2018 Anaheim 2 Supercross Results |
Tomac Returns Victorious
It was a night of comebacks at Anaheim 2, with Eli Tomac, Marvin Musquin, and Dean Wilson returning to racing from early season injuries in the 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series. The three had wildly different nights, with Tomac taking the win, while Musquin and Wilson failed to finish the third Main of the night in the experimental Triple Crown system.
Rather than a single Main Event, the night was run like the Monster Energy Cup. However, the three Mains were progressively longer as the night wore on. Riders accumulated points equaling their finishing positions in each Main, with the final Main being the tiebreaker. While the Monster Energy Cup often has consistent results, it was a free-for-all at Anaheim 2.
- Eli Tomac is back from his shoulder injury with a big win. It wasn’t a dominating win, as Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Tomac scored a fifth place in Main 1, and was passed easily for the lead in the final Main. However, Tomac had a solid win in Main 2, leading from start to finish. Given that Tomac scored just one point in the first two races, an overall win is huge. Tomac’s win moves him up to 13th in the Monster Energy Supercross Championship Standings, 43 points behind leader Anderson. It’s a long way to go, but there are still 14 rounds remaining.
- Jason Anderson started off slow, and ended big. Poor starts in the first two Mains cost Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Anderson a chance at the win. Being in an early pileup in Main 1 limited him to seventh place in the short six-minute race—not too bad after finishing Lap 1 in 13th. Getting bumped at the start put him in 10th after Main 2’s first lap, and he worked his way up to an impressive third with two laps to go when he passed a persistent Josh Grant. Finally, a great start in the Main put him right behind Tomac. Anderson put a strong pass on Tomac on the flat left-hander right after the finish line jump, and Anderson took off to win the 15-minute Main 3 convincingly. That put Anderson in third overall for the night. Anderson seriously turned around a night that started badly and extending his series points lead.
- There’s no doubt Cole Seely was frustrated with second place overall, having gone into Main 3 leading the night. Team Honda HRC’s Seely looked set for a win at Anaheim 2, taking a win in Main 1 and the first runner-up in Main 2. In a night of inconsistency, it looked to be his overall to win. Unfortunately, he got off the gate poorly, and was buried in 13th place after one lap. Seely hit the Top 10 by Lap 3, but spent eight laps in eighth place behind Josh Grant, giving him little chance to score a win-clinching podium. On the upside, Seely steps into second place in the Monster Energy Supercross Championship Standings, 11 points behind leader Anderson.
- Ken Roczen struggled outside of the Top 10 in Mains 1 and 2 before breaking through for fourth place in Main 3. Team Honda HRC’s Roczen may have been struggling with demons at Anaheim 2—the anniversary of his debilitating crash. Going 11-12 to open the night, he never looked good. Things changed for Roczen in Main 3, thanks in part to a decent fifth place start. Roczen went by Weston Peick on Lap 4, and settled into fourth place in Main 3. Taking a dismal ninth place overall, Roczen slips from second place in the Monster Energy Supercross Championship Standings to fourth place.
- Justin Barcia’s podium run came to a screeching halt at Anaheim 2. Everyone was impressed by Barcia’s podiums in the two opening rounds as a fill-in rider for the Monster Energy/Knich/Factory Yamaha Team. Three starts outside of the Top 10 meant Barcia never had a chance at A2. Going 8-5-9, he finished the night in eighth place overall. He remains in third place in the series standings, 13 points behind Anderson and a point ahead of Roczen. Oh, and I stand corrected on what I said last week about Barcia’s old Bam Bam nickname—he wants to keep it. To back that up, Barcia made a couple of hard passes at A2.
- Both Marvin Musquin and Dean Wilson tried to come back too soon. While Tomac stormed to a victory in his return, Red Bull KTM’s Musquin went 9-11 in the first two Mains, but didn’t finish Main 3 due to shoulder pain. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Wilson had a pair of 14ths before a broken footpeg in a collision forced him out of Main 3. For Wilson, he scored his first five points of the year. Musquin nabbed 10 championship points, and it puts him in 11th in the series—Musquin is 34 points behind Anderson, but nine points ahead of Tomac.
