A different kind of PIT With Chris Elliott: Anaheim 2

It was back to Anaheim for round three of the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross Series, but it was far from a typical supercross round. The “Triple Crown” format was something new for everyone last weekend and I can honestly say that despite my best efforts, I never really had a grasp on the rules and format until about 3:30pm PST on Saturday.

It was seemingly easy at face value, qualify top 18 and you’re in. Everyone else went to the LCQ… There was some confusion on when the LCQ was and whether or not it would be televised. For us this was important, because we’ve spent our fair share of time in LCQs and while it is undesirable to be in; every second of TV time on the FOX Sports platform can be turned into a positive for our sponsors with brand recognition that night and moving forward to the off-season when building our team and it’s sponsors.

The last thing we needed to confirm before bringing all (wasn’t stoked) our guys down for the LCQs was the “alternates” protocol for the “Triple Crown” program. Traditionally in a “Top 40” qualifying structure, the 41-44 times would gear up and come down to line before the heats take off just incase someone in the fast 40 got hurt during the day or bike problems kept them from lining up. In that case…the alternates would get in the night show. For last weekend, position 5 thru 9 in the LCQ would be alternates which meant those positions may end up mattering and needed to be fought for if in that situation.

After briefing the guys on all potential LCQ scenarios, we headed down to the line for both the 250 and 450 LCQs, which aired LIVE on www.supercrossLIVE.com. You probably already know by now, Breecer made it to the mains and a bad start sent Bradley Lionnet back up to the truck for the night. AJ Catanzaro struggled to get a start in his 450 LCQ and when it’s a stacked gate with the likes of Chad Reed…you need a start to place top 4 in the short race.

Heading down the tunnel to race a format we weren’t familiar was a little nerving, but I think Feld did a great job; we had plenty of time between races and it was fun to racing three motos with a different feel to each.

Only having Breecer in the show was a bummer because I think we have a team that should all be racing for points. But I was very happy with the #217 and his effort in all three mains going 12-17-16 for 14th overall on the night.

I want to give a special thank you to Jon Mullins from Motion Pro for coming over and helping us out this weekend. It takes an army to get everything handled each week(end) and having such little staff can be challenging at times, but every sponsor we have has people that are willing to jump into action, help anyway they can and our team is extremely grateful for that.

Now we head to Phoenix for round 4 and back to the traditional day and night programs…make sure you stop by the ROCKWELL RACING pits to say what’s up this weekend, keep watch on our socials for times on our autograph signing this Friday night at RideNOW.

Follow the team on Instagram and Twitter (@ROCKWELLRACING), and of course find us on Facebook. For more information on ROCKWELL RACING and their sponsors, check out: http://www.rockwelltime.com/team/. You can also follow them on Instagram (@rockwellwatches), Twitter (@RockwellTime), and Facebook (@rockwelltime).