2020 Anaheim Two Supercross | Monday Kickstart

Alex Martin’s front flip in the whoops of the 250 Heat Race was brutal and we were bummed that he busted the plastic piece from his Arai lid that was freshly painted by CMS Art Work. The JGRMX/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing rider had to go through the LCQ to make the Main Event, where he stayed steady and logged a fifth-place finish. AMart is going good, he’s showing speed after a slow start to the season, and these next few weeks will be key for the veteran racer.

Mark your territory. There’s no way Mitchell Oldenburg and Luke Clout can confuse each other’s boots when gearing up in the Penrite Honda rig…

Did you expect Brandon Hartranft and Jacob Hayes would be third and seventh, respectively, in the championship after three rounds? The two proved to be talented SX riders in 2019 while on the CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha team, and now on separate squads for 2020, have done very well with consistent finishes in the wild West Coast region. Hartranft put his Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM in the right places at the right time for his second-consecutive podium finish, while Hayes made it through the chaos for an eighth-place finish. Keep an eye on this duo in the next few weeks.

Those midweek crashes are the worst. Mitchell Falk had a Wednesday get-off that rang his bell, but felt it was necessary to try riding one session on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, the Team BWR rider felt out of sorts on the track and pulled the plug on the weekend. Falk is in a tough situation, a young rider just removed from a factory spot, and results are important but his decision to not risk another crash for a Main Event finish is a respectable decision.

Color was back on BamBam at A2. Monster Energy, Arai, and Justin Barcia all came to an agreement on a custom lid with necessary branding and had Troy Lee Designs lay the paint. Check back later in the week for an interview with Troy Lee about the process and inspiration for the art.

SHIFT MX had Instagram cartoonist Bee G draw a firefighting kangaroo for Jett Lawrence’s butt patch, a sign of support for the fires in Australia. Always good to see some personality in the pit area.

Last-minute lever check with Dean Wilson and Damon Conkright. We like that both have taken up a habit of wearing red gloves.

Blake Baggett has a habit of making things interesting at the most unpredictable time, and that was almost the case at Anaheim Two. The Rocky Mountatin ATV-MC/WPS/KTM rider was a quiet 11th in qualifying and claimed unassuming sixth place finish in his Heat Race, then bolted to the front of the field, trailed Ken Roczen in the opening lap of the Main Event and showed the leader a wheel. The battle was cut short when Baggett clipped the berm that was built for the option section and hit the deck (the only rider we can think of to do so on Saturday night), then got up and rejoined the race to finish in 14th place. The crash is a bummer for Baggett, because he certainly could have broken away from the pack and made the race more intense. Why do we say that? His best time was a 53.005, bested only by winner Eli Tomac’s 52.078, and happened the lap after his crash.

Photo within a photo. Like “Inception.”

Anaheim Two was Jimmy Decotis’ last day on the JGRMX/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing RM-Z450, as it’s now time to get back on the 250 and prep for the East Coast. A2 wasn’t great for Decotis (he didn’t make the Main Event) but that’s not necessarily a bad thing because 450 results aren’t the focus for the Rippa; he just needed to get a few gate drops in before Tampa. What will JGRMX do with the open 450? It’s still up in the air, because Noren and Savatgy will be out for a while and they need to find a suitable replacement rider in the current free agents. No, it won’t be Chad.

Jason Anderson got assigned transponder 69 at A2. Nice…

In three races, Jett Lawrence proved that he has what it takes to be at the front of the pack in the 250 class and will be a force once he figures out how to hang on for the full 15-minute Main Events. He reeled in Austin Forkner in St. Louis, kept teammate Christian Craig honest in the whoops at Anaheim Two and led 16 of the 18 Main Event laps until a small get-off that turned into hurried mistakes, a valiant effort to hold off Dylan Ferrandis, a last-lap crash, and a broken collarbone. Lawrence will have surgery to repair the break this week and will miss upcoming West Coast rounds, but the kid is legit.

If you’re coming to a West Coast race, keep an eye on Carson Brown. The JMC Motorsports rider makes the Husqvarna FC 250 look like a BBR mini bike on the track with some of the body positions and jump combinations that he tries, and it’s pretty fast. Like many young riders Brown has to figure out how to stay out of the messes that happen in a 250 Main Event, evident in his 12th place result, but he can put in a fast lap.

