Photos by: Chase Yocom
Round twelve of the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, and the first of two 250SX East / West Shootout in 2018 250SX went to Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium.
In the 450SX class, Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin got out front early with Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac shadowing him, but on lap twelve Eli hit the ground hard and Marvin went on to a thirty-second win–his first win since A1. Crossing the line behind Musquin–way behind Musquin–was Rockstar Energy / Husqvarna’s Dean Wilson in 2nd with the first podium of his 450SX career and Smartop / Motoconcepts / Honda’s Justin Brayton in 3rd.
In the first 250SX East / West Shootout of the year, GEICO / Honda’s Jeremy Martin went wire-to-wire for his first win of 2018. Filling up the other two spots on the podium was Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo in 2nd and Traders Racing / Yamaha’s Luke Renzland in 3rd–his and the teams first-ever podium finish.
After the racing was over, we grabbed some quotes from some of the top finishing riders in Indy.
Marvin Musquin: (1st in 450SX) “I want to say, “finally.” The other guys did a great job all season long and I needed to be better, but finally since Anaheim 1 [his last win]. It feels great. It was a crazy main event. To be leading by almost 30-seconds is crazy. Obviously, [Eli] Tomac went down, but you needed to be smart, consistent and stay on two wheels. That’s what I did. It was hard after Tomac went down, cause I’m like, “Okay, I have a big lead; I got this.” But I still had to finish the main. I was a long main event again. Twenty-seven laps felt really long. I needed to be smart.”
Jeremy Martin: (1st in 250SX) “It was a lot of laps tonight. I got the holeshot, rode good for a little bit and then I saw the boys behind me. The track was pretty tricky. I’m not going to lie, I had some sketchy moments out there. I saw Luke [Renzland] was in 2nd, I kind of looked around and was trying to maintain it. I had a couple close calls out there, but we were able to lead from start to finish and have a good race.”
Dean Wilson: (2nd in 450SX) “The Main result was awesome today. Qualifying went well, but I came into the heat race and got a bad start and ended up eighth. I got a good start in the Main then made quick passes. The middle to the end of the race was tough but it’s awesome to get a second. I’m stoked.”
Adam Cianciarulo: (2nd in 250SX) “That was fun!. There were a lot of great riders from both east and west coasts out on the track tonight, so to finish second makes it that much sweeter. We continued to improve throughout the night and I fought hard to get on that podium.”
Justin Brayton: (3rd in 450SX) “The track was tough. I knew you needed to gate well and get good track position because I knew it would separate out and the top five would be gone by lap 10. I actually came out of the gate awesome, but I missed a shift and was buried in the first turn. I made some passes on the first lap and then rode solid. With about ten or twelve [laps] to go I really started to feel it. To be honest, I haven’t rode [during the week] since before Daytona. I’ve just been sick so I was pretty fatigued towards the half way point. Towards the end, I started to get a second wind, but by that time I was just doubling through the rhythms. I had gone away from the quad and the triple onto the table, mainly because I was making so many mistakes doing them.”
Luke Renzland: (3rd in 250SX) “It’s crazy, at the East/West Shootout is the last place I pictured getting my first podium. All year it’s been between 6th to 10th, and it’s been mind-numbing coming off the track knowing that I just came from 18th to 7th again. The last two weeks I haven’t done one lap on my SX track. I’ve just really been working on starts and this week we got six hours worth of starts in–clutches were smoked. My brain was smoked. (laughs) Finally in the main event I was able to execute exactly what we’ve been working on. Getting out front was crucial on that track with the way it was breaking down.”
Jason Anderson: (4th in 450SX) “My weekend turned out to be good. I went into the pileup in the first turn in the Main Event, but I worked as hard as I could to make it to fourth. It was good.”
