2020 Salt Lake City Three Supercross | Race Report

250 Heat One

The first holeshot of Sunday afternoon went to Star Racing Yamaha’s Shane McElrath after he rocketed around the first turn. Carter Halpain followed in second with Garrett Marchbanks just behind. While running in fourth, Hunter Sayles caught a rough transition and got tossed off of his bike going into the third turn. Rookie Jalek Swoll had some problems while exiting the whoops and dropped to 11th. Back up front, McElrath lead Marchbanks by 2 seconds, as Halpain sat in third. The top-2 were the only riders jumping the triple and blitzing through the whoops, which placed them ahead of the rest of the field significantly. By the time Shane McElrath crossed the finish line and took the heat race win, he had lapped up to fourth place. 

250 Heat Two

The second start of the day went to GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton, with Colt Nichols just behind. Justin Starling and Jerry Robin were down after the second corner, Starling walked off the track holding his arm as Robin remounted and got back going. After the replay, it is clear that Robin had no where to go and ran over Starling, who was already down. Back up front, Pierce Brown moved up to third place and latched onto the lead group. Kyle Peters then made the pass on Jace Owen for fourth place. Chase Sexton remained in the lead with a six-second lead on Colt Nichols, while GEICO Honda teammate Jo Shimoda made some moves inside of the top-10. While getting lapped, Coty Schock went down and Sexton got caught up momentarily but continued on with a well-sized lead. Chase crossed the finish line first and took the heat race win with Nichols in second, and Brown in third. 

250 LCQ

The 250cc Last Chance Qualifier holeshot and early lead went to Darrian Sanayei with Justin Starling just behind, as Neese slid past the first turn and off of the track. Jerry Robin had some issues and was off-track on the first lap. Justin Starling wasted little time in getting around Sanayei and into the lead. Wilson Fleming also made the move on Sanayei and locked in second place. Sayles and Sanayei then began trading lines and battling for third place. Thurman went down after running into Rodbell, as the two were battling for fifth place. Sanayei didn’t settle for third place, as he made the pass on Fleming for second place. Back up front and away from the drama, Justin Starling took the LCQ win and went on to the main event. 

250 Main Event

The gate for the 250cc Main Event dropped and GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton was off to the early lead with Shane McElrath right along side. However, as the group entered the second corner, McElrath took Sexton wide and off of the track. Chase then re-entered the track in front of Marchbanks, taking Marchbanks down. Coming into the fourth corner, Sexton and Lopes both went down. As Chase remounted, he sat deep in the pack while Shane McElrath sat up front leading. GEICO Honda’s Jo Shimoda sat behind McElrath and in the second place position, early-on. Just as it was seeming to be McElrath’s day to run away in the points, the red flag came out for Garrett Marchbanks, who was down in the rhythm lane after Sexton jumped back on-track in front of him. 

– Restart

As the 250cc gate dropped for the second time, Shane McElrath rocketed out to an amazing start with Chase Sexton behind him. On the second lap, the top two bunched up as McElrath struggled exiting the whoops while Sexton had an excellent run through them. Behind the leaders, Colt Nichols made a pass on Jalek Swoll for third place. As the rain continued to pour down on the track, Shane McElrath continued to lead Sexton. With 10-minutes on the clock, McElrath went down in a corner while leading, giving Chase Sexton the lead. McElrath held onto second place but now sat nearly 20-seconds behind Sexton. Rookie Jalek Swoll closed in on Peters in fifth place, just as the leader Chase Sexton closed in on the pair looking to lap them. As Shane McElrath began putting in fast laps and a late-race charge, it seemed to be too late as Sexton sat with over a 10-second lead with only one lap to go. As the checkered flag waved for the third time in SLC, Chase Sexton took the main event win going into the East Coast break. 

