Red Bull Straight Rhythm
Round by Round
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Round 1
The first elimination rounds are in the books here in Pomona and so far the results have been pretty predictable. In fact, not a single matchup in the 250 Class required three races (winner of each bracket is decided by the best of three individual races). For the most part the story was pretty much the same in the Open Class, except for some excellent battles between Josh Hansen and Travis Pastrana. Hansen had a big lead in the first race on Pastrana, but Pastrana made up an incredible amount of time in the whoops, only to see Hansen edge him by two tenths of a second. Pastrana came back and evened the score in the second race though, throwing a back flip over the finish line in celebration. In the tie-breaking round Pastrana made a couple mistakes early on that cost him and he was eliminated. Kyle Chisholm and Kyle Partridge went at it for three races too, with Partridge advancing. Expect things to start tightening up more in the quarterfinals as the speed becomes more concentrated. And speaking of the quarterfinals, here’s what those matchups will look like:
250 Class
Marvin Musquin vs. Darryn Durham
Jordon Smith vs. Justin Bogle
Chris Blose vs. Jessy Nelson
Nico Izzi vs. Justin Hill
Open Class
James Stewart vs. Josh Hansen
Josh Hill vs. Malcolm Stewart
Justin Brayton vs. Kyle Partridge
Shane McElrath vs. Dean Wilson
As you might expect, racing on a track without turns is a whole new ball game, but riders are beginning the understand how it's played. We saw huge variations on times during Friday's first practice runs, but the field is starting to tighten now that the fast lines and rhythms have been established.
The lap times hover around the 50-second range, similar to a regular supercross track. Of course, without turns, they're going faster over a longer distance, and a few mentioned grabbing fourth gear and pinning it on a 450, which they don't ever do on a track with turns.
Quarterfinals
With the quarterfinals all wrapped up things are starting to get serious here at Red Bull Straight Rhythm. In the 250 Class the best battle in the quarters was without a doubt put on by GEICO Honda teammates Jordon Smith and Justin Bogle. Smith upset Bogle in a close race in the first race, but Bogle came back and evened it up in the second. Smith busted out a big quad in the final race to keep things even early, but Bogle started stretching it out only to have Smith come back on him at the end in the whoops. Bogle held on though and took the win by a tenth of a second. “It was intense and it’s a fun deal to do with your teammate,” Bogle said afterward. “He got a lot better run through the whoops than I did so I’m going to go back and take a look at that. This next round between me and Marvin [Musquin] should be good.”
In the 450 Class the thrills were provided by Josh Hansen and James Stewart in the second race. Hansen held the advantage almost the entire race, but Stewart absolutely obliterated the whoops to win comfortably. The other Stewart, Malcolm, who seemed to set the fastest lap every time he raced, also advanced, which sets up a Stewart vs. Stewart matchup in the semifinals.
Semifinals
The farther we get into Red Bull Straight Rhythm the hotter it gets, and we’re not talking about the 100+ degree temperatures here in Southern California. Marvin Musquin eliminated Justin Bogle to advance to the finals, where he’ll go up against teammate Justin Hill. Jessy Nelson and Justin Bogle will battle for third overall.
In the Open Class things were a bit more interesting. The first matchup was James Stewart vs. Malcolm Stewart, with James taking the win in the first race. In the second race James made a few mistakes early on to hand the advantage to Malcolm, but then Malcolm made a big mistake of his own which allowed James to get back in it and go on to take the win. When asked about the pace afterward James replied, “He [Malcolm] had me riding out of control out there!”
Dean Wilson won the first race over Justin Brayton but Brayton came back to win the second in an extremely close race. In fact, they were so close timing initially had them tied! The margin of victory turned out to me two hundredths of a second. Wilson looked good for the tie-breaker, but Brayton put on a big charge at the end to come from behind and advance to the finals to face James Stewart. Malcolm Stewart will face Dean Wilson for third.
Finals
After the close action of the semis the finals themselves were somewhat anticlimactic, although Justin Bogle and Jessy Nelson had a tight race as they battled for third overall, with the position going to Nelson. But in the race for the championship it was all Marvin Musquin over teammate Justin Hill. Opting not to take any big risks, the Frenchman was fast, smooth and mistake-free all day, a combination that resulted in a perfect scorecard in every single round. The 250 podium was all orange too, which had to have the bosses over at KTM smiling.
In the Open Class Malcolm Stewart handled Dean Wilson for third overall, while James Stewart comfortably won over Justin Brayton to take the win. Like Musquin, Stewart didn’t lose a single race all day.
Final Results
Open Class
- James Stewart
- Justin Brayton
- Malcolm Stewart
- Dean Wilson
250 Class
- Marvin Musquin
- Justin Hill
- Jessy Nelson
- Justin Bogle