THE AFTERMATH: ANAHEIM 1

Photos by Daryl Ecklund

Trey Canard came into the season healthy looking for a solid season. Unfortunately, Trey had a crash early in the day hurting his shoulder. He made the main event, although he did not start the race.

If you would have put your money on Shane Mcelrath to win at A1, you would have hit the jackpot. It was Shane’s first AMA win. Shane finished 7th in points last year in the 250 East. It looks like Shane has found the confidence needed to get to the next level and be a championship competitor.
As much as we would like to see the GOAT still racing, we are just glad he is still at the races. Ricky is one of the announcers for Fox sports for the races.

Ryan Dungey looked as if he placed it safe the first round. He did what he needed to do and got on the podium. He had a mediocre start in 4th and by the time he got around Musquin and Tomac, Roczen had already checked out. Hopefully The Diesel was saving some in the tank for when he gets Kenny in his sights, because he was over a second faster on his best lap. With Kenny’s 16 second gap, he could have just been on cruise control.

Chad did not look like his normal self. It looked as if he was fighting the bike.

Kenny brought it. The question is, can he stay consistent.

New gear, new bike, new Kenny.

No monsters on this podium, only bulls. From left to right: Ryan Dungey, Ken Roczen, Marvin Musquin.

Ken shows some style after he takes home the win.

Notice Chad’s helmet missing the visor? He had a run in with Weston Peick on lap 13 and then pulled off.

Well, you can say we expected more out of Copper Webb in his first race, but again it was his first race racing against the big boys. Coop finished 10th overall. After a few rounds, he will get the hang of it.

From the start of the race, it looked like Eli was taking home 2nd. He had the speed, but after the 7th lap his lap times started to drop and the rest of the pack started to close the gap. Eli said he got severe arm pump and he was just simply trying to hold on. He dropped back to 5th.

With Justin Barcia injured, Weston Peick is JGR’s star player. He started 7th and finished 8th.

Marvin was the fastest in qualifying. He has the speed to win, he just needs to put in a solid 20 minutes plus 1 lap.

After Dungey got passed Eli, Marvin stalked him for a few laps before making the pass.

The start of the 450 main.

Coming into the first corner.

It wasn’t the finish Austin Forker had in mind for his first SX race. He started in 7th place, crashed hard in the whoops on the 3rd lap and dropped to 16th place. He remounted and fought up to 8th. Not bad for the rookie. It will be interesting to see what he can do when he stays on two wheels.

Justin Hill looked solid all day. He got a bad start and worked up to 5th.

Aaron Plessinger is going to be a championship contender this season. He started 4th, finished 2nd and was the fastest rider on the track.

This is not the Tyler Bowers we once knew who was fighting for a championship with Cooper Webb only a few years ago. Tyler finished 11th on the night.

Most people had their bets on Jeremy Martin for the win. He got off to a horrible start around 12th and worked his way up to 6th, then ran out of steam.

Dan Reardon had a solid ride for 7th.

Mitchell Oldenburg looked good all day. He got a decent start and worked up to 4th.

The start of the 250 class.

Adam Enticknap found his way into the mud.

Privateer, Jimmy Albertson was 1 of the 6 Suzuki riders to make the main event. Surprisingly, Suzuki had the more riders in the main than any other manufacture.

 Another Suzuki privateer who made the made was Nick Schmidt.

Focused.

Mans best friend along for the ride.

Broc Tickle won his semi and finished 16th in the main.

Josh Grant had some problems in his semi with his shock. He was getting kicked all over the place. It looked like the shock collar backed off and the spring loosened up.

Josh Grant found his way to the main from the last chance qualifier.

Jimmy Decotis made his way to the main through the last chance qualifier and finished 9th in the main.

Ryan is putting his sights on winning his 3rd AMA 450 Supercross title.

RCH rider, Justin Bogle has some work to do to prove himself as a top 450 rider.

Cole Seely seems to always be under the radar. He was third fastest in practice and finished 6th in the main.

Eli over the fishes line after he took the heat race win.

The whoops broke down pretty bad and most riders started to jump through them by the end of the night.