Oakland Race Day Feed

US Supercross 2016

maddix park mx

www.racerxonline.com

Morning Report

Plenty to talk about this morning, first and foremost being the weather. It’s nice and sunny and the weather forecast isn’t calling for any rain, but plenty of it fell during the week, including last night. There was a fair amount of standing water when the track crew pulled the plastic off the track this morning, but don’t expect that to carry through to the night show—The Dirt Wurx crew are masters when it comes to getting a wet track in shape. Still, there was enough moisture out there to prompt the decision to revise the schedule and eliminate untimed practices, which means riders will jump straight into qualifying this afternoon.

On the injury front we’ve got James Stewart and Blake Baggett coming back to racing while Dean Wilson will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair knee damage suffered last weekend. Bummer for Wilson and  a bummer for the series. Elsewhere, Trey Canard is scheduled to race today after cutting his hand last week in Anaheim. The cut required stitches, which were originally scheduled to come out either last night or this morning. Well, they're still in at the moment, and we were told by the team this morning he's going to have them looked at and may just leave them in. 

The track itself is interesting. The start stretch looks a little shorter than normal, and there’s a small berm built up the guys will be able to use to get through the first turn. But when they complete a lap and come back around, that berm becomes a single. It’s curved, so guys on the inside will hit it at a different time than guys on the outside. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens here once qualifying starts. There are multiple rhythm lanes, none of them especially long, and a pair of whoop sections. One of them immediately follows a steep jump, and neither one looks very big, although it’s hard to tell from the press box. We’ll get a better idea of how the track is after track walk, which is scheduled to start at 12:15. The dirt here is softer and sandier than what the guys have seen so far, and with the added moisture, it’s bound to break down and get pretty rutty and technical during the mains. We’ll see if that helps or hinders Ryan Dungey in his quest to extend his thirteen-point lead over Chad Reed.

250 Main

What a race! This one was just as exciting as last week’s 250 main, but for totally different reasons. Christian Craig got the holeshot with Cooper Webb right on his tail, and it looked like we were in for another game of cat and mouse. Only Webb seemed to back off a little, and Craig had a little bit of breathing room. But then he washed the front in a bowl turn and went down all by himself! He wasn’t the only one though, other guys were going down all over the place. Zach Osborne, Chris Alldredge, Hayden Mellross, and more all went down.

At this point Webb had control of the lead with Joey Savatgy close behind. A few spots back Colt Nichols was riding great and passed Jordon Smith for fourth. Smith then went down all by himself, and Alex Martin, who was in third, ended up crashing inside the over/under bridge. It happened out of view, but it looked like he may have hit the wall. Then, late in the race, Webb’s bike simply quit. Webb struggled to get it started, but it would not start and big puffs of smoke were coming out with each attempt. Decades later he somehow got it fired but the damage was more than done and he took twenty-first, right in front of teammate Martin, who DNF’d. Savatgy took his first win of the season, with Nichols taking his first career podium in second. Craig rounded out the top three.

450 Main

Ryan Dungey didn't get a good start...for about 50 feet. So he just tucked inside in turn one and literally passed around eight riders to emerge in the lead. Incredible His teammate Marvin Musquin got his first good start of the season in second with Ken Roczen third. Roczen immediately started pressing Musquin for second in hopes of getting there before Dungey got away, but honestly it didn't matter--because even after Roczen made the pass, Dungey just kept on motoring away. When it was over, Dungey had his third-straight win.

"I think about halfway through I needed some better lines, I switched it up about halfway through," said Roczen. "Ryan's riding really well, we're all trying hard and doing all that we can do. I feel like there were parts where I was strong, other parts where I wasn't."

Musquin was third, his first 450SX podium.

"This third is for the team, they all work so hard. I've been trying to find my rhythm and try not to ride so tight, and working on my technique."

Behind him a big race raged for fourth, with Cole Seely holding it most of the way with Chad Reed right behind, then Jason Anderson caught them. Anderson made passes on both, then Reed got Anderson as well.

James Stewart was quick early in his first race of the season, running fourth, but pulled into the mechanic's area at the halfway mark and called it a race. Eli Tomac started about 12th and rode steady to come through for seventh. Weston Peick was in good position, eighth, until the last lap when he crashed and failed to finish. But he was still credited with 11th since most of the riders behind him had been lapped. Jake Weimer Justin Brayton and Wil Hahn snagged top-ten finishes, as Davi Millsaps crashed on he final lap while trying to get Weimer for ninth.

 
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