The pendulum swung back in favor of one rider and began to slide towards another as Round 7 of the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross series featured some of the season's most exciting racing on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.
Ken Roczen entered the round 26 points behind leader Ryan Dungey and not only gained some points by the end of the night but made a big statement that the Championship fight has just begun.
Roczen grabbed his first holeshot of the year just in front of Dungey, who took the lead a bit later, but Roczen got back out in front on Lap 2 and never relinquished. Roczen and Dungey played cat and mouse the duration of the race with Dungey nearly making the pass again for the lead on Lap 15 but Roczen held his line and then on Lap 16 Dungey missed a triple which gave Roczen the extra room he needed to close out the victory by 1.0410 seconds, the closest race all year.
Ken Roczen kept Ryan Dungey on his tail all night at Arlington
"We won it, we got the start, we battled the whole way," said Roczen who has five straight podiums including two wins in the last three rounds. "The Championship is still good. We only made up three points but we're going to keep fighting until Vegas that's for sure."
It was the first time all year Dungey lost a lead but the second-place finish not only keeps his podium streak alive at 23 but he also enjoys 18 straight Top 2 finishes. His lead over Roczen is now 23.
"Not disappointed at all, second is respectable," said Dungey when asked about the finish. "We put on a good hard fight, we just have to be better in areas and do our homework. It was a good day regardless."
Jason Anderson held his own on Saturday taking third
Jason Anderson rounded out the podium stepping on the box for the first time since his Round 1 victory. Anderson also won his first career Heat race in Arlington and retains possession of third place in the standings with 131 points. Cole Seely took fourth and is also in fourth-place, gaining some ground on Eli Tomac who took fifth and is four points behind Seely in fifth-place.
Rookie Marvin Musquin handled himself with some serious flair after he crashed coming out of the first turn at the start putting him last and he battled back to sixth-place, his best finish since a Round 4 third-place. The extra effort kept him in seventh-place just 10 points behind Chad Reed who had his worst outing of the year finishing in 12th. To his credit, Reed started 18th.
Trey Canard also battled not only a rough start in 15th but after coming through the pack and getting into 10th on Lap 9 he crashed trying to get around Vince Friese, dropping to 17th and then worked his way back to finish ninth. Christophe Pourcel turned in his best racing performance of the season by first holding off Dungey to take second in the Heat race behind Roczen but finished a season-high eighth-place after starting 13th.
In the final round of the 250SX West class until April 2 in Santa Clara, Cooper Webb took the win in similar fashion as he's done all year passing Christian Craig on Lap 11 and holding on for the victory thereby taking the points lead back from Joey Savatgy. It was the third time in his four wins he's taken the lead with four laps remaining in the race.
Webb also shook off the bad luck bug which infected Joey Savatgy who qualified first, quickly got past Craig who took the holeshot in the Main, but on Lap 2 crashed in the gnarly whoops section after rubbing tires with Craig. Webb just skirted by Savatgy who hit the dirt pretty hard and then served as a cushion for his bike. He remounted last and finished 10th.
It took 11 laps but Cooper Webb got around Christian Craig to win Round 7
Webb, the defending Champion, started seventh but after the first turn trailed just Craig and Savatgy then after passing the fallen red plate holder on Lap 2 did what he's done all year and patiently waited for the opportune time to get into first.
"Christian was riding awesome, he's really keeping me honest but I was able to get around him," Webb said who won for the first time since Round 3. "This is an awesome night to be back up here on the top spot. A lot of people said I was choking (Not MotoSport! Read here) so I guess I'll prove them."
Joey Savatgy crashed on Lap 2 ending his points lead
The Arlington round featured a 14 point swing thanks to Savatgy's crash which, for Webb, helps make up for the mechanical failure in Round 4 that saw a nearly for-sure win turn into a last-place finish and a 24 point swing that sent him to second-place in the standings. Craig got his first second-place finish of the year and fifth straight podium to move to within five points of Savatgy, who drops to second-place 11 points behind Webb.v
Craig said he let his Heat race battle with Savatgy get in his head and he tightened up that affected him in the Main. When he saw he was in the lead on Lap 11 he felt he had the win but then immediately made two big mistakes.
"I felt like I had this win tonight, (Webb) got me, pretty easy," he said.
Zach Osborne finished in third for the second time this year and third podium of the season.
The 250SX West class gets a six-week breather as Supercross welcomes the 250SX East class on Saturday in Atlanta where the series resumes for Round 8. Buy tickets online or at the Georgia Dome box office.
2016 Monster Energy Supercross Arlington Results
Arlington Supercross 450SX Class Results
- Ken Roczen
- Ryan Dungey
- Jason Anderson
- Cole Seely
- Eli Tomac
- Marvin Musquin
- Davi Millsaps
- Christophe Pourcel
- Trey Canard
- Jake Weimer
Arlington Supercross 250SX West Class Results
- Cooper Webb
- Christian Craig
- Zach Osborne
- Colt Nichols
- Mitchell Oldenburg
- Alex Martin
- Jimmy DeCotis
- Chris Alldredge
- Kyle Peters
- Joey Savatgy
2016 Monster Energy Supercross Season Standings
450SX Class Season Standings
- Ryan Dungey (166)
- Ken Roczen (143)
- Jason Anderson (131)
- Cole Seely (121)
- Eli Tomac (119)
- Chad Reed (112)
- Marvin Musquin (92)
- Davi Millsaps (85)
- Justin Brayton (82)
- Jake Weimer (73)
250SX West Class Season Standings
- Cooper Webb (145)
- Joey Savatgy (134)
- Christian Craig (129)
- Colt Nichols (117)
- Zach Osborne (110)
- Jimmy DeCotis (99)
- Mitchell Oldenburg (97)
- Kyle Peters (87)
- Kyle Cunningham (69)
- Jordon Smith (63)
