450 podium from 2017 Anaheim 2 SX. All Photos by: Hoppenworld
The 2017 Anaheim 2 Supercross has come and gone, and the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross an FIM World Championship series was completely changed. We saw Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey (450SX) and Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Justin Hill get their first wins of 2017, but we also witnessed a brutal season ending crash from HRC / Honda’s Ken Roczen. Kenny’s crash is a huge blow to Kenny, Honda and the series as a whole. We wish the Champ a speedy recovery, but the show—however changed it is—must go on.
After the main events were in the books, we gathered some post-race quotes at the race and around the world wide web from a number of top riders.
Ken Roczen: (DNF in 450SX) [On his injury] “Dislocated wrist, dislocated elbow and compounded radius. The first 30h absolutely sucked as none of the pain killers worked and it was really swollen. Gonna need few surgeries to get all this dialed. 🔴 I have gotten so many messages and was so pleased to read all of them. I didn’t message back as the circumstances right now are just a bit gnarly and it would probably take me a day to reply lol. Just know i saw them! Love all you! Gonna need a few days for further info.”
Ryan Dungey: (1st in 450SX) “I think my first focus was on if I could get a good gate. Behind the gate and in front of the gate if you weren’t in the top five, there really wasn’t any good ones. I was able to find one right on the inside. It was super tacky. Not very deep, but had a lot of grip and not so rough after the gate. I was able to get off when the gate dropped and I drove really well. I found myself right in the first turn first with Cooper Webb. From there I tried to get the triple out of the rhythm and break away. It was tough. All day I searched a little bit. I will say that. I felt good in the main event, but my second half wasn’t as good as I’d like it. With what happened and seeing Ken’s incident [crash]. I knew the track could reach out and bite you. I had multiple close calls so I was like, “Do we keep going after it or tame it down a little bit?” I decided, “Let’s chill out. We have plenty of room.”
Justin Hill: (1st in 250SX) “I feel good about it after last weekend could have been a win or should have been a win. You always say that later at home watching, “shoulda, coulda.” It was close, so this time I thought, I got to get out front, break away, forget all these guys exist and just ride and ride. My mechanic Shawn is a big inspiration to me as far as saying, “When you’re out front, don’t worry about anybody. Just look at my board, and it’s me and you out there. We’re the only guys on the track, so don’t worry about it.” He gave me the gap times, he comforted me throughout the race, and that’s really all he could do as an extension of me out there. He kept me comfortable with what was going on and kept me informed. That’s all we needed. I was riding good enough. I felt terrible all day, but they helped me with the bike and helped me get going. It was like we were good enough on a day in my opinion was a bad day. Worse day of the season as far as how I felt. My fitness pulled through, because I had a little more time on the bike. Now i’m moving forward to the next round. It was like, we almost did it, we should of done it and we did it big [over the first three races]. Now we can keep plugging, and I think if we get starts like that we’re good. If I can have better days and be somewhere in the top ten off the start, I can win these things.”
Marvin Musquin: (2nd in 450SX) “All I can say is, you gotta do what you can do and make it happen. We had some issues—even Ryan [Dungey] had a crash—and both of us went to the semi final. We still put up a fight in the main event and still proved that we can be on the podium even when going to the semi. It was a good main event. Once again, at the beginning of the race I was not as good as at the end. I tried to stay calm. I was trying a little too hard to keep up with those guys. Roczen went around me and had a big crash. After that I was trying to change my line through that rhythm. It was really rough. Cole [Seely] stalled his bike and gave me second place.”
Austin Forkner: (4th in 250SX) “I was charging pretty hard in the first lap. I was stood up a couple times and then made a mistake in the whoops and went back to fourth. Most of the race all happened in the first couple laps for me. If I was able to get the first few laps clean I would have had a better result. After I started riding smoother, I was able to match the pace of the riders in front of me and I feel really confident moving forward.”
Weston Peick: (5th in 450SX) “This was my best finish so far of the season. My goal this year this year has been to be consistent. I want to show up every weekend and not do anything crazy or out of the ordinary and make mistakes. I’ve been doing what I wanted to do. This weekend was extremely tough on all of out there riding. It was a tough track and with it it being so tight it was hard to ride. It made it interesting for the long race it was. I ended 5th on a tough track with a lot of tough competition.”
Martin Davalos: (5th in 250SX) “A2 was interesting. I feel like I’m trying to chase a setting and I just can’t figure out what it is. I don’t want to push too hard and risk getting hurt. I’m heading back to Florida tomorrow to clear my mind and really get things going.”
Cooper Webb: (4th in 450SX) “Yeah, it was a much better day for me. We made a lot of progress. Everything was good. Practice went really awesome. I qualified third and was on top of the board for a long time so that was cool. My heat race was good. I had a good battle with Eli [Tomac] and qualified right from there. I holeshotted the main, which was pretty bad ass. I ran with those guys for a good eight or so laps. I tightened up pretty bad, but I kind of fought through it. I actually got better once I did. I was stoked to see the progress—huge huge progress really. I’m just glad. I’m starting to feel like myself again. I have a ways to go before I’m really where I want to be, but I understand it takes time. I’m glad the hard work is seeing results.”
