Starting Line Look BID

MARVIN MUSQUIN WRIST INJURY: OUT FOR SD SUPERCROSS

Red Bull KTM confirmed this morning that rider Marvin Musquin suffered a wrist injury this week while practicing and will miss this weekends Supercross in San Diego California. Musquin’s wrist will undergo further evaluation to determine the full extent of his injury and make a plan for his return. For 2023 Musquin is under contract to ride Supercross only. Below is the statement KTM released via their social media this morning.

“Red Bull KTM has confirmed that @MarvinMusquin25 will miss this weekend’s San Diego @supercrosslive due to a wrist injury sustained this week during practice. The Frenchmen is having his wrist evaluated by doctors and more information will come. “

What...Me Mad?

“I WASN’T MAD ABOUT THE PASS AT ALL” JUSTIN BARCIA // 2023 SAN DIEGO SUPERCROSS

After the 2023 San Diego Supercross, MXA's Josh Mosiman caught up with Justin Barcia to ask about the take-outs with Jason Anderson and Chase Sexton, as well as his impressive ride in the 450SX Main Event where he held off a hard charging Ken Roczen and Chase Sexton to finish on the podium. In this interview Justin also talks about his riding style and what he's been working on to improve during the week. Plus, Justin mentions his teammates, Michael Mosiman and Pierce Brown as well.

San Diego Recap

The winners may have been the same in San Diego’s Snapdragon stadium as at Anaheim 1, but there was no lack of excitement. Adding to the drama was Malcom Stewart’s two crashes, Anderson and Barcia at it again, Ken Roczen looking a little better than at round one, Chase Sexton struggling (but salvaging a top five), Joey Savatgy making the top ten and Cooper Webb’s resurgence as the real deal.

What A Start!

Tomac On A Roll

Tomac makes it two in a row with San Diego 450SX win

Section: Competition Post: Alex Gobert

Perfect start to the season in Snapdragon Stadium Supercross debut.

Defending 450SX champion Eli Tomac continued his perfect start to the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship in winning at San Diego’s new Snapdragon Stadium tonight.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider too charge on lap five and went on to win by just 1.148s over a charging Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM), who put pressure on in the closing laps.

While Tomac was convincing for a second-straight victory, Webb repeated his result from the opener and led his share of laps before Tomac went by and this time trailed him home to the end – not quite able to strike when it counted.

Third marked the first podium of the season for Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas) equipped with the new generation MC 450F Factory Edition, benefiting from a mid-race mishap from Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki) while he was in podium contention.

Directly behind in fourth was Ken Roczen (Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki), as Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC) got through the night in fifth position. Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) crossed the finish in sixth for another consistent result, as Anderson eventually claimed a lowly P7.

After leading the opening laps, Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) was eighth, from Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM) in ninth after being outside the top 15 on lap one, and Joey Savatgy (Rick Ware Racing) completed the top 10.

The hard luck story of the main event was Malcolm Stewart (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), going down multiple times and eventually settling for 15th after qualifying quickest this afternoon and winning his heat race in spectacular fashion.

Leading into Anaheim 2 next Saturday night, Tomac now leads by six points over Webb, with Sexton still within reach, a further seven in arrears.

Jett Takes Two

250SX leader Lawrence goes back-to-back in San Diego

Share

Section: Competition Post: Alex Gobert

Western region podium replicates that of the opener two weeks ago.

Image: Octopi Media.

Red plate-holder Jett Lawrence was once again the class of the field in San Diego, extending his Monster Energy Supercross 250SX West points-lead with back-to-back victories to open his 2023 campaign.

Lawrence holeshot and led every lap for a 3.613s win on this occasion, topping a fast-finishing RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), who in turn made a move on Cameron McAdoo (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) with two laps remaining.

It was a first turn incident involving Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), Wilson Todd (Fire Power Honda) and Mitchell Harrison (AJE Motorsport GasGas) that ruined their races, but at the front it was all eyes on Team Honda HRC’s Lawrence.

