Roczen victorious in Missouri | Jett Lawrence stars in 250

2020 AMA Supercross
Round Two – St. Louis, The Dome

Images by Hoppenworld

450 SX Heat One

Ken Roczen got a great start in Heat 1 but was gazumped at turn one by Vince Friese while defending champion Cooper Webb moved in to third place. Roczen was all over the back of Friese before making a pass on the second lap to move through to the lead.

Malcolm Stewart then sneaked past Cooper Webb to move up into fourth place. Blake Baggett and Eli Tomac joined that party to make it a very busy four-way tussle over that third place position.

The quartet slicing and dicing each other allowed Roczen to break away, but all four of those riders made short work of Friese and the battle had now become a war over second place. Australian riders Jay Wilson and Chad Reed were ninth and tenth respectively at this halfway stage of the race.

Eli Tomac and Malcolm Stewart eventually stretched away from Webb and Baggett and it was Tomac that secured second place while Stewart rounded out the podium. Cooper Webb won a heady battle over fellow KTM rider Blake Baggett for fourth place.

Australian Jay Wilson took eighth at the chequered flag to win his spot in the main but after crossing the line in tenth Chad Reed was heading for the LCQ. Countryman Joel Wightman would join him there after finishing 15th.

450 SX Heat Two

Zach Osborne started Heat 2 well but it was Justin Bogle that swept through to the early lead. Adam Cianciarulo was right on Osborne’s hammer from lap two but it was not until the second half of the race that the Monster Energy Kawasaki man made his move. 

Just before the halfway point Justin Bogle had thrown the Rocky Mountain KTM away in a whoop section and hit the deck. Osborne and Cianciarulo swept through while Osborne eventually rejoined the race outside the top ten.

Justin Barcia moved through to third place late in the race after getting the better of Martin Davalos and Jason Anderson, then held on to that spot all the way to the flag.  Cianciarulo was the winner by just over three-seconds from Osborne.

Justin Brayton retired from the race a couple of laps before the end with a mechanical problem. Justin Bogle managed to progress back up the order after that early mistake and crossed the line in ninth place to earn his place in the main.

450 SX LCQ

Chad Reed scored the holeshot in the 450 LCQ and held on to that lead for the opening laps before being overhauled by Justin Brayton who then pulled away to a clear victory.

Late in the race Kyle Cunningham pushed Reed back to third place and that was how it finished. Alex Ray secured the final transfer spot in fourth.

450 SX Final

Zach Osborne scored the holeshot in the 450SX Final but Ken Roczen was all over him throughout the opening lap, before settling a little and instead choosing to bide his time. Justin Barcia was in third place at this early stage of the race as Adam Cianciarulo worked his way up to fourth place after passing Jason Anderson.

Roczen then took the lead from Osborne and the Husqvarna man lost some time as the #94 Honda went past, allowing Barcia to close and pass him for second.

Adam Cianciarulo and Jason Anderson were banging bars over fourth place but it was the more experienced Anderson that came out on top, Cianciarulo was then pushed further back to sixth place by Justin Brayton. Malcolm Stewart was running seventh ahead of Eli Tomac, Justin Hill and Blake Baggett. 

Adam Cianciarulo got his head down again eight-minutes into the race and moved back past Brayton and up to fifth place, he then took fourth from Zach Osborne.  A couple of laps later his slow starting Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate Eli Tomac pushed Brayton further back to sixth place.

13-minutes into the race Roczen now had a seven-second lead over Justin Barcia, who in-turn had three-seconds on Jason Anderson. Adam Cianciarulo was a further five-seconds behind in fourth place but with Zach Osborne, Eli Tomac and Malcolm Stewart right behind him.

Adam Cianciarulo dropped the bike on the final lap while in fourth place but managed to pick the KX450F up and eventually salvage seventh place ahead of Justin Brayton.

Almost three years since Ken Roczen’s last supercross victory, after endless pain and extensive operations to try and repair horrific damage suffered to his arms, wrists and hands, the 25-year-old German stood again atop a supercross podium in what was a dominant victory.

Justin Barcia took second place ahead of Jason Anderson while Eli Tomac missed the podium in fourth.

Zach Osborne took fifth place ahead of Malcolm Stewart.

Chad Reed failed to finish the race.