Jordon Smith: (4th in 250SX) “It would have been nice to collect a few extra points in third, but to keep chipping away is a positive that we’ll take tonight. It’s not over until it’s over and I will do everything I can to make my team proud. We get a few weeks off to regroup but I’m ready to get back out there in Minneapolis and try to close up the points gap.”
Broc Tickle: (5th in 450SX) “I’m really happy with my riding tonight. I felt like I had 2nd wrapped up but I crashed by myself and put myself into a situation where I got into it with another rider and ended up going back to 6th. Overall, I’m really happy with the progress and I’m building confidence in the right direction to end the season strong. I’m looking forward to these last five rounds to snag some podiums.”
Aaron Plessinger: (5th in 250SX) “It was kind of like old times: coming back from the back of the pack. (laughs) I didn’t really freak out. I knew if I would of freaked out, I probably would of went down and did worse than than I would of if I didn’t. I tried to keep my composure. I did just that and it played out in my favor.”
Malcolm Stewart: (6th in 450SX) “I’m getting better every week. I still have to improve my fitness, but I am happy to finish the night in sixth place. It was my best career 450 result so far, so I’ll take the positives from that. I feel like I’m heading in the right direction. There are five more Supercross races to go, and I’m going to make the most of them.”
Austin Forkner: (6th in 250SX) “I was feeling great all day. We were looking good and I was feeling good in qualifying and my heat race. I just wasn’t able to make the move to finish where I wanted in the main. I’m happy to end the night healthy and we’ll just keep plugging away.”
Zach Osborne: (7th in 250SX) “I just feel really comfortable in the ruts. I feel like I’m comfortable being uncomfortable, you know. I’m uncomfortable during the week because the pace is high and those guys are fast. It makes me better on the weekend at being out of my comfort zone. It sucks to ride in the back like that and have to try to pass guys. You end up going their speed until you get by them. It took me a few too many laps to pass a couple of guys–which in the end could have netted me passing Austin–but at the same time, I can’t be too disappointed.”
Tyler Bowers: (11th in 450SX) “We’re making progress. Coming out from the heat race, I was feeling really good and obviously hoped for a better finish in the main, but I am proud of the way I fought back and never gave up. We’ll keep pushing and I’m looking forward to keep the momentum going.”
Kyle Peters: (8th in 250SX) “I felt good in practice, but I didn’t have the intensity when the night show came around. I was flat. I had a good start in the heat race and my shift points were good, but I rode tight in the heat race. For whatever reason I felt fatigued going into the main event. The team worked really hard, and we made progress. The shootout deal was cool, because I never get to race the West guys. As far as the points go, it could make for a big swing either way. I’m sixth in points and want to climb the ladder”
Eli Tomac: (15th in 450SX) “That was a rough one. I’m grateful I was able to recover from my crash tonight in order to salvage some points though. I fought hard to power back, but the track was so tacky I just wasn’t able to make up the gap in time. We’ve been through worse and I’ve got a great team behind me so we’ll take the week to shake it off and get back out there.”
Phill Nicoletti : (9th in 250SX) “I don’t know what happened with my start in the main event. There were a few bumps in front of my gate, and I lined up to the inside in the hopes of getting a good jump and controlling from there. I saw quite a few riders going deep into the first turn, so I hit the brakes. Some of those riders got tangled up, and I went around them. I had my work cut out for me, but I made quick passes. I came up to ninth place, which was decent. I rode better in the main event than I did in practice. It was interesting racing other 250 class riders, but it doesn’t really matter. The track was really brutal, but my Suzuki RM-Z250 handled well and I got inside the top ten for the shootout.”
Christian Craig: (16th in 450SX) “I’m really disappointed in how tonight went. I just didn’t ride like myself at all and it’s so frustrating because I’ve been working so hard, both physically and mentally. I got a terrible start, which put me in a bad position from the beginning, then I crashed twice. This is not the result that I wanted for myself or the team, so I’m going to learn from today, try to stay positive, and go into Seattle with a clear mind.”