450 Heat One

The first 450cc start of the day went to Cooper Webb, with Ken Roczen right on his tail. Dean Wilson drifted off track after after the first turn, which placed him in the back of the pack. On the second lap, Ken Roczen was able to bust out a faster rhythm and make the pass on Webb for the lead. Malcolm Stewart and Justin Brayton battled for third place, but not for too long as Malcolm was able to rocket by Brayton and take the spot. With a minute on the clock, Webb caught back up to Roczen and was going for the pass when a lapper got in Cooper’s way and allowed Roczen to rebuild a lead. One lap later, Webb made the pass for the lead in the same section, just as Roczen noticed a low rear tire. Dean Wilson climbed all the way back up to fourth place, as Malcolm Stewart had some issues and dropped back to sixth. As the checkered flag flew, Cooper Webb took the heat race win and Ken Roczen was able to hold on to second place with the flat tire. 

450 Heat Two

Zach Osborne snagged the holeshot and early lead in the second 450cc heat race, with Vince Friese and Jason Anderson just behind. It didn’t take long for Anderson to get by Friese and began chase to his teammate. Plessinger made a mistake while trying to pass Friese and allowed teammate Justin Barcia to pass, who was able to waste no time in passing Friese. Back up front, Jason Anderson made the pass on Osborne for the lead through the whoops. Eli Tomac closed in on Barcia in fourth place, who has been passed by his teammate Aaron Plessinger. As third through fifth bunch up, Anderson remained up front with a 14-second lead on his teammate in second. Tomac passed Barcia, but Barcia fired back in the next corner and took Eli wide. However, just a few moments later, Tomac was able to pass both Barcia and Plessinger for third place. Justin Hill went down hard and into a puddle after a wild ride through the whoops, but he was able to remount and remain in a transfer position. Jason Anderson crossed the finish line first and took the heat race win. 

450 LCQ

Ryan Breece took the LCQ holeshot and early lead, with Kyle Chisholm trailing in second place. Freddie Noren attempted to make a pass on Gardner for the final transfer spot, but Gardner closed the door on him and kept the position for the time being. A lap later, Noren blitzed by Gardner through the whoops and moved into the final transfer position. And another lap later, JGR teammate Broc Tickle blitzed by both Gardner and Noren and into the transfer spot. On the last lap, Ryan Breece got sloppy through the whoops and hit the deck while leading. He remounted as quickly as he could and entered the final corner alongside Noren, Breece took Noren wide which resulted in Noren going down and Breece taking the final transfer position. Kyle Chisholm took the LCQ win and went on to the main event. 

450 Main Event

The gate for the 450cc main event dropped and Zach Osborne was off to the early lead with Cooper Webb alongside and Eli Tomac trailing. Cooper Webb wasted no time in challenging Osborne for the lead, as he busted out a triple and made the pass for the lead. Eli Tomac also made the move on Osborne just moments later. Meanwhile, Ken Roczen closed in on Osborne and the leaders. However, just as quick as Ken closed in, he lost time, as he missed the triple and fell back to Jason Anderson’s challenges. Then a few laps later, Jason Anderson made the pass on Ken for fourth after diving to the inside of the number-94 machine. Eli Tomac blitzed by Cooper Webb in the whoops for the lead, Webb tried responding in the two corners following but was unable to re-pass Tomac. Jason Anderson dove to the inside of his teammate Osborne for third place and made the pass stick. Just as Malcolm Stewart blitzed by Roczen for fifth place. Benny Bloss and Kyle Cunningham both end up in the mud after Bloss dove to the inside and took them both out. As the leaders run into lapped traffic, Webb caught up to the rear wheel on Tomac but then makes contact with Plessinger, who was a lap down. As the two caught Roczen to lap him, Webb was able to blitz through the whoops and beat Tomac into the corner to re-take the lead and control of the race. However, Tomac wasn’t done, with less than 3 minutes left on the clock, Eli found a new rhythm and jumped past Webb and back into the lead. With one lap to go, Webb closed back in on Tomac and took a few jabs at the lead but was unable to make the pass. Eli Tomac crossed the checkered flag first and took the win in SLC!