SUPERCROSS
MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES, AN FIM WORLD
ROUND 1 / JANUARY 6, 2018
ANGEL STADIUM OF ANAHEIM / ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA
P64
acteristic blisters on his hands (and
admitted to getting some arm-pump,
which is also uncharacteristic for
him), Reed seemed upbeat about
his first race on the new machine.
NERVE WRACKING
The nerves might have been on
display at A-I in both 450SX heats,
as both Honda's Cole Seely and
Red Bull KTM's Broc Tickle led their
heat races early, then crashed, both
while looking like they were in solid
control of the race. Seely was up
quickly and managed to finish a sol-
id fourth in his heat, which was won
by Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Jason Anderson. Tickle managed to
get up and work his way back into
qualifying position, in ninth, by the
end of his heat, which was won by
Yamaha fill-in (for now) racer Justin
Barcia.
SO, WHAT GOT
INTO BARCIA?
Monster Energy/Knich/Factory
Yamaha's Justin Barcia turned a
lot of heads at Anaheim I. He was
fast all day, qualifying third (just 0.2
of a second behind Roczen), then
winning his heat race. In the main
event, he put down the second-
fastest lap time of the race (behind
Eli Tomac) while running second,
then inherited the lead when Tomac
went down. After Musquin passed
him for the lead, Barcia made a
couple mistakes, which caused him
to succumb to Jason Anderson. He
finished just two seconds behind
Anderson at the checkered flag. "It
was incredible tonight," Barcia said.
"I let that win slip away from me.
To be on the podium is not a bad
thing because I've been in some
dark places the last few years,
so it's good to be up here. Feels
Briefly...
Plessinger and Adam
Cianciarulo had
a good battle for
second place.
