2018 Oakland Supercross Results |
Anderson Wins A Wild One

The Main at the 2018 Oakland Supercross was the reason people watch the sport. The racers had to contend with each other, along with a brutal track. The top two riders in the series—leader Jason Anderson and Ken Roczen—went at it on the final two laps with Anderson coming away with his second win of the 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship Series. Here’s what you need to know about the 2018 Oakland Supercross.

1. Jason Anderson rode like a champion. Getting a middling sixth place start after a chaotic first lap, Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) methodically moved his way to the front. He passed Weston Peick a lap latter and Blake Baggett two laps after that. With 10 minutes remaining in the Main, Anderson moved from fourth to second—Anderson put a hard pass on Marvin Musquin, which put Musquin on the ground—and then went by Cole Seely who had gone down in a rhythm section. At that point Anderson was 3.7 seconds behind leader Roczen with half the Main remaining. An epic battle on the final two laps that included bobbles by both Roczen and Anderson, put Anderson on top of the podium for the second time in 2018.

   

2. Ken Roczen was not happy with second place. Roczen made no bones about it on the podium—Roczen was mad at himself for his last lap errors that allowed Anderson to win the bar-to-bar tussle. When Roczen (Team Honda HRC) sees the replay, he’ll realize that the track evoked repeated errors from all the riders, and Roczen’s biggest concession to Anderson came on Lap 18 (of 24), where he lost half of his lead. Although Roczen is still after that elusive first win of the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series, he sits second in the standings, 15 points behind Anderson.
3. The season is slipping away from Eli Tomac. Coming into Oakland with two consecutive wins, Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki) needed to keep that momentum flowing. Instead, Tomac got a seventh place start on a tough track, lost a spot to teammate Josh Grant, and then got cleaned out on Lap 4 by Justin Barcia, who was recovering from an 11th place start. Tomac remounted in last, and could only manage a 13th place finish. Tomac has two wins in 2018—as many as Anderson—but his other three races were 22nd (crash), DNS (injury) and now a 13th (crash). With 12 rounds remaining in the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Championship Series, Tomac is in 12th place, 52 points behind Anderson.
4. It wasn’t Justin Barcia’s best finish, but it might have been his best race. It would have been easy for Barcia to cruise around after starting 11th—he’s been doing that for years. However, 2018 is different. Having been the fastest qualifier and a Heat race winner, Barcia’s riding was high intensity. He was picking off about a rider a lap, including Tomac, before dicing for a while with former teammate Weston Peick. Eventually, he put an impressively clean pass on Peick for sixth place on Lap 7. After Seely and Musquin went down, Barcia stalked them as they battled ferociously. Barcia was able to pick off Seely on Lap 15 for fifth place, but he could not catch Musquin. Barcia drops to third in the standings, two points behind Roczen, but he’s out for blood. Amazingly, San Diego is his last ride as a fill-in on the Monster Energy/Knich/Factory Yamaha Team—they still haven’t signed him for the rest of 2018!
5. It was a what-if night for Marvin Musquin and Cole Seely. Seely (Team Honda HRC) led the opening 11 laps before making a big error on a rhythm section and ending up off the bike. The night started off great for Seely, as he beat the likes of Tomac, Musquin, and Roczen in his Heat race, leading every lap. Musquin (Red Bull KTM) was within striking distance of the leaders when Anderson put a brutal block pass on him. Musquin recovered better than Seely, with Musquin fourth ahead of sixth place Seely. Seely holds onto fourth in the standings, now more than a race behind Anderson, while Musquin jumps up to eighth place, but an intimidating 42 points back of Anderson.
6. Blake Baggett grabbed his first Monster Energy Supercross podium of the year. Although he struggled in his Heat race, Baggett (Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/WPS/KTM) got off to a great start in the Main, running right up front. Anderson passed him early, putting Baggett back in fifth. However, Baggett was gifted third place on fateful Lap 11 when Musquin and Seely went down. Baggett looked like he was interested in repassing Anderson until lap 22, when Baggett fell off the pace with his slowest lap of the night. Baggett’s best finishes had been sevenths at Houston and A2, so making the podium is a huge jump for him, especially after a dismal ninth last week in Glendale.
7. Weston Peick still has a reverse problem. While Peick (Autotrader/JGR/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing) got a strong fifth place start, he was passed by Anderson and Barcia by Lap 7. While a seventh wouldn’t have been terrible—though still his worst finish of 2018—Peick was passed by Cooper Webb on Lap 19, and then went down. Peick got lapped and ended up in 12th place. Even worse, Seely and Justin Brayton passed him in the standings, and Peick is now in sixth place for the year.
8. Reality may be hitting Justin Brayton. After peaking with a fourth place at A2, Brayton has gone 7-9. Brayton (Smartop/Bullfrog Spas/Honda) was running in eighth place most of the night. However, he went down late, allowing Broc Tickle by. Ninth is Brayton’s worst showing in 2018. Regardless, he’s in fifth place in the standings, tied in points with Peick.
9. It’s not much, but Cooper Webb had his best finish of the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross season. Seventh place is still far below the expectations for Webb (Monster Energy/Knich/Factory Yamaha Team), but he did come back from a 15th place start to make it happen, and put on a late pass on Peick.Next Round: San Diego, February 10: TV Schedule. Tickets.

   Photography by Simon Cudby

2018 Oakland Supercross Results, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA

1. Jason Anderson, Husqvarna
2. Ken Roczen, Honda
3. Blake Baggett, KTM
4. Marvin Musquin, KTM
5. Justin Barcia, Yamaha
6. Cole Seely, Honda
7. Cooper Webb, Yamaha
8. Broc Tickle, KTM
9. Justin Brayton, Honda
10. Josh Grant, Kawasaki
11. Dean Wilson, Husqvarna
12. Weston Peick, Suzuki
13. Eli Tomac, Kawasaki
14. Chad Reed, Husqvarna
15. Vince Friese, Honda
16. Alex Ray, Yamaha
17. Justin Bogle, Suzuki
18. Kyle Cunningham, Suzuki
19. Ben Lamay, Honda
20. Benny Bloss, KTM
21. Tyler Bowers, Kawasaki
22. Malcolm Stewart, Suzuki

2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Standings (after 5 of 17 rounds)

1. Jason Anderson, 115 points (2 wins)
2. Ken Roczen, 100
3. Justin Barcia, 98
4. Cole Seely, 87
5. Justin Brayton, 82
6. Weston Peick, 82
7. Blake Baggett, 78
8. Marvin Musquin, 73 (1 win)
9. Josh Grant, 71
10. Cooper Webb, 68
11. Broc Tickle, 64
12. Eli Tomac, 63 (2 wins)
13. Vince Friese, 43
14. Chad Reed, 37
15. Jeremy Martin, 36
16. Malcolm Stewart, 35
17. Tyler Bowers, 26
18. Dean Wilson, 25
19. Kyle Cunningham, 25
20. Alex Ray, 22
21. Ben Lamay, 19
22. Justin Bogle, 12
23. Dakota Tedder, 7
24. Matt Bisceglia, 6
25. Benny Bloss, 6
26. AJ Catanzaro, 5
27. Jake Weimer, 5
28. Adam Enticknap, 5
29. Henry Miller, 4
30. Austin Politelli, 1