The World Supercross series kicked off its fourth year of existence in Calgary, Alberta Canada this past weekend and there were definitely some fireworks but also a strange ending to the night. Three-time Monster Energy AMA 450 Supercross Champion Cooper Webb is now racing the whole series as a member of Rick Ware Racing. Webb showed the field why he is a three-time champ in the U.S. by handling his business well, but the night ended wildly with Webb out front in the 12 lap Superfinal. Then a wind storm came in hot and heavy. The WSX series used to use cardboard for their tough blocks but they switched to foam for this year which is a positive thing. Except when wind storms come in and there’s no weight to them! So then the blocks scattered everywhere and were causing danger, with blocks all over the track. So the decision was made to call the final race after 7 laps. The wind was followed by heavy rain also. Per FIM rules, if less than 70 percent of the race is not completed, it doesn’t count in the overall results. So, the Superfinal basically didn’t happen at all, from a results standpoint.
I’ve been going to dirt bike races for a while and this was a first for sure.
The WSX crew added some new things to the show in terms of a fan fest and fan track walk which seemed to please the Canadian fans that showed up. I’d estimate there were 15-20K there, less than in Vancouver in past years—at least to these eyes. Last year’s race in Vancouver did feature Eli Tomac as a Wild Card making his Red Bull KTM debut, so that probably helped. This year’s format remains the same: each class had two sprint races of 8 laps worth and then a longer Superfinal of 12. The last main is scored in a more traditional point scoring format (25 points to the winner) while they pay fewer points in the sprint races. Unlike an AMA Supercross Triple Crown, though, all three races here do pay championship points.
The track was top soil-ish, the ruts were deep, the berms turned into powder and then the whoops, yeah they were big. Good track, fun and safe for the most part.
So, yeah, the Stark thing. WSX let the electric bike company come into the series last year and it was a bit of a bummer as the riders never did that well. There were some highlights but it was definitely more of a thud than a spark (get it?) to the series. Team Manager Sebastian Tortelli told the media on Friday they made some improvements to the bikes and that the starts would be better, Seb commented he was a bit bewildered by the team just getting one holeshot last year.
Well, mission accomplished Seb! The combination of altitude (about 3500 feet in Calgary) and FIM fuel rules added to some gas powered bikes being down from their usual power output while the Starks, although locked by WSX at HP numbers that would make the bikes equal, had none of those issues to deal with.
So we saw Brian Hsu (!) and Michael Hicks in SX2 and Vince Friese and Jorge Zaragoza get all the starts save for the last one. About halfway down the start straight, the Starks just took off and came roaring into the first turn. The riders had to fight their way through the Starks every single time but Hicks held on in SX2 to get the team’s first-ever podium. There were plenty of grumbling amongst the gas-powered teams that the WSX organizers didn’t adjust off their initial electric power numbers for the altitude of Calgary.
In SX1 it was really two riders that stood above everyone else and that was Rick Ware teammates Webb and Justin Hill. Hill absolutely shined in the first sprint race by passing Webb and others in taking the win. In the second main, he crashed twice and still made it up to fifth with some great charges. Hill looked great all day and made a ton of passes out there in slicing through some really good riders. In the past, he’s raced WSX and with his skills, you’d think he be a contender, but it hasn’t been good for Hill at most of these races. This was much better.
Webb got better each time out and in the third main (which didn’t happen, according to the results) he rode his best to take off with the win. Webb’s starts in the AMA motocross series have been great, and he uses a cable clutch. He showed up here with his SX hydraulic clutch set-up (I asked him why and he could only say “it’s a long story”) and it affected his starts until he got it down for the last one. Webb took the win and Hill was just as good as him or better- that’s the story of SX1.
What happens two months from now at round two? By then Webb’s expected to be on a Husqvarna as his Yamaha deal will have expired. We’ll see how that goes but for now- Hill and Webb stood out.
The defending WSX champion, Jason Anderson, of Pipes Motorsports Suzuki, is probably happy he has the two months to get ready for the next race. Rough night for Jason as he didn’t qualify inside the top four, crashed in the first turn in one race, crashed first or second lap in another and all in all, didn’t ride as well as many of us expected. Only 11th overall for the #21.
Quad Lock Honda’s Dean Wilson spent a lot of his childhood in Calgary and so he got a lot of cheers from the fans,. Dean’s whoop speed was superior (duh) until they turned into jumpers later on but he fought hard to get third overall despite dirt in his goggles that affected him in the first two mains.
In SX2 it was Rick Ware Racing’s Max Anstie, in his debut race on the Club MX Yamaha, taking the wins in all three races but he had to deal with the Stark boys every single time. Max looked on point defending his #1 plate.
Hicks took second on the Stark and regrouped nicely in the last main event. He had been riding with an injured ankle so he has to be stoked on his ride. Again, the altitude helped the Starks a ton but Hicks and Friese, (in SX1) look better than they did at any point last year.
Third was Quad Lock Honda’s (?!?) Cameron McAdoo on his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Read that back and try to make sense of it! Cam started in second gear for the first two mains and then figured out first was better. This got him a better start for the last one and he brought it home in second. The first two mains were a lot of work for Cam but third overall, he’ll take it. Oh, and the team thing is that he will be switching to Quad Lock Honda in the future but is still under a Kawasaki contract for now. Pro Circuit owner Mitch Payton was nice enough to let Cameron ride his current bike for this race so he could score points.
Heartbreak for Devin Simonson who was locked into third overall late in the last main until he collected the “foam” block in his rear wheel and there went that podium. Also interesting was Brian Hsu. A phenom back in the day, he had quit racing for a couple of years before getting the fire back racing in Italy. This led to Tortelli offering him a Stark deal and Hsu collected Superpole and led a lot of laps, even.
All in all, it was a bit chaotic start to WSX with Starks, wind and foam blocks all maybe being the bigger story than the racing. The racing was good however and now we’ll sit for a while until round two.
Check out the highlights from Calgary WSX:
