Direct updates from round six of the season at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Follow the sixth round of the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross Championship with direct updates from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis through Racefeed.
250SX East qualifying:
Colt Nichols (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) came out swinging in qualifying sessions, topping the timesheets heading into the night show with a 47.913s lap. Jett Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) rebounded after missing last week’s main event to take second place, finishing just 0.066s back of Nichols. Michael Mosiman (TLD Red Bull GasGas) took the third spot, continuing to build speed, finishing just over a tenth of a second off of the top time with a 48.026s lap. Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Jo Shimoda logged his best qualifying effort of the season in fourth place with great pace. Championship contender Christian Craig (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) had a tough start to the day, missing the entire first qualifying session of the day with bike problems. Craig went on to finish in fifth headed to the night program with a 48.566. Mitchell Oldenburg (Muc-Off Honda) had a solid run in qualifying to bounce back after a rough ‘Super Tuesday’ at Indianapolis 2 to take the six spot with a 48.577s. Hunter Sayles (KTM) took seventh, followed by Grant Harlan (Honda), Thomas Do (KTM) and Logan Karnow (Kawasaki) rounding out the top 10.
450SX qualifying:
Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb dominated qualifying at the final round in Indy, leading both sessions finishing the second session with a 46.752s lap to take the top spot. Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki) continued the great form we’ve seen the last few rounds, taking second place just over a tenth behind Webb. Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) finished with a 47.225s followed closely by Malcolm Stewart who was just 0.001s off aboard his Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha. Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas) and Zach Osborne (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) took the five and six spots, both riders clocking laps that were under a tenth from Cianciarulo. Marvin Musquin (Red Bull KTM) took the seventh spot with a 47.426s, while championship points leader Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC) finished in the eighth spot with a 47.572s. Rookie Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) was ninth place and the Muc-Off Honda of Justin Brayton rebounded from a rough go at Indy 2 to round out the top 10 with a 47.700s.
250SX East heat one:
Lawrence ripped off the line to grab the lead into turn one as the gate dropped on the first race of the evening. Oldenburg tucked in behind him with Moranz, Shimoda and Jeremy Hand (Honda) filling the spots in the top 5. A few laps in Shimoda latched on to the back of Oldenburg and began to apply pressure. The Kawasaki rider made a pass through the whoops initially, but was passed back immediately up the inside by Oldenburg. The two closed the gap to Lawrence quick with the Muc-Off Honda rider bumping Lawrence and passing him in the following section. The three ran in a freight train for a lap until Shimoda passed both through the whoops with a little over a lap to go, running both him and Oldenburg wide, handing the lead back to Lawrence. Shimoda used the outside line to get some moment going, caught Lawrence through the rhythm section and ultimately went down going into the corner landing on a tough block. Lawrence narrowly avoided the chaos and went on to take the win with Oldenburg in second. Shimoda remounted to take third with Moranz and Harlan in the fouth and fifth spots. Hand, Luke Neese (Kawasaki), Karnow and Wilson Fleming (Honda) took the final qualifying positions.
250SX East heat two:
Heat two saw Craig jump out to the lead with his teammate Nichols tucked in close behind. Do got off the line well in the three spot with Simonson and Sayles just behind filling out the top five. Nichols didn’t wait long to start showing a wheel to Craig and a few straight aways later Nichols grabbed the lead on the third lap. Nichols dropped the hammer and opened up a five second gap by lap seven. Simonson worked his way around Do as a battle raged for the final transfer spots with two laps left. In the end it was Nichols taking the win, five seconds clear of his teammate Craig in second. Simonson notched his best heat race results in third with Do and Sayles finishing inside the top five. Joshua Varize (KTM) ended up sixth followed by Josh Osby (Honda), Bobby Piazza (Yamaha) and Maxwell Sanford (Honda) in the final transfer positions.
450SX heat one:
Ken Roczen proved his seventh place in qualifying was nothing to be worried about as he rocketed to the holeshot in heat one. Brayton got collected with Stewart a few corners in, with Brayton getting the short end of the stick, ending up on the ground. Tomac got a solid start to take second and was followed closely by Osborne, Stewart and Friese in the top five spots. Kyle Chisholm (Yamaha) crashed at the end of the whoops dropping him out of the transfer spots and opening up the door for Joey Savatgy (Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM) to get in the mix after a rough start. The trio of Benny Bloss (MotoConcepts Honda), Broc Tickle (MotoConcepts Honda) and Savatgy started to get a bit of a battle going while Tomac began to close the gap to Roczen with a lap left. Roczen would go on to take the win with Tomac just behind. Osborne and Stewart cruised to fairly uneventful third and fouth place finishes as Friese took fifth. Savatgy got the better of Bloss and Tickle, with the three finishing in that order and Carlen Gardner (Honda) took home the final transfer spot. Brayton would take 13th, sending him to the LCQ.
