts play out. The start funnels left into a small rhythm section before taking a 180-degree righthander into the first whoops section. That’s right, there are two whoop sections today. There’s also a sand section with inside and outside options coming into it, and a long rhythm lane that runs the length of the stadium.

Qualifying is set to begin here shortly, so check back for a report on who’s throwing down heaters in Denver.

Qualifying – First Sessions

Haiden Deegan jumped out to the lead right away in the first 250SX qualifier with a 53.214, and it held for multiple laps before Ryder DiFrancesco turned a 52.945. At that point Deegan turned the heat back up and started going hard again, but the closest he could get was a 53.073. DiFrancesco, meanwhile, lowered his own time down to 52.688, which would hold for the rest of the session. This soil is hard, not unlike what DiFrancesco grew up riding on in Bakersfield, California, so maybe that’ll play into how things unfold today.

In 450 action Eli Tomac was immediately back to his old tricks, setting a 52.624 early, but a couple laps later Hunter Lawrence busted out a 52.144. Tomac instantly responded though, turning a 52.113 to jump back to the top of the board. Qualifying then unfortunately came to a halt when Joey Savatgy crashed hard attempting to double a big gap coming into a rhythm lane, which prompted a red flag. Savatgy eventually left the track in the Alpinestars Medical Mule with his right arm in a sling. We’ll have more info on this situation when it becomes available.

When qualifying resumed Malcolm Stewart threw down an incredibly fast lap, recording a 51.970! Lawrence wouldn’t be denied though, and quickly went back to first with a 51.687. It wouldn’t matter because on the last lap Chase Sexton turned it up and unleashed a 51.259. Ken Roczen was never a factor up front in this one. He hovered around seventh to fifth, eventually taking fifth-fastest with a 52.013.

Qualifying – Second Sessions

In the second 250SX qualifier Haiden Deegan was looking good again, no shock there, but after a few laps Levi Kitchen shot to the top of the board with a 51.910. It didn’t last long though, as Ryder DiFrancesco, who was fastest in the first session, turned a 51.606. Undeterred, Kitchen put his head down and whipped out a 51.348.

It didn’t matter though because Deegan went nuts and uncorked a 50.981, and he looked excellent doing it. Deegan is the only 250 rider who is launching the big double out of a 180-degree lefthander (the same double Savatgy came up short on and injured his wrist), and he’s also got a very good line entering the sand section out of the whoops, where he’s launching in and jumping over a significant portion of sand. Not surprisingly, his 50.981 was the fastest lap of the session.

There wasn’t a whole lot of action in the second 450SX qualifier. Ken Roczen was fast early, setting a blazing lap of 50.103, and nobody else would be able to touch it. Hunter Lawrence came semi-close with a 50.314. Elsewhere in this session Justin Hill was ripping, spending a good portion of the qualifier in second before being bested by Lawrence and Chase Sexton. Even still, he was fourth-fastest in this one, which is fantastic! Eli Tomac never had the pace in this qualifier. He went for a fast lap on his final lap but it wasn’t enough and he wound up sixth-fastest with a 51.010, nearly a second off Roczen.

Heat One – 250SX

Hunter Yoder holeshot the first race of the night, but Max Anstie quickly took over the lead. Max Vohland ran third, with Kayden Minear holding down fourth. A gap quickly opened up behind Minear, but Levi Kitchen, who had a bad start, was coming up fast. Kitchen kept closing on Minear and dove inside him in the final corner on the final lap and pushed him wide and off the track. His transponder didn’t register because Kitchen pushed him off the track, but he should get credited with fifth.

Gage Linville and Cameron McAdoo got together and went down early in this one, forcing them to come from way back. Linville was able to race his way into a qualifying spot, but McAdoo will go to the LCQ.

Anstie, Yoder, Vohland, Kitchen, Minear (provided he gets credited with the spot), Rodbell, Reven Gordon, Crockett Myers, and Gage Linville transferred to the main.

Correction: We were incorrect in thinking Minear would be credited with fifth. The rules state on the checkered flag lap a rider must not cross outside the designated line. Minear is credited with 12th and will go to the LCQ.