Justin Barcia retains the lead in the championship on 49-points while Ken Roczen moves up to second place on 43-points, four-points ahead of Adam Cianciarulo.

2020 AMA Supercross Results
Round Two – St. Louis, The Dome

250 SX Heat One

Derek Drake looked on course for the holeshot but the KTM but then lost the rear mid-way into the first turn, carrying way too much speed after the long start straight, his machine then spun run and then also tripped up Mathias Jorgensen, Mitchell Gifford and Todd Bannister, all four riders hitting the deck and their chances disappear.

Left out front after the demise of Drake was Michael Mosiman leading Christian Craig and Australia Luke Clout, his countryman Aaron Tanti was sixth early on in lap one chasing Michael Leib and Cheyenne Harmon.

Christian Craig didn’t waste time in demonstrating his superior speed through the whoops to move past Mosiman and immediately starting to pull away on the Geico Honda CRF250R.

Justin Cooper was marching his way through the field with apparent ease after also losing time in that first turn melee caused by Drake.

Luke Clout looked good hanging on to third place, meanwhile Aaron Tanti had slipped back to tenth. Clout eventually succumbed to the charging Cooper and had to relinquish that third position to the round one winner only a few corners before the chequered flag.

Christian Craig the winner by five-seconds over Michael Mosiman. Justin Cooper sneaking past Clout at the final juncture to push the Aussie off the rostrum. Tanti just missed out on automatic qualification through to the main and would have to contest the LCQ.

250 SX Heat Two

Austin Forkner scored the holeshot but Mitch Oldenburg was quickly past the Kawasaki man as Aussie teenager Jett Lawrence gave chase. Early on the opening lap though Alex Martin and Japanese hotshot Taiki Koga pushed Lawrence back to fifth place.

Forkner was not letting Oldenburg have it his own way and lunged at the Penrite Honda man numerous times before stealing the lead back and then stretching away to a clear victory on the Monster Energy Kawasaki.

Reigning 250 West champ Dylan Ferrandis managed to sneak past Jacob Hayes in the closing stages but despite putting in the fastest lap of the race couldn’t manage to chase down Alex Martin and had to settle for fourth place.

Lawrence was looking strong but then made a mistake in his quest to put a move back on Koga. The pair both went down, Lawrence was lucky enough to get up and going again but the Japanese rider was not so fortunate. Lawrence managed to regather himself to cross the line in ninth place and thus earned automatic entry into the 250 main.

250 SX LCQ

Derek Drake made amends for his mistake in the heat race by taking a clear win in the 250 LCQ while Aaron Tanti took second place ahead of Mitchel Falk while Ludovic Macler earned the final transfer spot.

250 SX Final

Aussie teenager Jett Lawrence got a sensational start but Austin Forkner quickly swept past the Geico Honda youngster. Left on the deck on lap one was defending 250 West champ Dylan Ferrandis after he was rear-ended hard by Michael Mosiman, Ferrandis had to return to his mechanics in order to get damage to his machine repaired.

Jett Lawrence was maintaining a strong second place over the opening laps while not letting Forkner to break away, while countrymen Luke Clout was running seventh and Aaron Tanti 12th.

Justin Cooper was fighting his way through the field and with ten-minutes remaining moved past Hartranft for fourth place. A couple of minutes later he then dispensed with Christian Craig to move up to third.

Jett Lawrence was within a second of race leader Forkner for the first two-thirds of the race but five-minutes from the end Jett made a small mistake and clipped a tough-block which bent his rear brake pedal back around on to his peg. 

That bobble allowed Cooper to pounce and move through to second place.  A lap later Lawrence stopped to see his mechanics where they bent the brake lever back off his peg and the 16-year-old rejoined the race in fifth place but his podium chance was now gone.

Forkner managed to withstand the pressure from the closing Cooper to secure the win while Brandon Hartranft secured the final step on the rostrum ahead of Alex Martin. 

Jett Lawrence salvaged that fifth place after what had been a hugely encouraging performance for the youngster. Luke Clout took a great seventh place finish while fellow Aussie Aaron Tanti claimed 13th.

Justin Cooper the 250 West Championship leader on 49 points, five-points ahead of Austin Forkner. Jett Lawrence currently ranks equal fifth in the series with Alex Martin.

250 SX Results/Standings