There was yet again a convincing performance from Enzo Lopes (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha) on his way to fourth position, with Pierce Brown (TLD Red Bull GasGas) returning after crashing out at Anaheim to earn P5.

Positions six through 10 included Stilez Robertson (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), Mitchell Oldenburg (Smartop MotoConcepts Racing Honda), Phil Nicoletti (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha) after running up-front early on, Derek Kelley (AEO Powersports KTM) and Cole Thompson (Team Solitaire Heartbeat Hot Sauce Yamaha).

Of the riders in the pile-up, Todd climbed to 17th, while both Kitchen and Harrison were ruled out altogether.

Two rounds into the season, Lawrence now leads by six points over the consistent Hampshire, with McAdoo a further four points back in third – replicating the podium from the opener a fortnight ago as we now look ahead to Anaheim 2 next Saturday.

Reed Still Feels The Need for Speed!

Tomac Again!

1.Tomac 2.Webb 3.Barcia

Supercross Round 2 at San Diego by the numbers

Dan Beaver - Supercross Round 2 numbers

Eli Tomac and Jett Lawrence took the early lead in the NBC Power Rankings with their victories at Anaheim 1 and here are some of the other numbers you need to know heading into Supercross Round 2 at Petco Park in San Diego, California for this weekend’s race.

This will be the 40th time Supercross has run in San Diego in 39 seasons and the eighth time they’ve raced at Petco Park. Two races were held in 2016, (the second year the series ran at Petco Park), with Ryan Dungey sweeping the venue.

Tomac may have difficulty earning a second consecutive victory in 2023 as this is his third-worst venue in terms of career-average finish. In nine visits to San Diego, he has an average of 6.3, largely due to a failure to start in 2018 when he was credited with a 22nd-place finish. On the plus side, Tomac has one win and two podium finishes to offset that disappointment.

Making his bid for two more difficult, Petco Park is a venue that has not been kind to repeat winners. The last five races there have been won by a different rider. In fact, no active rider has multiple wins in San Diego with Ken Roczen winning in 2017, Jason Anderson in 2018, Tomac in 2019, Cooper Webb in 2020 and Chase Sexton last year.

Tomac and Webb each have two 250 wins on this track and Roczen has the most podium finishes (five) among active riders.

Second in the points’ standings, Webb also has one win and two top-five finishes in five San Diego starts,

Chase Sexton leads Eli Tomac in San Diego in what would be a precursor of what the outdoor season looked like. Feld Motor Sports/MX Sports Pro Racing/Align Media

Third-place Sexton has the most recent success at Petco Park; he won his first Supercross race on this track last year. He stood on the podium seven more times last year, including second-place finishes in St. Louis and Salt Lake City, but would not ascend to the top box again until the Pro Motocross season.

Last year featured first time winners in San Diego in both classes. Sexton won in 450s and Michael Mosiman in 250s. Sexton’s win made him the 65th rider to win in the premier class.

Another major storyline from last year was the overflow of tempers when Justin Barcia and Justin Bogle skirmished throughout the race. Ultimately, Barcia cleaned out Bogle and was disqualified post-race.

Along with Chase Sexton in the 450 class, Michael Mosiman was a first-time winner in 250s at San Diego. Feld Motor Sports/MX Sports Pro Racing/Align Media

The egalitarian nature of San Diego carries over into the 250 class, where there have been no repeat winners in the last seven races.

This will be the first time Jett Lawrence has raced in San Diego. He competed in the East division in the past two seasons, while 2020 was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the final three West division races of 2020 to be run in Salt Lake City.

RJ Hampshire finished 15th at San Diego in 2019, the only time he raced in 250 West division.

Cameron McAdoo finished ninth there in 2019 and 22nd in 2020.

After last week’s postponement of the Oakland race, San Diego moves up to the second round. Oakland will now run on February 18, which was an open date on the schedule.