2016 Oakland 250SX Results | Savatgy Claims Win

2016 Oakland 250SX Results from O.co Coliseum

The 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX West Region Championship took a dramatic turn at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. After dominating the opening three rounds, Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Cooper Webb had a mechanical problem at round four while leading the race with only three laps to go.

When trying to restart his bike, a cloud of smoke emerged from the FMF exhaust of his YZ250F. With the help of his mechanic, Eric Gass, he was able to get his bike restarted and finished the race in 21^st position.This allowed Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy to earn his first win of 2016 250SX.

Despite the adversity, Webb maintained an optimistic outlook on the night: “I’m bummed on how Oakland ended up, but it could always be worse! I won my heat race and everything was looking great leading the main event until lap 12. Unfortunately, I had a mechanical issue that put me out of the race. It would’ve been nice to get the fourth win of the season, but that’s the love/hate relationship with racing. I love a good challenge. See you guys in Phoenix.”

Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy was third place off the start and maintained the position behind Webb and GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig. Craig crashed on lap four in a left-hand corner, surrendering the lead to Webb. Savatgy passed Webb for the lead on lap 12 when Webb had his mechanical issue. Savatgy led the remaining three laps to take the first 250SX victory of his career and take over the points lead and red plate leading into Phoenix next weekend.

“Today was really good,” said Savatgy. “Qualifying went well, it’s really close between the top guys right now, so as long as we are all within about half a second we’re in a good spot.  In the heat race, I felt like I didn’t ride how I wanted to. I felt a bit tight, but I got a good start to the night by taking the win.

“At the gate drop, I put myself in a good position and after a few laps, I was in second. I settled in and tried to make sure I could stay with the leader. I ended up making the pass for the lead with a few laps to go and had a bit of a moment where I landed on a tough block, which bent my shifter all the way out to my foot peg. That made it very difficult to shift and forced me to concentrate for the rest of the race. I earned my first supercross win and the points lead, so emotions are really high right now. Time to go back to the farm and keep working as hard as we have been.”

Craig grabbed the SupercrossLive.com Holeshot Award and led the race for three laps before crashing. He remounted his Honda CRF250R and made his way up to third place by the time the checkered flag flew rounding out the podium for the night.

Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM’s Mitchell Oldenburg finished in fourth place. The young rider from Texas didn’t have the best qualifying result leading up to the main event, but put his KTM 250SX-F in eighth place off the start and made several calculated passes to put in the best performance of his season so far.

“Tonight I finally felt like my speed really showed out there on the track,” said Oldenburg. “We’ve been working really hard and I can’t wait to get back out there next week.”

Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne put his Husqvarna FC250 in fifth place off the start, but fell back to 13^th on lap six. He spent the remainder of the race working his way through the field and finished in fifth place.

Ride365.com Honda’s Kyle Peters, Blue Buffalo/Slater Skins/Yamaha’s Michael Leib, Motorcycle Superstore Racing Suzuki’s Kyle Cunningham, GEICO Honda’s Jimmy Decotis, and Slaton Racing KTM’s Cole Thompson rounded out the top ten, respectively.

Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Alex Martin suffered a bad crash on lap eight while running in third place. The Minnesota native clipped a tough block while entering the over and under bridge and hit the ground hard. He did not rejoin the race and ended up in 22^nd place.

Photography by Simon Cudby

2016 Oakland 250SX Results – Round 4:

1. Joey Savatgy – Kawasaki KX250F
2. Colt Nichols – Yamaha YZ250F
3. Christian Craig – Honda CRF250R
4. Mitchell Oldenburg – KTM 250SX-F
5. Zach Osborne – Husqvarna FC250
6. Kyle Peters – Honda CRF250R
7. Michael Leib – Yamaha YZ250F
8. Kyle Cunningham – Suzuki RM-Z250
9. Jimmy Decotis – Honda CRF250R
10. Cole Thompson – KTM 250SX-F
11. Jordon Smith – Honda CRF250R
12. Dillan Epstein – Kawasaki KX250F
13. Hayden Mellross– Yamaha YZ250F
14. Scott Champion – Yamaha YZ250F
15. Zac Commans – KTM 250SX-F
16. Thomas Do – Honda CRF250R
17. Fredrik Noren – Honda CRF250R
18. Killian Auberson – Suzuki RM-Z250
19. Trevor Reis – Yamaha YZ250F
20. Chris Alldredge – Kawasaki KZ250F
21. Cooper Webb – Yamaha YZ250F
22. Alex Martin – Yamaha YZ250F