2018 Salt Lake City Supercross Preview | SX Crunch Time
The 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship Series is winding down, with two more races remaining. However, the top five positions are still up for grabs, so there’s plenty of opportunity for drama at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna FC 450 rider Jason Anderson has a good chance to secure his first 450SX Supercross title, so things will get tense under the spring sun.
1. Jason Anderson can clinch the title with a fifth place or better. Regardless of what Marvin Musquin (Red Bull KTM 450 SX-F) does in Salt Lake City, Anderson will take possession the title if he finishes in fifth place or better. That is a highly likely outcome, as Anderson has been in the top four at 14 of 15 rounds. Anderson has ridden smart all year long, so there is no reason to think he will abandon that strategy with the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Championship within his grasp at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
2. All Marvin Musquin can do is try to stay alive in the championship race. Musquin only needs to finish 16th to prevent Anderson from clinching the title in Salt Lake City if Anderson scores zero points at Rice-Eccles. At the other end, Musquin can clinch second place in the standings if he scores four more points than Eli Tomac at SLC. Marvin has not outscored Tomac by more than three points at any round this year that didn’t include a crash or DNS from Tomac, so that’s a longshot bet. Still, Musquin should retain second place at the end of the year.
3. Eli Tomac is simply racing for wins. Tomac has an impressive record of seven wins in 15 rounds. If Tomac can win out, he’ll have won more than half the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series races. While he can’t win the championship, he certainly can claim that he was the fastest, if not the most consistent, rider in the field—and it would be hard to argue against that point.
4. Justin Brayton and Blake Baggett both need to beat Weston Peick in Salt Lake City to clinch top five positions in the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Championship Series. Accomplishing that isn’t a sure thing, as Peick has beaten at least one of them in five of the last six rounds. The real battle, however, is between Brayton and Baggett. Brayton holds a slim four-point lead over Baggett, and they have scored identical points over the last two rounds. Finishing in the top five will be a good overall result for either rider, given expectations at the beginning of the season.
5. Prep yourself for a 5:30 p.m. ET broadcast time on Fox Network. Yes, it will be on over-the-air television, as well as starting at an unusual time. You can keep track of the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross TV Schedule on our website.
2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Standings (after 15 of 17 rounds)
- Jason Anderson, 332 points (4 wins)
- Marvin Musquin, 298 (3 wins)
- Eli Tomac, 269 (7 wins)
- Justin Brayton, 247 (1 win)
- Blake Baggett, 243
- Weston Peick, 219
- Broc Tickle, 184
- Dean Wilson, 183
- Cooper Webb, 181
- Malcolm Stewart, 150
- Justin Barcia, 145
- Vince Friese, 141
- Chad Reed, 135
- Tyler Bowers, 133
- Cole Seely, 124
- Benny Bloss, 108
- Ken Roczen, 102
- Christian Craig, 96
- Kyle Cunningham, 87
- Josh Grant, 83
- Ben Lamay, 71
- Kyle Chisholm, 48
- Cedric Soubeyras, 48
- Jeremy Martin, 36
- Alex Ray, 27
- Henry Miller, 22
- Cole Martinez, 20
- Adam Enticknap, 19
- Justin Hill, 18
- Dakota Tedder, 18
- Matt Bisceglia, 15
- AJ Catanzaro, 13
- Justin Bogle, 12
- Austin Politelli, 11
- Brandon Scharer, 9
- Dylan Merriam, 9
- Deven Raper, 6
- Bradley Taft, 5
- Jake Weimer, 5
- Justin Starling, 5
- Carlen Gardner, 5
- Cody Vanbuskirk, 4
- Collin Jurin, 4
- Theodore Pauli, 3
- Scott Champion, 2
- Dustin Pipes, 2
- Josh Hill, 2
- Nick Schmidt, 1
