Supercross Statistics | Indianapolis Numbers 3

The halfway point in 2023 Monster Energy Supercross has just been breached! Indianapolis, the ninth stop of the travelling circus, delivered on many fronts and thus there were many miscellaneous points that emerged from Lucas Oil Stadium. In this regular feature that has become a hit, dive into a few of those and uncover some points of interest that were lurking in the shadows.

• Chase Sexton started his Indianapolis experience in the best possible way, as he posted the fastest time in time practice. It was the seventh time that he has done that this season, which means that he has missed the top spot just twice, but it was actually his second smallest margin of the season. '23' was 00.120 quicker than Ken Roczen in second, whereas he was just 00.044 faster than the rest of the pack in Tampa.

• Speaking of Roczen, Indianapolis was the third week in succession that he has qualified in second. It has almost been three full years since he last qualified inside of the top two on three consecutive weeks; it occurred at rounds nine, ten and eleven in 2020 Monster Energy Supercross. '94' is still searching for that elusive pole position, as it has been 736 days since he topped time practice. It last happened at round nine of the 2021 season!

• Justin Barcia is another rider making strides in the daytime, as he secured a season-best result of fourth place in time practice. Indianapolis marked the first time that he has entered the night show inside of the top four since round twelve, Seattle, last season, where he was also fourth. 726 days have been and gone since he last qualified in the top three, which is a shock. Why is it that Barcia cannot perfect the art of a single hot lap?

• Everyone is aware that Roczen ended a significant drought for Suzuki's RM-Z450, correct? It had been 2506 days since a 'yellow' rider reached the checkered flag first in a 450SX main event. The rider who did that was Roczen when he was in RCH colors; he won the penultimate round of 2016 Monster Energy Supercross, East Rutherford, in a more dominant fashion than Saturday night. The advantage that he had at the end was nineteen seconds.

• To build on that, the win that Roczen took at East Rutherford in the April of 2016 was the largest margin that he has ever had at a Monster Energy Supercross event. In contrast, his win on Saturday night was the smallest cushion that he has ever had! '94' crossed the line with a 00.739 advantage over the star in second. Prior to this past weekend, his smallest margin was 00.888 at Indianapolis 3 in the February of 2021. It all ties together.

• Here is a fun and fairly surprising fact that puts Suzuki's dry spell into perspective. There are just six riders from the East Rutherford main event, which was run 2508 days ago, who are still active in the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross series. Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson, Marvin Musquin, Justin Barcia, Benny Bloss and AJ Catanzaro are the riders in question. It turns out that a lot has changed since the April of 2016.

• Red Bull swept the podium on Saturday night! Monster Energy have enjoyed a stint of dominance, thanks to both Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton, so Indianapolis was a welcome result for those in the Red Bull marketing department. When did Red Bull last sweep the podium? It was at the first stop of 2022 Monster Energy Supercross. Roczen, Barcia and Cooper Webb locked out the podium on that night too.

• 427 days had passed since Red Bull's last podium lockout and that was also the night of Roczen's last triumph, so that was the personal drought that he overcame. '94' is in his thirteenth season as a Monster Energy Supercross athlete and has won a main in all but two of those terms. Indianapolis was his twenty-first win as a 450SX rider. Those wins have come under four different teams: Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, RCH Suzuki, Honda HRC and Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki.

• Indianapolis was the twenty-first time that Roczen has reached a checkered flag first, as an athlete in 450SX, and it occurred in his one hundred and twenty-third start. Adding another strike to his tally helped him increase his win percentage to 17% as well, which is the third-highest percentage out of the current competitors. Eli Tomac (32%) and Cooper Webb (21%) have better percentages than him.

• Roczen led every single lap of that 450SX main and, oddly, a lot of his victories come after similar dominance. Roczen's last five victories (three of those have been in Indianapolis) have materialized via leading every lap. When was the last time that '94' won a main without leading all of the laps? It was back at Indianapolis 1 in 2021, which was 772 days ago. Tomac and Adam Cianciarulo led laps on that night.

• First place was obviously the best result that Roczen has had in 2023 Monster Energy Supercross. Who joined him in achieving such a feat in Indianapolis? Barcia (second), Cianciarulo (sixth), Justin Hill (ninth), Josh Hill (eleventh) and Kyle Chisholm (fourteenth). That is a longer list than there has been in weeks past, but one would have presumed that more guys would have capitalized in the crazy conditions.

