450 OVERALL QUALIFYING RESULTS | 2021 HOUSTON SUPERCROSS 3
450 OVERALL QUALIFYING RESULTS | 2021 HOUSTON SUPERCROSS
The premier class is back for the last time in NRG Stadium before moving on to Indianapolis for the third round of the Monster Energy Supercross season. The track layout is different than the past two rounds with a sweeping right turn for a start and an extended sand section to throw the riders another curveball. Already in the first practice session we’ve observed slightly longer lap times than the previous two rounds. 5 plus seconds were added to each lap which for many riders, is a good thing. The faster the lap times, the more times they have to go around the track. And the more times they have to go around the track, the more deteriorated it becomes with lappers playing a larger role in the race. So with longer lap times, fewer outside factors come into play when time comes for the gate to drop. The track also proved to be more technical, with steeper jump faces and alternate rhythm sections. So get those early fantasy picks ready and predictions at hand as we report LIVE from Houston, Texas for the third round of the Monster Energy Supercross season.
FULL COVERAGE | 2021 HOUSTON SUPERCROSS 3
Photos by Brian Converse
450 OVERALL QUALIFYING
The 450 field is so close, Marvin’s lap time had him sitting in fourth in timed qualifying, then dropped to ninth after several riders only moved a tenth of a second faster.
Right off the get-go, Ken Roczen jumped to the front of the 450 pack to have a clear track and set the fastest qualifying time. Eli Tomac followed a second behind with teammate Adam Cianciarulo chasing in third. Cooper Webb there down a heater and made his way past the 2020 champ for the second place spot. Similar to the first round of qualifying, the field is so incredibly close, the top 10 positions flip-flopped every other lap. Eli Tomac grabbed the fastest time with Ken sitting in second and Zach Osborne in third. With four minutes left, the top 4 riders all sat within the same 47 second mark. Vince Friese went down in the whoops giving the rest of the riders a break during the qualifying session. The Alpinestars medical crew ran over to the number 40 and took him off on their medical rig. The riders lined back up on the track and had two minutes remaining to set their fastest lap time and Eli held on to the fastest lap time.
POS. | # | NAME | BEST TIME | ||
1 | 1 | Eli Tomac | 47.432 | ||
2 | 94 | Ken Roczen | 47.579 | ||
3 | 9 | Adam Cianciarulo | 47.652 | ||
4 | 16 | Zach Osborne | 47.870 | ||
5 | 10 | Justin Brayton | 48.170 | ||
6 | 2 | Cooper Webb | 48.215 | ||
7 | 15 | Dean Wilson | 48.464 | ||
8 | 51 | Justin Barcia | 48.474 | ||
9 | 25 | Marvin Musquin | 48.599 | ||
10 | 7 | Aaron Plessinger | 48.702 | ||
11 | 27 | Malcolm Stewart | 48.767 | ||
12 | 21 | Jason Anderson | 48.787 | ||
13 | 36 | Martin Davalos | 48.876 | ||
14 | 14 | Dylan Ferrandis | 48.999 | ||
15 | 19 | Justin Bogle | 49.044 | ||
16 | 37 | Benny Bloss | 49.051 | ||
17 | 40 | Vince Friese | 49.208 | ||
18 | 17 | Joey Savatgy | 49.382 | ||
19 | 20 | Broc Tickle | 49.540 | ||
20 | 28 | Brandon Hartranft | 49.954 | ||
21 | 11 | Kyle Chisholm | 50.022 | ||
22 | 83 | Alex Ray | 50.936 | ||
23 | 81 | Justin Starling | 51.028 | ||
24 | 805 | Carlen Gardner | 51.409 | ||
25 | 722 | Adam Enticknap | 51.630 | ||
26 | 43 | Fredrik Noren | 51.659 | ||
27 | 606 | Ronnie Stewart | 51.785 | ||
28 | 280 | Cade Clason | 51.854 | ||
29 | 981 | Austin Politelli | 51.903 | ||
30 | 309 | Jeremy Smith | 51.944 | ||
31 | 330 | Aj Catanzaro | 52.055 | ||
32 | 184 | Scott Champion | 52.360 | ||
33 | 114 | Nick Schmidt | 52.449 | ||
34 | 57 | Justin Rodbell | 52.782 | ||
35 | 824 | Carter Stephenson | 53.026 | ||
36 | 848 | Joan Cros | 53.055 | ||
37 | 952 | Ludovic Macler | 53.552 | ||
38 | 282 | Theodore Pauli | 53.610 | ||
39 | 447 | Deven Raper | 53.650 | ||
40 | 121 | Chris Howell | 53.835 |
TOP 40 QUALIFY TO THE RACES
41 | 976 | Joshua Greco | 53.860 | ||
42 | 421 | Vann Martin | 54.215 | ||
43 | 501 | Scotty Wennerstrom | 54.500 | ||
44 | 795 | Aaron Leininger | 57.191 |
Justin Brayton qualified fifth in the second session.
450 GROUP A FIRST QUALIFYING SESSION
Cooper Webb scouting the track out before qualifying.
With the change of the tracks speed and technicality, we still saw some regular faces at the top of the leaderboard for qualifying. One face we did not see at the top was unfortunately Chase Sexton who is quite good at getting on top of the leaderboard but did not show up due to the injury he sustained last weekend. Ken Roczen jumped to the fastest qualifying time right away followed by Adam Cianciarulo. Zach Osborne then snuck past the 9 of Cianciarulo and took the second place spot. Factory Husky rider, Dean Wilson, moved up to the fourth place position followed by 2020 Supercross champ, Eli Tomac. With two minutes remaining, Marvin Musquin jumped up to the fourth place position and Justin Brayton jumped to sixth. The current red plate holder, Justin Barcia, sat all the way back in ninth place as he navigated the track and the 2019 champ, Cooper Webb, moved to fifth place. Every other lap the 450 class made small moves on each other inching by their lap times. By the end of the first qualifying session, Ken Roczen held onto the fastest qualifying time of the day with a 47.6.
POS. | # | RIDER | BEST TIME | ||||
1 | 94 | Ken Roczen | 47.653 | ||||
2 | 16 | Zach Osborne | 48.103 | ||||
3 | 9 | Adam Cianciarulo | 48.222 | ||||
4 | 25 | Marvin Musquin | 48.599 | ||||
5 | 2 | Cooper Webb | 48.657 | ||||
6 | 15 | Dean Wilson | 48.809 | ||||
7 | 51 | Justin Barcia | 48.871 | ||||
8 | 36 | Martin Davalos | 48.876 | ||||
9 | 10 | Justin Brayton | 48.982 | ||||
10 | 1 | Eli Tomac | 49.016 | ||||
11 | 37 | Benny Bloss | 49.051 | ||||
12 | 14 | Dylan Ferrandis | 49.233 | ||||
13 | 27 | Malcolm Stewart | 49.293 | ||||
14 | 7 | Aaron Plessinger | 49.294 | ||||
15 | 19 | Justin Bogle | 49.516 | ||||
16 | 21 | Jason Anderson | 49.746 | ||||
17 | 40 | Vince Friese | 49.751 | ||||
18 | 20 | Broc Tickle | 49.931 | ||||
19 | 17 | Joey Savatgy | 50.211 | ||||
20 | 28 | Brandon Hartranft | 50.235 | ||||
21 | 11 | Kyle Chisholm | 50.948 | ||||
22 | 83 | Alex Ray | 51.294 |
Ken Roczen was the fastest 450 qualifier in the first session.