Joey Savatgy: (10th in 250SX) “That’s just the name of the game. I was feeling confident after qualifying with the fastest time out of both regions combined. The team and I did everything we could tonight, but sometimes the results don’t show the all of the hard work. We’ll work on the mistakes and be ready to go for the next race.”
Weston Peick: (22nd in 450SX) “The day was tough. I struggled, because the track was super tacky and rutted. I was trying to find comfort. We went into the heat race with a major change, and the track was very rutted. Then we went back to how we were in practice. I rode well in the main, but was making a lot of mistakes. I had a couple of close calls. I was hitting this quad in the center of the track, and one lap I hit it from the opposite side. The face was a bit smaller, and I came up short on the landing and went into an endo. I got pretty banged up, and that was my night. I’m sore, but I have some time off to get ready for Seattle.”
Mitchell Harrison: (11th in 250SX) “Riding was better today. I got a good start in the Main and pulled it together a little bit. I just have to go back and work on some things and come back strong.”
Kyle Chisholm: (12th in 250SX) “I was really excited to get back on the 250. I felt good all day and was pumped to put in a Top 10 practice time. I had that transfer in the Heat, but ended up getting taken out which was kind of a bummer. My body got pretty beat up but I was still able to get it done in the LCQ. That was my first 250 LCQ win and it’s awesome to get that done for the team. I was consistent in the Main and held it down with a bunch of the factory boys. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied and excited to keep moving forward.”
 
Shane McElrath: (13th in 250SX) “I really wanted to capitalize on tonight’s showdown format, but after getting pushed out on the start it was an uphill battle. The track was pretty tough, as we expected, but there weren’t as many passing opportunities as I’d hoped. It’s been a long time waiting to come back and then have a showdown race made it pretty interesting. We’ll be ready for Seattle, no matter what the weather tends to throw at us.”
Blake Wharton: (14th in 250SX) “It felt great to be at Indianapolis and have all the positive support to welcome me back. Couldn’t of asked for a better race having had just one month of SX preparation with Racetrack Supercross / Twisted Development team. We learned a lot from the day and have a great foundation on which to build from going forward.”
Sean Cantrell: (20th in 250SX) “This is a tough year to be a rookie with the triple crown formats and the showdown races, but I’m trying to use every opportunity to learn something new. We get a few weeks off and I still have a goal to keep it inside the top 10 for the final few rounds.”
Chase Sexton: (21st in 250SX) “Indy was a bit of a roller coaster. Felt good all of practice and was ready to bring it to the night show. I got a bad start in the heat but worked my way through the pack to fifth. In the main I got another bad start and was close to last. As I was making my way through, I kept making mistakes and actually went down twice. I ended up messing up my front brake. We tried to fix it mid race but it kept locking up so I wasn’t able to finish. Really bummed on how the night went since I felt so good during the day but that’s racing. Ready to make Seattle a good one!”
Michael Mosiman: (DNQ/Crash in 250SX) “I woke up this morning to snow. That was cool. I actually rode better than I have in a long time. I made it through qualifying pretty well. At one point I tested out the net. I felt really comfortable today and was getting through the whoops better. There was progression. I got off to a great start in the heat race with a fourth, then I got a kicker the second turn coming into the whoops. I was expected the whoops to be similar to practice, and they were not at all. I crashed and guys ran into me and it put me in the LCQ. I was way back in the LCQ because I had last gate pick. I got off to a good start but then ran into someone’s back tire and went down. It stings, but it lights a fire under me. It hurts to miss a Main Event, but there’s some part of me that feels like this is the building of something bigger.”
Hayden Mellross: (22nd in 250SX) “Tonight wasn’t exactly the night I had in mind. Unfortunately, in the main I got kicked hard in the whoops and the bike got totally sideways. I didn’t go down but my shoulder ended up popping out of the socket. There’s no way I could’ve kept going and I’m very grateful for the medical team for their help.”
