Cycle News Staff | March 24, 2019
It’s almost rare nowadays that a race in the Pacific Northwest, in Spring, isn’t under water, but the 2019 Seattle Supercross saw a dry race, one of the longest, most challenging whoop sections of the year, and a major mistake by Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin that resulted in a 7-point penalty. Honda’s Ken Roczen should’ve been credited with the win, but race officials decided that instead of taking away two positions from Musquin, plus an additional two points, they’d take away the 7 points he would’ve lost by being docked the positions and points, force him to forfeit his winner’s purse, but still credit him with the race win, after Musquin jumped on a red-cross-flag section during the early laps of the main event in Seattle.
Seattle Supercross 450SX Video Highlights
Seattle Supercross 250SX West Video Highlights
Controversy Takes Over At Seattle Supercross 2019
Points leader Cooper Webb, Musquin’s teammate, struggled all day in Seattle in the long whoop section, qualifying 11th, but then went out and won his heat race before a mediocre main-event start left him scrambling in the middle of the pack. Still, while Webb didn’t have what it took to win the main event in Seattle, he was able to recover for fourth place. Musquin’s penalty for jumping through the red-cross flags left him tied in points on the day with Webb. The teammates leave Seattle—a race where Webb had one of his worst outings of recent weeks—exactly as they came in, 14 points apart. Musquin’s seemingly small mental error will very likely have massive championship implications as the Frenchman seems to have failed to capitalize on a rare off-night for his young teammate.
Ken Roczen So Close Again At Seattle Supercross
For Roczen, what he’s done in returning from his two massive hand/wrist injuries from 2017 and 2018 is already the stuff of legend, but the second-place finish still leaves him short of his ultimate goal of returning to the very top.
In Seattle, Roczen was followed home by Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac in third. Webb was fourth and Tomac’s teammate Joey Savatgy was fifth, just holding off fast qualifier Dean Wilson.
Eli Tomac Back On The Box At Seattle SX
JGR/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Chad Reed went down hard just past the first rhythm section in the main event and was landed on. He didn’t even attempt to get up and seemed to be motioning to his right arm, which he kept immobile as he sat on the side of the track. It’s actually this incident that caused the red-cross flags that will likely end up costing Musquin the race. Motoconcepts/Smartop/Bullfrog Spas Honda’s Justin Brayton was also involved in the Reed incident and both scored DNFs. Monster Energy Yamaha’s fill-in rider Josh Grant showed he still has some learning to do with his new YZ450F mount (he’s signed up with the team to fill in for Aaron Plessinger for the rest of the supercross series), as he had some issues in his heat race that landed him in 10th at the finish, and then in the LCQ he ended up with an awkward stall in the whoops, and then a fall in the same section, which ultimately cost him a trip to the Seattle Supercross main event.
Ferrandis Wins Seattle 250SX West Supercross
In the 250cc class, Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis was once again the fastest qualifier, but in the main event, it was his teammate and former points leader Colt Nichols who took the early lead before he went down hard at the end of a rhythm section and ended the race with a DNF. Ferrandis witnessed the crash and was initially shaken by it, but he made a pass on JGR/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Jimmy Decotis for the lead and managed to hold off Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s points leader Adam Cianciarulo to take his first-ever AMA Supercross win after four second-place finishes just this year alone.
Cianciarulo hung on for second with quite a gap back to third, which went to Decotis for the second time this year. Behind him came Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Michael Mosiman and Gas Monkey Energy/AJE Motorsports Husqvarna’s Chris Blose, who qualified third during the day and grabbed a top-five in the main event.
Cianciarulo Runner-up In Seattle
GEICO Honda’s RJ Hampshire came from last place in the main event to finish a remarkable sixth, just behind Blose.
Cianciarulo now leads Ferrandis by just 12 points as the west-coast series heads to its final three rounds. Both championships now heads to Houston, Texas, this coming Saturday night for round 12 of the championship, which will mark the third and final Triple Crown event of the year inside NRG Stadium.
Seattle Supercross 450 Results 2019
Seattle Supercross 250 Results 2019
Seattle Supercross 450 Points 2019
Seattle Supercross 250 Points 2019
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Seattle Supercross Qualifying 2019
The rain has held off in Seattle’s Qwest Field and Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis topped qualifying for the fifth time this year. Ferrandis is second in points and points leader Adam Cianciarulo, of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team, qualified second despite a pretty decent get-off in the whoops in practice.
In the 450cc class, we had a first-time top qualifier today in Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Dean Wilson, who topped last week’s race winner Marvin Musquin (Red Bull KTM), Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac, and Honda’s Ken Roczen. Points leader Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) qualified a lackluster 11th.
And after just a couple days of testing, Josh Grant has signed on with the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing team to fill in for injured Aaron Plessinger for the remainder of the 2019 Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Series. Grant qualified 15th.
We’ll be back with results at the end of the night.