For the second weekend in a row, it was Championship Day in Monster Energy Supercross. Both Christian Craig and hometown hero Eli Tomac had clear roads to the 250 West and 450 Titles respectively. For the former a win was the easiest path, for the latter 14th or better could do the trick. How would Hunter Lawrence and Jason Anderson perform with their seasons on the line?
Be sure to catch up on all of our Supercross coverage.
Look Good Race Good
Having a good kit and bike setup is half the battle. Jerry Robin, along with the Team Solitare Yamaha understand this crucial point. For Robin, he showed up with the Canvas branded Broncos look on both the kit and bike. As for Team Solitare, they broke out the Slayer kits and bikes for both Robbie Wageman and Ryan Surratt. Slightly different from last year in Atlanta but equally as good.
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Heat Racing Recap
250 West Class
Craig took home the first holeshot of the afternoon and completely checked out just a few sections later. Behind him was Dom Thury of the ClubMX Yamaha team and Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Jo Shimoda, who were battling in front of Vince Friese. Behind them, Nate Thrasher, who was recovering from a bad start, blitzed his way into a top-five in this Heat, just edging out Derek Kelley. After Craig took home the win, Robin and Jesse Flock came together before the finish, and Flock got his legs stuck inside the rear wheel of Robin. A rough-looking incident all around. Fortunately, Flock was able to walk away.
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Lawrence matched what Craig did in Heat 2 with a monster start, but was quickly reeled in by Michael Mosiman. Once the latter got into within a few bike lengths, the gap plateaued, then Mosiman tipped over with just about two minutes to go on the clock. Chris Blose as a result got by, as did Garrett Marchbanks, although they both got passed by Mosiman in the span of around a lap. Lawrence meanwhile with no pressure, won by over seven seconds.
450 Class
On the 450 side of things, ET3 took home the opening holeshot to thunderous applause from the hometown crowd. Justin Brayton and Marvin Musquin filtered in behind, but the gap to Tomac out in front grew quickly. In a Heat Race that wasn’t incredibly deep, there was an interesting name residing in fourth for a good while, John Short, who fell back to fifth but was running well here. Alex Martin also deserves a shoutout for nursing his bike with a bad engine to seventh. There was a ton of smoke coming out from his ClubMX ride from midway on. Needless to say, this was an easy win for Tomac meanwhile.
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Chase Sexton and Justin Barcia paced the field to turn one, then the former started to slightly pull away on the field, but not to the extent others had to this point. Outside of Anderson moving into second, the top four which ended up as Sexton, Anderson, Malcolm Stewart, then Barcia were all set by lap two, just not the finishing order. Anderson made things razor-thin close by the end, but Sexton held on just enough for the win.
250 West Class Roundup
No. 41 Hunter Lawrence – Honda HRC (1st Place)
There is a major note as it relates to this 250 West Championship. That being had Lawerence not wrecked out of Anaheim 3 and finished second like he was going to, this title fight would have been a winner take all in Salt Lake City with Craig. Additionally, Lawrence and Craig are now even with four wins a pop with one outing remaining. In short, Lawrence has certainly been the better man down the stretch, but that crash in the whoops is looming rather large now.
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No. 28 Christian Craig – Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha (3rd Place)
Craig had a good shot to clinch this title today and looked faster than Lawrence when he was right behind him. Those hopes ended when he put the bike on the ground and lost over a dozen seconds to the Honda HRC rider. To Craig’s credit, he made up a handful of spots to get into second for the day. Had he not done that, his title hopes would have been in serious jeopardy at Salt Lake City. Instead, all Craig needs is a 14th or better to wrap things up next weekend, in what is his final career start on a 250 motorcycle.
250 West Class Denver Top 10
1st No. 41 Hunter Lawrence
2nd No. 29 Michael Mosiman
3rd No. 28 Christian Craig
4th No. 30 Jo Shimoda
5th No. 35 Garrett Marchbanks
6th No. 62 Vince Friese
7th No. 66 Chris Blose
8th No. 69 Robbie Wageman
9th No. 49 Nate Thrasher
10th No. 31 Jalek Swoll
450 Class Roundup
Be sure to check out our thoughts on Eli Tomac’s 450 Supercross Championship win.
No. 21 Jason Anderson – Monster Energy Kawasaki (1st Place)
Of the reasons why El Hombre ended up coming short in this Championship bout, effort was not one of them. He has now won three straight Main Events with his title hopes fading more and more through each week in that span. Even then, he has given 100 percent down the stretch and showing how good he is with this Kawasaki team. How Anderson runs in his first Motocross campaign on a KX450 should be one of the bigger storylines entering that season.
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No. 27 Malcolm Stewart – Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing (2nd Place)
With one round remaining on the season, Mookie has a real shot to finish top three in points. A second-place run yesterday in Denver has him up four points on Barcia headed to Salt Lake City. Oddly enough, this is only with three podiums the entire season. However, Stewart also averages a finish of 4.9, good for third in the series behind Anderson and Tomac. By the time Stewart got into second, Anderson was long gone, so a win wasn’t in reach, but we have one week left to reach maximum levels of Mookie Fever. On a side note, the all-white Rockstar look was tough.
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No. 25 Marvin Musquin – Red Bull KTM (3rd Place)
Musquin’s late-season tear continued yesterday in Denver. Dating back to Indianapolis, he has a podium in 5-of-6 Main Events and is averaging a finish of 3.8 with one win. This is a change from earlier in the year, but he does not look like a rider ready to ride off into the sunset. It would be an absolute stunner if Roger DeCoster/Ian Harrison cannot give him a ride for 2023 if he wants one.
No. 2 Cooper Webb – Red Bull KTM (6th Place)
He may still technically be the Champion for one more round, but Webb’s second career title defense ended a while ago. Whether it was the highly touted new KTM model line not living up to the hype or the split from the Bakers Factory to begin the year, this has been a big disappointment for Webb and KTM as a whole. The sixth in Denver at face value wasn’t bad, it just didn’t seem like Webb was fully engaged yesterday. With rumors that he isn’t running Motocross, could next week potentially be his last ride on a KTM? As far as we know, his current deal is set to expire later this year.
450 Class Denver Top 10
1st No. 21 Jason Anderson
2nd No. 27 Malcolm Stewart
3rd No. 25 Marvin Musquin
4th No. 23 Chase Sexton
5th No. 1 Eli Tomac
6th No. 2 Cooper Webb
7th No. 51 Justin Barcia
8th No. 10 Justin Brayton
9th No. 54 Mitchell Oldenburg
10th No. 11 Kyle Chisholm
Week 16 PulpMX Fantasy Supercross Lineup
250 East: Hunter Lawrence (All-Star, No Handicap), Jalek Swoll (-1), Ryan Surratt (+15), Devin Harriman (+11)
450: Malcolm Stewart (All-Star +4), Cade Clason (+6), Alex Martin (+4), Adam Enticknap (+14)
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