Barcia wins AMA SX opener | Cooper tops 250SX

2020 AMA Supercross

Round One – Anaheim 1

Images by Hoppenworld

The 2020 AMA Supercross season has kicked off with Anaheim 1 over the weekend, with Justin Barcia claiming top honours in the 450SX main event, ahead of Cianciarulo, with defending champion Cooper Webb settling for third.

Justin Cooper proved fastest meanwhile, in the 250SX Main Event, from Dyland Ferrandis and Christian Craig, while Aussie young-gun Jett Lawrence put in a credible ninth for his first US main event appearance.

SX450

Heat One

Ryan Breece got a great start but lost the rear heading into turn one which caused Aaron Plessinger also go down, and the Yamaha man looked hurt. Chad Reed also got caught up a melee at turn one but quickly rejoined the action.

No such problems though for Australian Supercross Champion Justin Brayton, who was the early leader from Vince Friese. Eli Tomac got baulked in the whoops and was shuffled back down to sixth place. Ken Roczen quickly worked his way into third place but had Malcolm Stewart right on his tail and a charging Tomac determined to regain the ground he lost in that earlier clash.

Roczen then took second place from Friese and quickly closed in on Brayton.  Behind that duo Tomac put a hard pass on Stewart which put the Honda man on the ground, he got going again in seventh place, but Tomac was now a clear fourth and looking to steal the final step on the rostrum from Friese but ran out of time to get the job done.

Brayton was the heat one winner with Ken Roczen making it a Honda 1-2 and Friese in third.

Chad Reed had worked his way up to 12th place by the chequered flag after that lap one tumble and thus was headed for the LCQ.

Heat Two

Adam Cianciarulo had proved the fastest in qualifying while defending champion Cooper Webb was struggling with the flu and had been somewhat off the pace. It was Zach Osborne that scored the holeshot though from Justin Barcia while Cianciarulo, Justin Hill and Webb gave chase.

Barcia got the better of Osborne on lap two while Cianciarulo made a mistake while battling with Hill and lost a place not only to the Honda man but was also usurped by Webb.

Cianciarulo regrouped and made his way past Webb once again. Webb then started to come under attack from behind by Jason Anderson.

The #9 Kawasaki of Cianciarulo stalked Osborne for a couple of laps and eventually the Husqvarna man succumbed to the pressure and went down fairly hard after jumping into the tough blocks and tumbling off the circuit. Osborne rejoined the race slowly in 13th place.

Justin Barcia had clear air out front and went on to take victory ahead of Cianciarulo while Webb managed to steal the third step on the podium from Justin Hill at the final juncture.

LCQ

Chad Reed got away well in the LCQ but it was Zach Osborne that squeezed through for the holeshot. The two finished in that order while Tyler Bowers and Aaron Plessinger also made it through to the main.

Final

Vince Friese scored the holeshot from Justin Barcia and Justin Brayton while Adam Cianciarulo was in fourth.  Barcia took the lead from Friese halfway through that opening lap. Justin Hill was fifth at the end of lap one, ahead of Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen.

Barcia was getting away while Brayton was hanging on to second place while being chased by Cianciarulo, while Friese, Roczen and Webb tripped each other up in their desperate quests to work their way forward in what was a busy pack. Barcia though had clear air up front and a 2.7-second advantage with 16-minutes remaining. Jason Anderson was eighth and Tomac was in ninth place.

Cianciarulo then got the better of Brayton to move up to second place and immediately pulled away from the Honda man. Cooper Webb was in fourth and despite battling the flu was clear of Ken Roczen and Blake Baggett.

Barcia looked safe up front but then a mistake with 12-minutes remaining saw the Yamaha man throw it all away! A 2.5-second lead turned into a 1.5-second deficit to Cianciarulo after Barcia’s clash with the tough blocks lost him his advantage.

Cooper Webb started to pile the pressure on third placed Brayton and with eight-minutes remaining the defending champ made his move to take that third spot. Brayton then had his hands full fending off the advances of Roczen and Baggett.

Barcia then got the better of Cianciarulo after the Kawasaki man made a big mistake that could have ended very badly but he managed to recover and rejoin the track 1.4-seconds behind Barcia.

