Photo by: Octopi
The 2018 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series, kicked off the new season at Angel Stadium for round 1 of the 450SX Championship and the first round of the 250SX Western Regional Championship–the Anaheim 1 SX.
In the 450SX main event, Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac took off early building a gap the field, but one small mental hiccup through a rhythm section threw away 26 points and handed the lion’s share of points to two of his biggest threats in 2018, Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin–who recorded win number one of ’18–and Rockstar Energy / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson. Musquin and Anderson were joined on the 450SX podium by Monster Energy / Knich / Yamaha’s Justin Barcia.
In the battle for the fastest lap in the 450SX class, Eli Tomac (52.575) was on another level. Tomac used his unmatched raw speed to win the lap time battle and help him build a healthy gap early in the race, but Musquin (53.156) eventually won the war with the third fastest lap time and his unwavering consistency. Anderson clocked the third overall fastest lap time (53.340) and the #21’s average lap time (54.184) was literally just a fraction of a tick off of Musquin (54.117) in the battle for fastest average lap time.
The second fastest lap time at round 1 came from the surprise rider of round one, Justin Barcia (53.018). Justin showed speed that we haven’t seen from him since his Rookie 450SX year on the Honda, and he used that speed to record his first podium in as many years. While BamBam’s single lap time had both Anderson and Musquin covered, their race consistency pushed him back to third. Unlike the last few years, though, Barcia regrouped, made a late race run at Anderson and kept Team HRC’s Ken Roczen–who finished 4th and had the 6th fastest lap–behind him.
450SX Main Event Lap Time Graph. Click the riders name in the graph to add and remove them from the graph.
| Top 20 450SX Times | Top 20 250SX Times |
|---|---|
| 1. E. Tomac – 0:52.575 2. J. Barcia – 0:53.018 3. M. Musquin – 0:53.156 4. J. Anderson – 0:53.340 5. W. Peick – 0:53.632 6. K. Roczen – 0:53.676 7. C. Seely – 0:53.758 8. B. Baggett – 0:53.920 9. C. Webb – 0:54.324 10. B. Tickle – 0:54.330 11. J. Martin – 0:54.419 12. J. Brayton – 0:54.489 13. J. Grant – 0:54.599 14. V. Friese – 0:54.994 15. T. Bowers – 0:55.336 16. B. Lamay – 0:55.843 17. A. Ray – 0:55.848 18. D. Tedder – 0:56.053 19. C. Reed – 0:56.067 20. K. Cunningham – 0:56.116 |
1. S. Mcelrath – 0:53.547 2. A. Plessinger – 0:53.681 3. A. Cianciarulo – 0:53.973 4. M. Oldenburg – 0:54.043 5. J. Savatgy – 0:54.100 6. C. Craig – 0:54.478 7. B. Taft – 0:54.506 8. J. Hill – 0:54.599 9. C. Sexton – 0:54.639 10. A. Martin – 0:54.701 11. J. Cooper – 0:54.985 12. K. Chisholm – 0:55.472 13. H. Mellross – 0:55.693 14. J. Hoeft – 0:55.736 15. M. Harrison – 0:55.936 16. D. Alix – 0:56.075 17. R. Breece – 0:56.889 18. J. Ramos – 0:57.097 19. J. Starling – 0:57.113 20. K. Auberson – 0:57.247 |
Full 2018 Anaheim 1 SX results here>>>
In the first 250SX Western Regional Supercross Championship main event of the year, Troy Lee Designs / KTM’s Shane McElrath yanked the start and led every lap of the main. The arguably bigger names in the class like Star Racing / Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger (finished 2nd), Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo (finished 3rd), Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy (finished 4th) and GEICO / Honda’s Christian Craig (finished 5th) could do nothing about the #28’s early race sprint speed and were left racing for second. It was simply a masterclass performance by the #28.
The race for the fastest 250SX lap time of the night was also won by McElrath (53.547). Plessinger (53.681) and Cianciarulo (53.973) were not far off McElrath in lap times, but Shane made a clear point: if you don’t get a start in 2018. Plessinger (54.624) and McElrath’s (54.626) fastest average lap time battle tells the story of how close the top guys are and how important starts will be with the depth of field in 2018. Plessinger had the fastest average lap time of the main, yet still crossed the line 2.5 seconds behind the KTM rider. The third fastest lap (53.973) and the third fastest average lap time (54.678) both were set by the third place finisher, Cianciarulo.
The fourth and fifth fastest single 250SX lap times were clocked by Star Racing / Yamaha’s Mitchel Oldenburg (54.043) and Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy (54.100). Joey had an inspired ride carving his way up from a tenth place start to finish 4th, while Oldenburg rounded the first turn way back around 15th and finished with a very hard-earned 6th. If we learned anything by looking at the 250SX times, we learned that a rider could be battling for 10th one week and possibly winning the next. This one is just getting started and going to be good.
250SX Main Event Lap Time Graph. Click the riders name in the graph to add and remove them from the graph.
Updated 2017 250SX West and 450SX Championship Points>>>
| Top 20 450SX Avg Lap-Times | Top 20 250SX Avg Lap-Times |
|---|---|
| 1. M. Musquin – 0:54.117 2. J. Anderson – 0:54.184 3. J. Barcia – 0:54.415 4. K. Roczen – 0:54.555 5. W. Peick – 0:54.832 6. C. Seely – 0:54.872 7. B. Tickle – 0:55.098 8. J. Brayton – 0:55.182 9. J. Grant – 0:55.242 10. C. Webb – 0:55.376 11. C. Webb – 0:55.376 12. B. Baggett – 0:55.439 13. J. Martin – 0:55.525 14. V. Friese – 0:56.327 15. T. Bowers – 0:56.847 16. C. Reed – 0:57.493 17. K. Cunningham – 0:57.504 18. D. Tedder – 0:57.582 19. B. Lamay – 0:57.641 20. A. Ray – 0:58.072 |
1. A. Plessinger – 0:54.624 2. S. Mcelrath – 0:54.626 3. A. Cianciarulo – 0:54.678 4. J. Savatgy – 0:54.833 5. C. Craig – 0:55.481 6. M. Oldenburg – 0:55.517 7. A. Martin – 0:55.543 8. B. Taft – 0:55.679 9. J. Hill – 0:55.715 10. C. Sexton – 0:56.007 11. J. Cooper – 0:56.243 12. K. Chisholm – 0:56.897 13. D. Alix – 0:57.216 14. H. Mellross – 0:57.249 15. M. Harrison – 0:57.512 16. J. Hoeft – 0:58.239 17. J. Starling – 0:58.923 18. K. Auberson – 0:59.351 19. R. Breece – 1:00.003 20. J. Ramos – 1:00.431 |
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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