Heat Two – 250SX

Josh Varize shot out of the gate to lead the second 250SX heat race, but he had Haiden Deegan all over him. Deegan went to make a move on Varize coming into the whoops, but Varize fought back and held him off! Deegan then went to jump to the inside coming in the sand, but bobbled, giving Varize some breathing room. One lap later, however, Deegan made the move and took off in the lead.

Back in the pack a battle for the final transfer spot had developed between Keegan Rowley and Hunter Schlosser. Rowley held ninth, but Schlosser was all over him for multiple laps and was finally able to go up the inside of him in the entrance of the sand section.

Elsewhere there wasn’t a ton of action. Deegan won with Ryder DiFrancesco, Lux Turner, Varize, Carson Mumford, Robbie Wageman, Cole Thompson, Parker Ross, and Schlosser filling the transfer spots.

Heat One – 450SX

Justin Barcia holeshot this one, but Christian Craig absolutely blew his doors off through the whoops to take over the lead on the first lap. Hunter Lawrence held third, with Justin Cooper and Shane McElrath holding down fourth and fifth.

A couple laps into this race Barcia came back on Craig in the whoops in the same spot Craig had passed him! Lawrence wasn’t willing to let Barcia run away with the lead and really started ratcheting up the pressure on Craig. But then Lane Shaw and Kevin Moranz went down exiting the whoops and Shaw looked hurt. He wasn’t moving and it didn’t take long for the red flag to come out, halting the race.

On the staggered restart Lawrence moved into second and took off after Barcia. Just before the white flag came out Lawrence knifed to the inside of Barcia and went past him through the whoops. Lawrence took off and just like that, the battle for the lead was over.

Eli Tomac hadn’t gotten a good start originally and was battling back in sixth late in this one. After a lot of effort he was finally able to clip Justin Hill for fifth. Lawrence, Barcia, Cooper, Craig, Tomac, Hill, Dean Wilson, Shane McElrath, and Cade Clason filled the transfer spots.

Heat Two – 450SX

Jorge Prado shot out to the early lead in the final heat race of the night, and Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb, and Ken Roczen gave chase. Roczen didn’t get a great start, but a couple of fast moves early put him right behind Webb. As the race wore on Roczen looked anxious to get by Webb, but he wasn’t able to slice by at will. But then Webb made a small mistake in the sand and Roczen motored right by. Sexton had a few seconds on Roczen at this point, and Roczen wasn’t closing fast. With no pressure from behind, Sexton was free to concentrate on making a move on Prado, but try as he might he wasn’t able to get by the Red Bull KTM rider. Prado would withstand the pressure and take the win, with Sexton, Roczen, Webb, Dylan Ferrandis, Garrett Marchbanks, Jordon Smith, Colt Nichols, and Mitchell Harrison transferring to the main event.

Malcolm  Stewart was in seventh late in this one but crashed all by himself and dropped back to tenth. He got going again but it looked like something was wrong with his bike because he was clearly not pushing it.

LCQ – 250SX

Max Sanford held the lead early with Logan Leitzel and Cameron McAdoo giving chase. Leitzel took over first pretty quickly, but it didn’t take long for McAdoo to knife inside of him and set sail with the lead. A few spots back Kayden Minear was ripping and had moved into second, but made a mistake in the sand section and crashed, dropping down to seventh. Fortunately for Minear there was still a fair amount of time left and he went to work. In what seemed like no time at all he’d raced back to fifth by picking off a pair of riders in the whoops, then went by Keegan Rowly, Leitzel, and Brandon Ray for second! Quite the rebound from the rookie. McAdoo won, with Minear, Ray, and Rowley also transferring to the main.

LCQ – 450SX

Tristan Lane holeshot this one, but he had Malcolm Stewart all over him. Stewart clearly had the speed advantage, and after a little over a lap Stewart made the pass and checked out.

Back in second Kevin Moranz had gone around Lane, who all of a sudden had Vince Friese and Kyle Chisholm all over him. But then Friese and Chisholm tangled when Chisholm tried to go to the inside of Friese coming out of the whoops and they both went down hard, knocking them out of the race.

