2018 Oakland Supercross | Race Report
2018 OAKLAND SUPERCROSS | COMPLETE COVERAGE
We’re five rounds into the series now and there is still no clear title favorite in either class. Last weekend saw Aaron Plessinger retake the red number plate in the 250 SX class, but only by a point over Shane McElrath. In the 450 class, Eli Tomac collected his second win this season after missing
the first two rounds of the year. Despite leading every lap of the race, Justin Barcia and Ken Roczen kept the pressure on Tomac and at times narrowed the gap to the front. After qualifying wrapped up, the night show – or in this case afternoon show – looked as if it would be just as unpredictable as it has all season. Barcia and Cianciarulo topped their respective classes, while the notable names of Plessinger, Roczen, and Tomac were slightly off the top pace. In the 450Sx class, things were especially interesting with Marvin Musquin, Cole Seely, and Tyler Bowers put in some impressive times, and points leader Jason Anderson qualified third despite a big crash. The stage was once again set for a great round of racing.
the first two rounds of the year. Despite leading every lap of the race, Justin Barcia and Ken Roczen kept the pressure on Tomac and at times narrowed the gap to the front. After qualifying wrapped up, the night show – or in this case afternoon show – looked as if it would be just as unpredictable as it has all season. Barcia and Cianciarulo topped their respective classes, while the notable names of Plessinger, Roczen, and Tomac were slightly off the top pace. In the 450Sx class, things were especially interesting with Marvin Musquin, Cole Seely, and Tyler Bowers put in some impressive times, and points leader Jason Anderson qualified third despite a big crash. The stage was once again set for a great round of racing.
250 SX Heat One
Shane McElrath avoided the first turn carnage and got out to the lead for the first race of the afternoon. He had company from Joey Savatgy right away, and Hayden Mellross was not far behind in third either. A first turn crash would force Mitchell Oldenburg to go the LCQ. As the minutes ticked away, Chase Sexton would start to apply the pressure to Mellross from fourth place. Then Sexton nearly slid out and went down. He would recover and eventually make the pass on Mellross through the whoops. From there, the front four would be set in stone, with Kyle Chisholm in fifth. Up front, McElrath claimed the heat win once again, as he has won every one of his heats so far this year.
250 SX Heat Two
Surprisingly, the Canadian rider Jess Pettis pulled the holeshot in his first Supercross gate drop. Aaron Plessinger and Adam Cianciarulo quickly got past him to take first and second away. In the opening lap chaos a few other riders would get by, and then Pettis came up short and went up over the berm. As the race started to develop, Christian Craig would move into third. Behind him in fourth was Alex Martin, who had returned from his injury at Anaheim One. Defending champion Justin Hill would move into fifth, but avoiding the early chaos would separate him from the front group. At the front of the race, Plessinger would face pressure from Cianciarulo on the final lap, but wasn’t close enough to attempt a pass.
250 SX LCQ
Zambrano took the early LCQ lead, but Mitchell Harrison was quick to put himself into the lead after a good start. Chase Marquier and Justin Starling would also pass Zambrano on the opening lap, shuffling him to fourth. Then Bradley Taft made a pass on Josh Mosiman for fifth and immediately passed Zambrano for the final transfer spot. Taft lost the transfer spot a half a lap later, with Mosiman also going down in the same area. This would allow Zambrano to reclaim the final transfer spot for the main event, and eventually get around Marquier as well.
250 SX Main Event
Alex Martin made his return to racing known by grabbing the holeshot early in the main event. Craig and Chisholm held down second and third, with Savatgy sitting fourth. Cianciarulo would get caught up in a crash with Phil Nicoletti and Dakota Alix, and bad starts for Plessinger and McElrath would force them to go to work early on. Two and a half minutes into the main, Craig would make the pass on Martin for the lead. Then Savatgy would get around Chisholm for the third place spot. Plessinger would also get Chisholm as well, and Hill was not far behind either.
It appeared that McElrath had an issue in the first turn and was forced to make a stop in the mechanic’s area before continuing to attempt to finish the race. He was reportedly suffering from pain in his chest. Meanwhile, Plessinger had continued to push his way through the pack and made passes on both Savatgy and Martin. From there, he’d have a shot at catching Craig as well with the gap just under two seconds. Martin was then under pressure from Savatgy, with Hill lurking a second behind. Savatgy would make the pass on Martin, but Hill found his way around both riders to get into third. Then just as Plessinger started to close the gap for the lead, Craig cross-rutted and jumped off of the track. The mistake would cost Craig the lead and two more spots. Hill and Savatgy both started logging faster laps near the end of the race though and Plessinger’s lead wasn’t guaranteed.
