The Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, heads back down south to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California for round five of the Western Regional Supercross Lites Championship. Heading into the last round in Oakland, the series had three different winners in the first three rounds and a tight Championship points race, but as the series left for Anaheim, one man had laid claim to the status of “favorite.” Not only did one rider step up in Oakland and become the first man to win two Main Events in 2012, but the two riders who only trailed by one and three points heading into Oakland had nights they would rather forget. This sequence of events has separated one rider and has left the rest faced with having to dig out of a deep hole.
The man that stepped it up in Oakland was GEICO Powersports/Honda’s Eli Tomac. Eli went into Oakland with a mere one point lead over one man and three points over another in the Championship, but managed to leave with a fifteen point lead over his nearest competition. How did this happen? Well, it started with Eli once again grabbing a good start, working his way to the front and, for the second straight week, putting an old fashioned whooping on the class. Eli’s speed has been untouchable in 2012, and it has been that speed that has turned the last two Main Events into runaway smack downs. If anyone wants to even read the number seventeen on the back of Eli’s jersey for more than a few corners, they are going to have to up their game starting this weekend at Anaheim 2. If they do not, Tomac is going to make this Championship a boring one.
While Eli’s speed and second straight Main Event win has established him as the class favorite, it was the mistakes of his closest West rivals that provided the major separation in the points. Both of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasakis, Dean Wilson and Tyla Rattray, were within striking distance heading into the Oakland Supercross, but two hard crashes left one of them out for the season and one in a fifteen point hole. Both Tyla and Deano coincidentally crashed in the same exact section of track in Oakland. Tyla’s crash came in his heat race and left him diagnosed with a concussion and a C7 fracture which will take Tyla out for the 2012 SX season while Dean’s Main Event crash left him diagnosed with a tenth place finish in the Main and a huge gap in the points. You can be sure that both of the Pro Circuit riders wished they could use a mulligan in Oakland, but don’t think for a minute that Deano will not get it turned around. Read the latest update on Tyla’s injury »
The man who grabbed a second place finish in Oakland and his second podium of 2012 was Red Bull/KTM’s hired assassin from France, Marvin Musquin. Marvin has struggled with starts at the last two rounds, but seems to have all the speed and aggression needed to carve his way through the pack. Two weeks ago in L.A., he sliced his way from the back of the pack up to battling for third before crashing and finishing with a DNF, and he repeated that performance—minus the crash—in Oakland. After rounding the first turn somewhere around eleventh, the two-time MX2 World Champion showed blazing speed that carried him past everyone except Eli Tomac. With that second place finish, Marvin sits in fourth place in the points—twenty-four points back—but with Zach Osbourne heading back to Europe, Marvin is actually in third. Can Marvin make up the twenty-four points before Las Vegas? That might be a tall order, but we will not be surprised if he steps up and challenges Tomac for at least a few wins.
With Monster Energy/Yamaha rider Zach Osbourne on his way to Europe to prepare for his 2012 MX2 World Championship campaign and Tyla Rattray out for the season with a injury, everyone in the class officially moves up two spots. Two riders that may be able to use that to their advantage and begin to make runs at the podium are Star/Valli/Yamaha’s Ryan Sipes and JDR/JStar/KTM’s Matt Moss. In Oakland, the two of them were never more than a couple of bike lengths apart in the Main Event, and they finished with their best finishes of 2012 in fourth and fifth respectively. After their run-in at the Phoenix Supercross, most in attendance were looking for fireworks in Oakland, but the two kept it classy. Ryan’s fourth in Oakland—after two straight bad races—leaves him tenth in the points, while Matt’s fifth has the Australian still a distant eleventh. Neither the 53 nor the 105 belong that far back and will certainly be on the box before long.
The biggest surprise in Oakland—although it did not show in the final results—came from the #44 Rockstar/Suzuki Jason Anderson. Over the first three rounds, Anderson was showing progression in his results, and he wanted to show a lot more in Oakland than his career best fifth which he scored a week before in Los Angeles. From the first qualifying practice of the day on, Mr. Anderson was attacking the rutted out Oakland circuit like a man that knew he could win. Unfortunately, the New Mexico native had issues in his heat race that left him qualifying through the LCQ and subsequently fighting back from a bad start in the Main Event. In the Main, Anderson fought from mid-pack all the way up to second place before slipping to third, crashing and going on to finish a disappointing twelfth. Jason may have left Oakland with only eight points, but he also left with a whole new level of confidence. If you are in Anaheim this Saturday night, do not take your eyes off the 44.
The last man we will preview for Anaheim 2 is the Anaheim 1 winner from just four weeks ago, Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil/Honda’s Cole Seely. After Cole’s A1 win just four weeks ago, there is no way we would of thought he would be thirty-one points down and without a second podium when the series returned to Anaheim for A2, but those are the facts. Cole has seemingly self-destructed over the last three rounds and, after a crash that led to an eleventh place finish in Oakland, is back to sixth in the points. Fortunately for Cole, two of the riders ahead of him are no longer in the Championship, so by default he moves up to fourth. While Cole has progressively gone backwards of late, he cannot be counted out. Cole had a similarly inconsistent 2011, but rebounded late in the year to win the Seattle SX. We will not be surprised if Cole begins his rebound as soon as this weekend in Anaheim.
Like a lot of Lites series in the past, the 2012 Lites West Regional Supercross series looked like it was going to be a fight between four, maybe five riders. After round two, we had five riders separated by four points, but just two rounds later the series, it is beginning to look like a runaway by one man. Just know that Supercross is a strange beast, and if that much can change in just two rounds, anything could happen in the next two. Whatever you do, do not change that channel.
Lites West Region – Championship Points – After four rounds
For full Lites West Championship points click here>>>
1 17 Eli Tomac Cortez, CO, USA 88 2 15 Dean Wilson Menifee, CA, USA 73 3 338 Zachary Osborne Chesterfield, SC, Usa 67 4 38 Marvin Musquin Murrieta, CA, USA 64 5 28 Tyla Rattray Wildomar, CA, USA 60 6 34 Cole Seely Murrieta, CA, USA 57 7 44 Jason Anderson Edgewood, NM, USA 53 8 50 Nico Izzi Menifee, CA, USA 46 9 119 Max Anstie Hemet, CA, USA 45 10 53 Ryan Sipes Ekron, KY, USA 43
