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
Source: MCNews.com.au