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/661756
SUPERCROSS ROUND 12 / APRIL 2, 2016 LEVI'S STADIUM / SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA P92 MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES Red Bull KTM's Marvin Musquin had a quiet night but it didn't start out that way. Musquin, who had fin- ished on the podium in the last four races (and nearly won two of them), suffered a hard crash in the second practice session that shook him up for the rest of the night. After qualify- ing third out of his heat race, Mus- quin started seventh in the main but slipped backwards, eventually finish- ing 17th. HRC Honda's Cole Seely was a no- show at Santa Clara. He suffered a crash while practicing the Thursday before the race, suffering damage to his C7 vertebrae. Early prognosis is that he'll be back on the bike in a few weeks. Seely was sixth in the 450SX points standings but dropped back a spot after Santa Clara, giving way to Chad Reed. The Santa Clara track was a little tighter than usual, which produced lap times in the 43-second bracket. Ken Roczen set the single quickest lap time of the night when he post- ed a 43.144 on the sixth lap of the 450SX main event. As an example, the quickest lap time at the Anaheim I Supercross was 1:01:954 set by Eli Tomac. The Santa Clara track also featured a very short start straight, which led into a sweeping 180-de- gree left-hand turn. Ryan Dungey's victory at Santa Clara was his sixth of the year and the 28th of his career, tying him with Rick Johnson for sixth on the all-time win list. It was also his 84th podium (fourth all-time) and 100th top-five fin- ish (fifth all-time). BTO Sports/KTM's Justin Brayton reached a milestone in his career. By placing second in his semi, Brayton qualified for his 100th-career 450SX main event. Unfortunately for him, he went down in the first turn, trying a little too hard to get the holeshot. He recovered to finish 13th and is cur- rently eighth in points. There a few spectacular crashes through out the day and night but none as spectacular as Hayden Mellross' get-off in the 250SX West main. The 51FIFTY Energy Drink Yamaha rider got kicked heav- ily and rode the front wheel for what seemed like an eternity before get- ting launched over a massive berm and landing, stomach first, on a steel security gate. Amazingly, he was not seriously injured but did decide to call it a night. The Australian later re- ported on his Instagram account that he's okay and will be back training "in a few days." Here is a video of the crash. A clean-shaven Justin Barcia re- turned to action at Santa Clara. The A utoTrader.com/Toyot a/JGRMX Yamaha rider injured his thumb in a mountain biking accident early in the season and ended up having surgery after the first few rounds of the se- ries. Barcia looked good at times but was obviously a little out of synch. He qualified 20th, squeaked through the second semi and ended up finishing 16th in the main. Josh Hansen returned to racing at Santa Clara and looked pretty good. He was 15th in qualifying, got in the main via a fourth place in a semi, then finished out the night 14th in the main. 450SX 1. Ryan Dungey (KTM) 2. Ken Roczen (Suz) 3. Jason Anderson (Hus) 4. Chad Reed (Yam) 5. Trey Canard (Hon) 6. Justin Bogle (Hon) 7. Eli Tomac (Kaw) 8. Weston Peick (Yam) 9. Jacob Weimer (Suz) 10. Blake Baggett (Suz) 250SX West 1. Cooper Webb (Yam) 2. Zach Osborne (Hus) 3. Joey Savatgy (Kaw) 4. Christian Craig (Hon) 5. Mitchell Oldenburg (KTM) 6. Colt Nichols (Yam) 7. Jordon Smith (Hon) 8. Kyle Peters (Hon) 9. Alex Martin (Yam) 10. Michael Leib (Yam) Briefly... Justin Brayton qualified for his 100 th main event.