Reed Wins 40th Anniversary Monster Energy Supercross Race at Angel Stadium
Seely Seals the Deal with First 250SX Class Win of the Season
Discount Tire Racing/TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed became the third different rider in as many races to win a Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, race this season inside Angel Stadium in front of 40,682 fans. Saturday night’s race was the “40th Anniversary Celebration Race” of Monster Energy Supercross. After finishing second at the first two races of the Western Regional 250SX Class Championship, Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil/Honda’s Cole Seely won his first Main Event of the season.
Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey set the pace early by winning the Nuclear Cowboyz® Holeshot Award to start the 450SX Class Main Event. Team Mafia Moto Crew Kawasaki’s Nick Wey trailed Dungey through turn one in second place. On the opening lap, three-time defending Monster Energy Supercross Champion Ryan Villopoto put his Monster Energy Kawasaki into third place while Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen pulled onto Villopoto’s back wheel in fourth. Roczen then passed Villopoto to take over third place.
While leading on Lap 6, Dungey crashed and dropped to fifth place, giving the lead to Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart. Villopoto bounced back to pass Roczen for the number-two position and set his sights on Stewart. On Lap 14, Villopoto attempted to pass Stewart and crashed, losing several positions.
The crash by Villopoto allowed Roczen to move into second place and Reed to third place. The next lap, Reed passed Roczen for second and two laps later, he passed Stewart for the lead and eventual win. Stewart finished second and Roczen finished third.
“I had 41 of these [wins] before tonight, and they came a hell of a lot easier than this one,” said Reed. “I am so proud and could not have done this without the hard work from my Discount Tire team. We all worked so hard in the off season, and it paid off in a big way tonight. I am so pumped.”
“”The track was tight tonight,” said Stewart. “We had two veterans finish one and two tonight, so that was great. Overall, I am proud of my race tonight.”
This was Reed’s first win since January 21, 2012 in Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium and the 42nd of his career. It was also his first win in Anaheim since February 2, 2008 when he won all three races at the venue.
Roczen reclaimed the points lead with Villopoto trailing by a point. Reed moved into third place.
Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Cooper Webb jumped out to the early lead with the Nuclear Cowboyz Holeshot Award in the Western Regional 250SX Class Main Event with Seely and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson following in second and third, respectively. Seely snuck around Webb shortly after turn one. On Lap 3, Wilson crashed and re-entered the race in 15th place. Wilson’s crash allowed Rockstar Energy Racing’s Jason Anderson to move into third place.
Anderson passed Webb on Lap 8 to secure second place, 5.7 seconds behind Seely. Seely held on for the win, followed by Anderson and Webb. Tonight was the first career podium finish for Webb, who is a rookie this year.
“It was an awesome night for our team,” said Seely. “We have done so much testing before and during the season and spent countless hours at the track, so it is nice to have the hard work pay off. I had some breathing room on the last lap, which was nice. We are going to keep the momentum going headed into next week.”
The win was Seely’s fourth of his career and immediately after the event he trailed Anderson in season standings by three points. Later on however, and after studying footage of the race, AMA Supercross officials deemed Anderson to have passed under a caution flag. They issued the following statement: “The AMA Supercross Race Director determined that Rio Rancho, N.M.’s Jason Anderson (No. 17) and Vista, Calif.’s Chris Proscelle (No. 193) violated Section 4.15, paragraph e of the 2014 AMA Supercross Rulebook.
Section 4.15, paragraph e reads as follows:
e. White Flag with Red Cross or Red Flashing Light:
1. This flag or a red flashing light may be displayed at the beginning of a triple jump or a series of jumps.
2. The riders must roll each jump individually with no passing and exercise extreme caution until they are past the area of concern.
3. This includes the sighting or cool down laps.
4. Takes precedence over all other flags that may be displayed.
5. The penalty for non-compliance of this flag during a race will be the loss of number of positions gained plus two additional positions in the final results for that race. If no positions were gained, the penalty will be the loss of two positions in the final results for that race.
6. The penalty for non-compliance of this flag during qualifying practices will be the loss of the rider’s fastest lap time during that session
Results for the Anaheim, Calif., Jan. 18, main event have been modified accordingly and are shown below with Anderson being relegated from second to fourth position in the race, and now trails Seely by a single point in the series standings.
Monster Energy Supercross heads to Oakland’s O.co Coliseum next Saturday, January 25, for the fourth race of the 2014 season.
