Out of Daytona and into Rock City goes Monster Energy Supercross. The last time Detroit hosted a round of Monster Energy Supercross was in 2019, so it has been a good minute since the series has been to Ford Field. Eli Tomac still is the man to beat in the 450 class, after his record-breaking sixth Daytona Supercross win. Entering Saturday night, ET3 had an 18 point lead over Jason Anderson for the red plate. Meanwhile, Jett Lawrence rebounded last weekend with a win of his own in Daytona. How could last week’s winners fair indoors in Detroit?
Be sure to catch up on all of our Supercross coverage.
The Chizzining
The biggest sports story of the week wasn’t Russell Wilson getting dealt to the Denver Broncos. Nor was it Aaron Rodgers committing to the Green Bay Packers long-term. That honor goes to Star Yamaha picking up Kyle Chisholm for the rest of the 250 East Supercross season. With Justin Cooper having been out for the season for a bit, and Jeremy Martin and Levi Kitchen currently out, they needed a fill-in, and Chiz is their guy. It has been quite some time since the fan-favorite veteran has ridden a factory bike. Or for that matter riding a 250 in Supercross for that matter, that last happened on May 8, 2008.
First sighting 👀 @KyleChisholm11 pic.twitter.com/cOWVJCyWAG
— Star Racing Yamaha (@StarRacingYam) March 12, 2022
Heat Racing Recap
250 East Class
Privateer Joshua Cartwright picked up the holeshot here, before making way for Enzo Lopes and Pierce Brown who took hold of the top spots early. Brown eventually pulled away, but Lopes ended up having a major issue. A bike stall after a fall effectively ended his Heat Race once he made it through the whoops. He, along with Jordon Smith, would be a pair of heavy hitters in the LCQ. Brown meanwhile cruised to the win here.
In Heat Race 2, R.J. Hampshire beat out Lawrence for the holeshot, but Lawrence ended up leading the opening lap via a pass right before the finish line. On the start, Phil Nicoletti ended up going down with a few other riders, however, he made it into a transfer spot by the end. Hampshire meanwhile crashed into the bowl turn after the whoops after he couldn’t get it slowed down. Lawrence on the contrary ran smoothly the entire race, en route to an easy win.
450 Class
Chase Sexton led Tomac to the holeshot line, as the two occupied those first spots the whole way. Sexton had the lead up until two laps remaining, where he made a big error in the whoops, going off the bike sideways and handing the win to Tomac. Luckily Sexton was ok and still made it home in second place, with Marvin Musquin in third to round out the podium.
Mookie Fever meanwhile carried over from qualifying to Heat Race 2, as Malcolm Stewart came storming out of the gates for a holeshot. The two spots behind belonged to Cooper Webb and Jason Anderson, and the latter pulled off a nice-looking look down pass to take second place halfway in. Dylan Ferrandis, at the time running in fourth, had a scary-looking wreck in the final rhythm section late. After a shortjump, the Frenchman went off the next ramp to the side and ended up landing in between a pair of sections. Luckily he was also ok and still transferred finishing in sixth place. Easy win for Mookie in other news.
250 East Class Roundup
No. 18 Jett Lawrence – Honda HRC (1st Place)
Lawrence was, yet again, the fastest 250 rider all day, and again ended up with a win. Now winning 3-of-4 to open the year, the Australian Honda rider only has an eight-point lead over Cameron McAdoo with next week in Indianapolis serving as the midpoint of the season. With two Showdown rounds still to come, that is not the safest points lead to have. On the flip side, no one has matched Lawrence in raw speed to this point in the year on the East.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbBtM8qubsb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
No. 48 Cameron McAdoo – Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki (2nd Place)
McAdoo’s win at Dallas is his saving grace now, which keeps him within single-digit points of Lawrence. Not an eventful night for the Iowa native, but the only rider all night to beat him was Lawrence. Furthermore, he, just like Lawrence, has podiumed in all four rounds to this point. If Lawrence slips, expect Wackers to be all over him.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbBswjLshuv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
No. 80 Enzo Lopes – Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha (9th Place)
The Main Event finish doesn’t tell the whole story, but Lopes did a good job salvaging a chaotic night. After making it to the Main Event through the LCQ with those bike issues, he had a poor start in the Main. Luckily he was able to pick guys off and managed a finish inside the top 10. His worst result of the season, but on a night like he had, Lopes did what he could.
