Photos by: CJ Zimmerman
The 2016 Detroit Supercross and round eleven of the Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, was a dominating performance from the Aldon Baker trained Baker’s Factory riders—Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson and Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin and Ryan Dungey. Dungey got to the lead early and took off with what looked like a runaway win, but the #1 was later docked two positions for jumping on the red cross flag. With Dungey’s penalty, Anderson was credited with his second-career win, while Marvin moved up to second and Dungey was officially scored in third.
In the 250SX main event, GEICO / Honda’s Malcolm Stewart scored his second-career win as well and took over the Championship points lead from Star Racing / Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin—who crashed twice and finished 13th. Finishing on the podium with Mookie was Star Racing / Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger and Troy Lee Designs / KTM’s Shane McElrath.
Below, check out what some of the 250SX and 450SX riders had to say after their Detroit SX main events.
Jason Anderson: (1st in 450 main) “I had a great day of practice. My day went really well. In the heat race I came out, got to fourth and stayed there to qualify. When I got to the main I got a pretty good start based on where my gate was. For the most part I just kind of stayed behind Marvin, and he ended up falling so he kind of gave me second. It felt good to see the leader the whole time and know I was on-pace. I mean I always knew I had the speed, but I’m finally starting to show it.”
Martin Davalos: (5th in 250 main) “I felt like I rode with a lot of heart, but I was still a little disappointed. I didn’t get good starts. I couldn’t find traction and, unfortunately, it got me caught up in the back of the pack. I fought my way back through the pack and got up to around fourth, but then got caught up with a rider and crashed and was put back to almost last. I was able to fight back to fifth, though. This definitely isn’t over yet. I’m excited to go back home, work hard, and come back swinging in the next round.”
Eli Tomac: (5th in 450 main) “Today started off really well with two great qualifying sessions,” said Tomac. “I went on to finish second in my heat and felt confident heading into the Main Event. In the Main Event, I started mid-pack and made some early passes to get into the top five. Overall, Detroit went well and I’m happy with where we ended.”
Shane Mcelrath: (3rd in 250 main) “We’ve been making progress every week and it feels good to be back on the podium. I needed this before the break. Just racing incidents have kept me from being up here [on the podium] and I’m ready to make this a regular thing.”
Cole Seely: (11th in 450 main) “Detroit really wasn’t too good to me today, but we can always be thankful we’re leaving healthy. I had a big crash in practice so I was a little beat up for the evening. I made a weird mistake at the start of the race and it was an uphill battle from there.”
Malcolm Stewart: (1st in 250 main)”To be honest, I’m not, but I’m sick. I’m happy that luck started coming to my side. We were struggling, not necessarily struggling, after Atlanta, going to Daytona as well as coming into Toronto. I’m happy that the night went great, and you know, it sucks to have [Jeremy] Martin go down like that as well as for [Juston] Hill — I hope he’s alright. It was good to have Martin [Davalos] back. We’re definitely going to keep moving forward and #50 with the red plate will kind of look good.”
Josh Grant: (12th in 450 main) “My day went really well. I qualified well and put myself in a good position for the heat. I made a little mistake, ended up going into the Semi and qualified into the Main Event from there. I didn’t have the start I wanted but was able to make some good passes and I’m happy with how it ended up. My goal was to finish strong and have a successful day, unfortunately another rider took me down, but all things considered I feel I accomplished my goal. I’m looking forward to spending time on the bike with the team, through the weekend off and coming back strong for Santa Clara.”
Aaron Plessinger: (2nd in 250 main) “I got the holeshot and managed to pull off a second place finish. Which is pretty good considering the past two weeks I’ve had a sickness. I got sick before Daytona, I was sick all through Daytona and then I didn’t get to ride last week. I think I rode once and came here not expecting to do that, and I got second. I’m going to go back, do my homework and come back and try to win this thing at Indianapolis in three weeks.”