250SX Class Results: Anaheim
Cole Seely, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Honda
Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., Yamaha
Malcolm Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Honda
Jason Anderson, Rio Rancho, N.M., KTM
Justin Hill, Yoncalla, Ore., Kawasaki
Shane McElrath, Chesterfield, S.C., Honda
Dean Wilson, Wesley Chapel, Fla., Kawasaki
Zach Osborne, Chesterfield, S.C., Honda
Michael Leib, Menifee, Calif., Honda
Jessy Nelson, Paso Robles, Calif., Honda
250SX Class Season Standings
Cole Seely, Lake Elsinore, Calif., Honda, 69
Jason Anderson, Rio Rancho, N.M., KTM, 68
Zach Osborne, Chesterfield, S.C., Honda, 53
Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., Yamaha, 53
Dean Wilson, Wesley Chapel, Fla., Kawasaki, 50
Malcolm Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Honda, 49
Justin Hill, Yoncalla, Ore., Kawasaki, 44
Jessy Nelson, Paso Robles, Calif., Honda, 35
Dean Ferris, Murrieta, Calif., KTM, 31
Shane McElrath, Chesterfield, S.C., Honda, 29
450SX Class Results: Anaheim
Chad Reed, Dade City, Fla., Kawasaki
James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Suzuki
Ken Roczen, Murrieta, Calif., KTM
Justin Brayton, Cornelius, N.C., Yamaha
Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki
Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., KTM
Weston Peick, Wildomar, Calif., Suzuki
Josh Hill, Yoncalla, Ore., Suzuki
Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, KTM
Jake Weimer, Rupert, Idaho, Kawasaki
450SX Class Season Standings
Ken Roczen, Murrieta, Calif., KTM, 60
Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki, 59
Chad Reed, Dade City, Fla., Kawasaki, 57
Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., KTM, 57
Justin Brayton, Cornelius, N.C., Yamaha, 55
James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Suzuki, 44
Justin Barcia, Pinetta, Fla., Honda, 42
Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, KTM, 38
Wil Hahn, Menifee, Calif., Honda, 30
Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Suzuki, 26
KTM Junior Supercross Challenge
Reed Vogan, Cameron park, Calif., KTM
Justice Rutledge, West Valley, Utah, KTM
Ricky Negrate, North Hills, Calif., KTM
Dylann Dranke, San Jose, Calif., KTM
Dylan Howard, Julian, Calif., KTM
Mikayla Nielsen, Riverside, Calif., KTM
Jordan Dowell, Ventura, Calif., KTM
Aiden Otten, Lakeside, Calif., KTM
Raul Gutierez, Temecula, Calif., KTM
Maddix Laughton, Escondido, Calif., KTM
Landon Glodowski, Twin Falls, Idaho, KTM
Niko Munoz, Los Angeles, KTM
Mackenzie Caverill, Frazier Park, Calif., KTM
Braxton Horta, Mesa, Ariz., KTM
Jeremy Garcia, Phoenix, KTM
KTM Report
Red Bull KTM Factory rider Ken Roczen of Germany had a good night out in the third round of the Monster Energy Supercross Series to finish in third in the 450 SX class to reclaim the red plate. Factory teammate Ryan Dungey fought back to salvage sixth place after rebounding from a mid-race crash.
Roczen had the top time in the early afternoon qualifiers and continued to show his good form to finish his heat second place for an easy transfer to the main. Dungey had a decent jump in his heat but got pushed out as the riders rounded the first corner. He then picked off riders to move into fourth to pick up the final transfer spot into the main.
Roczen and Dungey lined up together for the main but it was Dungey who grabbed the holeshot on his KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition. Dungey led the first quarter of the race while a major battle evolved behind him between five top riders.
Then Dungey fell in a corner just before the half way mark and lost the lead to James Stewart. Behind Stewart, Roczen, Ryan Villopoto and Chad Reed all battled for the second place position.
Roczen and Villopoto swapped positions three times with Roczen eventually gaining the spot. Then Reed slipped by Roczen and Stewart and went on to take the win. Stewart finished second while Roczen hung on to finish third. Dungey recovered from his crash to finish sixth.
Roczen regains the red plate as championship leader, which was also his after his win in his first 450-class ride at Anaheim 1 to open the season. Dungey is tied for third just three points behind Roczen.
SX 250 West Coast championship
In the 250 SX, Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy KTM) picked up second place to retain the red plate as championship leader after three rounds while Red Bull KTM’s Dean Ferris, in his rookie year with the team, rebounded after a mid-race crash to finish eleventh. The Australian moves up to ninth in the points standings for the West Coast Championship, in what is a fiercely competitive arena.
Ferris got a great jump in his heat race and was sitting in a qualifying position from the start. He made a few key passes to finish in fifth for a decent gate pick in the main event. He got out of the gate reasonably well in the main then
cut to the inside of the first corner into third place before conceding some places in the next lap.
But Ferris came unstuck when Malcolm Stewart crashed right in his line. He recovered quickly but lost multiple positions and made a valiant attempt to get back into the top ten, finally finishing one spot short.
“It’s unfortunate that I crashed tonight,” commented Ferris. “I was hoping to improve upon last week’s performance but my crash set me back. Having a poor result just motivates you to try harder each week. I will work even harder this week to be inside the top ten at the next round in Oakland.”