Shane McElrath: (3rd in 250SX) “I want to keep giving everything I can to these guys [Justin Hill and Aaron Plessinger] . This track tonight was a tough one to separate yourself from everyone. I didn’t have the best start, so coming from behind kind of had me dealing with what these guys dealt with last weekend. With that, the gates weren’t ideal for anybody I think, but I fought ’til the end and third is what we ended up with. I didn’t hold anything back. Just like the rest of the season, we’re going to be there until, the checkered flag flies.”
Josh Grant: (6th in 450SX) “I’m obviously happy with this race. I had a great start and it felt really good being able to run up front. If I can continue to get out of the gate like that I’ll be able to run up at the front for the whole race. Later in the race the lines developed a bit and that made it hard to make passes. I made a small mistake that cost me some, but overall I’m happy. I will keep pushing to do better and build on this solid result.”
Aaron Plessinger: (2nd in 250SX) “I’m getting better at my starts. I just gotta get used to being up there earlier in the race. I kind of froze up and rode a little tight. We’re working on it and add we’re going to add a some intensity this week. Hopefully we’ll be battling for the win.”
Eli Tomac: (8th in 450SX) “The day started off strong. I was fastest in the afternoon, I qualified for the main out of my heat and was ready to compete. My jump off the line was strong but I was pushed around and had to settle in mid pack. I had a hard time getting my rhythm today. I made a few passes but it wasn’t where we’re supposed to be. I know we should be up front, we will get back to work and keep fighting for the top of the podium.”
Hayden Mellross: (DNS in 250SX) “Each week my heat races have been going really well, and I’m showing these guys that I can run up front. Unfortunately, in the main, we collided and I went down hard on my hand and my bike was pretty bent. The hand is damaged somewhat but Ill be at Phoenix next weekend.”
Christophe Pourcel: (14th in 450SX) “Today was decent. I qualified pretty good – in the top 5. I got a pretty good start in the semi and ended up second. I just kind of did my thing, but I’m riding pretty tight. The track was rough during the main, and we saw some guys crash, so I’m happy I’m healthy.”
Tyler Bowers: (8th in 250SX) “I”m not where I want to be but at least have been building momentum each week. I worked more on sprints this week and it showed in qualifying and my heat. In the main, I was practically by myself for much of the race so I just tried to focus on consistent lap times. 8th is better but know I’ll keep improving.”
Cole Seely: (3rd in 450SX) “My goal after starting the season off the podium was to put in solid rides so I can be in the mix for the point’s standings. It’s always good to walk away with the podium, but we’re right there when it comes to the overall standings. I know I have plenty to work on and I’m looking forward to building off this finish.”
Broc Tickle: (12th in 450SX) “Anaheim was a good weekend. We worked on starts quite a bit during the week so I was confident coming into the race. Practice went well and I put in some good times. I finished sixth in my heat, which was decent for where I started. The semi was stacked so I knew I needed to get out front early. I made a couple passes to get up to second so I felt good. The first corner in the main was pretty tight and everyone was bunched up in the middle. I came out seventh or eighth. I had some problems a few corners later. I cut down on a corner, came in hot on the inside, and someone cut down in front of me. I ended up t-boning them and falling over so I had to come from dead last. I rode back up to 12th and put in some good laps. I had good speed all night so if I could have gotten a decent start that would have helped.”
Jeremy Martin: (10th in 250SX) “A2 started out great with P1 in practice. Got off to a decent start in the in the heat with a third place and felt solid going into the main, but got into a first turn pile up. Had to remount from last to 10th place. Me and my buddy Phil [Nicoletti] keeping finding each other! Looking forward to Phoenix SX to finally better my result!”
Justin Bogle: (DNQ [Crash] in 450SX) “It was a tough night. We ripped the hole shot in our heat but came up short on a jump a couple corners later. I was hoping I’d be ok for the main so we went out in the semi to see where I was physically but there was just no way. I went to the hospital to get checked out and fortunately, there wasn’t anything major. Bruised lungs and some other minor stuff but I’ll be fine. We’re not exactly sure on recovery time yet so we’ll have to wait and see how this week goes before making a decision about Phoenix.”
Jimmy Decotis: (6th in 450SX) “Another weekend in the books. Happy with my riding, not so happy with the result. Started fourth, I slipped back to sixth and stayed there the whole race. Fought as hard as I could but sixth was the best I was going to get tonight. Really happy with the positive feedback from GEICO Honda, though. I’m so blessed to have such a good team behind me. Looking forward to Phoenix and putting the bike on the podium. Everyday is getting better and I’m thankful for everyone helping me chase my goals.”