- Justin Brayton is absolutely for real. His strong 2-6-3 card put him in fourth overall on his Smartop/MotoConcepts Racing/Honda—by far the best showing of a team that is not factory affiliated. Brayton ran in second place the entire Main 1 behind Seely, and positioned himself in third place in Main 3 from start to finish. Brayton started Main 2 in second place, but struggled and dropped back to sixth place at the end. Brayton is in sixth place in the Monster Energy Supercross Championship Standings, and only seven points behind second place Seely. It has been a great year so far for Brayton, and Anaheim 2 was his best night yet.
- Weston Peick is Mr. Consistent this year with 5 being his magic number. In three rounds, Autotrader/JGR/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Peick has three fifth places, and sits fifth in the standings. Like everyone else at A2, Peick was inconsistent on the track, going 4-9-5. Peick’s ninth place in Main 2 was due to a fall at the midway point as he was trying to hold off a surging Anderson. That dropped Peick from fourth to ninth.
- Consistency did not win the day—virtually no one was consistent. No rider finishing above 20th place had a gap smaller than four positions between his best and worse Main finish of the night. Plus, there were three different Main winners. There was, however, very little mixing between the Top 11 and the Bottom 11.
- The Triple Crown format is a winner! I have to admit I was dubious about it, and still don’t like that all 17 rounds of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship Series aren’t run under the same rules. That aside, running three Mains offers up all sorts of interesting outcomes, along with some potentially tricky strategies. For instance, at one point in Main 3 it would have been advantageous for Tomac to let Brayton by. By doing this, Tomac would not have lost the overall win, but it would have put Brayton ahead of Anderson overall, costing Anderson two Championship Series points. Some of the team managers are going to need to keep calculators handy at the Triple Crown races in Atlanta and Minneapolis.
Photography by Simon Cudby and Feld Entertainment
2018 Anaheim 2 Supercross Results, Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, CA
- Eli Tomac, Kawasaki, 8 points (5-1-2)
- Cole Seely, Honda, 10 (1-2-7)
- Jason Anderson, Husqvarna, 11 (7-3-1)
- Justin Brayton, Honda, 11 (2-6-3)
- Weston Peick, 18 (4-9-5)
- Josh Grant, Kawasaki, 18 (6-4-8)
- Blake Baggett, KTM, 19 (3-10-6)
- Justin Barcia, Yamaha, 22 (8-5-9)
- Ken Roczen, Honda, 27 (11-12-4)
- Cooper Webb, Yamaha, 28 (10-7-11)
- Malcolm Stewart, Suzuki 38 (16-8-14)
- Jeremy Martin, Honda, 40 (15-15-10)
- Marvin Musquin, KTM, 41 (9-11-21)
- Chad Reed, Husqvarna, 45 (12-17-16)
- Tyler Bowers, Kawasaki, 46 (13-16-17)
- Broc Tickle, KTM, 47 (22-13-12)
- Vince Friese, Honda, 50 (18-19-13)
- Dean Wilson, Husqvarna, 50 (14-14-22)
- Kyle Cunningham, 52 (17-20-15)
- Alex Ray, Yamaha, 55 (19-18-18)
- Dakota Tedder, KTM, 60 (20-21-19)
- Ben Lamay, Honda, 63 (21-22-20)
2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Standings (after 3 of 17 rounds
- Jason Anderson, 70 points (1 win)
- Cole Seely, 59
- Justin Barcia, 57
- Ken Roczen, 56
- Weston Peick, 54
- Justin Brayton, 52
- Josh Grant, 45
- Blake Baggett, 43
- Broc Tickle, 37
- Cooper Webb, 37
- Marvin Musquin, 36 (1 win)
- Jeremy Martin, 36
- Eli Tomac, 27 (1 win)
- Vince Friese, 26
- Malcolm Stewart, 24
- Chad Reed, 24
- Kyle Cunningham, 20
- Tyler Bowers, 17
- Ben Lamay, 15
- Alex Ray, 14
- Dakota Tedder, 7
- Dean Wilson, 5
- AJ Catanzaro, 5
- Adam Enticknap, 5
- Matt Bisceglia, 4
- Henry Miller, 4
- Austin Politelli, 1