Supercross has made the shift from west to east, taking over U.S. Bank Stadium Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Not just that, but the 250 East Series officially kicked off on Saturday afternoon as well. A rider group led by Jett Lawrence, Jeremy Martin, Cameron McAdoo, and Austin Forkner get to the gate after an extra month of waiting. Meanwhile, things in the 450 class are just beginning to heat up. Jason Anderson picked up his second win of the year to answer Eli Tomac’s two straight wins before Anaheim 2. Chase Sexton all the meanwhile is still lurking in the title hunt as well.
Be sure to catch up on all of our Supercross coverage.
Jett Reynolds Out of Supercross Indefinitely
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Jett Reynolds will have to wait even longer now for his pro debut. During press day on Friday, the highly touted prospect broke his wrist running some laps for the cameras. The initial timetable from the team is indefinite, meaning it could be quite a while before we see Reynolds on a Supercross track for the first time. A shame, seeing as he has been snake bitten with injuries in recent years.
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Heat Racing Recap
250 East Class
The Honda duo of Josh Osby and Kyle Peters opened things up out front until Pierce Brown of TLD GasGas took the lead and took off. Several big names in this heat, Lawrence, Martin, and McAdoo, all had rough starts and had to work their way through the field. Brown, Lawrence, and Stilez Robertson rounded out the top three here. Osby meanwhile, fell out of a transfer spot after holeshoting this opening heat.
Heat two did not treat Mitchell Oldenburg kindly, a battery issue kept him off the gate and forced him to the LCQ. It did however treat ‘The Master Chef’ Levi Kitchen started his Supercross career with a bang. Taking the holeshot and lead for the opening lap and a half. A rhythm lane bobble gave the lead to Jordon Smith. Great story there considering the injuries Smith has had, and he’s now on a privateer Honda ride this year. There was also a very aggressive move by Forkner on ‘Filthy’ Phill Nicoletti, where they both nearly went down off track. Knowing the latter that likely didn’t go over well. R.J. Hampshire ended up stealing the win on the last lap over Smith meanwhile, with Kitchen in third.
450 Class
Lot of red upfront early in Heat 1, with Sexton, Ken Roczen, and Justin Brayton. Sexton was able to break away from that group, while Tomac got by the other two Hondas for second. While Tomac made things close with things winding down, Sexton led from wire to wire in this one. Behind Tomac in third was Roczen, who likely needed a good heat race run bad, especially after last week.
Vince Friese picked up the holeshot in his first 450 start of the year, with Cooper Webb and Malcolm Stewart in tow. Stewart, after getting by Webb, hit the quad over the tabletop section to snatch the lead way from Friese and took off on him, Webb, and Justin Barcia. The latter tipped over just a few laps later, leaning over just a bit too much in the bowl corner after the finish line. Stewart took home the heat win, with Webb, Dylan Ferrandis, and Anderson behind him.
250 East Class Roundup
No. 18 Jett Lawrence – Honda HRC (1st Place)
The Jett was not in the lead for all of 57 seconds in tonight’s 250 Main Event. An absolute clinic in Minneapolis notches him career Supercross win No. 4, and the red plate heading into Dallas. Seeing as he is the near-universal favorite for this Championship, this was the best way he could have kicked things off. On a side note, the limited edition Alpinestar kit Lawrence ran was fantastic.
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No. 33 Austin Forkner – Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki (2nd Place)
Not a bad Saturday afternoon for the No. 33. Forkner paced the 250 field in qualifying, then parlayed that into a second-place finish in last night’s Main Event. No one was keeping up with Lawrence in that Main, but Forkner did a great job ensuring himself a good points night, and more importantly some momentum headed into Dallas next weekend.
No. 6 Jeremy Martin – Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha (4th Place)
JMart, unfortunately, could not secure the win in his backyard of Minneapolis. Across the line for the first time, he was scored fifth and simply couldn’t make much happen on Saturday in the Main Event. A fourth, however, is far from the worst thing for Martin here, just stings that he couldn’t get a hometown win probably. If not in Dallas, watch out for JMart at Daytona, he has the chance to run away with it based on his Motocross acumen.
No. 715 Phill Nicoletti – Muc-Off FXR Club MX Yamaha (10th Place)
How about Filthy Phill in his return to ‘Deathcross’ eh? Not even one round in and he has now already gotten into someone’s face (Forkner), and managed a Main Event top 10 all in one night. If Nicoletti could be a consistent top 10 guy this entire season, you’d imagine that the Club MX Yamaha folks would be pleased. Especially considering the last full-time Supercross season Nicoletti ran in was in 2018.