Justin Barcia had his first bad day of the season at Anaheim Two. The incoming championship leader struggled to find a suitable setup for his Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing YZ450F, particularly in the whoops, and that caused him to struggle elsewhere on the track. Ranked eighteenth overall in timed qualifying, Barcia pulled it together for an improved ninth place ride in the Main Event, but slipped to second place in the championship standings behind Ken Roczen. It’ll be important to see how Barcia bounces back from this, because whoops are going to be an important feature in the upcoming track designs, particularly in Glendale and Arlington. The red jersey and navy pants looked bitchin’, by the way.

After sitting out St. Louis to win the Dortmund Supercross in Germany, Tyler Bowers was back in action for Anaheim Two. The Triggr/RAK Racing/AHM Factory Services/Kawasaki is one of those guys that you know will be somewhere in the 450 Class Main Event running order and he posted a 17th place finish at A2. We might need to use his flat tracking advice for an upcoming Moto Tip…

Benny Bloss’s entry for X Games Best Trick. We want to see him learn a Shaolin Barhop from Kenny Bartram.

The latest data logger from LitPro is an interesting piece, as it’s made by GPS company Dual, is bigger than the original black box, and can be mounted in different locations, from your helmet to the front fender of the motorcycle. When paired along with a Garmin heartrate monitor, riders can accurately chart their speed, g-forces, and even heartrate in correlation with different segments of the track. We’ve learned a lot about our riders from the LitPro in the past, like how bad some of our line choices are, and it’s a useful tool for any level of racer.

Dean Wilson’s Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing FC 450 is a little different than his teammates. The lanky Scot prefers to have extensions riveted onto the ends of the radiator shrouds to keep his boots from catching and a wide-base seat from GUTS Racing to keep his legs locked in place, and he prefers the power curve created by the shorter head pipe from FMF Racing (it puts more emphasis on mid to top-end pwoer, not low-end grunt).

Anyone else hear Toby Keith lyrics in their head?

Last race at the A. Chad Reed will go down as the rider with the most career starts at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, as he clocked his 47th and final appearance on Saturday night. An eight-time winner of past Anaheim races, Reed voiced his appreciation for the venue on the podium after the LCQ by saying, “This is the house that Jeremy (McGrath) built, but I had fun playing in it.”

Hey, shout out to Cheyenne Harmon. The Honda-mounted privateer has aced the starts in the past two rounds and held his own in the 250 Heat Race at Anaheim Two against a very stacked rider list and transferred directly to the Main Event, where he finished in 20th place.

Michael Mosiman had an eventful night on his way to a fourth-place finish in the 250 Main Event. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider got the holeshot and then went down while running second during the opening laps of his Heat Race, dropped back to 17th place, and climbed back to 10th place at the checkered flag, one spot shy of a transfer. Mosiman won the LCQ and avoided the chaos of the Main Event for a solid result, his second top-five of the season. He’ll certainly be a podium threat once he irons out the mistakes on race day.

Cameron McAdoo was in attendance at Anaheim Two, but not in his usual race gear. The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider spent the days after the STL SX at home in Iowa, waiting to be cleared to fly with a pair of collapsed lungs, and will spend the next few weeks on the sidelines letting things get better. McAdoo told us that the force of the bike hitting him collapsed his lungs and that he doesn’t have any broken ribs, a rare occurrence in a crash that brutal. It’s very unlikely he will be back before the San Diego Supercross, the last race before the West Coast break.

Justin Hill was in the wrong places at the wrong times on Saturday night. The SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts/Honda rider was caught up in the first turn crash during his Heat Race and went head-first into the ground. After he discarded the broken visor on his helmet, Hill went on a charge and climbed from last place to ninth, the final transfer to the Main Event. Hill was in the mix early during the feature race until he Martin Davalos’s crash shot Hill into the Tuff Blocks and back down the running order. Another long charge but him in 12th place at the checkered flag, one spot behind teammate Vince Friese. “That was a tough one, because I went from having a good start and the possibility of a decent night to eating it hard and then going from last place to 12th,” he told us at the end of the night. “I’m healthy after two gnarly get offs and I have to be thankful for that. I feel strong, even with all the commotion, I was charging and tried to get the guys at the front, I just need to get away from all of the junk and crashes to show it.”

