2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Round Six – Anaheim III

Report by Trevor Hedge – Images by Jeff Kardas

---

450 Heat One

Dylan Ferrandis went down at turn one in the opening 450 Heat when Eli Tomac closed the door on him as they entered the turn. Ferrandis would have to contest the LCQ.  

No such drama for Justin Barcia who dominated the Heat.

Justin Brayton was second for most of the contest before being chased down and passed by Marvin Musquin.   

Eli Tomac had to work his way past Webb and then Brayton to take third place. 

450 Heat One Results

---

450 Heat Two

Jason Anderson topped qualifying despite having a crash in practice that saw the Kawasaki man go down towards the end of a series of whoops. Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton could not avoid him and all three clashed. All emerged okay and Webb displayed some great sportsmanship by leaving his own bike in the dirt so he could pull Sexton’s bike off the top of Anderson.

Jason Anderson bounced back from that qualifying mishap to score the holeshot in his 450 Heat ahead of Aaron Plessinger and Shane McElrath. Chase Sexton was fourth at the end of lap one while team-mate Ken Roczen was down in sixth just ahead of Malcolm Stewart. 

Roczen and Stewart managed to pass Anstie in the second half of the race to move up to fifth and sixth respectively. Later in the race Stewart got the better of Roczen to take that fifth position and maintained that all the way to the flag. 

Dean Wilson was in the final transfer spot in ninth but went down and lost a lot of time so would have to contest the LCQ in order for him to make it through to the Main. 

Jason Anderson the clear victor over Aaron Plessinger while Chase Sexton pushed Shane McElrath off the podium. 

450 Heat Two Results

---

450 Main

Both Dylan Ferrandis and Dean Wilson had to contest the LCQ to score their spot on the gate for the 450 Main. 

Jason Anderson scored the holeshot with Eli Tomac right on his tail Ken Roczen’s run of bad luck continued with the German dead last at this early point of the race after getting squeezed out into the tough blocks between turns one and two. 

Marvin Musquin pushed past Malcolm Stewart for third place on lap two. Justin Barcia was fifth, Shane McElrath sixth, Cooper Webb seventh, Chase Sexton eighth and Cooper Webb ninth while Aaron Plessinger rounded out the early top ten. 

Jason Anderson kept Eli Tomac at bay until three-minutes into the Main when he made his move but Anderson didn’t relent and took the lead right back. Their tussle was allowing Musquin to keep the pair in sight. 

Jason Anderson made a small stumble with 11-minutes to run but kept it together to only lose a few tenths to Tomac. The gap between the pair 2.7-seconds and they had now left Musquin in their wake.  Moments later Musquin went down in the sand trying to avoid a crossed-up lapper and was way down in seventh by the time we was back up to speed.  The mistake promoting Barcia into third, Malcolm Stewart fourth, Dylan Ferrandis fifth and Chase Sexton sixth with half of the race still to run. 

Jason Anderson made a few little mistakes in the second half of the race but then put it all together in the final five minutes to stretch away again and took a clear 3.5-second victory over Tomac. 

Justin Barcia rounded out the podium ahead of Malcolm Stewart and Marvin Musquin recovered from his mistake to take fifth ahead of Dylan Ferrandis and Chase Sexton.  

Defending champion Cooper Webb again failed to really fire and finished eighth ahead of Aaron Plessinger and Justin Brayton.  Ken Roczen salvaging 11th after his early mishap but never looked comfortable enough to have the sort of pace to threaten the front runners even if he had started well. 

With that victory Anderson moved past Chase Sexon in the championship chase and moved a few points closer to championship leader Eli Tomac.  The #3 Yamaha though still has a handy 12-point lead atop the points table. 

Next week the 450 riders will head 1850 miles across the country north-east to Minneapolis.

---

450 Video Highlights

---

450 Main Results

450 Post Race Press Conference

450 Championship Standings (Round 6 of 17)

---

250 Heat One

Jo Shimoda had finished second in qualifying and chased down Garrett Marchbanks on the final lap of the opening 250 Heat but a mistake while trying to set-up for a move on Marchbanks saw the Japanese rider go over the bars and down quite hard.

Marchbanks went on to take a 20-second victory over Nate Thrasher. 

250 Heat One Results

---

250 Heat Two

Christian Craig topped qualifying by more than a second and who was alongside him on the gate, Vince Friese…

Christian Craig took the right line into turn one to hold Michael Mosiman at bay and emerge out the other wise the early leader. Hunter Lawrence had some traffic to deal with but was quickly up to third and broke away from the pack while starting to reel in Mosiman. 

Hunter Lawrence eventually got the better of Mosiman after the GASGAS rider made a small mistake but by that time Craig enjoyed a three-second lead. 

Craig went on to win the Heat from Lawrence and Mosiman, that trio also the top three, in that order, in the championship heading into the Main in this sixth round of the series. 

250 Heat Two Results

---

250 Main

Unfortunately Jo Shimoda was ruled unfit after his Heat race crash. A hefty blow for the 19-year-old who was running fourth in the championship before this event. 

Hunter Lawrence scored the holeshot ahead of Christian Craig but Vince Friese then split the two of them to move through to the race lead! Michael Mosiman went down on lap one which saw his podium chances disappear.

Both Craig and Lawrence got back past Friese and immediately started to pull away. The gap between that front running pair was 1.5-seconds at this early juncture.

Jalek Swoll was in fourth place a couple of laps into the Main but then crashed at the end of the whoops section which also took Thrasher down. 

A few laps later Hunter Lawrence suffered the same fate and had a big end over end crash that left the Aussie in a lot of pain and put him out of the race. Lawrence was only eight-points behind Craig when they went into this round but that DNF a costly mistake. 

Christian Craig enjoyed a massive 15-second lead over Vince Friese with seven-minutes still remaining. Michael Mosiman was running third ahead of Chris Blose but then moved past Friese for second place with four-minutes remaining. 

The whoops claimed another victim with just over a minute to go. Michael Mosiman was in a safe second place but then went down.  The GASGAS rider recovered but his mistake promoted Vince Friese into second place. 

Craig went on to take a completely dominant 25-second victory. Only Lawrence had anywhere near the speed to challenge him but that challenge came unstuck early on in the piece when the Aussie went over the bars and down hard. 

Friese took second thanks to Mosiman’s mistake.  Mosiman’s third though was enough to sneak past Hunter Lawrence in the championship chase, 120 plays 119-points. 

Aussie privateer Geran Stapleton made it through to the Main after scoring a third place in the LCQ and collected 11-points for a brilliant 12th place finish in the Main. 

Next week is the opening round of the 250 East Championship. The 250 West competitors will not be back in action until March 26 in Seattle and Christian Craig will head to Seattle with a 28-point lead in the championship. 

---

250 Main Video Highlights

250 Main Results

250 Post Race Press Conference

250 West Championship Standings (Round 6 of 10)

---

Source: MCNews.com.au