Blow by blow reports from AMA SX season opener

2023 AMA Supercross Championship

Round One – Angel Stadium

250 Qualifying

Jett Lawrence had fell in Free Practice on a track that had been sodden only 24 hours earlier and subsequently was changing rapidly throughout each session and had riders reporting that it was one of the gnarliest they had seen.

Austin Forkner was quickest in qualifying ahead of Lawrence.  Pierce Brown was hot on their heels along with RJ Hampshire, less than two-tenths separating that quartet at the end of qualifying.

Wilson Todd started his campaign just inside the top 20 overall after topping his Group C Qualifying session while countryman Geran Stapleton qualified 36th.

250 Qualifying Results

250 Heat One

RJ Hampshire scored the holeshot in the opening semi and led the opening laps ahead of Mitch Oldenburg and Max Vohland while Jett Lawrence gave chase after getting stuck in the pack early on ahead of Levi Kitchen.

Jett Lawrence was patient as he waited for safe opportunities to pass before dispensing with Oldenburg and then Vohland. Up front though RJ Hampshire was gone…. The Husqvarna had almost three-seconds on Lawrence with three-minutes left in the Heat.

Lawrence steadily closed on Hampshire and the gap was down to 1.5-seconds with just over a minute plus one lap remaining. With just over two laps to go Lawrence had the gap down to only a few bike lengths but then made a mistake which lose him a lot of ground and allowed Hampshire to claim the opening Heat win of season 2023.

Geran Stapleton finished in 15th and had to head to the LCQ but failed to make the cut.

250 Heat One Results

250 Heat Two

Pierce Brown went down hard early on in the second 250 Heat and it wasn’t plain sailing for Austin Forkner either after the Kawasaki man was bumped off track and relegated down the order.

Enzo Lopes had scored the holeshot and led Cam McAdoo over the opening laps.

Forkner was inside the top nine by half race distance, nine-seconds behind race leader Lopes.

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Stilez Robertson had worked his way up to fourth but then went down and lost a number of places.

Cam McAdoo took the lead from Lopes with just over 2mins30s left on the shot clock. Forkner was up to seventh.

Forkner then took fifth place from Nicoletti. Drake closed the door on Forkner but ultimately could not keep the Kawasaki man at bay and with two laps to go Forkner was up to fourth, relegating Drake to fifth. Moments later Forkner was up to third after pushing Walsh down to fourth but he was almost 20-seconds behind team-mate and race leader McAdoo.

McAdoo the winner from Lopes while Forkner took third.

Wilson Todd went out early on and did not front the gates for the LCQ.

250 Heat Two Results

250 LCQ Results

250 Main

Austin Forkner went down hard on the run towards turn one after getting tripped up between McAdoo and Hampshire!

Jett Lawrence’s main competitor on the ground and in trouble while Jett Lawrence was out front and leading from Cam McAdoo, Max Vohland, Phil Nicoletti and RJ Hampshire.

It was a sad sight to see Forkner loaded into the back of the medical vehicle with what were no doubt both tears of disappointment and pain. All the work in the pre-season, the training, the diet, the sacrifices, all seemingly for nothing in that moment for the 24-year-old.

Hampshire put his head down to try and work his way into podium contention. Hampshire got Nicoletti, and Vohland to quickly work his way up to third place and with ten-minutes remaining he had another 2.5-seconds to get on terms with McAdoo. Out front Jett Lawrence was leading by 3.5-seconds at this juncture.

RJ Hampshire eventually did manage to reel in McAdoo and moved through to second place with two-minutes remaining on the shot clock.

For Jett Lawrence his title defence starts in perfect fashion with his eighth Main Event victory in AMA Supercross, and in dominant fashion by a clear five-seconds over Hampshire.

For Austin Forker, heartbreak…

Cameron McAdoo rounded out the podium.

250 Main Results

250 Championship Points

450 Qualifying

Chase Sexton (Honda) topped 450 Qualifying by more than three-tenths over defending champion Eli Tomac (Yamaha) to signal his intent ahead of the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship getting underway on Saturday night in front of a packed Angel Stadium, hosting the season opener for the 32nd time.

Next quickest in qualifying was Marvin Musquin (KTM) ahead of Jason Anderson (Kawasaki) and Ken Roczen made it five different manufacturers in the top five after lapping fifth quickest on a Suzuki.

