Welcome back to Anaheim, California for the A1 season opener of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. It’s all systems go here in southern California as we gear up for the first gate drop of the new year. Bikes are on track and we’ve got all the action from today.
After two exciting mains its Eli Tomac and Max Anstie starting their seasons with dominant wins in Anaheim.
450 Main Event
A scary start to the 450 main event saw a wild pileup after Justin Barcia landed on Malcolm Stewart off the triple on the opening lap. This forced a red flag and a full restart of the 45o grid.
Heat race winner Jorge Prado fired back on the restart by grabbing the holeshot over his Red Bull KTM teammate Eli Tomac. Tomac quickly passed Prado on the opening lap and put himself up front from the get go. This move put Tomac into the lead on lap one and he never relinquished. Tomac led every lap of the 450 main and starts the season with a big win on the KTM.
Ken Roczen took second at the line. The Progressive Ecstar Suzuki rider started outside the top three but battled early on with Hunter Lawrence to move into a podium position. Roczen continued to push forward in the opening laps and found himself pressuring Jorge Prado for second. The Suzuki rider passed for second and set his sights on Tomac. He’d stay there for the rest of the race, staying within a second of Tomac and yo-yoing back and forth all the way to the line.
Jorge Prado might be the biggest surprise of the night with a third place finish. A holeshot set him up nicely with good track position early on and he only lost two spots when all was said and done. Prado is now reunited with the Red Bull KTM team and put two orange bikes on the podium at round one.
Hunter Lawrence put in a charge to finish fourth. He battled for nearly the entire race with Jason Anderson and the two ended up rounding out the top five after 20 minutes of battling.
450SMX MAIN EVENT RESULTS (Top 10)
| 1. | Eli Tomac | (KTM) | 20 Laps |
| 2. | Ken Roczen | (Suz) | 1.470 |
| 3. | Jorge Prado | KTM | 26.956 |
| 4. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 28.678 |
| 5. | Jason Anderson | (Suz) | 31.935 |
| 6. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 32.484 |
| 7. | Cooper Webb | (Yam) | 34.935 |
| 8. | Chase Sexton | (Kaw) | 45.249 |
| 9. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Duc) | 49.616 |
| 10. | Aaron Plessinger | (KTM) | 57.541 |
250 Main Event
The first 250SMX main event of the year kicked off with an exciting start as Ryder Difrancesco grabbed the holeshot over the rest of the competition. Two favorites, Haiden Deegan found himself well outside the top 10 while Levi Kitchen ended up on the ground in dead last.
Difrancesco lead the opening half of the 250 main and looked comfortable on his new Husqvarna. While up front, Max Anstie continued to close in and shortened the gap to the lead. Anstie eventually made his move around Ryder D and took off with the top spot. Anstie used a tricky triple line in the first rhythm to extend his gap over the rest of the field and took the win by more than six seconds. He’s now the oldest rider to ever win a 250 class main event.
Chance Hymas put his name in the running as he overtook Difrancesco late in the race, dropping the early leader back to third when the checkers flew. Hymas now starts his season second in points.
Haiden Deegan charged all the way to fourth after a poor start. He nearly caught Difrancesco in the final laps but finished off the box. Deegan’s teammate Michael Mosiman rounded out the top five after qualifying through the LCQ.
250SMX MAIN EVENT RESULTS (Top 10)
| 1. | Max Anstie | (Yam) | 15 Laps |
| 2. | Chance Hymas | (Hon) | 6.733 |
| 3. | Ryder Difrancesco | (Hus) | 9.058 |
| 4. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 9.814 |
| 5. | Michael Mosiman | (Yam) | 16.482 |
| 6. | Levi Kitchen | (Kaw) | 20.698 |
| 7. | Max Vohland | (Yam) | 28.270 |
| 8. | Hunter Yoder | (Yam) | 34.551 |
| 9. | Avery Long | (KTM) | 42.284 |
| 10. | Dilan Schwartz | (Yam) | 46.848 |
QUALIFYING
Chase Sexton jumped up a spot and put his Kawasaki on pole position in the second qualifying session. The newest member of the Monster Energy Kawasaki team looked right at home on his green machine, going half a second faster than Eli Tomac. Tomac put in the best time during session one but couldn’t beat Sexton’s best time in the final qualifier. Both riders who changed teams sit atop the leaderboard. Ken Roczen maintained his spot in third overall with Malcolm Stewart and Jason Anderson rounding out the top five.
