2019 AMA Supercross
Round 17 – Las Vegas
Las Vegas hosted the final round of the 2019 AMA Supercross Championship and despite Eli Tomac dominating the final 450 main event of the year, it was Cooper Webb who came away with the championship.
Webb’s first-career 450SX Championship, giving KTM its fourth premier class title aboard the 450 SX-F.
Dylan Ferrandis and Chase Sexton won the West and East Coast 250 championships respectively.
450SX Report
The tension around the stadium was once again palpable as the 450 main event got underway and it was Tomac who earned a very rare holeshot and it was obvious from the outset that Eli was not interested in playing games with the Kawasaki rider putting down incredibly fast lap times to pull away from the KTM duo of Marvin Musquin and Webb.
While maintaining a few bike lengths back from Musquin, Webb was initially under pressure from Zach Osborne but he was able to slowly pull away from the Husqvarna rider before Ken Roczen made his way to the rear wheel of the championship leader put the plucky Webb stuck to hitting his marks around the slippery, hard packed Vegas layout.
As the track deteriorated Tomac continued to push and despite surviving a few ‘moments’ the Kawasaki rider crossed the line some 12 seconds ahead of Musquin while Webb rounded out the podium by a narrow margin over Roczen and Osborne with Cole Seely, Blake Baggett, Tyler Bowers, Justin Hill and Justin Bogle rounded out the top ten.
Webb, a two-time Western Regional 250SX Champion and a former 250 AMA National Motocross Champion can now add the 2019 AMA 450 Supercross Championship to his resume.
Cooper Webb – #1 Champion
“It’s been an incredible journey. This KTM team believed in me, they took me in and transformed me back to where I always knew I could be. This year was not expected at all, and I can’t thank them enough for giving me this opportunity to get back into this level and to do it this way is unreal. It’s a dream come true, I’ve had it since I was a little kid. It’s an incredible feeling, I am in shock.”
Eli Tomac – #2
“It’s all about putting the whole season together, we need to fill in the gaps which and we haven’t done that yet. I felt like in the beginning we were playing catch up then we kind of found our stride here in the last few races so that is the positive outlook on the season.”
Marvin Musquin #3
“After being second last year I was looking to go one step better and get the championship but I started the year with no training through November and December (thanks to a knee injury) which is where you build up for the season but we had a solid program where the goal was to get better each weekend, which I did, we were close to winning some main events then we won a couple. I would have liked to have been fighting for the championship all of the way to the end but that didn’t happen.”
450SX Main Event Results
1. Eli Tomac – 22 Laps
2. Marvin Musquin +12.061
3. Cooper Webb +17.466
4. Ken Roczen +18.216
5. Zach Osborne +29.872
6. Cole Seely +42.680
7. Blake Baggett +48.397
8. Tyler Bowers +55.636
9. Justin Hill +1:00.694
10. Justin Bogle – 21Laps
11. Justin Brayton +02.960
12. Ben Lamay +05.575
13. Kyle Chisholm +13.365
14. Ryan Breece +36.547
15. Alex Ray +49.372
16. Henry Miller +1:01.671
17. Carlen Gardner – 20Laps
18. Adam Enticknap +09.480
19. Charles Lefrancois +13.010
20. Tevin Tapia – 19Laps
21. Austin Politelli – 15Laps
22. Scott Champion – 7Laps
450SX Points after 17 of 17 Rounds
1. Cooper Webb – 379
2. Eli Tomac – 361
3. Marvin Musquin – 350
4. Ken Roczen – 319
5. Blake Baggett – 290
6. Dean Wilson – 223
7. Cole Seely – 211
8. Joey Savatgy – 208
9. Justin Bogle – 171
10. Justin Brayton – 163
11. Justin Hill – 162
12. Tyler Bowers – 155
13. Justin Barcia – 154
14. Zach Osborne – 154
15. Chad Reed – 151
250 SX
250 East/West Shoot-out Report
In the 250 East/West Coast shoot-out both titles were on the line with Chase Sexton holding an 8-point lead over Justin Cooper the East title while Adam Cianciarulo held a 9-point lead over Dylan Ferrandis in the West and with all four riders easily qualifying into the 15 minute main event the stage was set.
In the battle for the East, Sexton was running near the front of the field from the start of the race while Cooper battled mid-pack so at the line Sexton cruised through for a fourth-place finish, securing his first 250 championship for Geico Honda.
As for the West Coast title there was a fair bit of drama with Ferrandis taking the holeshot on his Monster Energy Yamaha while Cianciarulo was outside the top five but was then able to move up to third behind Ferrandis and Cameron McAdoo which would have secured Adam his first title and for several laps it was looking like Cianciarulo was riding smart and had then title in his grasp.
Unfortunately for Cianciarulo fans and Mitch Payton, the Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider come up short in a rhythm section, clipped a tuff box and crashed heavily leaving his handlebars bent beyond raceable and despite quickly going into the pits for repairs the championship was over for Cianciarulo……again.
Up front Ferrandis took a comfortable race win from RJ Hampshire, McAdoo and Sexton while Alex Martin, Colt Nichols, Michael Mosiman, Cooper, Martin Davalos and Garrett Marchbanks rounded out the top ten, well ahead of Cianciarulo who ended the main in 20th, handing Ferrandis his first championship on American soil.
Dylan Ferrandis – West Coast Champion
“Coming into the main, I just asked my mechanic to tell me what Adam was doing and when I saw it at P-10 and P-12, I couldn’t believe it.” Ferrandis said. “We trained so hard coming into this weekend. It’s more than a dream come true. It’s hard to put into words. I’m just thinking about all the people that have been with me and supporting me. The team has been behind me the past few years, and I’m very grateful to them for believing in me. This is incredible.”
Chase Sexton – East Coast Champion
“It feels super-good, it really hasn’t sunk in yet but being only 19 and winning my first championship is unbelievable. Man, it was the longest 15 plus one I have ever done, the track was gnarly, to do this for myself and the team is awesome, couldn’t have asked for any better.”
250 East/West Coast Main Event Results
1. Dylan Ferrandis – 16 Laps
2. RJ Hampshire +01.805
3. Cameron McAdoo +02.858
4. Chase Sexton +03.365
5. Alex Martin +04.625
6. Colt Nichols +05.871
7. Michael Mosiman +09.340
8. Justin Cooper +11.993
9. Martin Davalos +18.488
10. Garrett Marchbanks +22.901
11. Brandon Hartranft +26.177
12. Kyle Peters +35.205
13. Jordan Bailey +42.976
14. John Short +46.740
15. Lorenzo Locurcio +52.624
16. Justin Starling +1:06.503
17. Chase Marquier – 15Laps
18. James Decotis +17.645
19. Mitchell Falk +23.856
20. Adam Cianciarulo +44.305
21. Kyle Cunningham – 13Laps
22. Chris Blose – 4Laps
250 East Coast Points after 9 of 9 Rounds
1. Chase Sexton – 193
2. Justin Cooper – 180
3. Austin Forkner – 152
4. Martin Davalos – 148
5. Alex Martin – 139
6. Brandon Hartranft – 130
7. Mitchell Oldenburg – 128
8. Kyle Peters – 126
9. Kyle Cunningham – 110
10. Jordan Bailey – 101
250 West Coast Points after 10 of 10 Rounds
1. Dylan Ferrandis – 226
2. Adam Cianciarulo – 211
3. Colt Nichols – 180
4. RJ Hampshire – 168
5. Cameron McAdoo – 149
6. Michael Mosiman – 144
7. James Decotis – 133
8. Shane McElrath – 123
9. Chris Blose – 120
10. Garrett Marchbanks – 113
