Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Saturday night brought Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross to Daytona and what a night it was. The Daytona SX is always a great night of racing to kick off Bike Week and Saturday night was no exception.
The first 250SX race of the evening had Austin Forkner starting with the holeshot and again dominating the entire race. Alex Martin along with Mitchell Oldenburg and Kyle Peters had some decent battles but couldn’t come close to Forkner, who wound up taking the win with a twenty second lead.
The second 250SX heat race was another exciting race, but first it began with a major pile up in the first sand section. Chase Sexton, who has been riding well in the 250SX East Series, came away with the holeshot, however it was short lived as he was caught up in the early pile up. Justin Cooper came out hard on the throttle and never looked back for the entire moto. Sexton had the most impressive ride after his disastrous start in the sand. He battled and picked off riders one by one and was able to charge back to fourth. When it was all said and done, Justin Cooper took the win with Jordan Bailey in second and Brendan Hartranft in third.
The 450SX Class at Daytona is always an impressive race with epic battles as everyone wants a win at this big race. Saturday was no exception as from the first gate drop the riders were going for it. For the first time in several weeks Eli Tomac got the holeshot and had the entire moto locked up. Eli’s starts have been brutal the last few weeks but in Daytona he was back to his old self on the bike. Ken Roczen and Dean Wilson were hot on his tail with Chad Reed holding on to fourth. Tomac was smooth and kept his mistakes to a minimum as he took home the first 450SX heat race.
450SX heat race #2 began with yet another big pileup in the sand. Blake Baggett managed to come out clean and steal the lead back, but Cole Seely took over the lead and quickly began to capitalize on it with him and Baggett side by side and back and forth the entire moto. Cooper Webb and Joey Savatgy were non-stop back and forth with an intense battle. On the final lap, Blake Baggett took the lead and held on to it for a very close win over Webb and Savatgy.
The 250SX main event saw an exciting beginning as Austin Forkner grabbed the holeshot but was quickly passed by Kyle Peters. While Forkner and Cooper started getting into some serious battling, Peters was enjoying his time out front. Forkner kept reeling in Peters and it only took a few laps before the lead was his. Chase Sexton then took over the second spot from Peters but the race was still early and you couldn’t count Justin Cooper out. Once Austin Forkner took the lead he then had a clear track and began to pull away. Behind him, Sexton and Cooper settled into second and third and that is the way the order remained until the finish. With so much success already this season for Forkner, his first Daytona SX win must have felt great.
The 450 main saw Blake Baggett grab the holeshot with Eli Tomac right behind him. Tomac only took a few laps before he motored by Baggett and took off. As Tomac has proven so many times in the past few years, when he’s is on, he’s really on and no one can touch him. This was definitely the case in Daytona as the #3 Kawasaki was simply on another level. Behind him we were able to witness a great battle between Baggett, Musquin and the 450SX points leader Cooper Webb. All three riders wanted second place very badly, including Musquin who I’ve never seen ride so aggressively. However, in the end it was Webb who outlasted his KTM teammates to grab second place. With the track breaking down very quickly, the top riders in the 450SX class really put on a great show.
Going into Round 11 this weekend in Indianapolis, it will be interesting to see if Forkner and Tomac can win again. In the 250SX East class you have Forkner with a 23-point lead over Cooper and Sexton, who are currently tied for second. As for the 450SX class, you have Webb with 222 points, and then it’s Tomac, Musquin and Roczen who are all within striking distance of Webb. These next few rounds are going to be very exciting as the championship chase really heats up.
