2022 ANAHEIM 1 FLASHBACK: RELIVING THE 2022 ANAHEIM 1 SUPERCROSS

RELIVING THE 2022 ANAHEIM 1 SUPERCROSS

Supercross season openers are always wild races. There are always big crashes, riders taking each other out, injuries and exciting bar-to-bar racing. If you didn’t know any better you might think that this race decide who would win the championship. It has been said by the best in the sport that the first round can’t win you a championship, but it sure could lose one.

What is it that makes the riders in the opening round make such irrational decisions on the race track? Could it be ego for some? How about nerves? A willingness to have to prove themselves for their team, family and fans? It is a pressure cooker out there, but the veterans showed their maturity on the track. The 450 podium finishers of Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb and Justin Barcia rode their own race. They weren’t the fastest, they just raced their own race to the finish. They kept their cool and didn’t make any rash decisions. Chase Sexton should have won Anaheim 1 but it got the best of him. Welcome to MXA’s The Aftermath.

Photos by Trevor Nelson and facts by Ben Bridges

450 SX CLASS REVIEW // ROCZEN ROCKS ROUND 1

Ken Roczen captures his 20th career win at the season opener.

Ken Roczen goes on to get his 20^th career win and his fourth round 1 win.
Team Honda gets their 15^th round 1 win.

Jeremy McGrath has won 5 season openers.

Roczen trails only Jeremy McGrath in first-round wins. McGrath has a total of 5 first-round wins.
This is the 7^th season Roczen has won at least one 450 Supercross event.
It’s Roczen’s 5^th win at Anaheim overall.
With his win, Roczen becomes the 11th rider in Supercross history to reach the 20 win mark.

Cooper Webb was rock solid. A1 was his best season opener finish ever.

Cooper Webb takes 2nd, his 50^th Top 5.
It was Cooper Webb’s best ever round 1 finish.
KTM had four bikes in the top 9.

There were four KTMs in the top 10. Aaron Plessinger was 9th.

Justin Barcia makes the podium but misses out on four consecutive round 1 wins.
For 5 consecutive seasons, Barcia has been on the podium for round 1.
Marvin Musquin was fourth. His 53^rd career top five.

Justin Barcia (51) didn’t get his fourth season opener win, but he did get on the podium at the opener for 5 consecutive season.

Chase Sexton was fifth. It was his 7^th top five in 12 starts.
Eli Tomac was 6th. His round 1 average in his 450 tenure is 10.5.

250SX CLASS REVIEW // CRAIG CONQUERS ANAHEIM

Christain Craig rode awesome at A1.

Christian Craig wins round 1 and has now had back-to-back round 1 victories.
On January 27^th 1990 Michael Craig won round 1 on a Kawasaki also at Anaheim.

Christian Craig’s dad, Mike Craig won the season openers in Anaheim in 1990.

Christian Craig has now won back-to-back round 1’s which is something his father wasn’t able to do.
Christian Craig becomes only the 7^th rider in 250SX history to win back-to-back round 1’s.

Jake Weimer helped Kawasaki get 12 overall season opener wins in the 250 class back in 2010.

Yamaha now has nine 1^st Round wins, 2^nd only to Kawasaki with 12.
Seth Hammaker took second, his 4^th career podium in 10 starts.

Seth Hammaker got his fourth podium in only 10 starts.

Hunter Lawrence was third, his 5^th career podium.

WHAT WENT ON IN ANAHEIM 1

As usual, fireworks went off at A1.

The big talk at A1 as far as the bikes were concerned was the electric water pumps. Our friend Adam Miller (who build some exotic bikes) give us some insight into some advantages that weren’t really mentioned. Here is what he said:

“That hype about the electric water pumps, there are a few advantages I don’t see mentioned.

“Faster or higher “Flow” is not the pursuit here and I see that commonly being the conception. The coolant needs to transfer the heat from the aluminum into it. If the water were to just move faster the engine would actually overheat. So theere gains are likely legitimate by eliminating the parasitic drag of the mechanical impeller. At lower rpm it’s possible the mechanical system is at par with what internally restricted passages are slowing for flow, this restriction is visible particularly in those areas of the head gasket you see where the cavity may be 8mm x 20mm yet only have a 6mm hole in the gasket.

