Supercross Statistics | Anaheim 1 Numbers 11

The first round of 2023 Monster Energy Supercross truly had it all. Surprises, brilliant on-track action and a couple of thought-provoking moments have left fans with plenty to think about in the days prior to Oakland (if we ever manage to drop the gate there, that is). There were a handful of things that were playing on our minds and so we dived into some numbers to verify a couple of facts. 2000 words later and we have got a feature that may be of interest to supercross fans around the world! If this feature is enjoyable and something that you would like to see after each race, let us know!

• The win that Eli Tomac clinched at Anaheim 1 was particularly poignant. It was the first time that he has won the first round and that triumph bumped him into fourth on the all-time win list ahead of Chad Reed. Who is the next rider for him to surpass? Ricky Carmichael, who is just three wins ahead on 48. Will he pass Carmichael before the end of the current season?

• The results that Tomac has had at the opening round since making his 450SX debut are far worse than most would imagine. The table below outlines his results, term by term, and it has been quite difficult. Tomac has not even seen the top five at the opener since the first stop of the 2019 season and has an average finish of ninth at round one, even with that win on Saturday night. Ninth!

• Tomac has triumphed at Anaheim 1 just once, but he is a four-time winner inside of the Angel Stadium. What sort of company does that place him in? Ken Roczen, Ryan Dungey and Ryan Villopoto have taken five Anaheim victories apiece. Will Tomac match those riders when Monster Energy Supercross returns to the stadium in just a couple of weeks? Time will tell.

• It is easy to pinpoint the exact moment that Tomac believed that he could win that main event, despite his crash. '1' posted a 1:00.681 on lap eight of the main event – the lap before his crash – and could not find a way to match that pace in the eight laps that followed. Incredibly, on lap sixteen when the track had really deteriorated, he ran a 1:00.687. How did his pace compare to others at that point in the race? See below for the times from that lap.

• It was on lap sixteen that Chase Sexton started making unforced errors at the front of the pack. Was that enough to incentivise Tomac to drop the hammer and make a charge? It certainly seems that way. Sexton had not gone above the 1:02.000 mark prior to the sixteenth lap and only recorded times above 1:03.000 from lap seventeen. The difference from lap fourteen to eighteen is astonishing.

• Tomac and Sexton both improved on their results from the opener one term ago, but who else started in a more positive fashion in comparison to 2022? Dylan Ferrandis, Jason Anderson, Aaron Plessinger, Adam Cianciarulo, Josh Hill and Justin Starling join them in that category. Only Cooper Webb had exactly the same result as what he had at Anaheim 1 last year.

• Anaheim 1 marked the eighty-fifth time that Tomac has stood on the premier class podium in Monster Energy Supercross. 45 of those finishes have been victories, of course, then he has occupied the runner-up spot 21 times and had 16 bronze medals. It is crazy to think that he only has two titles, as his statistics indicate that he should have so much more.

• Before we move onto the other stars in the field, Anaheim 1 marked the forty-fourth win for the YZ450F in Monster Energy Supercross. Admittedly, that number is lower than some may think. Remember that Yamaha went six seasons (2013-2018) without a win in the premier division though. Doug Henry, Chad Reed, Josh Hill, Josh Grant, James Stewart, Justin Barcia and Tomac have contributed to that total.

• Speaking of Webb, how about a very random fact? Tomac and Webb had exactly the same average lap time in the Anaheim 1 main event (1:01.652). What are the chances. It means nothing and has no real relevance, but it is an obscure fact that happens once in a blue moon. It was Malcolm Stewart who had the best average time (1:01.336). It should be stated that not all of his times were recorded though.

• Webb had the same finish as he secured at Anaheim 1 a year ago, as mentioned previously, but is there any indication that he will be more competitive this time around? Well, there are a couple of items to consider. '2' had the eighth-fastest lap time at Anaheim 1 last term and the fifth-best lap this year. The fastest time that he set on Saturday was just 0.342 slower than the best lap of the main event, whereas he was 0.816 slower last year.

• Another point to think about is that Webb was the quickest rider on four of the twenty-one laps in the 450SX main event. In comparison, he was not the fastest on any lap in the Anaheim 1 main in 2022. Is all of this concrete evidence that he will be better this season? No, not at all. It does reveal that he was more competitive on Saturday night than he was at the opener last year though.