John Short was in for his first Supercross of the season and we kept an eye on the Texas privateer. A part of the Manluk K&R Racing team in 2020, A2 was a chance for Short to get some seat time in before the start of the 250 East Coast region in Tampa. He ended the night in ninth place in the 450 LCQ.

Dean Wilson was a surprise on Saturday afternoon. The fact that the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider is on the track at all is an accomplishment, considering he was in a wheelchair in November, but Dean proved that he had the speed with the fourth-fastest lap in qualifying. Seriously, we thought there might have been an issue with the timing (no offense, Dean). After a safe opening round and an illness in St. Louis, Wilson upped the intensity at Anaheim Two and logged a season-best 10th place result. Steady progress through the season is Wilson’s plan, and he’s doing just that right now.

Bummer for Kyle Chisholm. The Team Chiz/TiLube/Rock River-backed rider had a hard slam in his Heat Race, was taken off the track by the Alpinestars Mobile Medical Unit with a broken shoulder, and then sent to a nearby hospital when he coughed up blood. This injury will put Chisholm on the sidelines for quite some time and it’s unlikely he will be on the track alongside teammate Broc Tickle for the Tampa Supercross. Heal up, KC.

Martin Davalos is going for it. The Team Tedder/Monster Energy/Lucas Oil/KTM rider was a big surprise when he clicked off the fastest lap time of the 450 class in the first round of timed qualifying, an impressive feat for the “rookie” against the stacked field. A big crash in the Main Event hampered Davalos’s result to 13th place, but a look at his times through the Main Event reveal consistent riding and some of his best laps were late in the race.

The buzz around Adam Cianciarulo has quieted down but hasn’t gone away. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider was again the top rider in qualifying, an accomplishment he’s held for three weeks, and he diced with close friend Ken Roczen in the early laps of their Heat Race. The Main Event wasn’t a wild show of speed, because Cianciarulo was shuffled back by passes from his experienced competition, but a sixth-place finish in Anaheim paired with his past results puts him fifth overall in the championship.

What do Ryan Breece and Chris Blose have in common? Both are Supercross champions in other countries and are making their mark on the 450 class in the early rounds of the 2020 season. Blose, the 2019 SX2 Australian champ, has made all three 450 Main Events so far and will soon drop down to the 250 East Coast region with Michael Lindsay’s FXR/Chaparral/Honda, while Breece recently clinched the German ADAC Supercross title and is set to run the rest of the 450 SX season with the H.E.P. Motorsports Suzuki team. Blose finished 19th and Breece finished in 20th in the 450 Main Event at Anaheim Two.

LCQ carnage with Josh Cartwright and Jerry Robin.

ARay in the Main Event again. Our neighbor/resident racer/vlogger made it to the Main Event via a fourth-place result in the LCQ, but the whoops were an issue and he finished the night in 21st place. We believe in you, Alex.

Hey, the Australian racers are going good this year. Aaron Tanti was one of four guys from Down Under in the 250 Main Event and he finished 13th place in the 250 Main Event, which matched his performance in St. Louis. Keep an eye on him and Jay Wilson in these next few races, because their time in the US is limited and soon they’ll go back to prepare for the Australian Outdoor series.

Luke Clout’s night was equally as eventful as Mosiman’s. The Penrite Honda rider had a hard slam off the dragon back that led to the finish line during his Heat Race, qualified for the Main Event via a third-place result in the LCQ, and carried it into the feature with a seventh-place finish. This is the Australian rider’s best result of the season (21-7-6) and should he continue, he’ll stay in the US longer than his original six-race plan.

Ludovic Macler was another impressive rider on Saturday night. The French racer is virtually unknown in the United States, but an eighth-place finish in his Heat Race put him on the grid in the Main Event, against riders with years of Supercross experience. A 19th might not seem like much, especially compared to those ahead of him, but it’s a sign of speed. Remember, Gautier Paulin and Marvin Musquin weren’t on factory bikes at the front of the field the first time that they raced Supercross.

Speaking of European results, Killian Auberson did very well at A2. The Swiss racer is starting to get the hang of the Gas Monkey/AJE Motorsports Husqvarna, a fill-in ride he got just before the start of the season and he finished the 250 Main Event in 10th place. Auberson has been around the US SX scene for a while and to our recollection, this is a best career result to date.