450SMX OVERALL QUALIFYING RESULTS (Top 10)
| 1. | Chase Sexton | (Kaw) | 1:04.466 |
| 2. | Eli Tomac | (KTM) | 1:05.049 |
| 3. | Ken Roczen | (Suz) | 1:05.488 |
| 4. | Malcolm Stewart | (Hus) | 1:05.679 |
| 5. | Jason Anderson | (Suz) | 1:05.717 |
| 6. | Jorge Prado | (KTM) | 1:05.758 |
| 7. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 1:05.904 |
| 8. | Cooper Webb | (Yam) | 1:05.919 |
| 9. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 1:06.120 |
| 10. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Duc) | 1:06.374 |
250SMX WEST
Levi Kitchen is getting his season started right as he held the top spot once again in the second timed qualifier. The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider topped the time sheets in Q2 with his time from the first session being 0.001 seconds better. Deegan still held onto second overall, one tenth back, with Chance Hymas closely behind in third. The top three riders were still the only ones to clock a time on the 1:06 second mark.
250SMX OVERALL QUALIFYING RESULTS (Top 10)
| 1. | Levi Kitchen | (Kaw) | 1:06.218 |
| 2. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 1:06.321 |
| 3. | Chance Hymas | (Hon) | 1:06.885 |
| 4. | Ryder Difrancesco | (Hus) | 1:07.311 |
| 5. | Michael Mosiman | (Yam) | 1:07.225 |
| 6. | Max Vohland | (Yam) | 1:07.426 |
| 7. | Max Anstie | (Yam) | 1:07.589 |
| 8. | Robbie Wageman | (Yam) | 1:07.910 |
| 9. | Dillan Schwartz | (Yam) | 1:07.930 |
| 10. | Cameron McAdoo | (Kaw) | 1:07.982 |
Qualifying Session 1
With the elimination of free practice, racers go straight into two timed qualifying sessions. Eli Tomac turned up the heat in session one and posted the fastest time of anyone on track. No doubt he’s feeling comfortable on the new KTM 450 SX-F. Chase Sexton jumped up to second late in the session, putting his new Kawasaki into a strong qualifying position. Ken Roczen grabbed third, just 0.4 seconds behind Tomac.
450SMX Q1 QUALIFYING RESULTS (Top 10)
| 1. | Eli Tomac | (KTM) | 1:05.049 |
| 2. | Chase Sexton | (Kaw) | 1:05.083 |
| 3. | Ken Roczen | (Suz) | 1:05.472 |
| 4. | Jorge Prado | (KTM) | 1:05.757 |
| 5. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 1:05.903 |
| 6. | Cooper Webb | (Yam) | 1:05.926 |
| 7. | Malcolm Stewart | (Hus) | 1:06.147 |
| 8. | Jason Anderson | (Suz) | 1:06.216 |
| 9. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 1:06.337 |
| 10. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Duc) | 1:06.928 |
250SMX
Levi Kitchen started off the day with the fastest qualifying time in the 250SMX West class. Haiden Deegan and Chance Hymas held on for second and third, being the only other riders in the 1:06 second range.
250SMX Q1 QUALIFYING RESULTS (Top 10)
| 1. | Levi Kitchen | (Kaw) | 1:06.217 |
| 2. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 1:06.321 |
| 3. | Chance Hymas | (Hon) | 1:06.884 |
| 4. | Ryder Difrancesco | (Hus) | 1:07.311 |
| 5. | Max Vohland | (Yam) | 1:07.426 |
| 6. | Max Anstie | (Yam) | 1:07.588 |
| 7. | Michael Mosiman | (Yam) | 1:08.153 |
| 8. | Carson Mumford | (KTM) | 1:08.234 |
| 9. | Cameron McAdoo | (Kaw) | 1:09.007 |
| 10. | Lux Turner | (Yam) | 1:09.187 |
Press Day Video