No. 11 Kyle Chisholm – Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha (12th Place)
Chiz started the evening with a top-five run in his heat race and even started top three in the Main Event. Sadly, he fell back in short order and ended the night in 12th. We wouldn’t know until after, but the reason for the freefall was a bike stall by the looks of it. As Chisholm gets further acclimated to his new factory YZ250, expect him to get better results. His Heat Race sample size looked good in the half dozen minutes he had.
Amateur move 🤬 Start was good. That’s about it. Get me dialed in more and try again 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/LXXoRyfLeD
— Kyle Chisholm (@KyleChisholm11) March 13, 2022
250 East Class Detroit Top 10
1st No. 18 Jett Lawrence
2nd No. 48 Cameron McAdoo
3rd No. 44 Pierce Brown
4th No. 24 R.J. Hampshire
5th No. 90 Jordon Smith
6th No. 54 Mitchell Oldenburg
7th No. 715 Phil Nicoletti
8th No. 50 Stilez Robertson
9th No. 80 Enzo Lopes
10th No. 38 Josh Varize
450 Class Roundup
No. 3 Eli Tomac – Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha (1st Place)
Just like that, ET3 moves into sole possession of fifth on the All-Time Premier Class Supercross wins list with No. 42. After a subpar start in the Main Event, Tomac blitzed by all eight or so riders in front of him before getting to the then leader Anderson. Once he got by him, it was just about over. With the absolute carnage that happened behind him as well. Tomac’s points lead is equal to his career 450 Class wins, 42 points over Anderson and Stewart. Clinching the title multiple rounds early is, as of this moment, not out of the question.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbBxjmpN_sT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
No. 27 Malcolm Stewart – Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing (2nd Place)
Just like Tomac, Mookie did not get the greatest of starts but was able to work his way to the front. It would have been interesting to see if he had been in Anderson’s position if he could have maybe held Tomac at bay. Alas, second is where Stewart settled into at for the evening. Some good news is that Mookie is now in a tie with Anderson for second in the points, despite being a round and a half out of the lead. Regardless, this has been a great year for Mookie so far.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbBl0zfub20/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
No. 1 Cooper Webb – Red Bull KTM (DNF 20th Place)
Webb was in line for another good night before his brutal accident with Sexton. The Champion, after a bobble, was landed on by the Honda rider right on the side of his head, taking both down. Webb, on what can be chalked up to pure adrenaline, kept on going riding around literally using one hand. That was until he was told to call it a night by John Sterling of the AMA. Safe to say the best-case scenario is Webb is notably banged up. Hopefully, that ends up being the case.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbByNtcM6PE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
No. 21 Jason Anderson (DNF 21st Place)
Not even three minutes after the Sexton-Webb tangle up, Anderson ended up going down off camera after the finish line jump. After pulling himself back up, El Hombre went down again at the end of the next section and that ended up being where his night ended. A real bummer, as he appeared to be making up ground on Tomac when he ended up going down the first time.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbBy3mDPtGO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
No. 23 Chase Sexton – Honda HRC (DNF 22nd Place)
Sexton ended up being a victim of circumstances on Saturday. There was no way he could have avoided Webb in their incident, and you can’t put any blame on Webb either, it was just a racing incident. At the time he went down, Sexton was running in seventh, which isn’t what we’ve become accustomed to seeing as of late. Now, for the second time this season, Sexton ends up with a DNF result as a result of a late-race incident. This especially stings considering if not for last night, and back in Minneapolis, he would be right upfront with Tomac in the points hunt. Some potentially good news is that Steve Matthes says it sounds like Sexton should be ok. Crazy considering how his back looked on TV.
450 Class Detroit Top 10
1st No. 3 Eli Tomac
2nd No. 27 Malcolm Stewart
3rd No. 51 Justin Barcia
4th No. 25 Marvin Musquin
5th No. 10 Justin Brayton
6th No. 62 Vince Friese
7th No. 12 Shane McElrath
8th No. 19 Justin Bogle
9th No. 41 Brandon Hartranft
10th No. 78 Cade Clason
Week 10 PulpMX Fantasy Supercross Lineup
250 East: Jett Lawrence (All-Star +1), AJ Catanzaro (+16), Joshua Cartwright (+15), Jeremy Hand (+15)
450: Malcolm Stewart (All-Star +4), Alex Ray (+16), Cade Clason (+11), Shane McElrath (+5)
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Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