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No. 36 Max Vohland – Red Bull KTM (DNF)
Not many ways Saturday could have gone worse for the second-year KTM rider. Vohland never completed a lap and is now well behind the eight ball to begin his 2022. Didn’t seem clear at the time, but there appeared to be something wrong with the bike, and Vohland was seen nursing his wrist. Hopefully, this isn’t anything major and he can be good to go for Dallas.
250 East Class Minneapolis Top 10
1st No. 18 Jett Lawrence
2nd No. 33 Austin Forkner
3rd No. 48 Cameron McAdoo
4th No. 6 Jeremy Martin
5th No. 24 R.J. Hampshire
6th No. 44 Pierce Brown
7th No. 50 Stilez Robertson
8th No. 80 Enzo Lopes
9th No. 59 Levi Kitchen
10th No. 715 Phill Nicoletti
450 Class Roundup
No. 21 Jason Anderson – Monster Energy Kawasaki (1st Place)
Not the fashion that El Hombre, or any rider for that matter, would want to win by, but you take ’em how you get them. Anderson didn’t have the strongest heat race performance but turned it up for the Main. More so than the win, there was some more good news, Anderson is now only three points back of the points lead. With third place 20 points back, he only has one guy to worry about now, that being Tomac.
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No. 1 Cooper Webb – Red Bull KTM (2nd Place)
Webb needed a good night more than just about anyone in the field and he delivered big time. After three consecutive eighth-place runs, the reigning Supercross Champion looked fantastic in last night’s main event. He fell back to third after getting the holeshot, but this was the best he looked on the eye test in weeks. Webb is a ways back in this championship, but Saturday’s run was needed in a bad way.
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No. 27 Malcolm Stewart – Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing (4th Place)
On a night where he could have conceivably finished in second, Mookie ended up in fourth on Saturday. A washout in the late stages of the Main Event forced him back a few spots, but Stewart rallied back to almost get a podium. There is some good news, however. Despite just missing out of a podium spot, Stewart is now third place in the points, albeit 20 back of Tomac, but that is an indicator of how good Mookie has been so far. The Husky team has to be thrilled so far.
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No. 3 Eli Tomac – Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha (6th Place)
If you believe in the Ricky Carmichael saying of ‘You win Championships on your bad days”, then look no further than Tomac. After incidental contact with his teammate Ferrandis, Tomac went down early on the launch ramp of the triple. ET3 then turned on the afterburners and managed to rally up to a sixth-place finish. How’s that for damage control? His points lead is now only secure by three, but it could have been much worse.
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No. 94 Ken Roczen – Honda HRC (8th Place)
Steve Matthes earlier in the week said that Roczen and Honda may be at the end of the road. Nights like Saturday do nothing to discredit that at all. Disengaged is the best way you can describe his riding, because from midway on, his Main Event run was alarmingly bad. From lap 20 to 26, he didn’t post a lap time better under the 52-second mark. For context. Anderson’s average lap time for the evening was a 49.992. If Roczen wants out and doesn’t want to retire, he is doing himself no favors right now with his performance.
No. 23 Chase Sexton – Honda HRC (16th Place)
Sexton’s second Supercross win was right there for the taking. He ran a perfect Main Event, up until he crashed hard forcing him back to 16th. Not only did Sexton not win, but he was also on the wrong end of a double-digit point swing. Currently, Sexton sits 28 points out of the lead. The good news here is that it doesn’t sound like this is anything serious for Sexton. The best-case scenario is that he misses no time at all.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CaLhKN_NrJY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
450 Class Minneapolis Top 10
1st No. 21 Jason Anderson
2nd No. 1 Cooper Webb
3rd No. 25 Marvin Musquin
4th No. 27 Malcolm Stewart
5th No. 51 Justin Barcia
6th No. 3 Eli Tomac
7th No. 7 Aaron Plessinger
8th No. 94 Ken Roczen
9th No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis
10th No. 10 Justin Brayton
Week 7 PulpMX Fantasy Supercross Lineup
250 East: Jeremy Martin (All-Star +2), Levi Kitchen (+3), Jeremy Hand (+16), Phill Nicoletti (+8)
450: Cooper Webb (All-Star +7), Justin Brayton (+4), Dylan Ferrandis (-3), Alex Martin (+11)
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Main Image via Honda HRC
