Eli Tomac (#3) was the fastest again and got another win, but Jeremy Martin (#6) almost stole the show. Photos by: Chase Yocom
The 2017 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, went to the famed Daytona International Speedway for round ten of the 450SX Championship and the fourth round of the 250SX Eastern Regional Championship.
In the 450SX main event, Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac passed the surprise of the year, HRC / Honda’s Jeremy Martin, for the lead on lap 12 and ran away for his fifth win of 2017. Behind Tomac, Martin held on for a second place finish in his 450SX debut with Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson finishing third and Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey coming from nearly dead last to salvage fourth place championship points. If Ryan wins this title, Daytona will be remembered as possibly the best ride of the #1’s season.
In the battle for the fastest 450SX lap times of the night, Eli Tomac (1:11.671) continued his dominance in that category, but Jeremy Martin (1:11.736) gave the #3 a run for his money and raised his future stock ten fold in the process. Yes, Jeremy got a holeshot on a very one-lined track, but the numbers tell the story.
Eli and Jeremy were just a tick off of each other’s times and quite a few tenths ahead of Anderson (1:12.413) who clocked the third fastest lap time on the night. Not only was J-Mart the second fastest rider in the main, he was also the second fastest qualifier—behind Red Bull / KTM’s Ryan Dungey—and had the second fastest overall average lap time (1:14.518) behind Tomac (1:13.564). The #6 did not luck into anything; he was straight up fast on the big 450.
The fourth and fifth fastest laps of the Daytona SX were laid down by Monster Energy / Yamaha’s Chad Reed (1:13.455) and the champ, Ryan Dungey (1:13.620). Ryan was the fastest qualifier earlier in the day with a the only sub-1:11 lap time, but he was 17th after lap one of the main event, and clean laps were few and far between for the red plate holder. Reedy started in fourth, but he lost sight of the #3 and the #6 and finished sixth on the night.
When you look at the fourth and fifth fastest laps of the night, you have to be even more astonished by Tomac’s speed, consistency and fitness on a very deteriorated Daytona circuit. Tomac’s average lap time over twenty laps was the same as Reedy’s and Dungey’s fastest lap.
450SX Main Event Lap Time Graph. Click the riders name in the graph to add and remove them from the graph.
| Top 10 450SX Times | Top 10 250SX Times |
|---|---|
| 1. E. Tomac – 1:11.671 2. J. Martin – 1:11.736 3. J. Anderson – 1:12.413 4. C. Reed – 1:13.455 5. R. Dungey – 1:13.620 6. B. Baggett – 1:13.692 7. C. Seely – 1:13.709 8. M. Musquin – 1:13.787 9. J. Grant – 1:14.007 10. J. Brayton – 1:14.085 |
1. A. Cianciarulo – 1:13.655 2. Z. Osborne – 1:13.788 3. D. Ferrandis – 1:13.849 4. J. Savatgy – 1:13.991 5. A. Martin – 1:14.160 6. J. Smith – 1:14.241 7. L. Locurcio – 1:14.605 8. K. Cunningham – 1:15.283 9. M. Harrison – 1:15.352 10. L. Renzland – 1:16.180 |
Full 2017 Daytona SX results here>>>
In the fourth 250SX Eastern Regional Supercross Championship main event of the year, the Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s of Adam Cianciarulo and Joey Savatgy lined up next to each other on the gate, got out front together off the start and were not ever to be seen again by anyone else in the class.
Savatgy got to the front first, but Adam squared him up, took the lead and mentally decided it was his time. With Adam setting the pace, the two checked out by more than fifteen seconds with Cianciarulo scoring his first win since 2014 and Savatgy grabbing his second podium of 2017. Finishing behind the two Kawasakis was the newest French import, Star Racing / Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis with the first podium of his young career.
The race for fastest 250SX lap in Daytona was also won by Cianciarulo, but unlike the main event, there were three riders very close. Cianciarulo (1:13.655), Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne (1:13.788), Ferrandis (1:13.849) and Savatgy (1:13.991) were all just a few tenths off of one another, but Cianciarulo and Savatgy had the start. As for the championship points leader, Osborne, he started fourth, passed up to third, crashed back to eighth and finished fifth. With Cianciarulo and Savatgy going 1-2, Osborne left Daytona with a six-point lead over Savatgy, nine points over Cianciarulo and 17 points over Troy Lee Designs / KTM’s Jordon Smith—who finished fourth in Daytona.
The fifth and sixth fastest laps of the night went to the Troy Lee Designs / KTM riders, Alex Martin (1:14.160) and Smith (1:14.241). Martin was loving the Daytona sand early on in the day when he qualified for the night show on pole for the first time in his career and won his first ever heat race, but starts and mistakes were once again his Achilles’ heel in the main event. He started eighth, passed up to sixth, crashed back to eighth and finished there. Smith started 11th and continued his surprising season with another solid fourth place finish on the night. Smith is no doubt my surprise of the 250SX East so far.
250SX Main Event Lap Time Graph. Click the riders name in the graph to add and remove them from the graph.
You can check out the top ten average 250 and 450 times from the 2017 Daytona SX below. Scroll down to see how the main events broke down lap-for-lap with MotoXAddicts’ lap-time comparison charts. Also, see how the top 3 250SX riders matched up against the top 3 450SX finishers lap-for-lap.
Updated 2017 250SX West and 450SX Championship Points>>>
| Top 10 450SX Avg Lap-Times | Top 10 250SX Avg Lap-Times |
|---|---|
| 1. E. Tomac – 1:13.564 2. J. Martin – 1:14.518 3. J. Anderson – 1:14.685 4. R. Dungey – 1:14.947 5. C. Seely – 1:15.202 6. B. Baggett – 1:15.253 7. C. Reed – 1:15.697 8. J. Grant – 1:16.204 9. M. Alessi – 1:16.448 10. J. Barcia – 1:16.518 |
1. A. Cianciarulo – 1:14.439 2. J. Savatgy – 1:14.683 3. J. Smith – 1:15.287 4. D. Ferrandis – 1:15.289 5. Z. Osborne – 1:15.595 6. L. Locurcio – 1:16.505 7. K. Cunningham – 1:16.681 8. A. Martin – 1:16.943 9. L. Renzland – 1:17.821 10. C. Craig – 1:18.419 |
250SX vs 450SX Main Event Lap Time Graph. Click the riders name in the graph to add and remove them from the graph.
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