2016 Toronto Supercross Commentary | Upside/Downside

Inside the 2016 Toronto Supercross

The second half of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season is now underway, and it couldn’t have gotten off to wilder start…literally. In both the 250SX and 450SX classes the start turned into carnage. Let’s see who is starting Part II on the Upside and which are riders are on the Downside.

UPSIDE

1. Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Ken Roczen. Coming off disappointing finishes in Atlanta and Daytona, Roczen was watching Ryan Dungey run away with the Monster Energy Supercross Championship. Roczen was able to stop

   

   the bleeding in Toronto with a solid win. After making impressive passes on Dungey and Eli Tomac, Roczen took off and led by more than seven seconds in one three-lap sequence. Roczen still needs help to catch Dungey, but at least Roczen can see the reigning champ in the distance.

2. Red Bull/KTM’s Marvin Musquin. Musquin looks to be for real now, with three consecutive podiums. Although he easily inherited 2nd when Dungey went down, Musquin had a podium ride going, regardless of Dungey’s error. It’s too late for the rookie to challenge for the championship, as he’s 77 points behind Dungey, but he can certainly shoot for a top 3 finish in the standings—not bad for a rider who went 14-9-9 in his first three 450SX rides.

3. Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey. While it’s the worst Dungey finish of 2016, it’s still an Upside ride for the defending champion. He set the record for consecutive podiums at 26 (breaking Chad Reed’s record of 25), and is one race closer to the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross title. With a 34-point lead over Roczen with seven races remaining, only Dungey controls his own destiny.

4. Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely. 10th place finishes at Atlanta and Dayton had dropped Seely from 3rd in the standings to 5th. He’s still in 5th place in the standings, but he got moving in the right direction with a strong 4th place finish in Toronto. Most impressively, he tracked down early leader Tomac to take 4th away from Tomac on Lap 16.

5. Autotrader/Monster Energy/Yamaha’s Weston Peick. Toronto was a little glimmer of hope in a dismal season for Peick. His 8th place finish was his best of the year, and just his second top 10 all season (the other was a 9th at SD2). Peick is still a big disappointment this year, but he can salvage the season if he can be a regular competitor for the top 5 and perhaps find his way to the podium.

6. Rockstar Energy/Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Jason Anderson. Like Dungey, this was Anderson’s worst finish of the year. Still, the way he rode was champion-like. Anderson was caught up in Justin Bogle’s first lap crash, and executed a major faceplant—it seemed unbelievable that Anderson got up, let alone rejoined the race. In 19th after Lap 1, Anderson did what he could to reverse his bad luck and charged up to 9th at the finish. With Tomac fading at the end of the race, Anderson’s charge was enough for him to retain his 3rd place in the Monster Energy Supercross standings.

7. Smartop/MotoConcepts’ Vince Friese. He has made every Main since the debacle with Peick at A1, and Friese has been steadily improving. Since a 17th in Arlington, Friese has gone 15-14-12, and he’s actually looking at a potential top 10 finish. Most impressively, Friese has been transferring out of the Semi lately, rather than relying on the LCQ.

DOWNSIDE

1. Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac. Coming off his Daytona win, things were looking good for Tomac early at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. He narrowly avoided going down after contact in the Bogle crash, and led after Lap 1. Back-to-back victories would be just the way to start off the second half of the Monster Energy Supercross season. Instead, Tomac never got comfortable and just kept moving backwards, being passed by Roczen, Musquin, Dungey, and Seely. Had it gone another lap, Tomac likely would have had BTO Sports/KTM’s Justin Brayton go by. Tomac needed at least another podium, and a weak 5th place puts him back where he was before his Daytona victory.

2. Monster Energy/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Chad Reed. Reed was a top 10 rider at the opening six rounds, with two podiums, but thing have been rocky since. He did podium in Atlanta, but 12th place finishes in Arlington and Daytona have killed any momentum he has tried to build. Things got worse in Toronto when he clipped Team Honda HRC’s Trey Canard’s rear tire at the start and went down hard, ending his night instantly. Musquin passed Reed in the standings, and the former champion now sits in 7th.

3. GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle. After Dungey grabbed the holeshot, Bogle immediately passed him and things were looking good—for a few seconds. Unfortunately, Bogle made a serious mistake in the rhythm section, resulting in a huge crash while he was in the lead. He took out Anderson and a few other riders, and Bogle did not continue. In his rookie year, partially due to injuries, Bogle is mired in 17th in the standings and has just one top 10 all year.

4. Rockstar Energy/Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Christophe Pourcel. Going into Toronto, Pourcel was on a roll. He had three top 10 finishes in a row, and he seemed to have everything going in his direction. However, a practice crash kept him out of Toronto, though he’s hoping to return to Detroit and maintain the momentum gained in Arlington, Atlanta, and Daytona.

   Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX Results, Round 10, Rogers Centre, Toronto

   1. Ken Roczen – Suzuki RM-Z450
   2. Marvin Musquin – KTM 450 SX-F
   3. Ryan Dungey – KTM 450 SX-F
   4. Cole Seely – Honda CRF450R
   5. Eli Tomac – Kawasaki KX450F
   6. Justin Brayton – KTM 450 SX-F
   7. Trey Canard – Honda CRF450R
   8. Weston Peick – Yamaha YZ450F
   9. Jason Anderson – Husqvarna FC 450
   10. Jake Weimer – Suzuki RM-Z450
   11. Blake Baggett – Suzuki RM-Z450
   12. Vince Friese – Honda CRF450R
   13. Mike Alessi – Honda CRF450R
   14. Nick Wey – Kawasaki KX450F
   15. AJ Catanzaro – Kawasaki KX450F
   16. Nick Schmidt – Suzuki RM-Z450
   17. Cade Clason – Honda CRF450R
   18. Deven Raper – Kawasaki KX450F
   19. Kyle Cunningham – Suzuki RM-Z450
   20. Tommy Hahn – Yamaha YZ450F
   21. Justin Bogle – Honda CRF450R
   22. Chad Reed – Yamaha YZ450F

   2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX Standings (after 10 of 17 rounds)

   1. Ryan Dungey, 233 points (5 wins)
   2. Ken Roczen, 199 (3 wins)
   3. Jason Anderson, 175 (1 win)
   4. Eli Tomac, 170 (1 win)
   5. Cole Seely, 163
   6. Marvin Musquin, 156
   7. Chad Reed, 142
   8. Justin Brayton, 125
   9. Davi Millsaps, 105
   10. Jake Weimer, 92
   11. Trey Canard, 91
   12. Christophe Pourcel, 77
   13. Weston Peick, 65
   14. Mike Alessi, 61
   15. William Hahn, 56
   16. Vince Friese, 48
   17. Justin Bogle, 42
   18. Blake Baggett, 24
   19. Tommy Hahn, 20
   20. Nick Schmidt, 20

       Next Monster Energy Supercross Round: Ford Field, Detroit

       TV Schedule: Fox Sports 2 @ 7p ET

   Photography by Simon Cudby