Supercross Flashback: Season Finales, '14–'19

Round 17 always (traditionally in Vegas) makes for a fun end to the Monster Energy Supercross season. There was so much stuff going on in these events, we decided to break it into two.

2019 – Las Vegas

It was one last race to the finish for the 2019 Monster Energy Supercross season. Of course, starts are always critical, but everyone we'd talked to thought that this track offered little passing potential and that the week's holeshots will be extra-important.


While cruising the pits on Saturday afternoon and stopped by the Smartop MotoConcepts Racing rig while the team was doing autographs. While we were there, Team Owner Mike Genova, and Team Manager Tony Alessi, slipped in a one-year contract for Malcolm Stewart to sign. Awesome!

The GEICO Honda guys did up a special bike for Chase Sexton this weekend, which showed off the newly acquired red plates pretty nicely.

Cameron McAdoo was ready for action as they lined up to settle the final round in Vegas.

Tension is always apparent before championship-deciding races. Adam Cianciarulo, Olly Stone, and Nick Wey strategized on Adam's gate pick. He went all the way to the inside.

Early in the main, both points leaders were dicing for fourth and fifth, and both were looking good in their respective title chases.

The season unraveled for Adam and Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki just before the halfway point of the main. An awkward crash badly twisted up the front end of Adam's bike and despite a pit stop in the mechanic's area, there was little they could do to get him back up to speed. With a handful of weeks to go in the season, it looked like the team might win both 250 titles in the end, they went home empty-handed.

Dylan Ferrandis led from wire-to-wire, taking not only the race win, but the 250 West title. The joy he exhibited afterward was contagious, and he was quickly joined by Jeremy Coker and his mechanic, Alex Campbell, after the finish.

Here are your 2019 250 West and 250 East champs, Dylan Ferrandis, and Chase Sexton.

This one was pretty much a runaway for Eli in the 450 class. Yep, he was in that mode.

The championship, however, was another story. Carlos Rivera with his last lap message for Cooper.

Whew! There was little doubt that Cooper Webb would walk away with this plate at the end of the night, but it was still cool to see him with it after a stellar comeback season.

2018 – Las Vegas

There was a little extra flare to Anderson's red plate that weekend. It's a bit hard to see, but the red was a reflective chrome.

Joey Savatgy was on fire during the 250 West heat, going wire-to-wire to take the win.

Zach Osborne started ninth and finished seventh, enough to still give him a healthy points gap at the end.

Aaron Plessinger finished in eighth spot, just enough to finish two points up on Adam Cianciarulo for the 250 West title.

One of the other big surprises on the night was Adam Cianciarulo letting slip on the podium that he'd be out for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, due to the necessity of an ACL surgery. He was riding better than we've seen recently in both the heat race and main event.

Here's your 250 West (Plessinger) and East (Osborne) SX champs for ’18.

How do you make a 250 West title even better? By proposing to your girlfriend while on the stage afterward. Way to go, AP. That was outstandable. This might be the most serious that he got all night long.

What's better than winning one title? Winning back-to-back SX titles, with an outdoor title sandwiched in-between. Zach will be back to defend his 250 National title this summer.

Let's do this one last time, for all the marbles.

Jason Anderson made the mistake of sitting on the edge of the stage while the top three on the night did their podium duties. He paid for his championship rookie mistake by getting a champagne shower from the guys he beat up on this season.

The celebration in the pits for the Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna guys included a few wobbly-pops, a whole lot of number one plates, burnouts, and a shearing for Chris Loredo (left), who'd been rocking a pretty healthy beard in the months leading up to the race.

2017 – Las Vegas

The 250 West and East each got a morning press session in the days leading up to the race this weekend. Justin Hill's 1W kit was rocking, from the number, to the butt patch, and number plate. He raced using his usual number 46 on Saturday night, because technically, the 1W still belonged to Cooper Webb.

Here's your trio who would battle it out for the 250 East title. From left to right it's Zach Osborne, Joey Savatgy, and Jordon Smith.

Beam Designs always kills it on Vegas-themed helmets, and Justin Bogle will rock this one tonight. The back says Viva Las Vegas.

Here's the other side of Justin Bogle's helmet. Another iconic Vegas look.

That's a classic butt patch for Reedy.

Adam Cianciarulo scored the holeshot when the gate dropped for the 250 main. Behind him, Zach Osborne was down in the first turn, and he came around in the 21st spot, and a long way behind the pack. Things were not looking good for Zach's chances at the title.

After remounting from his crash, Zach Osborne was on the gas and moving forward. It took three laps to make an actual pass (not counting Jordon Smith, who crashed out). He moved into 15th by lap seven, and tenth on lap ten. Even by then, the chances of catching Joey Savatgy looked slim. But he was regularly lapping faster than Joey, and you all know how this turned out. He made a very aggressive pass—with two turns to go—that earned him the crown.