At this point the battle to watch was between Lane, Freddie Noren, and Grant Harlan. Noren and Harlan got by Lane, but then Lane fought back and was able to retake the final transfer spot from Noren. The final transfer spots of the night went to Stewart, Moranz, Harlan, and Lane.

250SX – Main Event

Haiden Deegan and Max Anstie came into the first turn side-by-side, but Deegan was able to edge Anstie and immediately started gapping the field. Behind him were Lux Turner and Levi Kitchen, who’d also gone by Anstie. Ryder DiFrancesco held fifth, a few lengths behind Anstie, and about five seconds ahead of Kayden Minear in sixth.

Kitchen was all over Turner and had a clear edge, but Turner was stubborn and refused to give it up without a fight. Turn after turn Kitchen tried to find a way around Turner, but Turner held strong. Finally Kitchen was able to pass Turner in the whoops, and at that point Turner lost a little bit of steam and DiFrancesco and Anstie passed him pretty quickly.

Now alone in second, Kitchen was ripping but Deegan had about a five-second advantage on him already. Deegan must have been aware Kitchen had moved into second because Deegan’s lap times suddenly went down and he started extending his gap over Kitchen. Then DiFrancesco started sneaking up on Kitchen. With about six minutes left in the race DiFrancesco had closed to about three seconds on Kitchen, but Kitchen responded and stabilized the gap, then inched back away.

When the checkers flew it was Deegan taking the win, with Kitchen, DiFrancesco, Anstie, and Minear rounding out the top five. Cameron McAdoo went down on the start in this one and was forced to come from dead last. He finished 13^th on the night.

450SX – Main Event

Hunter Lawrence had a great jump coming out of the gate, but it was Jorge Prado who ended up with the lead. Ken Roczen was back in fifth, and Lawrence immediately went to work on Prado. After about a lap Lawrence went up the inside of Prado and grabbed the lead. Eli Tomac was right there behind them, but he stalled his motorcycle briefly in the sand and dropped back a bit.

As the race evolved a Cooper Webb and Roczen got bunched up behind Prado. Roczen was not messing around, and he put a brilliant, and aggressive, move on Webb in the sand to take over fourth. Roczen was then all over the track trying to find a way around Prado, and he finally lined him up on the inside in a right hander, made the move, and took off after Lawrence, who had about five seconds on Roczen.

Back in third Prado and Webb were going at it, with Webb getting by, but Prado went back by on the inside in the sand. Webb wasn’t able to fire back and soon was under pressure from Tomac, who sliced by on the inside and immediately closed on Prado. Tomac was all over him but Prado didn’t make it easy on his teammate, and then Prado even stretched it back out in the whoops! Tomac took a few laps to regroup, but at roughly the halfway point he put together another charge. After a few unsuccessful pass attempts Tomac finally cut down in a lefthander, went by Prado, then shut him down to take ownership of third place for good.

Up front Lawrence was riding flawlessly and had built his gap to over eight seconds on Roczen, who was comfortable in second, about five seconds in front of Tomac. As the race wound down the battle to watch was between Webb and Justin Cooper for fifth. Cooper was applying an absurd about of pressure on Webb, but Webb didn’t get rattled and stubbornly refused to give up the spot. Time and time again Cooper looked like he had the pass made, only to have Webb come screaming up the inside of him and shut him down in the next corner. As the two fought they closed on Prado, and with three minutes left Webb was breathing down Prado’s neck. He still had Cooper all over him though, and Dylan Ferrandis was now throwing a wheel in on Cooper! As the two exited the whoops they both tried to go inside coming into the sand and collided, and both went down. That left Webb free to attack Prado, which he did, but Webb was a little too aggressive in a lefthand 180-degree turn and went down!

The checkered flag came out shortly after, with Lawrence taking a dominant win, with Roczen, Tomac, Malcolm Stewart, and Chase Sexton filling the top five. Now, coming into the final race of the season next weekend in Salt Lake City, Roczen leads Lawrence by just a single point. Winner take all at the finale!