2016 Oakland Supercross Qualifying Report

Ryan Dungey will try to make it three-straight wins in ’16 and his first-ever in Oakland. Photo by: Hoppenworld

The 2016 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, headed north to Oakland, California’s O.co Coliseum for round four of the series today. In the first three rounds of racing, the series has seen just three different winners in both the 250SX and 450SX combined. So far, Star Racing/Yamaha’s Copper Webb has gone undefeated in the 250SX class, and Rockstar/Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson (1 win) and Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey (2 wins) have lit all the candles in the 450SX class.

Today, we started the day with sunny skies, but an ample amount of rain leading into today’s event created a mess for the track workers to clean up, and with that, a revised qualifying practice schedule was released. The first free untimed practice was cancelled and only two qualifying practices remained on the schedule. With the tricky, soft Oakland soil always being a tough circuit to master, riders had to figure it out in two fifteen-minute sessions today.

Since “Jammin” Jimmy Weinert won the inaugural Oakland SX in 1979 in the infamous “paddle-tire gate” race—Jimmy won the very sandy main event with a paddle tire before they were quickly banned—the gate has only dropped eight more times for SX Main Events in Oakland. The two winningest riders in Oakland are Ryan Villopoto and Yoshimura/Suzuki’s James Stewart with two wins apiece, so with a win tonight, the #7 can become the all-time leader for wins in Oakland. JS7 will be returning from injury tonight, but a win in his first race back could be a stretch. Meanwhile, Dungey has never won inside O.co Coliseum and will be looking for his first win here today.

With only two short sessions to learn the very technical Oakland circuit, Cooper Webb went right to work on establishing his dominance again at round four. In the first session, Webb was the first 250SX rider to pull the trigger on the 3-3-3 through the longest rhythm section and ended the session with the fastest lap (55.704). Other 250SX riders figured it out, but there was no other rider under the 56-second mark. When the session was completed, it was time for everyone to study some film of the #1 in their team rigs.

The next four 250SX riders in the top five were all running 56-second laps in session one. Rockstar/Husqvarana’s Zach Osborne (56.134), Monster/PC/Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy (56.729), GEICO/Honda’s Christian Craig (56.797) and Cycletrader/Yamaha’s Colt Nichols (56.832) rounded out the top five times in session one. Osborne was the only rider within a second of Webb’s fast lap and the number one candidate to possibly end the #1’s winning streak.

In the final 250SX qualifying session, Webb and Savatgy battled for supremacy for much of the session before Webb threw down the gauntlet with a 54.232 as the laps winded down. When Webb logged the fast lap, it looked untouchable, but Osborne put down a heater (54.432) at the end of the session that will no doubt let Webb know the #16 is still here to try to squash his bid to stay undefeated. Webb and Osborne have clearly been the two fastest 250SX riders, and with the first and second fastest qualifying times, they will not meet tonight until the main event.

Not much changed from session one to session two in the 250SX class except Craig (54.741) replacing Savatgy (54.779) in the third spot and pushing the #37 back to fourth overall. In fifth, one of the biggest surprises of the year got even better. Colt Nichols has been inside the top ten in qualifying every week in ’16—8th, 7th and 7th—and today he makes his first appearance inside the top five in qualifying with a 55.032. If you can pick up Nichols on your fantasy team, tonight might be the night to slot the Oklahoman into your top five.

In the first of two 450SX qualifying sessions this afternoon, RCH/Soaring Eagle/Suzuki’s Ken Roczen was on fire. The #94 was on the top of the board for the majority of session one and finished with the fastest lap (54.877)—just a tick ahead of Yoshimura/Suzuki’s James Stewart (54.903). When Kenny wasn’t on top of the board, it was the #7 reminding everyone of his capabilities and taking the top spot. Everyone is hoping James can put in twenty solid laps tonight and get his season back on track.

The other three riders on the top five leaderboard in the opening session were the top three in the points: Ryan Dungey (55.385), Jason Anderson (55.422) and Monster Energy/Yamaha’s Chad Reed (55.666). All three were well within a second of the German and will only be getting faster as the day and night move forward.

In the final 450SX session of the day, Ryan Dungey (53.815) took over the #1 qualifying position from his former teammate Ken Roczen. While Roczen lost the top spot, his 54.046 in the final session was enough to lock down the first gate pick in the second qualifier tonight. With a twenty-one point mountain to climb already, the German needs to start chipping away at Dungey’s lead in the 450SX Championship.

Qualifying third, fourth and fifth overall in the 450SX class were Rockstar/Husqvarana’s Christophe Pourcel, Anderson and Reedy. Both Anderson and Reed were inside the top five in both sessions, but as per usual, Pourcel’s fastest lap came in the final lap of the final session. Pourcel is the biggest enigma in Monster Energy Supercross, and we have no idea if his one lap speed will translate into a top five finish anytime soon.