Anderson Making It Interesting!
Jason Anderson goes wire to wire at Anaheim to keep things interesting but Tomac cruises to second and retains the red plate.
Jason Anderson goes wire to wire at Anaheim to keep things interesting but Tomac cruises to second and retains the red plate.
Latest contact costs points-leader chance of Glendale overall.
250SX West points-leader Christian Craig has indicated that probation isn’t enough for Vince Friese following their controversial incident at Glendale’s Triple Crown, which saw the latter receive a six-month probation from AMA race officials.
Craig has been on the receiving end of Friese’s aggression on multiple occasions and, despite being able to climb back to fourth position in race two, this latest contact almost certainly cost him the overall on his way to P2 on Saturday.
However, the Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s frustrating with the fast-starting Friese continues to build considering his history over the much of the past decade, which has been cast back into the spotlight since he stepped back to the 250 class with Smartop Bullfrog Spas MCR Honda in 2022.
“I think everybody knows how I feel about that situation – Vince is gonna Vince,” Craig stated. “It’s super-frustrating. I’ve had so many encounters with him and it’s like I’m always on the other side. One year at Monster Cup he cleaned me out and broke my hand, nothing happens. Then this happens, we’re wide open in a sand corner and he comes out of nowhere and we clip ‘bars and I go flying into… I think I almost hit that wall.
“I think something needs to be done, I think it’s dangerous – that should not be done. It’s one thing when he’s faster and he’s trying to pass people, but when someone is trying to pass him, it’s dangerous. He’s cross-jumping people, he’s doing what he did to me tonight, so I’m very sour about it. But, all I did was I shook it off and somehow came back to fourth.
“[It] seems like the only thing stopping me is people cutting me off or taking me out. It happens, it’s racing, got to move on. I was super-heated after that second one… I had AMA in the truck and I’m like, ‘you guys got to do something’. They were just assessing, they assessed the situation and he was back on the line. I don’t know, I’m not AMA – that’s up to them.”
Craig then moved to question the actual ‘penalty’ of being placed on probation: “I feel like probation doesn’t really do anything to riders, so we’ll see. It’s frustrating, but I can’t do anything about it now. It’s done, over with. It’s in AMA’s hands and we’ll see.”
It's still very early but it looks like the "Fat Lady" is warming up.
Current 450SX champion endures difficult night at Anaheim 2.
A challenging night at Anaheim 2 saw defending 450SX champion Cooper Webb finish a disappointing eighth, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider stating post-race that ‘the only thing we can do now is regroup’ in a bid to rebound at Glendale.
Webb qualified sixth for round four before finishing P6 in his heat race, a lack of outright pace throughout the event becoming evident in the lead up to the premier class main event.
After crossing the line 10th on the opening lap of the main, Webb reached as high as seventh before being relegated to eighth by Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing), where he finished the race.
“Extremely tough night tonight at A2,” Webb reflected. “I didn’t get a great start and I was pretty buried in the pack early on. I was able to make some passes and get up to around seventh, and then ended up falling backwards a few spots.
“I was able to get back up, make some more passes and ended up eighth. Definitely not a great night at all, but the only thing we can do now is regroup and try to get better for next weekend in Arizona.”
Webb’s title defence started strongly at Anaheim 1, where he finished second behind Ken Roczen, then finished seventh at Oakland. San Diego saw Webb finish a stronger fourth, however, P8 at A2 means the number one currently sits fourth in the standings, now 12 points down on red plate-holder Tomac heading into Glendale’s round five this Saturday.
Current 450SX champion endures difficult night at Anaheim 2.
A challenging night at Anaheim 2 saw defending 450SX champion Cooper Webb finish a disappointing eighth, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider stating post-race that ‘the only thing we can do now is regroup’ in a bid to rebound at Glendale.
Webb qualified sixth for round four before finishing P6 in his heat race, a lack of outright pace throughout the event becoming evident in the lead up to the premier class main event.
After crossing the line 10th on the opening lap of the main, Webb reached as high as seventh before being relegated to eighth by Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing), where he finished the race.
“Extremely tough night tonight at A2,” Webb reflected. “I didn’t get a great start and I was pretty buried in the pack early on. I was able to make some passes and get up to around seventh, and then ended up falling backwards a few spots.
“I was able to get back up, make some more passes and ended up eighth. Definitely not a great night at all, but the only thing we can do now is regroup and try to get better for next weekend in Arizona.”
Webb’s title defence started strongly at Anaheim 1, where he finished second behind Ken Roczen, then finished seventh at Oakland. San Diego saw Webb finish a stronger fourth, however, P8 at A2 means the number one currently sits fourth in the standings, now 12 points down on red plate-holder Tomac heading into Glendale’s round five this Saturday.
'The Bullet' determined to be ready to race as soon as possible.
Jeffrey Herlings has undergone successful surgery to fix a broken heel bone in his left foot, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider injured while riding in Spain late last month.
Herlings was spending time in Spain for pre-season preparation ahead of his MXGP title defence, winning the opening round of the Spanish national championship before the incident occurred the following day.
‘The Bullet’ was reportedly unseated on a small and routine jump section of the former grand prix site RedSand MX complex near Castellon, ultimately causing the crash with complications.
“We’re paying the price for a ‘nothing’ crash,” Herlings explained. “I think I might have hit a small stone on the take-off and that put me over the bars.
“The impact was pretty big on my left foot and we needed to get it fixed the best we could. Big thanks to the medical staff for looking after me and getting my foot repaired, again! Also to the whole Red Bull KTM team, we’d worked hard for this 2022 season and the goal now is to be back and winning as soon as we can.”
The Dutchman underwent surgery in Belgium under the knife of Dr Stefaan Verfaillie who had previously operated on him, and more information is expected to released in the coming weeks as to when he will be back on the bike and ready to race.
Herling’s isn’t the only MXGP title contender to be injured during the off-season, 2021 runner-up Romain Febvre recovering from right leg surgery on a double fracture of his tibia and fibula sustained at last year’s Paris Supercross.
Eli Tomac’s move from Kawasaki to Star Racing Yamaha was one of the biggest talking points of 2021. Everyone wondered, could the 2020 Supercross Champion and 3-time 450 National Champion become even faster on the Yamaha? Or was it a risk to join the Yamaha team after the success he had with Kawasaki? Well, after convincingly winning his first ever 450 Main Event on Saturday at Anaheim 2 with his new team and extending his points lead to 6-points over Chase Sexton, it’s safe to say that Eli didn’t make a bad decision.
We met up with Tomac’s mechanic Josh Ellingson to go over the top secret details of Eli Tomac’s race bike. His YZ450F features a Rekluse clutch, custom footpegs, KYB hybrid spring/air forks, a titanium brake tip, custom FMF muffler guard, 10-millimeter back foot peg position, Dunlop spec tires, shaved brake housing, auxiliary start button, and much more! For more of MXA’s “Inside the Pro’s Bikes” episodes like this, click the link www.mxamag.com