2020 Tampa Supercross | Qualifying Report

2020 TAMPA SUPERCROSS | COMPLETE COVERAGE

Timed qualifying has concluded at the 2020 Tampa Supercross and the field is set for the seventh night of racing in the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross Series. Raymond James Stadium is a standard-sized NFL venue, but it seems like the track layout is very technical and riders really have little room for error, especially in the long sand section. The move to the other side of the country means that the 250 class is completely new and today was our first chance to watch all of the 250 East Coast regional riders put in laps.

Lap times are very close, again, and as you’ll see in the compiled lap times below, there are only a few fractions of a second separating riders in the running order.

2020 TAMPA SUPERCROSS | 250 CLASS QUALIFYING REPORT

Today is Jeremy Martin’s return to competition after nearly two years on the sidelines with a broken back, but it didn’t take long for the GEICO Honda rider to get back into a groove. With a 48.974-second lap in the final session, Martin claimed the top spot in the 250 class. 

Shane McElrath was comfortable as soon as the laps got going. How could we tell? The Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider was the fastest of all in the first round of 250 class qualifying and that 49.004 lap time put him second overall in the results.

It’s impossible to miss defending champion Chase Sexton on the track because his GEICO Honda is complete with the massive 1E and red backgrounds. Sexton was speedy in the afternoon session and his best time, a 49.10, put him third overall.

Will Garrett Marchbanks be the surprise of the East Coast? The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider was fourth-fastest of the competitive class, something that many didn’t expect, thanks to a 49.315 lap time.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider RJ Hampshire rounded out the top-five with a 49.331 lap time; GEICO Honda’s Jo Shimoda was the top-ranked rookie, at seventh place, with a 50.041 time.

Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM rider Brian Moreau will sit out the night’s race after a crash in the first practice session of the day. Although details are scarce, the French rookie was taken to a nearby hospital after the on-site medical team tended to him. We will share an update as it becomes available.

2020 TAMPA SUPERCROSS | 450 CLASS QUALIFYING REPORT

Apparently it doesn’t matter what coast the Supercross series is on because Adam Cianciarulo will be the fastest rider of the field. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider had a rough go early in the first practice session, due in part to a weird crash when the field filed into the first turn, but he rebounded in the final session and scored the top spot with a 47.704 time.

Like McElrath in the 250 class, Eli Tomac was the fastest rider in the first session of the day and the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider’s lap time from that session, a 47.823, was his best of the day. It was impressive because he was the first rider to post a 47-second lap time and was topped only by Cianciarulo in the second session.

Want to make things really, really interesting? Ken Roczen and Cooper Webb, two riders with hopes of the title, were within 0.003 seconds of each other on their best laps. Roczen’s lap was a 48.052, Webb’s was a 48.055.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Jason Anderson closed out the top-five with a 48.373 lap from the first session.

Cianciarulo and Tomac were the only two riders in the 47-second range, riders from second place to tenth place were all in the 48-second range, and riders from eleventh to eighteenth were in the 49-second range.