450SX heat two:
Justin Bogle grabbed the holeshot of heat two with his best of the season by far. It wasn’t long until Jason Anderson took the lead but for only a section as Musquin jumped ahead fot he lead. Barcia began to pressure Anderson for second with Webb just behind. Cianciarulo was buried off the start and crossed the line eighth after two laps. Barcia made the pass after a few laps with Webb following suit a few turns later pushing Anderson to fourth. Musquin’s race took a turn when he crashed in the whoops, dropping him back to seventh. Barcia inherited the lead with Webb just two seconds back. The battle for fourth picked up with Plessinger pressuring Ferrandis, but it didn’t last long with Plessinger falling over in a corner. Barcia cruised on to the win with Webb keeping him honest just under two seconds back. Anderson took third followed by Ferrandis and Cianciarulo rounding out the top five. Musquin and Plessinger recovered for sixth and seventh with Bogle dropping back to eighth after a late race crash in the whoops. Martin Davalos bounced back from a bad start to take the final transfer spot.
250SX East LCQ:
Jonah Geistler jumped out to a great start with Camporese just behind. Camporese bobbled just a few straights in and let Schlosser by. Schlosser made short work of Geistler shortly after to take the lead. Meshy got by to maintain the 3rd spot. Geistler began to drop fast, getting passed by Camporese and Meshy leaving him and Luhovey to battle out for the transfer spots. It didnt take long for Luhovey to get by and maintain the spot with two laps to go, but it was Schlosser taking the win in this one with Camporese, Meshy and Luhovey taking the last spots in the main event.
450SX LCQ:
Teammates Joan Cros (Kawasaki) and Theodore Pauli (Kawasaki) jumped out to an early 1-2 with Cade Clason (Kawasaki) and Chisholm just behind. The front duo bobbled and allowed Clason by, as Brayton started his recovery after a seventh place start. Brayton didnt wait long to make a move and jumped into second behind Clason with two minutes and a lap left. Pauli dropped out of transfer spots leaving Chisholm to fend off the pack behind him on the bubble. He’d make a move on Cros to grab third as Twisted Tea HEP Suzuki teammates Adam Enticknap and Brandon Hartranft closed in and began to battle for the final spot in the main. Brayton made the move on Clason for the lead with about two laps left, as Enticknap and Hartranft simultaneously moved passed Cros. Brayton cruised on for the win with Clason, Chisholm and Enticknap punching their tickets to the main just behind him.
250SX East main event:
Nichols picked up where he left off in the heat and grabbed the holeshot with Oldenburg and Craig just behind. But it wasn’t long before the points leader would endure a massive crash, cross rutting out of a corner and up the face of a jump on the first lap. Thus allowing Craig to slip past for the lead as Nichols dropped all the way to dead last. Osby got a great start and put himself inside the top five just behind Shimoda, with Shimoda taking control of the third spot early on. Nichols cracked back into the top 10 after just five laps. Shimoda worked his way past Oldenburg with 10 minutes left in the race, just back from them Lawrence had worked his way into the top five after a dismal start that left him buried in the pack. Nichols latched onto the back of Lawrence a few laps later and the two would begin to battle over fourth. Nichols attempted to make a pass with three minutes left and Lawrence looked back, slowed down and closed the door, keeping the points leader at bay. As they battled they reeled in Oldenburg in third, but out front Craig stretched out an 11 second lead over Shimoda. Lawrence worked his way by Oldenburg with three laps to go, Nichols would try to sneak by, but Oldenburg battled back to maintain the four spot. A half lap later he’d get by and set his sights back on Lawrence for the final spot on the podium. About that time, lapped riders came in to play, first holding Lawrence up in a rhythm lane, allowing Nichols to secure the third spot and then again on Lawrence, running him wide and off the track on the landing of the finish line, forcing him to miss the corner. All the while, Craig maintained his gap and went on to grab his second victory of the season. Shimoda earned his way onto the podium with an amazing ride for second while Nichols recovered valuable points to finish on the podium. Oldenburg took advantage of Lawrences incident and took the fourth spot back from him, the duo rounding out the top five. Osby bought his Honda home in sixth with Sayles, Simonson, Do and Neese rounding out the top 10.
450SX main event:
Roczen launched off the line and into the lead with Barcia, Webb, Cianciarulo and Tomac all in tow. The top five settled in over the first three minutes until Barcia attempted a move on Roczen, running into his rear wheel slowing the two down. At that point the top five were all covered by 2.5 seconds. Tomac began to pressure Webb as the two attempted to close the gap to Barcia. A bit further back Stewart began to catch Cianciarulo for fifth, passing for the spot just past the halfway point. Webb continued on the charge to Barcia, dropping Tomac just a bit with just under two seconds between the two. Cianciarulo’s night continued to trend downward as Musquin got by for sixth. Back at the front, Webb made the pass on Barcia allowing Tomac to close the gap as well. A mistake by Barcia allows Tomac to get around for a moment for third, but Barcia slammed the door in the following corner to take the spot back. With short time on the clock, Barcia’s night would come to an end abruptly as he’d get tangled with lapped rider Friese over a double. The crash collected Tomac who had no where to go, gifting the third spot to Musquin. On the final lap Webb closed the gap to Roczen but it was too little too late, as Roczen would take the checkered flag and complete a sweep of all three rounds at Indianapolis with a wire-to-wire win. Musquin showed grit with a third place after starting deep in the top 10, followed by Stewart and Cianciarulo taking the last of the top five spots. Anderson grabbed sixth place with a solid rebound after missing the last round. Tomac would remount to finish seventh with Ferrandis taking eighth on the night. Savatgy grabbed ninth on the night and Osborne rounded out the top 10.