“As rpm increases the mechanical pump speed does as well, yet that restriction is still required to maintain the slow water speed for proper cooling. So it’s basically creating a hydraulic brake with the added drag.

“Having the electric pump is brilliant since the hydraulic braking effect is eliminated and no doubt the pump is also variable speed so more than likely the gasket or other restrictions have been altered to suit it since it can no doubt also pump slower than the mechanical style when needed as well.
It would eliminate the need for a mechanical thermostat at the same time which is obviously another restriction. Excellent idea.”

It was awesome to see the kids at on the track racing the KTM Challenge on electric KTM’s. Here is Dirt Bike magazine Managing Edior Mark Tilley and his son walking the A1 track.

Adam Cianciarulo is one tough cookie. After having a grade 3 shoulder separation the week before A1, and crashing hard in qualifying Adam still ground it out to finish 11th in the main event.

Josh Hill was a fill-in rider on the Team Tedder squad. He rode well, but didn’t make the main.

Jalek Swoll’s FC250 after his big crash.

Justin Barcia rode like his aggressive self and cleaned out factory Kawasaki rider Jason Anderson when he was in third place. Justin Barcia bought some of Jason Anderson’s Team Fried merch after he was called out on Social Media.

Factory GasGas rider Michael Mosiman looked great when he won his heat race. Unfortunately the first turn crash in the main set him back.

Eli Tomac didn’t look like Eli Tomac. The question is, is it Eli or the bike? Seeing how his teammate Dylan Ferrandis rode we are leaning toward the bike.

Cooper Webb in motion. Cool photo Trevor.

Chase Sexton was doing things we haven’t seen done on a dirt bike since James Stewart—including crashing.

CHASE SEXTON’S ANAHEIM 1 CRASHES

At the start of the 450 Main Event, it was a battle for the lead between the two Honda teammates. Chase Sexton would play cat and mouse with Ken Roczen but a tip over would cost him his chances of winning the race.

But it would be Ken Roczen who would be the first winner of the 2022 season.

In the 250 Main, Christian Craig would get the lead early and run away with it, securing his Anaheim victory by a long shot.

Seth Hammaker secured second place position in the 250 class.

WATCH THE BARN-BURNING ANAHEIM 1 450 SUPERCROSS IN UNDER 3 MINUTES

450 POINT STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1

Ken Roczen started the season off with a flawless victory.

1	94	Ken Roczen	26
2	1	Cooper Webb	23
3	51	Justin Barcia	21
4	25	Marvin Musquin	19
5	23	Chase Sexton	18
6	3	Eli Tomac	17
7	27	Malcolm Stewart	16
8	17	Joey Savatgy	15
9	7	Aaron Plessinger	14
10	21	Jason Anderson	13
11	9	Adam Cianciarulo	12
12	15	Dean Wilson	11
13	10	Justin Brayton	10
14	34	Max Anstie	9
15	54	Mitchell Oldenburg	8
16	14	Dylan Ferrandis	7
17	41	Brandon Hartranft	6
18	12	Shane McElrath	5
19	78	Cade Clason	4
20	61	Fredrik Noren	3
21	95	Justin Starling	2
22	200	Ryan Breece	1

THE CRASH THAT ENDED COLT NICHOLS’ 2022 SEASON

250 WEST POINT STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1

Christian Craig leads the 250 West Coast division after having a very successful Main Event.

POS.	#	NAME	POINTS
1	28	Christian Craig	26
2	47	Seth Hammaker	23
3	96	Hunter Lawrence	21
4	35	Garrett Marchbanks	19
5	62	Vince Friese	18
6	29	Michael Mosiman	17
7	30	Jo Shimoda	16
8	69	Robbie Wageman	15
9	98	Dominique Thury	14
10	43	Carson Mumford	13
11	66	Chris Blose	12
12	49	Nate Thrasher	11
13	64	Mitchell Harrison	10
14	161	Cole Thompson	9
15	40	Dilan Schwartz	8
16	58	Ryan Surratt	7
17	101	Dylan Walsh	6
18	67	Logan Karnow	5
19	79	Hunter Schlosser	4
20	432	Kaeden Amerine	3
21	74	Derek Kelley	2
22	216	Devin Harriman	1