Eli Tomac is the first rider in 2017 to reach three wins. Photo by: Ryne Swanberg

The 2017 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, is now seven rounds into the season, and with his win last weekend at the 2017 Minneapolis SX, Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac has now won three of the seven main events. Unfortunately for the #3, when he did not light the candles with a win, his finishes were 5th, 6th, 8th and 15th. Because of his inconsistency, Eli is 24 points behind Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey—3rd in Minneapolis—and eight points in back of Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin—2nd in Minneapolis. While Eli’s score card has been all over the board, Dungey has six podiums with his worst race being a fourth place finish.

2017 marked the first time Monster Energy SX was inside the new US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Photo by: Ryne Swanberg

In the battle for the fastest lap times of the night, Eli Tomac (47.667) purely dominated that category as well as the main event. Eli was fastest in both qualifying sessions, fastest in the heat races—although he didn’t win his heat—and fastest in the main event. In qualifying, his was over a second faster than anyone, and in the main, he was four-tenths faster than Dungey (48.041) and Musquin (48.076) who were second and third fastest. Eli was the only rider in the 47’s, and he used that speed to run away from the KTMs early on in the main event and coast it home for the win.

The fourth and fifth fastest laps for the second-straight weekend belonged to Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson (49.037) and HRC / Honda’s Cole Seely (49.540). These two have solidly claimed “the best of the rest” behind the three main event winners left racing in 2017: Tomac, Dungey and Musquin. Seely might have scored his third podium in Atlanta, but after yanking the holeshot, the #14 crashed on the opening lap and had to fight back from outside the top ten to finish fifth. Anderson, on the other hand, started in fifth, moved to fourth after Seely’s crash and stayed there for 20 minutes plus one lap.

Marvin Musquin, riding the momentum from Arlington, came from sixth to hunt down and pass Ryan Dungey for second. Photo by: Chase Yocom
Marvin Musquin, riding the momentum from Arlington, came from sixth to hunt down and pass Ryan Dungey for second. Photo by: Chase Yocom

450SX Main Event Lap Time Graph. Click the riders name in the graph to add and remove them from the graph.

Top 10 450SX Times Top 10 250SX Times
1. E. Tomac – 0:47.667
2. R. Dungey – 0:48.041
3. M. Musquin – 0:48.076
4. J. Anderson – 0:49.037
5. C. Seely – 0:49.540
6. B. Tickle – 0:49.780
7. T. Canard – 0:49.979
8. D. Millsaps – 0:49.995
9. C. Reed – 0:50.098
10. M. Alessi – 0:50.136
1. Z. Osborne – 0:49.439
2. R. Hampshire – 0:49.660
3. J. Savatgy – 0:50.013
4. J. Smith – 0:50.297
5. A. Cianciarulo – 0:50.770
6. B. Bloss – 0:50.901
7. C. Nichols – 0:51.201
8. K. Peters – 0:51.264
9. F. Noren – 0:51.308
10. A. Rodriguez – 0:51.429

Full 2017 Minneapolis SX results here>>>

Joey Savatgy picked up where he left off in 2016 with a win in Minneapolis. Photo by: Ryne Swanberg
Joey Savatgy picked up where he left off in 2016 with a win in Minneapolis. Photo by: Ryne Swanberg

In the opening 250SX Eastern Regional Supercross Championship main event in Minneapolis, the Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki team kept the ball rolling. Out west Justin Hill has won the last four straight for Mitch Payton’s team, and in the Eastern Regional debut in Minneapolis, Joey Savatgy made it five in a row for the Pro Circuit assassins. Joey got a top five start and, by lap 11, had passed Troy Lee Designs / KTM’s Jordon Smith for the lead and eventual win. Joey was joined on the podium by Smith in second and Rockstar Energy / Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne in third.

In the race for fastest man in Minneapolis, that was dominated by Zach Osborne (49.439) all day and night long. Like Tomac in the 450SX class, Zach was fastest in both day qualifying sessions, fastest in the main event and had the fastest average lap time (50.931), but unlike Tomac that did not translate into a win. Zach rounded the first turn around mid-pack, checked in after lap one in fifth, passed Smith for second on lap 11, but crashed and ruined his shot at a win on lap 14. While you know Zach wanted the win, he left round one knowing he has ample speed.

Zach showed that working with Aldon Baker, Ryan Dungey, Marvin Musquin and Jason Anderson during the off season can equate to pure speed come race day. Photo by: Simin Cudby
Zach showed that working with Aldon Baker, Ryan Dungey, Marvin Musquin and Jason Anderson during the off season can equate to pure speed come race day. Photo by: Simin Cudby

The second fastest 250SX lap belonged to the fourth place finisher, GEICO Honda’s RJ Hampshire (49.660)—just ahead of main event winner, Joey Savatgy (50.013) in third. RJ started up there with Savatgy and obviously had the speed, but the #17’s fitness and consistency landed him 24 seconds in front of the #31.

Smith (50.297)—who finished second—had the fourth fastest lap time with Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo (50.770) recording the fifth fastest lap on his way to a fifth place finish. Smith struggled all day and night long, but what a difference a holeshot will make. While Smith was navigating his own track with nobody in front of him, Cianciarulo was trying to navigate around slower traffic after clearing turn one in around 12th. It will be interesting to see where these two riders end up if the start situation is reversed in the coming weeks.

After sitting out half of 2014 and all of 2015 and 2016, Adam Cianciarulo is starting over in 2017. Photo by: Chase Yocom
After sitting out half of 2014 and all of 2015 and 2016, Adam Cianciarulo is starting over in 2017. Photo by: Chase Yocom


250SX Main Event Lap Time Graph. Click the riders name in the graph to add and remove them from the graph.

You can check out the top ten average 250 and 450 times from the 2017 Minneapolis SX below. Scroll down to see how the main events broke down lap-for-lap with MotoXAddicts’ lap-time comparison charts. Also, see how the top 3 250SX riders matched up against the top 3 450SX finishers lap-for-lap.

Updated 2017 250SX West and 450SX Championship Points>>>

Top 10 450SX Avg Lap-Times Top 10 250SX Avg Lap-Times
1. E. Tomac – 0:49.486
2. M. Musquin – 0:49.637
3. R. Dungey – 0:50.059
4. J. Anderson – 0:51.019
5. C. Seely – 0:51.052
6. B. Tickle – 0:51.361
7. D. Millsaps – 0:51.551
8. C. Reed – 0:51.961
9. T. Canard – 0:51.988
10. B. Baggett – 0:52.057
1. Z. Osborne – 0:50.931
2. J. Savatgy – 0:51.091
3. J. Smith – 0:51.268
4. C. Nichols – 0:52.182
5. R. Hampshire – 0:52.200
6. B. Bloss – 0:52.220
7. A. Cianciarulo – 0:52.590
8. D. Ferrandis – 0:52.759
9. L. Renzland – 0:53.006
10. K. Peters – 0:53.127

Eli Tomac won't really celebrate until he has that red plate. Photo by: Ryne Swanberg
Eli Tomac won’t really celebrate until he has that red plate. Photo by: Ryne Swanberg

250SX vs 450SX Main Event Lap Time Graph. Click the riders name in the graph to add and remove them from the graph.


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Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.