• The leaders lapped ninth in the main event on Saturday, so more riders got lapped in Indianapolis than at any other event this term. When was the last time that the winner lapped more riders than that? It was at the 2022 Monster Energy Supercross finale, Salt Lake City. Anderson won on that night and lapped seventh place, Justin Brayton, in the main event. The track length was similar to Indianapolis.

• If you want proof of just how quickly the circuit broke down in Indianapolis, just glance at the fact that the latest a rider set their best time was lap six. Tomac, Cianciarulo, Anderson, Craig did that. The quickest lap of the race, which was done by Barcia for the second consecutive week, occurred on lap four. There was a huge difference between the best lap that Barcia set and his second best 01.001, to be exact. Crazy!

• Webb ended third in Indianapolis and, surprisingly, that is the first time that he has stood on the third step of the podium this term. '2' had finished first twice, second four times, fourth once and fifth once prior to Indianapolis. Consistency pays, as his average finish through nine rounds is still a second and that is better than what his average was in his title-winning terms. This is impressive for the new series leader.

• Sexton finished tenth in the Indianapolis main event, but he was still the top 'red' rider. When was the last time that there was not a Honda in the top nine in a 450SX main? It was a long time ago. It was at round thirteen of the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross season, Seattle, which was 1798 days ago! Christian Craig was a fill-in rider on Honda HRC and the best finisher for the manufacturer on that night – he was eleventh.

• Speaking of Sexton, he showed good pace early in the main event. '23' hounded Roczen and did some impressive times, just as the table below demonstrates. It is not like he was gaining seconds a lap, but he was very steady and just kept chipping away. Presumably this does not need to be explained but, hey, lap seven was the one where he fell and took a while to gather himself. Sexton basically lost half a lap there.

• The whoops have become a regular point of discussion in this feature, but how was the speed of the lead riders early on in the main event? Times from Roczen, Barcia and Sexton in that particular section are underlined in the table below. Sexton's speed in the whoops was unbelievable for the most part – he stayed to the right and skimmed, whereas Roczen opted for a rut in the middle. It is fair to state that was considered the 'safe' option for the most part.

• It was Aaron Plessinger who had the fastest time of all in the whoops, as he posted a 05.455 on lap five. Barcia (05.660) and Sexton (05.692) followed him. Something that jumps off of the page is that Webb posted his fastest time in the whoops (sixth fastest of all the field) on the penultimate lap. Yes, lap twenty-six! Another point of note is that the quickest time that Tomac posted in those whoops, 06.109, was 00.654 slower than the 05.455 that Plessinger did. That is a huge gulf.

• The whoops perfectly encapsulate the story of the tortoise and the hare. Well, kind of. Even though Tomac was not on the pace during his fastest run in the whoops, his average was much closer to where it needs to be and faster than Webb's. Roczen had the fastest average, as the table below demonstrates, despite the fact that he was only the fourth-best rider in the section. It is surprising that Sexton's average was so good, seeing as he backed it down after his crash.

• Here is a fun, yet baffling, statistic. Jason Anderson had the best time in sector one and his margin over the second-best time, which was set by Adam Cianciarulo, was a tad more than half a second! It was 00.590 quicker. Anderson recorded his time on lap four and Cianciarulo set his on lap five, so conditions were identical. Anyway! '21' did not come close to replicating that time at all, as his second-fastest time in sector one was 00.728 slower than his best. Make it make sense!

• Shall we get back to the battle for the Indianapolis win? If you dive into the lap times from late in the main event, it is obvious that Barcia was really making quite a dent in Roczen's lead. '94' came in clutch on that penultimate lap and found more than half a second that was missing in the prior laps, which goes along with what he said in our post-race chat. There was absolutely nothing that was going to stop him from hitting that checkered flag first.

• A weird point to conclude. Did you know that Indianapolis was the worst that Eli Tomac has done on a Yamaha? Prior to Saturday night, his worst result in 'blue' was a seventh in Foxborough last year. '1' has finished in eighth place in four main events in his life; Anaheim 2 in 2017, New Jersey in 2017, Orlando 2 in 2021 and now Indianapolis in 2023. Saturday's ranking also increased his career average from fourth to fifth.