Cycle News

SUPERCROSS ROUND 1 / JANUARY 7, 2017 ANGEL STADIUM OF ANAHEIM / ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA P62 MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP The opening round of the 2017 Super- cross series came and went without two-time SX champ James Stewart. Unable to land a team ride, Stewart was very quiet leading up to A1 as to what his plan were. Finally, on Friday, Janu- ary 6, Stewart revealed via Instagram that he was going to indeed sit out the Anaheim race and is finalizing is own team, saying that he does plan on join- ing the series soon, perhaps in the next couple of weeks. Stewart has been seen riding a Yamaha at home during the off-season, but hasn't revealed many clues as to which direction he is going. A part of his Instagram post, read, "And most importantly, I wanna thank my fans for being Ultra Patient with me thru all of this. Wasn't until last week that I actually had a final plan to go at it this way. For those that tried to break me. Sorry... but you can't get rid of me that easy. Not quite done yet!" Austin Forkner summarized his first supercross racing saying, "It's been a while since I raced arenacross last year, and outdoor, too, so I was excited just to get to racing," he said. "Those guys are pretty aggressive; I knew they were going to be, but after I got up [after his crash in the main], I was pretty upset and just gave it right back to them and was making passes happen. Next week I want to put myself in a better position not to do that. I know what to expect now." Team Yamaha's Cooper Webb admit- ted that he and the team came into the race not quite as prepared as they wanted to be. "I think we were a little behind the eight ball in preparation, testing and stuff like that. We did the Des Nations, took some time off in Oc- tober, and then I broke my pinky [finger] at Charlotte [U.S. GP], it was a small injury but needed to let it heal. I only got two or three really good weeks of training in; I went to Australia for a week, and just got a little behind, not in as good shape. We tested but maybe not under race circumstances and stuff like that. We'll get better. I always want to be up front so it was kind of a tough pill for me to swallow. Hey, we're not there yet, but I'm confident we'll get better as the season goes on, hopefully sooner than later. Hopefully by the time we go back easy I'll be battling up front." Cooper Webb says he's glad to get the first race over with. "The nerves were high and just the unknown," he said. "In my head, I felt like I could either be first or 15th, I just really didn't know. I haven't really ridden with the 450 guys; every- body's pretty much been in Florida, so I haven't really ridden with them. The first one is out of the way and I think we know which way to go on bike setup. I know what to work on this week, so it's good to get this one out of the way; it was a good starter." Eli Tomac talked a little more about the arm pump he suffered through in the main. "That was weird," he said, "because I've done a billion laps on the practice track—obviously it's not racing— I've done this for enough years and I've never had it that bad—it was bad." Getting your first win in AMA Super- cross is a huge milestone in anyone's career, and Shane McElrath talked about what getting his first win meant to him. "It gives me something to look forward to," McElrath said. "I don't like to lose; it's like over the years I don't like getting second or thirds, 10th or whatev- er I get. I feel like I've always been right behind the eight ball. We've worked really hard this year, went through some injuries, it gave us some time off to rebuild stronger. Now, coming out here and doing this, it's like—we just came out and gave it our all. I got the holeshot and just tried to do my laps, and that's all I could do. It feels unreal. It gives me excitement for the next race; dude, we have another one, let's focus on our starts, our first few laps and just hit our marks." Chad Reed, on the factory-backed Ya- maha, had a tough start to his season. While battling in the pack with another rider, they evidently banged into each other, resulting in a broken water pump cover and all of the coolant running out, according to a member of his team. He unfortunately recorded a DNF on the night came away with just one point. Smartop MotoConcepts Racing's Mike Alessi also didn't finish the race. He went down in the main and according a team member was knocked out for a while. He added, though, that he seemed to be okay and he is hoping to be back next week, pending doctor's orders. Red Bull KTM's Trey Canard also had a disappointing start to his year. He fell in practice and injured his shoulder. He soldiered on, however, and rode the heats, which included another fall in his semi, re-aggravating the shoulder injury. He still came back and qualified for the main via a fourth-place finish in the LCQ. He did not start the main, not wanting to further injure the shoulder. It is not yet known if he'll race next week or not. A surprising non-qualifier was Chris- tophe Pourcel. A crash and bad starts were his downfall. He went down in his heat, didn't transfer through the semis because of a bad start, and another bad start in the LCQ did him in. He was 10th at the start of the LCQ and worked his way up to fifth, one spot out of a transfer. Briefly...

• Cover
• Page 1
• Page 2