Congratulations on a well-deserved title, Zach.

When the gate dropped for the 450 main, Ryan Dungey quickly charged out in front, with Eli Tomac close behind. Eli took over the lead after lap one.

It quickly became apparent that while Eli had to score the maximum points possible, he wasn't going to run away and hide from everyone. Ryan Dungey was looking to avoid getting too close, but the pace allowed pursuing riders (Jason Anderson, Chad Reed, and Josh Grant) to catch up.

Just like in the 250 main, the crowd was on their feet for the duration of the 450 main. These two kept things close.

Dungey went by Eli twice for the lead, and each time got mildly roughed up. Afterward he admitted that he shouldn't have gone by Eli. It was definitely a chess game out there, and unfamiliar territory from their usual wide-open racing. Check out the faces on the fans.

That made it three 450 titles in a row for Red Bull KTM and Ryan Dungey. At the time we wrote, "While there were rumors of him retiring (and Ryan shut them down at the pre-race press conference, saying no decision had been made yet), we feel he's been a bit of an underappreciated champ, and people won't realize how much he'll be missed until he's gone."

2016 – Las Vegas

Cooper Webb glossed over questions about a wrist injury during Friday's press conference, but there's no doubt he had some kind of injury. How big it is, or how much it affects him is up for debate, but he had to get through the race in an effort to try and wrap up the 250 West title. This was the first time we'd spotted a prototype of a Mobius wrist brace.

It was cool seeing Ryan Dungey and Cooper Webb rocking their number ones together during press day.

Mike Genova busting out the high-tech video gear to get a slow-mo start of Mike Alessi.

Yeah...this is how the track looked after a thunderstorm brought a ton of rain, hail, and lightning to Sam Boyd stadium.

With two 250 titles to hand out, it must have been like a butterfly convention in stomachs lined up on the gate. Joey Savatgy scored the holeshot in the 250 main, and the main was shortened.

The only problem Malcolm had, was dismounting after he'd crossed the finish line as the 250 East Champ.

Cooper Webb moved up just enough to finish one point ahead of Joey Savatgy for the 250 West title, but even if they'd tied, he'd have won on the tiebreaker with more wins.

Malcolm Stewart with his 1E plate.

Cooper Webb with his second straight 250 W number one plate.

Malcolm Stewart, and the GEICO Honda crew.

Note to Yamaha... Photos of championship-winning bikes and riders beat a banner held up in front of championship-winning bikes and riders.


Ryan Dungey grabbed the lead on the start.

Ken Roczen caught and passed Ryan Dungey, but he went down not long afterwards, and Dungey got caught up in the wreckage. While Roczen limped off the track, Ryan remounted in the lead, and continued on for the win.

Here are your top three finishers in the 2016 450 season. Ryan Dungey (1st), Ken Roczen (2nd), and Jason Anderson (3rd).

2015 – Las Vegas

Check out the clutch cover on Ryan Dungey's KTM.

Before the start of practice, the KTM guys took advantage of the time to get in a little team shoot...and you got a sneak peek at what Ryan Dungey's bike would look like for upcoming season.

Check out the 100% championship goggles on Cooper Webb's bike. Unfortunately, he went out with an ankle injury after the first practice, and missed the night's action.

Bell does up sweet commemorative helmets for their championship riders, and Cooper Webb is no exception.

6D did up some different helmets for their West (left) and East riders.

There was a lot (and we mean a lot) going on in Vegas this weekend. The crowd's a bit late-arriving, but was getting good for the afternoon pit party.

Marvin Musquin going for a chiropractic whip.

Sam Boyd Stadium is way out on the east side of Las Vegas. Well, actually Henderson, Nevada. The scenery beyond the stadium is beautiful, but the first heat race was lining up just as the sun was setting...and the guys were staring straight into the sun.

RJ Hampshire and Malcolm Stewart were going at it early in the main.

Frank Latham was pretty pumped on Marvin's night.

The heel-clicker was the official celebration of the 2015 Red Bull KTM team...but it was rare to see it from Dungey.

That's one happy KTM crew on the podium. They crushed it that year.

2014 – Las Vegas

There was an eight-point gap between Jason Anderson and Cole Seely as they headed into the final round.

Seely got the best of Anderson in the main (fourth place vs. sixth for Anderson), but Jason took the title by five points. Dean Wilson won the West main.


Yep, Jason was having a lot of fun picking up his hardware.

Justin Bogle finished second behind Jeremy Martin in the 250 East main, but it was good enough to wrap up the 250 East title.

Justin sporting the 250 East plate in the East/West Shootout.

Jason Anderson running the 1w. The mirrored backgrounds were a nice touch.

Oh yeah...the 450 guys. Ryan Villopoto took the win...and the title. In fact, he was 62 points up on everyone after Vegas.


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