AMA Supercross action from Anaheim 1
By Steve Cox on 7th Jan 15
The Anaheim Supercross the opening round of the annual Monster Energy/AMA SX series is the most anticipated race of the year.There are new riders on new bikes and new teams and its the first time in any racing season that we get to see how everyone is going to stack up.
In the 450cc class, the most notable change was that Ken Roczen joined the RCH Suzuki team in the off-season. Also, 2014 250cc West SX champ Jason Anderson was making his second-career 450 start for the Rockstar Husqvarna team, as was Davi Millsaps for the Monster Energy Kawasaki team and Cole Seely was making his full-time 450cc debut for the factory Honda squad alongside Trey Canard.
In the 250cc class the Lucas Oil/TLD Honda team is now the Lucas Oil/TLD KTM team and is running factory KTM equipment, the GEICO Honda team hired Malcolm Stewart for supercross only and the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team came into the event with AX champ Tyler Bowers and rookie Chris Alldredge.
Red Bull KTM got their season started with Justin Hill, the Star Yamaha team brought rookie Aaron Plessinger to his first-ever supercross event and the Rockstar KTM team from last year is now the aforementioned Rockstar Husqvarna team (featuring two former GEICO Honda racers in Zach Osborne and Zach Bell on the West Coast).
TLD/Lucas Oil KTM's Jessy Nelson got quicker as the day went on in Anaheim. He started out with the fifth-fastest time in qualifying and was closing on Tyler Bowers in the second heat when he ran out of time. Still, Nelson put in the only lap time of either heat race in the 55s with a 55.861 – nearly a full second faster than anyone else in the class.
In the Main Event, Nelson guaranteed his success by grabbing the early lead and just taking off. Once again, Nelson's first two timed laps were sub-56 – a 55.857 on lap two and a 55.835 on lap three – while no-one else in the field was able to get below the 56 mark.
While chasing Nelson early in the Main, Rockstar Husqvarna's Osborne managed a 56.124 but behind the front two Monster Energy's Josh Hansen was holding up some faster racers in third place, allowing the top two to build a comfortable cushion.
Hansen finally dropped a spot on lap five when Red Bull KTM's Justin Hill went sailing by and then Bowers relegated Hansen back another spot two laps later. Bowers then set out after Hill and snatched that spot away with an aggressive block pass with five laps still to run in the 15-lap race.
AMA & WORLD SUPERCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP Rd 1 – Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California, USA
SX450cc CLASS: 1 Ken Roczen (D - Suz), 2 Jason Anderson (Hus), 3 Trey Canard (Hon), 4 Ryan Dungey (KTM), 5 Andrew Short (KTM), 6 Justin Barcia (Yam), 7 Weston Peick (Yam), 8 Broc Tickle (Suz), 9 Mike Alessi (Suz), 10 Chad Reed (AUS - Kaw), 11 Jacob Weimer (Kaw), 12 Blake Baggett (Suz), 13 Justin Brayton (KTM), 14 Cole Seely (Hon), 15 Dean WILSON (GB - KTM), 16 Joshua Hill (Yam), 17 Brett Metcalfe (AUS - Suz), 18 Joshua Grant (Kaw), 19 David Millsaps (Kaw), 20 Eli Tomac (Hon), 21 Kyle Partridge (Hon), 22 Tevin Tapia (Suz).
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 17) rounds: 1 Roczen 25 points, 2 Anderson 22, 3 Canard 20, 4 Dungey 18, 5 Short 16, 6 Barcia 15, 7 Peick 14, 8 Tickle 13, 9 Alessi 12, 10 Reed 11, 11 Weimer 10, 12 Baggett 9, 13 Brayton 8, 14 Seely 7, 15 WILSON 6, 16 Hill 5, 17 Metcalfe 4, 18 Grant 3, 19 Millsaps 2, 20 Tomac 1,...
SX 250cc (West): 1 Jessy Nelson (KTM), 2 Zach Osborne (Hus), 3 Tyler Bowers (Kaw), 4 Justin Hill (KTM), 5 Aaron Plessinger (Yam), 6 Shane Mcelrath (KTM), 7 Cooper Webb (Yam), 8 Alex Martin (Yam), 9 Joshua Hansen (Kaw), 10 Michael Leib (Hon), 11 Zachary Bell (Hus), 12 Scott Champion (Yam), 13 Matthew Bisceglia (Hon), 14 Thomas Hahn (Hon), 15 Trevor Reis (Yam), 16 Nico Izzi (Yam), 17 Austin Politelli (Yam), 18 Ryan Breece (Yam), 19 Zackery Freeberg (Yam), 20 Cole Martinez (Yam), 21 Darryn Durham (KTM), 22 Malcolm Stewart (Hon).
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 (of 9) rounds: 1 Nelson 25 points, 2 Osborne 22, 3 Bowers 20, 4 Hill 18, 5 Plessinger 16, 6 Mcelrath 15, 7 Webb 14, 8 Martin 13, 9 Hansen 12, 10 Leib 11, 11 Bell 10, 12 Champion 9, 13 Bisceglia 8, 14 Hahn 7, 15 Reis 6, 16 Izzi 5, 17 Politelli 4, 18 Breece 3, 19 Freeberg 2, 20 Martinez 1,...
NEXT ROUND: January 10 – Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX JANUARY 8 (ISSUE 1953)