Ken Roczen: (6th in 450 main) “My night wasn’t very good. “It was kind of a long week. We started off Saturday morning pretty good but the track changed as the day went on and got a lot drier. It seems like we struggled in the whoops. We had a pretty decent heat race. Going into the main, we definitely didn’t have the start we wanted. It just seemed like I got stuck behind (Weston) Peick. Normally the whoops are my strong point and we were definitely struggling in that part of the track. I’m ready to put this one behind me but I hope everyone who came out from Soaring Eagle had a good time. We have an off weekend coming up so I’m glad to be healthy. I’m going to do some moto testing and come back to Santa Clara strong.”
Tyler Bowers: (4th in 250 main) “It was really good—a lot of improvement. The past weeks I’ve been starting up front and throwing a fade on. Tonight, I think I just loosened up a bit. It’s crazy, some times you go a little bit slower and you go faster. My whole goal last weekend and this weekend just quit putting so much pressure on it. Go out and ride my dirt bike, have some fun, let this Pro Circuit / Kawasaki do all the work and it’s been working. I came out last weekend with a heat race win and it did a lot for the confidence. It let me know that I know what I’m doing again.”
Jake Weimer: (22nd in 450 main) “It’s a bummer, for sure. In the main event, I felt like I was in a pretty good situation to get myself another top 10. It ended up being a little mistake on my part. I came across the track a little bit, got together with Josh Grant and just went down. I hurt my shoulder a little bit and that ended my night. We’ll go back home, make sure everything is good and go from there.”
Gannon Audette: (6th in 250 main) “Yeah, I feel pretty good. That’s actually tying my best. I had a 6th in St. Louis in 2011. But yeah, I feel good. You know, it’s an awesome night. I had good practices and had a good heat race and just tried to cruise forward, just push forward. In the main, I started in 11th, so I just tried to push forward and do better than last week and just try to improve each weekend.”
Cedric Soubeyras: (9th in 250 main) “It was pretty good. From the practice I was feeling alright on my BUD Racing / Kawasaki bike. I expected to be in the top ten from a long time. I went here to be in the top ten. Now I finished 9th. I worked so hard during the final, because I knew I had to keep this position in the top ten and it’s what I got. I even pushed to be maybe 8 or 7 but 9 was pretty good. In the last lap I say, “Okay, if I try for more and I fell off, I would be mad” so 9 is good.”
Justin Bogle: (10th in 450 main) “Practice went well, I was on the board in the first qualifying practice which hadn’t happened yet this year,” said Bogle. “Made it straight out of my heat race. In the main I got a bad start and pretty much just did my best to work through as much as I could during the main. I felt really good this weekend–I believe I’m going to get things figured out soon and be closer to where I should be. Tenth isn’t what I want at all but last weekend I looped out and didn’t finish so there is progress regardless!”
Cody Gilmore: (17th in 450 main) “Oh man, it was awesome. It feels good to be back. I’ve been hurt for the last few seasons. It’s been since 2014 since I’ve been racing Supercross and it look me a me a few weekends to get the hang of it to be honest. I’m still not feeling comfortable yet, but I felt way better tonight. I got some riding in this week, which I haven’t been able to do much. Yeah, dude, it was good—it was tough. I haven’t been training for twenty laps. I’ve just been trying to build my self up for six laps right now, but it’s good just to get back in there. I think once I make one, I can keep the ball rolling and get the hang of it again. Get that fire back.”
RJ Hampshire: (7th in 250 main) “Whoops killed me in practice, was just saving it for the night show. Had a really good jump [off the start] and was up front coming into the first turn, I had the inside and someone came into me which stood me up and shot me right, hit a couple more people and went down. Was back in like twenty first and just put my head down tried to pick off as many as I could. Got sketchy in the whoops numerous times. Seventh is not cutting it. I’ll build during this break and come out for the last five races ready to play.”
Blake Baggett: (19th in 450 main) “I had a solid Main Event going. I got a really good start and drove it down into the first turn and came out pretty good. I didn’t get through the whoops as well as I wanted to on that first lap, so I got shuffled back pretty bad right there. I was working my way forward from there, got into sixth place and then we had the mishap (the flat) and I had to come in to do a pit stop. That set us back for sure, but it’s just one of those things that happen in racing every once in a while and we’ll bounce back. I’m looking forward to getting back on the track in two weeks in Santa Clara.”
