Detailed blow by blow race report from AMA SX Rnd 16

2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross

Supercross again reconvened at Salt Lake City overnight for the sixth round of the seven that will be held without spectators inside Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium to close out the COVID-19 affected 17-round 2020 AMA Supercross season.

This round marked the return of the 250 East Championship ahead of the East-West showdown finale this weekend. This was also a match point for Eli Tomac in the premier 450 category as the Kawasaki rider could potentially wrap up the Title here this morning with a round still remaining.

450 Heat One

Martin Davalos took the holeshot in the opening 450 Heat but the 33-year-old Ecuadorian was overhauled after a big mistake two-minutes into the race that relegated him to fifth place. Dean Wilson took the lead and after a slow start Eli Tomac worked his way past Aaron Plessinger and Zach Osborne before challenging Wilson for the win on the final two laps but the Husqvarna man hung on and took the victory.

450 Heat One Results

Dean Wilson – Husqvarna
Eli Tomac – Kawasaki +0.566s
Aaron Plessinger – Yamaha +3.462s
Martin Davalos – KTM +7.783s
Malcolm Stewart – Honda +8.494s
Zach Osborne – Husqvarna +8.826s
Broc Tickle – Suzuki +15.945s
Tyler Bowers – Kawasaki +18.981s
Alex Ray – Kawasaki +19.762s
Fredrik Noren – Suzuki +21.807s

450 Heat Two

Cooper Webb arrived at turn one ahead of the field but it was Ken Roczen that came out the other side in front to take the hole-shot ahead of Jason Anderson. At the end of the first rhythm section though Anderson stuck it up the inside of the the German and pushed him wide, Roczen was almost dead last after watching the entire field stream past him before he could safely re-join the racing line.

Roczen managed to work his way back up to seventh and secure his spot in the Main but Chad Reed just missed the cut and would have to contest the LCQ. The Aussie veteran made it count though and won the LCQ to progress through to his 264th Main.

Jason Anderson victorious in 450 Heat #2

450 Heat Two Results

Jason Anderson – Husqvarna
Cooper Webb – KTM +4.392s
Blake Baggett – KTM +5.703s
Justin Barcia – Yamaha +7.411s
Justin Hill – Honda +10.290s
Benny Bloss – KTM +11.211s
Ken Roczen – Honda +11.802s
Justin Brayton – Honda +17.957s
Vince Friese – Honda +19.619s
Chad Reed – KTM +20.228s

Chad Reed went on to win the LCQ to qualify for his 264th Main.

450 Main

Zach Osborne scored the hole-shot ahead of Justin Brayton and Justin Hill. Championship leader Eli Tomac was right at the back of the field through the first turn but only a few hundred metres later he had already passed ten riders, however the next ten would prove much harder to eclipse.

Ken Roczen started around fifth before working his way past Hill for fourth. Cooper Webb had been running third but four-minutes into the race he slipped past Brayton to demote the Honda rider to third. Quickly thereafter Roczen also slipped past his team-mate and took that third place. Jason Anderson then pushed Brayton further back to fifth.

Five-minutes in and Tomac was now sixth and closing on Brayton for fifth. The reigning Australian Champion offered little resistance to Tomac and the Kawasaki rider pulled away with ease. Another five-minutes in and Tomac was up to fourth after passing Jason Anderson.

At this halfway juncture Osborne was still leading from Webb and Roczen but little separated that trio, in-turn they also did not have much of a buffer over the charging Tomac as with ten-minutes to run he was only 3.5-seconds off the race leader.

Tomac then closed on Roczen and took third place from the German before closing in on Cooper Webb. The KTM man responded though and soon both himself and Tomac had slipped past Osborne, Webb moving through to the lead with a little over three-minutes remaining but was being chased hard by Tomac.

Webb though had his measure and held on to take the victory and deny Tomac the chance to take the crown here today. The Kawasaki rider only requires a couple of points from Sunday’s (Monday for us in Australia) finale to clinch the crown, but until he does Cooper Webb is still in with a chance of successfully defending his #1 plate.

450 Main Video Highlights

Cooper Webb

“We were all really close in speed, not a lot separating. I fixed the whoops about halfway – I think that’s what was holding me back – and I started hitting them really well. It was a tight race between us four and the whole race it seemed like a lot of pressure between us all because we weren’t making many mistakes. I’m sure it was a fun race for the fans to watch and it was a fun race to win, for sure.”

450 SX Main Results

Cooper Webb – KTM
Eli Tomac – Kawasaki +2.214s
Zach Osborne – Husqvarna +5.291s
Ken Roczen – Honda +5.888s
Jason Anderson – Husqvarna +7.744s
Justin Brayton – Honda +21.078s
Malcolm Stewart – Honda +22.491s
Martin Davalos – KTM +24.906s
Justin Barcia – Yamaha +26.242s
Blake Baggett – KTM +27.859s
Benny Bloss – KTM +30.567s
Justin Hill – Honda +46.968s
Dean Wilson – Husqvarna +1 lap
Aaron Plessinger – Yamaha +1 lap
Chad Reed – KTM +1 lap
Broc Tickle – Suzuki +1 lap
Vince Friese – Honda +1 lap
Kyle Cunningham – Suzuki +1 lap
Kyle Chisholm – Yamaha +1 lap
Fredrik Noren – Suzuki +1 lap

450 SX Championship Points

Eli Tomac 366
Cooper Webb 344
Ken Roczen 338
Justin Barcia 269
Jason Anderson 264
Malcolm Stewart 233
Zach Osborne 226
Dean Wilson 218
Justin Brayton 216
Justin Hill 199
Aaron Plessinger 195
Blake Baggett 193
Martin Davalos 172
Vince Friese 147
Adam Cianciarulo 129
Chad Reed 100

250 SX East

The 250 East Championship returned to racing overnight ahead of the East-West showdown finale this weekend and the series is tight at the top with Chase Sexton and Shane McElrath separated by only three-points ahead of this penultimate round.

250 Heat One

Shane McElrath scored the holeshot in the opening Heat and despite the best efforts of Jo Shimoda to break away with him, the 25-year-old had his measure and raced away to a ten-second victory over the Japanese teenager.

250 Heat One Results

Shane McElrath – Yamaha
Jo Shimoda – Honda +9.651s
Jalek Swoll – Husqvarna +14.835s
Lorenzo Locurcio – Kawasaki +20.199s
Darian Sanayei – Kawasaki +28.127s

250 Heat Two

Colt Nichols scored the holeshot while championship leader Chase Sexton was down around fifth place through the opening turns. Ultimately though Sexton worked his way through the pack and chased down Nichols to take the victory.

250 Heat Two Results

Chase Sexton – Honda
Colt Nichols – Yamaha +1.790s
Pierce Brown – KTM +7.987s
Kyle Peters – Honda +18.310s
John Short – Honda +19.676s

250 Main

With only three-points separating Sexton and McElrath this was going to be a very important even for both those men but it was Washington’s Darian Sanayei that scored the holeshot ahead of those championship contenders when the gates dropped for the final stand-alone 250 East round for 2020. Late on the opening lap though McElrath, and then Sexton, blew past Sanayei through a whoops section.

A lap later Sexton made a hard pass on McElrath and the Honda man then went on to stamp his authority, sprinting away from his championship rival to a convincing victory, extending his series lead over Sexton to six-points.