2016 Anaheim 2 Supercross – Qualifying Report

Ken Roczen will start on poll at round 3. Photo by: Devin Davis

The 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, is now in full effect with two rounds behind us. For round number three, the best Supercross riders on the planet load up and head back up the 5 freeway for the final race of the year inside Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. Over the years, the first few rounds of the Supercross series have been a discovery mission for the riders and teams, and so far, what they’ve found out is that Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey is as consistent as he’s ever been and ready to defend his 450SX Championship. In the 250SX class, we’ve learned that Star Racing/Yamaha’s Cooper Webb is taking no prisoners and looks poised to possibly run the table in the 250SX Western Regional Championship. Both the #1 plates arrive in Anaheim with the same red backgrounds they debuted at A1.

In the first 450SX session, the first thing we noticed was the absence of some of the top riders. The 450SX class has always been a war of attrition and so far, James Stewart, Kyle Chisholm, Justin Barcia, Blake Baggett, Justin Bogle, and Broc Tickle have all been sidelined due to injuries in Monster Energy Supercross. Just two rounds in, we are hoping the riders start to win that war.

In the first 450SX qualifying sessions, the “Crafty Frenchman”, Rockstar Energy Racing/Husqvarna’s Christophe Pourcel (56.816) once again showed everyone how to go fast for one lap. The only other rider under 57 in the first session was HRC Racing’s Trey Canard (56.960) in 2nd. The #377 has perfected the art of going fast for one lap, but now he needs to figure out how to make that translate into a top ten finish in the main. So far, Pourcel has qualified 2nd and 4th, but finished 18th and 13th in the first two main events.

The other three riders on the leaderboard at the end of 450SX group A session one were Rockstar/Husqvarana’s Jason Anderson (57.047), RCH Racing/Suzuki’s Ken Roczen (57.109) and BTO/KTM’s Davi Millsaps (57.481). The top seven, which included Ryan Dungey (57.500) in 6th and BTO/KTM’s Justin Brayton (57.816), were in the same second in the opening session.

In the final 450SX session, Ken Roczen (56.164) came to life with the fastest overall 450 times. In comparison to the #94’s Anaheim 1 qualifying position—Ken qualified 7th at A1—this has to have the German feeling good going into the night show. So far Kenny has a 5-6 on his 2016 main event scorecard.

Pourcel kept the speed rolling into the final session of the day. The #377 improved his fastest lap to a 56.539, but fell to 2nd overall ahead of Dungey (56.700) in 3rd. Finishing behind Dungey in the top five was Canard (58.845) in 4th and his HRC Racing teammate Cole Seely (57.172) in 5th. On the heels of a week that saw the top ten all on the same second, only those four riders stayed within a second of Roczen today.

A couple surprises in the 450SX class were Anderson in 7th and Monster Energy/Yamaha’s Chad Reed in 10th. Reed has been 8th and 11th the previous two weeks, but we thought the momentum from last weekend’s podium might carry into today’s qualifying session. Anderson’s 7th is the worst qualifying spot of his season thus far, but clean laps were hard to come by.

When the first session 250SX times were tallied up, it was Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawsaki’s Joey Savatgy (57.626) that found the fastest way around the Anaheim 2 circuit. With two long whoop sections, and one being brutally big, the lap times were a lot about the riders’ whoop speed, and the #37 had both the whoop sections dialed. He and Rockstar/Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne (57.785) were both blazing fast through the whoops immediately in the earlier free practice and were separated by nothing in the first timed qualifying session. Both will be looking for their first-ever main event win tonight and trying to stop the Cooper Webb express in the process.

Staying real close to the top two in the opening session was GEICO/Honda’s Christian Craig (57.981) in 3rd, with Webb (58.701) surprisingly almost a full second off the leaders in 4th. Like Osborne and Savatgy, Craig was down into the 57’s, and that was due to his speed through the big whoop section. Craig has been gaining speed and momentum over the first two rounds and is no doubt on the top of everyone’s lists as someone that could stop Webb. Rounding out the top five in the opening session was Troy Lee Designs/KTM’s Mitchell Oldenburg (58.776). Once again, Mitchell is showing top five speed, but we are still waiting to see if the #42 can put fifteen laps together.

In the final 250SX qualifying session of the afternoon, it was Osborne (57.495) putting up the fastest time of the day just ahead of the Champ. Heading into A2, Zach had qualified 2nd at A1, 5th in San Diego, and he now adds a poll position spot to his ’16 resume. Webb (57.605) was able to improve on his first session time and lead late into the final session, but Osborne knocked him off the top spot moments later. These two battled for the win in San Diego, and that battle may pick up where they left off tonight.

The 4th and 5th fastest laps stayed with Craig and Oldenburg, with last week’s 5th place main event finisher, CycleTrader/Yamaha’s Colt Nichols (58.444), continuing to impress in 6th. Colt has now gone 8-7-6 in qualifying over the first three rounds and has finished an impressive 7th and 5th in the main events. If his 2016 trend continues, he will finish 4th or better in tonight’s main event.