Brayton then went from fourth to seventh in one corner after he was gazumped by Roczen and Baggett before then being used as a berm by Jason Anderson which put Brayton momentarily on the floor. Tomac then relegated Brayton further down to eighth place just ahead of Malcolm Stewart and Vince Friese.

Jason Anderson got the better of Roczen with two-minutes left to run to move up to fifth place. Up front Barica had a handy buffer over Cianciarulo who in turn had an even larger buffer over Cooper Webb. And that was how they finished, Barcia the winner of the A1 season opener, 450 debutante Cianciaurlo in second, while defending champ Cooper Webb rounded out the podium.

Blake Baggett clinched fourth place with a handy buffer over Jason Anderson while Ken Roczen claimed 17-points for sixth. Eli Tomac took seventh ahead of Justin Brayton and Malcolm Stewart, while Vince Friese rounded out the top ten.

In his record breaking 250th main event start Chad Reed finished in 18th place.

Results/Standings

SX250

Heat One

Alex Martin scored the holeshot from Austin Forkner as Justin Cooper and Jacob Hayes gave chase in Heat One. Meanwhile 16-year-old Aussie debutante Jett Lawrence managed to keep his nose clean and end the opening lap in tenth place.

Forkner went down on lap two and shortly thereafter Cooper took the lead from Alex Martin, while Forkner got up and running again in fourth place.

Jett Lawrence was working his way forward and with a minute remaining was up to sixth place, after moving past countryman Jay Wilson and Mitchell Falk.

Cooper continued to have the measure of Martin and went on to take a clear victory while Forkner rounded out the podium in third.

Jett Lawrence had missed press day due to food poisoning but proved strong enough to qualify for the main on debut thanks to his sixth place finish ahead of Wilson who made it two Aussies promoted through to the main from the opening heat.

Countryman Aaron Tanti would have try his hand at the LCQ after finishing that opening bout in 15th place for Serco Yamaha.

Heat Two

Defending 250 West champion Dylan Ferrandis had dominated qualifying and turned that form into immediate race pace to score the holeshot and lead Christian Craig, Brandon Hartranft and Cameron McAdoo on the opening lap while Aussie Luke Clout had started strongly to be placing fifth.

Little changed throughout the whole race with the only shake up in that order from the opening lap being McAdoo getting past Hartranft for the final step on the podium. Ferrandis the clear winner from Craig.  Clout scoring fifth place well ahead of sixth placed Killian Auberson.

LCQ

After stumbling in his heat race Michael Mosiman scored the holeshot and made no mistakes in the LCQ to take the win and secure his transfer spot ahead of Mitchell Falk, Logan Karnow and Chris Howell.

Australian Aaron Tanti went down early on in the bout after a clash with Martin Castelo and failed to complete a lap. Countryman Geran Stapleton scored an 11th place finish.

Final

Austin Forkner got a great run off the line but it was Justin Cooper out front ahead of Forkner, Christian Craig and Mitchell Oldenburg in the 250SX final. Luke Clout was in eighth place at the end of the opening lap while young countryman Jett Lawrence was running 11th in his first ever senior main event on American soil.

Michael Mosiman and Dylan Ferrandis pushed OIdenburg back to sixth place. Jett Lawrence got up to ninth place behind Clout but then dropped five positions after making a mistake that relegated him all the way back to 14th with ten-minutes remaining.

Forkner worked his way through to the lead after pushing Cooper back to second place, while with five-minutes remaining Dylan Ferrandis was in third place ahead of Christian Craig and Michael Mosiman. Luke Clout was now out of the race but Jett Lawrence had recovered from his stumble and was back up to ninth place.

Forkner then made a mistake while under pressure from Cooper and ran into the tough blocks and then cut the track when he remounted. Ferrandis pushed Forkner further back to third place but it was also expected that Forkner would also be given some sort of penalty for cutting the track which would push him even further down the order…

Justin Cooper went on to take a clear victory over Dylan Ferrandis while Austin Forker finished in third place at the flag ahead of Christian Craig and Michael Mosiman. Ultimately though Forkner was relegated to fifth place for cutting the track after his crash, which promoted Christian Craig on to the podium and Mosiman to fourth.

Jett Lawrence finished his maiden AMA Supercross event with a ninth place finish, crossing the line 46-seconds behind the race winner. Countryman Jay Wilson finished 17th while Luke Clout went out early in the race.

Results/Standings