Austin Forkner’s crash was basically a side note at Anaheim Two, but it could very well be the determining factor in the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider’s championship chase. Forkner was quietly near the top of the running order early in the race, after some close passes with Ferrandis, but his miscue in the whoops shot him over the bars and directly on his back, which is still sore from Anaheim One. Down 22-points to leader Justin Cooper with seven races to go, Forkner could still make this happen, but it’ll take a near flawless string of results to make up the deficit.

Now we really know see much additional airflow comes through the drilled side panels on the Husqvarna bikes!

Zach Osborne can make things happen. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider was over the illness that followed him in the first rounds and was able to show what he’s capable of during the Main Event at Anaheim Two. He started the race in third place, slid back to sixth place by lap three, and then upped the intensity in the closing laps and rushed to fourth place at the checkered flag. The two top-five finishes have helped him get out of the round one hole and he’s currently tied in the three-way tie for seventh place in the point standings.

We could watch the last five laps of the 250 Main Event over and over again. Jett Lawrence and Dylan Ferrandis were on it, and there’s plenty to notice in the two rider’s line choices, body position, and style. This was both of them at their very best.

Dylan Ferrandis’s move will live on for years to come, but by all accounts, the issue is being left at Anaheim by he and Christian Craig. Don’t expect the payback leg-breaking block pass some of the goons are begging for. The Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider had a fair start to the season, a second place at Anaheim One that was overshadowed by his crash and 12th place in St. Louis, so it was time to make things happen at Anaheim Two. That he got up to second was good, because leader Jett Lawrence was well ahead until his crash, and he made the most of the opportunity in the last lap. It was pretty obvious that Ferrandis understood that the fans had turned on him following the Main Event, as he celebrated very little on the podium and put the still-capped bottle of bubbly into his mechanic’s bag. This will hang over the French rider’s head for a while, but it’s unlikely that he will crack and slip in the results.

We paid attention to Ken Roczen’s start in the 450 Main Event. The Team Honda HRC rider rocketed out of the gate, eased to the left in an attempt to block the inside line, and tucked in tight around the Tuff Blocks to take the holeshot and early lead. It could not have been executed any better, especially considering the way the first turn was laid out. Watch it again and learn a few pointers.

Jason Anderson banged bars with riders in the Main Event. He seemed cool with the passes he and teammate Zach Osborne traded, but Cooper Webb’s block pass off the track didn’t seem to sit well. Anderson isn’t afraid to run it in on guys, but he’s not been as wild as years past and his 5-3-5 scores to start the season have been very unassuming.

It looked like Aaron Plessinger was going to turn things around at A2. The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing rider got a very good start in the Main Event but was shuffled back by the talented lineup of Webb, Anderson, Tomac, Cianciarulo, and Barcia, then got in a wreck with Benny Bloss, remounted in the back, and finished in 15th place. Three races in. Give it time.

Anyone want to share their theory on how this photo symbolizes AC looming over ET’s shoulder and the shift in dynamic under the Monster Energy Kawasaki rig? We’re all ears…

First win of the season, 28th of his career. Eli Tomac answered a lot of questions with his Main Event victory at Anaheim Two. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider pushed through the pack (he was 10th on lap one, seventh on lap two, and leading by lap eight) and run off to a commanding lead. His advantage was over five seconds at certain points, but was down to about a second at the checkered flag, so there’s a lot to talk about there. During our post-race talk, he explained that he didn’t get too discouraged by his seventh place at the opening round and that he has a bigger outlook on the season. “Anaheim One is Anaheim One, right? Some guys might not agree, but I feel like it starts in week two and that’s when you start to figure things out. I still need to improve my starts, because I can’t let these guys run away like that. I’m not going to have a track every week where I can be that much better and catch guys.” With 7-4-1 scores, Tomac is now back in the championship chase and trails leader Roczen by five points.

1092 days, skull and crossbones. Fox Racing made sure to celebrate Ken Roczen’s St. Louis win.

We forgot to give these some love at Anaheim One. Alpinestars has another collection of limited edition boots and gear to go along with certain dates of the 2020 race season, which started with their A1 neon-teal-grey-white colorway. One thing to note: the consumer production of this style is action on a Tech 7, not the Tech 10 (that was limited to pro racers, only). There’s an SM18 helmet to go with these, too.

This bike will have even more red on it come Glendale. See you in a few days.