• Whilst we are on the subject, Webb was the fastest rider on the last three laps of the 450SX main event at Anaheim 1. How good was he when the track was at its trickiest? Webb was 1.463 faster than anyone else on track on lap nineteen, 0.396 faster on lap twenty and then 0.667 faster on lap twenty-one. Only Webb would come alive when others fall apart!

• Dylan Ferrandis ended the first lap of the 450SX main event in ninth place and that was a reason for all to celebrate, incredibly. Why so? Ferrandis has an average starting spot of tenth since leaping into the premier class. Yes, tenth. '14' has started in the top ten in just ten of the twenty-six mains that he has done aboard the YZ450F. It is truly incredible, huh? Starting in the top ten is lacklustre for most.

• When was the last time that Yamaha started a Monster Energy Supercross series with two YZ450F riders in the top four? The answer may surprise you. It was in 2008; Chad Reed won the first event and Grant Langston finished in fourth. James Stewart and Tim Ferry joined Reed on the podium at Anaheim 1 that year.

• When Ken Roczen put his RM-Z450 into fifth place in the 450SX main on Saturday night, it was the first time that there was a splash of 'yellow' in the top five in 1414 days. The last Suzuki-mounted star to be in the top five was Chad Reed, who finished third in Detroit in the February of 2019. That number is a stark reminder of how noteworthy the Roczen deal is for the manufacturer.

• The fact that Roczen recorded the second-fastest lap in the main event has not been mentioned much, but it proves how competitive he was at points. Roczen set his best time, a 59.660, on lap five and that helped him move closer to the leader. It was like he tried to force the issue too much at that point, as his times fell apart in the laps that followed. Laps six and seven really cost him.

• A lot has been said about the form that Aaron Plessinger showcased at Anaheim 1 and the fact that he was one of just seven riders to drop below the 1:00.000 mark in the main event serves as proof of his competitiveness. In fact, Plessinger had the fourth-fastest time and went quicker than three of the riders in the top four (Webb, Sexton and Ferrandis).

• Did you know that Plessinger has completed fifty-two mains in the 450SX division? Time flies. Dive into his numbers and it becomes apparent that he has ended up in the top five just six times since his debut. It feels like he has experienced a lot more success than that, huh? Consider this a reminder of just how crucial this contract year is and how the aforementioned speed will be poignant.

• Talk about speed and someone will inevitably throw Adam Cianciarulo into the conversation, which is exactly what we will do here. Cianciarulo was rather quiet in the main event, whilst racing to ninth, but his speed was far more impressive than anyone realizes. Glance at the sector times and one will notice that he was actually the fastest in two of the three splits.

• The first sector spanned from the finish line to the turn where Sexton passed Stewart – a poignant part of the track that included the whoops. Cianciarulo was 0.581 faster than anyone else in the sector and, incredibly, he set his time later than anyone else! '9' posted his fastest time on lap sixteen whereas the fifteen riders behind him did theirs before lap ten. The six quickest times are below.

• Cianciarulo was also the quickest in the third sector, which covered the area between the holeshot line and the finish. The times were more competitive on that portion of the track. 0.085 was the difference between Cianciarulo and Tomac, the second-fastest rider in that segment. The times from that sector are outlined in the table below.

• When Cianciarulo breached the finish line in ninth place, he established a base that he can build off of in the future. Anaheim 1 marked the first time that he has ended in the top ten in a 450SX main in 700 days! Did you realise that it had been that long? Cianciarulo was ranked in eleventh and twelfth in his two races last year, hence why that number is so high.

• Joey Savatgy was just behind Cianciarulo in what was a Kawasaki train of sorts. Kawasaki tend to put all of their eggs into the Monster Energy Kawasaki basket, in the 450SX class at least, so Anaheim 1 was the first time that there were three 'green' riders in the top ten since Seattle in 2019! Tyler Bowers joined Tomac and Savatgy in the top ten on that night.

• There were a couple of poignant streaks that ended inside of Angel Stadium. Malcolm Stewart saw his streak of twenty top ten finishes in succession draw to a close, as he was ranked in sixteenth. Much like his peer on Austrian machinery, Justin Barcia had a streak of eighteen top ten finishes that ended over the weekend. '51' just missed out on the top ten for the first time since Salt Lake City 1 in the April of 2021.