It is well-known that the Daytona Supercross is the biggest of the year, and is a a unique event for the series; unique enough that the fans stand on the front stretch of the Daytona International Speedway only feet from the race track to enjoy the special night's racing in person. The sport's biggest names have conquered the always-unique track that is built on the infield of the speedway including the track designer for the past eight years, the "Greatest Of All Time," Ricky Charmichael. Charmichael, as well as Ryan Villopoto, James Stewart, Jeremy McGrath, and Chad Reed, to name a few, have made themselves part of Daytona history. Tonight, more history was made inside the Daytona International Speedway.

Entering this fourth round for the East group of the 250s, Marvin Musquin of Red Bull KTM had been victorious in two of the three main events that had been raced; he won the East opener at Arlington, finished on the podium in the first Atlanta race, then returned to the top step of the podium in the second race at Atlanta. It may be very early in the going for the East class, but this consistency is what wins championships - and it's what had him as the points leader entering Saturday night's race at Daytona. 

At the gate drop for the 250 main event on the hybrid motocross-Supercross track, Marvin Musquin and Geico Honda's Justin Bogle stole to the front, but Jeremy Martin, the only other rider besides Musquin to win a main event this year (Atlanta 1), was buried back in the pack. Martin's gate choice was the furthest inside gate, and, because of this, a good start required a fantastic jump at the drop of the gates. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get as good a jump as he needed, and was buried mid-pack in the opening laps of the 15 lap main event. With the starts being as important as they are in Supercross, this is not the position, quite literally, that Martin wanted to be in. He had a lot of work ahead of him, and Musquin was pulling away from the pack already at the front. 

By the halfway point of the race, Musquin had been pushing hard on his KTM, clearly riding more aggressive than the other riders, to a lead of over eight seconds over second place of Justin Bogle. Bogle, the defending 250 East champion, only pressed on, without having to be all too worried about the racing behind him - as it was only Jeremy Martin on his Yamaha that had any real chance to pressure him for a pass. 

Martin was on the gas right from the start, despite his poor position on the opening few laps. This allowed him to pick off riders one by one, eventually earning his way to fourth place, one spot off the podium, behind Kawasaki's Joey Savatgy. There was still time yet in the race, though, and Jeremy Martin got his Yamaha by Savatgy for third before the race was over for a strong result, keeping himself at the front and in the grand scheme of things, despite the rough start to the race. 

Martin Davalos of Husqvarna is another notable rider of the 250 class. He finished 10th in the Daytona main event after a fall. 

After the 15 laps, it was Musquin taking the win, his second win at Daytona in his career (his first career win in America came at the 2013 Daytona round). Justin Bogle finished second, and Jeremy Martin rounded out the top three and the podium finishers. Full results of both main events will be at the very bottom. 

For the 450s, it was Chad Reed and Ryan Dungey who won heat one and heat two, respectively; ironic, as these two are the last two to win main events. All the top riders made it through through to the main via their heat races, as no real big names were sent to the semi races or LCQ. One name missing from timing and scoring tonight was Ken Roczen's as he re-injured his ankle that was originally injured in a scary crash during practice at the first round in Atlanta. After crashing in practice Saturday afternoon at Daytona, Roczen was ruled unable to race during the night program.

At the gate drop of the main event for the 450 Supercross class, Andrew Short of BTO KTM took to the lead, with KTM stablemate Ryan Dungey just behind him, as well as Eli Tomac, Chad Reed, Davi Millsaps, and Weston Peick. Trey Canard, winner of two races so far in 2015, was buried a bit back in the pack. Blake Baggett and Cole Seely were also frontrunners at the beginning of the main event. 

As the race progressed, Ryan Dungey continued to pressure Short, who was riding quite well in the lead of the race, having a good attacking-look, knowing the points leader was right behind him. Around the halfway point of the race, Dungey carried lots of speed through the long front stretch that was the length of the rest of the track and ran parallel to the front stretch of the famed NASCAR oval, scrubbed the huge triple jump that was placed on the entrance to a 180 degree corner, then went just around the outside of Andrew Short to take the lead. Andrew Short, shortly after, would find himself falling down the race standings; he finished outside of the top 10 in 12th. 

As he always does, Ryan Dungey, once in the lead, rode fast, consistent laps at the front, dominating the race and setting the pace of those behind him. Eli Tomac continued to go fast, as did Blake Baggett and Cole Seely, who battled for a bit during the middle stages of the race. 

Chad Reed fell earlier on in the race, as he simply got on the gas in one of the curvy S sections of the track and had no traction, laying down the TwoTwo Motorsports Kawasaki. This fall saw him drop down to ninth. 

A much more major crash happened to Mike Alessi, who was in the top five at the start. Alessi, who had a special broadcast camera on his helmet to bring live video during the races to the viewers at home, had a crash entering the first turn of the track, right where the mechanics were located to show pit boards to their riders. It was here that the start-straight joined with the actual race track, and the berm of the first turn of the start was a jump into the first turn of the actual track. Alessi made a mistake jumping this little bump and crashed hard in front of the mechanics area. Hard enough that not only did the rather large camera come off his helmet, but he laid stationary in the middle of the track before being carried off. Almost surprisingly, no red flag was brought out, even though Alessi was in a dangerous location of the track, laying down. 

After the 20 laps were raced, Ryan Dungey won another race, adding to his points lead, winning his first ever race at Daytona - a feat of its own. Rounding out the podium were Eli Tomac of Geico Honda and Blake Baggett of Yoshimura Suzuki. Cole Seely finished just off the podium in fourth. 

The next round for both the 250 East and 450 Supercross classes is next Saturday night, inside the Lucas Oil Stadium of Indianapolis. Watch for a preview of next weekend's race from Indianapolis here on VAVEL. 

Full results of both main events from Daytona:

250 East

  1. Marvin Musquin
  2. Justin Bogle
  3. Jeremy Martin
  4. Joey Savatgy
  5. RJ Hampshire
  6. James Decotis
  7. Kyle Peters
  8. Anthony Rodriguez
  9. Mitchell Oldenburg
  10. Martin Davalos
  11. Kyle Cunningham
  12. Jordon Smith
  13. Vince Friese
  14. Luke Renzland
  15. Colt Nichols
  16. Gannon Audette
  17. Justin Starling
  18. Dakota Alix
  19. Jace Owen
  20. AJ Catonzaro
  21. Nick Gaines
  22. Nick Desiderio

450 Supercross

  1. Ryan Dungey
  2. Eli Tomac
  3. Blake Baggett
  4. Cole Seely
  5. Chad Reed
  6. Trey Canard
  7. Jason Anderson
  8. Weston Peick
  9. Davi Millsaps
  10. Broc Tickle
  11. Joshua Grant
  12. Andrew Short
  13. Kyle Chisholm
  14. Philip Nicoletti
  15. Nicholas Wey
  16. Jimmy Albertson
  17. Ben Lamay
  18. Kyle Partridge
  19. Killian Rusk
  20. Jacob Weimer
  21. Nicholas Schmidt
  22. Mike Alessi

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About the author
Aaron Durant
Eighteen-year-old aspiring motorsports journalist. I lead The Apex as its editor-in-chief. Read my work at TheApex.racing.