450 Qualifying Results

450 Heat One

Eli Tomac led the field away in the opening 450 Heat and used that clear air to his advantage as Dylan Ferrandis, Adam Cianciarulo, Joey Savatgy and Jason Anderson gave chase.

Tomac was never challenged, let alone headed, and went on to take a clear victory over Dylan Ferrandis but there was a fair bit going on behind that pair.

Ultimately Adam Cianciarulo claimed third place ahead of Aaron Plessinger and Jason Anderson.

450 Heat One Results

450 Heat Two

Fastest qualifier Chase Sexton scored the holeshot to lead Marvin Musquin, Ken Roczen and Cooper Webb over the opening lap.

Roczen tried to force his way past Musquin to take second place but the Frenchman resisted the German charge to retain that second position. Malcolm Stewart charged up to fourth on the opening lap, dispensing with Webb and then climbing all over the back of Roczen.

Musquin then went wide which allowed Roczen to sweep through to second place and put some breathing space between himself, Stewart and Webb.

Up front Sexton had gone…. The race was not even at half distance and the Honda man had four-seconds over his pursuers.

Cooper Webb eventually broke clear of Musquin and Stewart to make third place his own. With two laps remaining Webb had just over a second to make up on Roczen in order to challenge for second place.

Webb challenged Roczen at the final juncture but the Suzuki man held on for that second place. Sexton the clear winner.

450 Heat Two Results

450 LCQ Results

450 Main

Colt Nichols and Justin Barcia led the field around turn one ahead of Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen but that order was soon shuffled. Tomac up to second, Roczen in third and then Malcolm Stewart into fourth.  Roczen stole second place from Tomac and the two then ran through sections of the track side by side, meanwhile Barcia had clear air up front.

Tomac was never going to allow Barcia the chance to put him into the fence and bided his time before he could safely pass and break away from the GASGAS gladiator. Barcia has one first time out here at A1 twice before and always comes out of the blocks hard and fast.

Chase Sexton had been stuck in the pack and was not up to fifth place until a few minutes into the contest and had a lot of ground to make up on the leaders.

Tomac took the lead four-minutes into the race. Barcia then jumped off the circuit and went out of contention. Roczen up to second, Stewart third, and Sexton now fourth with 15-minutes left on the shot clock.

Stewart then started to challenge Roczen and stole that second place from the German seven-minutes in. Tomac led by 2.5-seconds as this juncture and Sexton was equidistant back in third after getting the better of Roczen.

Tomac then went down! A scrub too much over a table-top put the champ on the deck.

Malcolm Stewart into the lead, Sexton second, Roczen third, Jason Anderson fourth and Tomac back to fifth at the halfway mark.  Anderson then made a mistake and went down, and lost a number of positions before he was back up and running.

Chase Sexton brushed Malcolm Stewart as he went through to the lead which sent the Floridian off the circuit and he lost a huge amount of time before he was able to safely rejoin the circuit. This allowed Roczen to close right onto his tail but Stewart resisted his advances before Tomac then pounced to push Roczen back to fourth place.

Dylan Ferrandis and Cooper Webb had both recovered from poor starts to be running fifth and sixth as the race entered its final quarter.

Ferrandis then pushed Roczen back to fifth place with four-minutes left on the shot clock. At this juncture Sexton led Stewart by 3.5-seconds, while Tomac was steadily stalking Stewart and looking for a safe way through…

Tomac through to second place, pushing Stewart back to third. While a few second further back Cooper Webb pushed Roczen further back to sixth place.

Eli Tomac then started reeling Sexton in… The Honda man then faltered under pressure and allowed the defending champion to close right on his tail…

Tomac back through to the lead! Tomac takes the lead with two-minutes left on the clock. Stewart was third and starting to hound Sexton before going down hard, a tough break for the 30-year-old. He eventually managed to remount and get going again but was well outside the top ten.

Cooper Webb then moved past Ferrandis and into a podium position.  Webb wasn’t settling for that though as his scope then targeted Sexton…. The two were on terms as they started the final lap and Webb went through to take second!

Eli Tomac took the chequered flag five-seconds ahead of Cooper Webb while Chase Sexton rounded out the podium.

Tomac had never before won the opening round of the 450 season, but finally came through on his tenth time around.

Dylan Ferrandis opens his account with fourth, Roczen fifth.

450 Main Results

450 Championship Points