The AMA Monster Energy Supercross Championship makes its way back to Oakland for the second attempt at running the postponed round 2.
Images and facts courtesy of Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
Oakland also sees the return of the 250 West Coast racers which sees Jett Lawrence looking odds on for the title unless anything untoward occurs. On the British front Revo Grindstone Kawasaki’s Dylan Walsh returns to the fold and after impressing in the first rounds will be looking to edge closer to the top eight after hovering around the tenth and eleventh positions thus far.
On the 450 front Dean Wilson hasn’t finished higher than 12th so far and will be keen to make his mark in Oakland and have a breakthrough race.
450 Class Recap: Tampa Bay
Webb’s 20th Breaks Drought: Cooper Webb clinched his 20th victory breaking a 20-race winless streak with a dramatic victory in Tampa Bay. He is now tied with Ken Roczen and Jeff Ward for 10th on the all-time 450SX Class wins list. KTM now has 60 450SX Class victories, only trailing Kawasaki (70) since 2012 when KTM earned their first win. Webb is second on the KTM win list behind Ryan Dungey (27).
Sexton Stumbles, Secures Second: Chase Sexton nabbed his seventh runner-up and 15th career 450SX Class podium in Tampa after delivering a gift to Webb with a late fall in the whoops while leading. Sexton is already 37th all-time in Premier Class podiums and only trails red-plated Eli Tomac (5th) by two-points heading into Oakland.
Plessinger Pushing Pace, Podiums: Aaron Plessinger is raising eyebrows with back-to-back top-five finishes including his third career Premier Class podium in Tampa. A red-flag restart in Houston admittedly hindered a potential career night for A.P. and his podium against a stacked field in Tampa proves it was no fluke. Plessinger now has 39 top-10 finishes in his 56 450SX Class starts.
Notes: Roczen (4th) earned his 80th career top-five finish, good for 10th all-time in the Premier Class; Justin Cooper (7th) is 2/2 in earning top-10 finishes to start his Premier Class career, making him the only rider to officially have multiple starts and no finishes outside of the top-10. Note – four riders with unconfirmed results are also at 100%: Rich Thorwaldson, Jan-Eric Sallquist, Gary Bailey, and Brad Lackey; Josh Hill (14th) earned his first 450SX Class top-15 since Rd. 9 of 2015 (Atlanta II); Cade Clason (20th) made his 40th career 450SX Class start.
450 Class: Oakland Historical Facts
History Lesson: The first 450SX Class race held in Oakland was on January 18, 1979 and Jimmy Weinert won on a Kawasaki. It was the opener for the sixth season of Supercross racing and Bob Hannah would eventually win the last of his three titles after finishing runner-up to Weinert in Oakland.
Man of Steal’s House: On January 18, 1979 Supercross would go to the Oakland Coliseum for the first time. Five months later on June 24, 1979 a 20-year old local kid played his first Major League Baseball game for the Oakland A’s and would steal his first of 1,406 bases. The stadiums playing (or riding) surface has since been renamed in his honor- RingCentral Coliseum at Rickey Henderson Field. The 2023 Oakland Supercross will be the 15th time the series has been to the Coliseum.
Ship %’s: The winner of the Oakland Supercross has won the 450SX Class title in 6/14 seasons, including three of the last four stops. Oakland was a huge win for Jason Anderson’s 2018 season but he was unable to win the title after his 2022 Oakland victory.
A Real “Who’s Who”: 10/11 250SX Class winners in Oakland are active 2023 450SX Class Championship contenders. Broc Tickle is the lone exception of the list: Eli Tomac, Ken Roczen, Anderson, Malcolm Stewart, Joey Savatgy, Justin Hill, Aaron Plessinger, Adam Cianciarulo, Dylan Ferrandis, and Christian Craig. Note- Stewart and Ferrandis have gone down with unfortunate injuries since this note was made before the originally scheduled Oakland Supercross.
250 Class Recap: Tampa Bay
H-Law’s Last Lap Heroics: Hunter Lawrence brought Tampa to their feet with a last turn maneuver to snag the checkered flag from Nate Thrasher and secure his second win in as many Eastern Regional rounds. Lawrence’s seventh 250SX Class win and 15th podium in 23 starts gives him an eight-point advantage for the red-plate going into a short break for the Eastern riders.
Thrasher Buc’d in the Bay: Thrasher, making his 20th 250SX Class start, nabbed his fourth career podium and first in which he didn’t finish on the top-step. After a 15th-place in the Eastern Regional opener, Thrasher will look to steadily move up in the point standings.
Anstie in America: Max Anstie had never finished on the podium in his American career before the start of the 2023 Eastern Regional 250SX Class opener. He has since nabbed two in-a-row to put himself in a position as the only rider within striking distance of Lawrence (eight points). Anstie now has 18 250SX Class starts and 12 top-10’s to go along with his two podiums.
Notes: Haiden Deegan (4th) leads all rookies in the East with back-to-back fourth-place rides and a third-place point standing position; Hardy Munoz (10th) earned his first career top-10 finish in his ninth 250SX Class start; Caden Braswell (12th) & Josiah Natzke (20th) made their Main Event debuts after not qualifying in Houston.
250 West Class Refresh
Winners: Jett Lawrence – 2 wins, 75 points (1st in points); Levi Kitchen – 1 win, 44 points (7th in points)
Breakout Candidates: Max Vohland (Red Bull KTM) who is 11th in points, suffered a DNQ between two solid top-five finishes; Pierce Brown (TLD/Red Bull/GASGAS) is 12th in points, also suffered a DNQ and has 5th and 8th place finishes since.
Others Who Could Win: McAdoo (2nd in Pts.); Hampshire (3rd); Oldenburg, Robertson, & Lopes all have what it takes to win a 250SX Class race.
Rookies: Only Wilson Todd and Hunter Cross have made rookie debuts in the Western Regional. Todd finished 17th in Round 2 and Cross finished 19th in the Opener.
250 Class: Oakland Historical Facts
History Lesson: The first 250SX Class race held in Oakland was on January 29, 2011 and Broc Tickle won the race on a Kawasaki. Oakland held a 250SX Class every year from then until missing the 2021 schedule. 250SX Class racing returns to Oakland in 2023 for the 12th time in 250SX Class history.
8/11: The winner of the 250SX Class Oakland Supercross won the Western Regional title in each of its first four seasons and 8/11 seasons overall. Christian Craig continued this trend last season by winning Oakland and the Western Regional title.
Parity: A different rider has won every season in Oakland. This will continue in 2023 as no previous Oakland 250SX Class winners are racing the class.
Yellow Blues in Oakland: Ryan Morais, Martin Davalos, Kyle Cunningham, Brandon Scharer, Killian Auberson, Phil Nicoletti, Justin Hill, Martin Castelo, Jimmy Decotis, Thomas Do, Alex Martin, Dilan Schwartz, Carson Mumford, and Jason Anderson are the only 14 riders to make a 250SX Class start in Oakland aboard a Suzuki. Suzuki only has two podiums in Oakland (Hill and Anderson) and zero wins.
Oakland Track Map
