Photo by: Octopi
The 2020 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship series went to Salt Lake City, Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium once again on Wednesday for round number 12. In the 450SX class, Cooper Webb (1st), Eli Tomac (2nd) and Zach Osborne (3rd) grabbed the three spots on the podium, while Shane McElrath (1st), Colt Nichols (2nd) and Jeremy Martin (3rd) took the top three spots in the 250SX East main event.
For the 450’s, Tomac will now head into round 13 on Sunday night with a 13-point lead over Roczen, with McElrath using his second-straight win to pull into a tie atop the points with Chase Sexton—who crashed and finished 4th on Wednsdaynight—in the chase for the 250SX East Championship.
After the racing was over, we gathered quotes from many of the top riders in Salt Lake City.
Cooper Webb: (1st in 450SX) “It was a great night overall, to get a second off the start. Zach was really riding well there at the beginning. I was trying to put in just some good, good laps, and I could see Eli was kinda coming to catch us. At the end I knew I needed to get around him and try to break away. And yeah, it was a tough race, track conditions were definitely tricky. You had to be patient out there. The whoops were tough; I just committed to my line from the beginning and it played out pretty well, so it was a great, great night. To get a win, it’s awesome. These are not easily gained, especially with the top guys up here tonight. So, I want just soak it in.”
Shane McElrath: (1st in 250SX) “Man it was a great day for the team! It was a tough race. The track crew built a technical track and it was physically demanding, but I’m super excited and thankful to do my best out there and tonight that was the top step. It’s cool to get back-to-back wins and I’m really excited about it, but right now my focus is on Sunday.”
Eli Tomac: (2nd in 450SX) “Salt Lake round two for us, good night on points for us, obviously not the win, really happy with my riding and how I feel right now, considering the time off and just happy how the whole day really went. I did all I could there, just was a little too far back on the start. Coop got us a bit and had to chop up the inside. Had to work for it and really grind there. Zach was riding good tonight it was really key to get to Cooper’s rear tyre. Did everything I could, was riding, felt good the whole time. Made one mistake at the end, I felt that cost me really throwing the wheel in on Cooper somewhere. The long whoop section, some were jumping but I scooped it. The track is a little bit moister than Sunday, but still slick. A little recovery tomorrow and see how the body feels and ready to go again on Sunday.”
Zach Osborne: (3rd in 450SX) “My Main Event ride was really good – I maybe let a win slip away but in the end it’s a good building block. I felt good all day, the team vibe was unreal and we had a really good, fun time today. To get all three of the bikes inside the top six was incredible. I’m really proud of what I accomplished and what the team accomplished tonight.”
Colt Nichols: (2nd in 250SX) “It was a really great night for the team, exactly what we needed to do. I wish I could’ve held the lead a little longer, but it was awesome to lead laps and be back on the podium after such a long break from racing. I had a blast during the night program. It felt like another day at the test track with Shane in that Main Event. So that made it really fun. I’m ready to go again Sunday.”
Jason Anderson: (4th in 450SX) “My day was not bad. I ended up second in practice and in the heat race I had a decent little battle and ended up third. In the Main Event, I got a good start and got tangled in the first corner. I came up to third for a minute and then fell back to fourth and just kind of rode around in fourth.”
Ken Roczen: (5th in 450SX) “I’m feeling good on the bike and had a good heat race, but obviously I’m having issues that prevent me from keeping it going. I’m trying to figure it out and do my best to come back stronger. This thing isn’t over yet, but obviously fifth place is not where we want to be. The main goal is to try to be better, and especially get a better start; I took a chance going to the very inside on the start gate and that didn’t work out. I’m going to rest and recover, and I look forward to trying our best in the next race.”
Adam Cianciarulo (DNQ Injured) “Unfortunately, I had to make the tough decision of sitting this one out. I tried to ride the first couple practices but it’s just not in the cards for me today. It’s very frustrating and if I could ride I would. I’ve got to make the smart call now to rest and be ready for next Sunday because we have a lot of good times ahead.”
Garrett Marchbanks: (5th in 250SX) “The day started off not too bad, we made a couple of changes to the bike between the qualifying sessions and finally found a pretty good set up by the end of it. I had some difficulties getting through the pack off the start, but I did my best to make up those positions so I’m happy I managed to get up to fifth to finish.”
Dean Wilson: (6th in 450SX) “Everything felt so much better today. I was in a really good mood all day, everyone on the team was just in a good vibe and the bike was awesome. Qualifying went really good and I felt like I was riding really well all day. It was a demanding race and the elevation was definitely hitting me but I finished off with a sixth. I’m happy with that, it was a good fight.”
Malcolm Stewart: (7th in 450SX) “I got my first 450 heat race win last night and that felt good! In the main I got tangled up with another rider and went down, unfortunately. Went from dead last to 7th and the whoops played in my favor last night. Looking forward to Sunday! Btw I think my dad had a bigger fist pump than me
Jalek Swoll: (7th in 250SX) “I thought I turned the day around compared to how we started. I ran up there in fourth or fifth for a while and the rhythm took me out of the race a little bit but I feel good and I’m riding good so I’m just going to keep trekking through the next few races.”
Justin Barcia: (8th in 450SX) “We definitely had better track conditions today, the traction was much better, but the whoops were very difficult. We made changes throughout the day searching for that happy setting. I got off to a pretty good start in the Main Event and was running well, but unfortunately got to the whoops and just couldn’t get through them all night. I’m proud of the team for making great changes today and it was a lot of hard work on everyone’s part. We’re just going to keep working and won’t be happy until we’re up front.”
Chris Blose: (9th in 250SX) Salt Lake City 2 was better at 9th. Did I get tired? Absolutely. There’s no denying it, but I knew not racing at that intensity for that period of time since January that it was going to happen and be a struggle at first. No excuses though, the bike was great. I gave it my all and that’s all I can do.
Justin Brayton: (9th in 450SX) “So another ninth place, but it was a totally different type of ninth place than on Sunday, when I started second and kind of made some mistakes and went back. This time I got a really bad start and just got pinched off. I was in the second gate from the inside, which was kind of a gamble, but I chose it and it kind of bit me. I think I might’ve been last around the first turn and came back to ninth, so I felt good about the ride. I had really good lap times, especially the last 10 to 15 laps, so I just need to get a better start and I think we’ll be good to go here in four days.”
Aaron Plessinger: (12th in 450SX) “I struggled a lot throughout the day with setup. I didn’t qualify too well in the first session, I was just sliding around a lot and not really hitting the whoops like I wanted to. We got better in the second qualifying. I felt a lot better in that one and was flowing a little bit, but in the Heat race I got off to a bad start and fought my way to eighth. In the Main Event, I got an even worse start. I was messing around with some dudes in the back and couldn’t really get going until the halfway mark and worked my way up to 12th from 18th. It’s not where we want to be. We’re going to have to make some adjustments and get better starts and finish where we need to. I’ve got a good feeling about these next two rounds. I’m looking forward to it.”
Chad Reed: (17th in 450SX) “Irony of racing on Hump day and I wasn’t comfortable in the whoops which is my favorite part of the track. On a positive note we looked good and we finished! The good part about this quick racing schedule is we get to have another go in 4 days.”