With a minute and one lap to go, Hill was only a second and a half down from Plessinger. Unexpectedly, Plessinger crossed the finish with three seconds on the clock and the main event would go a lap longer than anticipated. Rather than allow Hill to go for the lead though, it gave Savatgy an opportunity to pass Hill for second place. Their battle would allow Plessinger to get away with the win and Savatgy would narrowly edge out Hill for third.
450 SX Heat One
Cole Seely got a big jump off the start and took the holeshot with ease. Marvin Musquin and Eli Tomac would follow in second and third, with Tomac’s teammate Josh Grant right there in fourth. Within the opening minutes of the race, Ken Roczen would find himself in fifth place putting pressure on Grant. He had company from Blake Baggett though, who wasn’t far off at all. Then Tomac would go for the pass on Musquin and take away the second spot. Shortly after, a mistake by Grant would allow Roczen to pass him through the rhythm section. Baggett also took advantage of the opportunity and tried to make a pass as time expired. Grant would defend the inside line though and hold him off. When the checkered flag flew, it was all Seely at the front, who rode a clean race from start to finish for the win.
450 SX Heat Two
Following his impressive qualifying session, Justin Barcia jumped right out front alongside his teammate Cooper Webb, who would get the credit for the holeshot. Barcia had the better drive out of the corner though and took the lead. Weston Peick, Tyler Bowers, and Malcolm Stewart were not far behind, running third through fifth. The battle between these three was hot early on, but Peick would gap Bowers a bit and Stewart would cross rut in a rhythm lane and go down. Further back, Jason Anderson recovered from a midpack start and a few early mistakes, passing Vince Friese for sixth place. With a minute left, he wouldn’t have time to make up the ground on Benny Bloss for fifth. As with the previous heats of the night, the leader of the first lap would go on to win, and the race was all Barcia’s.
450 SX LCQ
Jake Weimer was the early leader in the heat with the holeshot, but he would have immediate pressure from Chad Reed. The two riders dueled throughout the opening lap, but then Weimer would start to open a small gap. Dakota Tedder held down third and Scott Champion held fourth, but Stewart started closing in on both riders. Then with a minute and a half left, Reed blitzed through the whoops to grab the lead from Weimer. Another minute later, Stewart passed Champion, Tedder, and Weimer to take second. Ben Lamay came seemingly out of nowhere to follow Stewart through the pack and pass his way up to third. Kyle Cunningham quickly followed suit and took the final transfer spot. Meanwhile, Weimer had slipped back several spots and appeared to be dealing with an issue of some sort. Stewart would catch Reed on the final lap, but wasn’t close enough to go for the pass by the time the race came to a close.
450 SX Main Event
Another great start for Seely put him into the early lead to start off the main event. Baggett started off second, but Roczen and Musquin were on a tear towards the front. Anderson and Tomac sat in sixth and seventh, but a mistake by Peick in fifth would allow Anderson to slide into fifth. He recovered quickly though and would hold off Peick. Rather, Grant would make the move on Tomac and take seventh. He had no breathing room either as Barcia was right behind him. Only a half of a lap later though, Grant would crash and drop back to last. Shortly after, Barcia went for the pass on Tomac and the two riders came together. Tomac would go down and end up second to last.
Barcia meanwhile was continuing to make moves towards the front, catching and passing Peick for sixth. During this time, Anderson had moved up one spot to fourth, making his way around Baggett. As for the top three, they were all within three seconds of one another and evenly spaced out. Roczen would start to reel in his teammate Seely, but then Seely would open up his gap slightly again. Then Anderson made up a big chunk of time on Musquin and the two made contact, with Musquin going to the ground. Simultaneously, Seely would cross rut and crash, giving up the lead to Roczen. Anderson now sat second and Baggett third. Due to the timing of their crashes, Seely and Musquin would go bar to bar for a good chunk of time before Musquin would edge him out for fourth. Barcia was right in the mix now too and he would make his way around Seely for fifth.
With a little over five minutes left, Baggett had caught up to Anderson and was within striking distance. Both riders had also started closing in on Roczen now too, with the gap down to just a second and a half. The three had also ended up in lapped traffic now and the time was down to three minutes plus a lap. Roczen would make a mistake trying to get past a lapper and Anderson nearly stole the lead, but he too would get hung up. The rough track also played a factor in their line selection. Baggett would have more trouble with lapped traffic and he dropped six seconds back. With the time down to 14 seconds left, Anderson made the move on Roczen for the lead, but Roczen retaliated to take it back. The battle was now on with one lap left. A mistake by Anderson in the whoops was followed by a mistake by Roczen, and Anderson would get the lead back with just a few corners left. He would go on to win the main event by a small margin over Roczen. Baggett would round out the podium, while Musquin and Barcia filled out the top five.
