Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen grabbed his third straight Monster Energy Supercross win in a nail biter as Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb pushed closer in the final laps but had to settle for second. Marvin Musquin grabbed the final spot on the podium with a hard charge and a little luck.
The action was also wildly exciting in the Eastern Regional 250SX Class everywhere on the track except inside the helmet of Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Christian Craig who made his second win of the season look effortless.
250SX: what went down…
HRC Honda’s 250 star Jett Lawrence has literally sprang back after his double crash woes on Tuesday evening, and surprisingly didn’t look too stiff on the bike at all. After putting a solid qualifying in earlier in the night, Lawrence went on to win the first 250SX heat race of the evening.
Heat two is where it got really fun between the Monster Energy Star Yamaha team mates of Colt Nichols and Christian Craig, with Nichols taking the top spot in qualifying and looking like his usual confident and comfortable self aboard his YZ250F, and a hungry Craig giving him a run for his money in the final few laps.
Colt Nichols holeshotted the 250 main, but due to a small mistake he went down hard after cross rutting a jump which put him dead last, leaving the door wide open for Craig, Oldenburg and Shimoda to fly through. As Nichols worked his way through the pack, Jett Lawrence has a rough start in ninth place. Meanwhile Shimoda put pressure on Mitchell Oldenburg, which gives him a great fourth place finish after a DNF at the previous Indianapolis round.
The battle continued between Lawrence and Nichols with the Monster Energy Star Yamaha pushing so hard to make his way back through the pack, but Jett didn’t make it easy riding defensively to keep Nichols at bay. Whilst the leaders get the last lap flag over the finish jump, Jett almost goes over the bars of his HRC Honda but manages to stay put and continue following Oldenburg through for a 5th place finish. Christian Craig then takes the win, with Jo Shimoda in second, and Colt Nichols finishing third.
Check out the Nichols/Craig battle below from heat two:
450SX: Friese in the way again…
Eli Tomac looked stronger this evening at the final of the Indianapolis Supercross rounds, with him staying hot on the tail of the HRC Honda rider Ken Roczen. Unsurprisingly the German rider got a good start out of the gate in heat one, and made the race win look effortless.
Justin Brayton on the other hand made a slight mistake in heat one, going down and sacrificing his position which left him down in the 450 LCQ, which quite rightly he won. Meanwhile Joey Savatgy, Broc Tickle and Carlen Gardner had a great battle for a top ten finish further down the pack.
Justin Bogle hole shots the 450SX heat two, but slowly drops back as the stronger riders start working through the pack. An injured Jason Anderson finishes a strong third just behind the Red Bull KTM of Cooper Webb. Marvin Musquin had to muscle his way through to the front spot, and we all know his track record at Indianapolis is decent, So moving up to take the lead a few laps in seemed natural. Until yet again, he got tangled up in those Tuff blocks in the whoops section. This then allows Barcia to check out completely and take the win.
Justin Barcia and Ken Roczen flew side by side into the first corner together at this evening’s 450SX main event, starting on what continued to be a typical BamBam style battle. Only after a couple of laps in Barcia slammed Roczen super hard and but both riders managed to stay on and Roczen continued to move forward for his third win in a row.
Tomac rode like his usual self sitting behind Cooper waiting for the opportunity to pass at the last minute, but somehow ended up finishing down in seventh, just behind Anderson, and Tomac’s Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate Adam Cianciarulo. Meanwhile the battle for sixth place continues between Malcolm Stewart and Marvin Musquin which in the end placed Musquin third and Stewart just missing out on a podium in fourth place.
As Barcia and Tomac continue to battle and dodge between the back markers, Barcia had a huge huge off after getting tangled up with Vince Friese, as it looked Friese just jumped across the front of him which left Barcia with nowhere to go, which resulted in the Troy-Lee Gas Gas rider only just being able to remount and finish 19th. Tomac also followed ploughing into Barcia, luckily he was able to remount his and continue with one lap to go. Your top three for the 450 main consists of Roczen, Webb and Musquin.
Check it out the Barcia/Friese moment below:
