Only two MLB parks have had tons and tons of dirt hauled in for a Monster Energy Supercross event so far in 2015. It'll be a few more baseball parks and plenty of football stadiums filled with dirt and fans and fast 250 and 450 bikes before a champion is crowned in either class, but let's get up to speed, shall we?
The only prominent riders not in competition at the moment, for the year, or ever again (in Monster Energy Supercross), are:
- Eli Tomac, after a crash in practice at Anaheim, the opening round of the year.
- James Stewart, suspended after failing a drug test during last season.
- Ryan Villopoto, who is overseas racing in the FIM MXGP World Championship, but for 2015 only; he will be retiring after this next racing season.
Otherwise, all riders are healthy and hungry for wins early in the season.
In the first round of the season, in the 250 West class, Jessy Nelson took a strong win 6.450 seconds ahead of Zach Osbourne on his Husqvarna, and just over eight seconds in front of multiple time Arenacross champion Tyler Bowers. Nelson rode a strong and therefore very impressive race; expect him to be challenging for top spots all throughout the 250 West championship. Here are the top ten and the engine manufacturers for the first main event that took place in the year 2015, the 250 West class:
- Jessy Nelson - KTM
- Zach Osborne - Husqvarna
- Tyler Bowers - Kawasaki
- Justin Hill - KTM
- Aaron Plessinge - Yamaha
- Shane McElrath - KTM
- Cooper Webb - Yamaha
- Alex Martin - Yamaha
- Josh Hansen - Kawasaki
- Michael Leib - Honda
The first time the 450 bikes took to the track in 2015 with points at stake was just after the 250 main. Ken Roczen, now a member of RCH Racing on a Suzuki, dictated the race, much like Nelson did in the 250s. Newcomer to the 450 class on a new Husqvarna machine, Jason Anderson finished with a great second position, and Trey Canard, a man with a heck of an up and down motocross career, rounded out the top three for the big bikes. Here are the rest of the top ten from Anaheim in the 450 Supercross class:
- Ken Roczen - Suzuki
- Jason Anderson - Husqvarna
- Trey Canard - Honda
- Ryan Dungey - KTM
- Andrew Short - KTM
- Justin Barcia - Yamaha
- Weston Peick - Yamaha
- Broc Tickle - Suzuki
- Mike Alessi - Suzuki
- Chad Reed - Kawasaki
A short week later, the teams, riders, festivities, and racing traveled a little ways from Anaheim, California to Phoenix, Arizona. One takeaway from both the 250 West racing and 450 Supercross class racing from the night just this past weekend in Phoenix is that top riders, after missing out on spots directly into the main event through their heat races, were forced to work their way through LCQ (last chance qualifier) and Semi races (only the 450s have extra "semi" races). One of these riders is the young rider from Florida who won the season opener on his new Suzuki, Ken Roczen, who just missed out on a spot in the main after finishing just outside the top four in his heat race. He rode a strong semi race, getting to the front quickly, and made it to the main event, taking the second spot on the podium after an exciting battle with Eli Tomac. Tomac earned his first ever win in the 450SX class, and so too was Cooper Webb a first time winner, he in the 250 West class though. Both winners were first-timers, great battles took place for top spots, and prevalent riders had to work their way to the main event through races other than their heat races.
Phoenix also proved difficult for the riders with the track itself being more difficult than the first one of the year inside Angel Stadium a week earlier. Tyler Bowers of the 250 West class, in fact, said in an interview after a race in Anaheim that the track was "easy." The Phoenix track featured a difficult whoops section that claimed many riders during the practice sessions throughout the day before the racing at night. Apparently the dozers went to work and made the whoops easier before the racing took place at night, but even then 250 West class winner a week prior Jessy Nelson lost crucial time lap after lap in the whoops section - although he did gain a bit of it back while strategically taking the tighest possible inside line for about every corner the first handful of laps. It did work in his favor. Overall, with 22 riders lined up at the gates for the main events, it can always be said that the track itself is the 23rd rider.
Here are the official results for both classes from Phoenix, the second race of the 2015 Monster Energy Supercross Series, excluding engine manufacturer this time:
250 West
1. Cooper Webb
2. Malcolm Stewart
3. Jessy Nelson
4. Tyler Bowers
5. Aaron Plessinger
6. Justin Hill
7. Zach Osborne
8. Shane McElrath
9. Zach Bell
10. Tommy Hahn
11. Matt Bisceglia
12. Michael Leib
13. Josh Hansen
14. Cole Martinez
15. Chris Alldredge
16. Scott Champion
17. Zack Freeburg
18. Jackson Richardson
19. Landen Powell
20. Alex Martin
21. Nico Izzi
22. Austin Polliteli
450
1. Eli Tomac
2. Ken Roczen
3. Ryan Dungey
4. Weston Peick
5. Davi Millsaps
6. Jason Anderson
7. Andrew Short
8. Trey Canard
9. Jake Weimer
10. Chad Reed
11. Justin Barcia
12. Broc Tickle
13. Blake Baggett
14. Cole Seely
15. Justin Brayton
16. Brett Metcalfe
17. Dean Wilson
18. Mike Alessi
19. Josh Grant
20. Jimmy Albertson
21. Kyle Partridge
22. AJ Catanzaro
Now, to the ever important championships themselves. Here are the top ten in points for both classes, going into the third race of the year (Anaheim 2):
250 Championship Points Standings (After 2 of 9 rounds):
1. Jessy Nelson 45pts/1 win
2. Cooper Webb 39pts/1 win
3. Tyler Bowers 38pts
4. Zach Osborne 36pts
5. Justin Hill 33pts
6. Aaron Plessinger 32pts
7. Shane McElrath 28pts
8. Malcolm Stewart 23pts
9. Zach Bell 22pts
10. Josh Hansen 20pts
450 Championship Points Standings (After 2 of 17 rounds):
1. Ken Roczen 47pts/1 win
2. Ryan Dungey 38pts
3. Jason Anderson 37pts
4. Trey Canard 33pts
5. Weston Peick 32pts
6. Andrew Short 30pts
7. Eli Tomac 26pts/1 win
8. Justin Barcia 25pts
9. Broc Tickle 22pts
10. Jake Weimer 22pts
We'll have more on the Monster Energy Supercross Series soon.