Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1531445
when you're in the air, it's ner- vous; you don't want your wheel to blow out while you're riding. Then I just started making mis- takes left and right because I was thinking about my front wheel." After getting passed by Sexton and Roczen in quick succession, Anderson found his groove while holding down third place. Late- race pressure by Cooper Webb saw Jason "El Hombre" Anderson pick up the pace and come in just over a second back from Roczen. "Luckily, I was able to get in a groove," Anderson said. "Once I got passed by Kenny, I just tried to latch on and bring it in. I had a little bit of pressure from Cooper there at the end, but I was just thankful my front wheel held together." Webb rode well in the main, getting stronger with each pass- ing lap. After a thumb injury in 2024, a fourth was a positive result for the two-time champ. Tomac rounded out the top five after leading right after the start, much to the delight of the packed Anaheim stadium. But a rare You can never count Ken Roc- zen out. The crafty veteran, who already has four Anaheim 1 wins to his credit, was cool, calm and collected as he crossed the line in second place on the Progres- sive Insurance/Ecstar Suzuki RM-Z450. Despite a 14th place in timed qualifying, Roczen put himself in a good position in the main and was never outside the top five as he pushed forward into podium territory. The Suzuki rider was the only rider uncork - ing an inside-line triple before the first turn, as well as skimming the whoops down the right side. These unique lines allowed him to ride consistent laps and avoid the late-race carnage. "It was more so a relief," Roczen said. "I was like, 'You know, a sec - ond place is kind of perfect.' It's not winning because winning has never led to a championship for me, but second would be sweet, and we ended up doing that. I was just calm. It didn't bother me too much, but that probably just comes with experience. I've been in these shoes a lot, and I knew when the gate dropped that I would be ready to go." Jason Anderson was arguably the standout rider of the night with a third-place result. The 2018 450SX Champion put his Monster Energy Kawasaki into the lead after Eli Tomac lost the front end half - way through the opening lap. While things looked good for the first few laps, broken spokes in Anderson's front wheel (from a first turn run-in) spelled trouble as he circulated while trying to preserve the rim. "Whenever you see them [spokes] hitting against your fork Phoenix Honda Racing rider Dylan Ferrandis failed to qualify for the 450SX main after crashing in his heat race and LCQ; an- other notable 450SX non-qualifier was Twisted Tea Suzuki's Colt Nichols... Chase Sexton had the quickest lap time (lap six) in the 450SX main with a 1:04.583; next quickest was Ken Roczen with a 1:05.148. Jo Shimoda topped the 240SX main with a 1:05.790; next was Julien Beaumer with a 1:06.063 (which he did twice). Briefly... VOLUME 62 ISSUE 2 JAUARY 14, 2025 P57 Jett Lawrence (1) had a terrible night, finishing outside the top 10 for the first time of his SX career.