ROUND 1/JANUARY 5, 2013
ANGEL STADIUM OF ANAHEIM/ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA
SUPERCROSS
P44
MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES, AN FIM CHAMP
Ken Roczen
opened the 2013
Supercross season
with a win in the
first 250 heat race.
heat and accept a sixth-place finish, giving his competitors a reason to believe that he might be
indeed beatable.
The main started with Troy Lee
Designs/Lucas Oil Honda pilot
Jessy Nelson getting the holeshot - just as he had done in his
heat race. But as quickly as he
went to the front, he went over
the bars over the first rhythm lane
and in the process took out a few
other prominent riders, including
heat-two winner Martin Davalos,
who was making his debut on the
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Ka-
wasaki. Davalos' bike was damaged with a smashed headpipe
and radiator and he couldn't continue, putting a serious damper
on his championship aspirations.
Davalos's teammate Blake
Baggett, the 2012 250 Motocross Champion, also got caught
up in the melee after getting hit
on the arm by Nelson's cartwheeling bike. Although he didn't
go down, he was stalled long
enough that he trailed the pack
at the end of lap one. And he was
also in pain.
"Tonight was definitely not
what I wanted," said Baggett.
"The team and I have been working really hard, so it's disappointing to end the night like that. It
was everything I had to make it
through the main event, the pain
was excruciating."
Like last year, Baggett started
out the season well down in the
pack. Luckily, the team's third
rider Tyla Rattray squeezed
through the mess unharmed but
mid-pack.
One of the few riders not affected by the first-lap carnage
was Tomac. Sporting the red
