Supercross Statistics | Anaheim 2 Numbers 6

The third event of 2023 Monster Energy Supercross was exactly what race fans have been desperate for. It was a frantic program in Anaheim, California, and there was so much to unpack when the flames above the finish line exploded for the final time. A lot of that information has been unpacked into this Vital MX feature – there are facts, statistics and more buried in the thousands of the words just below. Is there an item here that is of particular interest to you? Do you have a question that has not been answered yet? Join the chat in the forum or comments section at the bottom of this page.

• Anaheim 2 was truly quite special for Chase Sexton, who was clearly the quickest 450SX rider from the very start of the day. Sexton qualified with a time that was 0.719 faster than Jason Anderson in second place. When was the last time that someone topped the sheets by such a massive margin? It was 1113 days prior in St. Louis, on January 11 in 2020, and Adam Cianciarulo was the quickest on that day.

• It is fair to state that Chase Sexton is known for the raw bursts of speed, correct? How many times has he actually topped 450SX qualifying though? Saturday marked the ninth time that he has ended as the fastest qualifier – he did it four times last year and three the year before that. Sexton has already ended on top at two of the rounds this term, so he is trending upwards!

• Random fact time: For the second time this season, five different manufacturers filled the top five slots in qualification. Sexton (Honda), Jason Anderson (Kawasaki), Ken Roczen (Suzuki), Eli Tomac (Yamaha) and Cooper Webb (KTM) were the top five in 450SX times. Four of those riders filled the top five in the daytime at Anaheim 1 – Marvin Musquin represented KTM at the front at that event though.

• On that note, there were five manufacturers in the top five in the final 450SX results at Anaheim 2. It was the second week in a row that's happened (GASGAS were in the fray in San Diego and replaced by Kawasaki at Anaheim 2). What are the chances of seeing six different manufacturers in the top six? The odds are quite high, actually, as it happened at round fourteen in Atlanta last year.

• It had been 371 days since Chase Sexton's last 450SX win and, by default, Honda HRC's. When was the last time that Honda waited that long to taste the champagne in the Monster Energy Supercross series? There was a drought of 672 days between the win that Justin Brayton took in Daytona in 2018 and that historic triumph that Ken Roczen had in St. Louis in 2020. 371 days is not quite as painful, huh?

• Chase Sexton won the Triple Crown with a tally of seven points via 1-5-1 scores. Is seven points enough to typically win in the rather unique format? Seven points has won the Triple Crown three times before (Eli Tomac in Arlington in both 2022 and 2020, then Jason Anderson in Atlanta in 2018). Tomac actually had the exact same scores as Sexton in Texas in 2020, as he went 5-1-1 for the win.

• What is the highest score to ever win the Triple Crown in 450SX? Well, whilst we are on the subject, it is eight points. Eli Tomac has won the event with a score of eight on more than one occasion (Anaheim in 2018, Minneapolis in 2018 and Detroit in 2019). The lowest score to win is three, as Ken Roczen won with a perfect score in Glendale in 2020. What are the chances of someone repeating such a feat?

• One more Triple Crown statistic before we really jump into the meat of this Vital MX piece: There were eight points between Chase Sexton (first) and Dylan Ferrandis (fifth) when the main event scores were tallied up, so Anaheim 2 was quite competitive. When was the last time that a Triple Crown ended that close? It was in Arlington, Texas, in the February of 2020. Seven points covered the top five.

• It is quite rare for Yamaha and KTM to be excluded from the 450SX podium. When did that last happen? It was fairly recent, as it happened at the finale last year. What about before that though? It was a little while ago; Honda and Husqvarna locked out the podium spots at Atlanta 2 in April 2021. Powerhouses like Yamaha and KTM rarely leave without trophies!

• It has been a while since Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki shared the podium in the premier division. It was in East Rutherford on April 30, 2016, when that last occurred. 2464 days have passed since that fixture. Ken Roczen won on his RM-Z450 that night and shared the podium with Eli Tomac (Kawasaki) and Cole Seely (Honda). You have to dive into the archives whenever Suzuki success is involved in a statistic.

• There is no better statistic that sums up Chase Sexton's speed than this. In the first 450SX main, he had the quickest lap time and was one of just three stars to post a lap time below fifty-eight seconds. Jason Anderson did it just once and Ken Roczen did it twice. In comparison, Sexton did it on five of his thirteen laps. Talk about a brilliant way to set the tone for the night!

• In addition, Sexton was the only rider to post a time below fifty-eight seconds (57.931) in the final main event. The track was at its worst and he matched his pace from the very start of the night. Noteworthy, huh? '23' did it twice in that final main event too; he posted a 57.977 on the lap before his fastest. The closest rider to Sexton was Justin Barcia, who did a 58.221.

• When Sexton took the lead in the final main event, he dropped the hammer and established a sizeable margin immediately. How did he do that? Look at the lap times that he recorded in comparison to the rider in second, Jason Anderson.

• Some more statistics before we move on from the winner of Anaheim 2. Everyone knows that Saturday night was the second win that Sexton has taken in 450SX, but did you know it was his thirteenth podium on the CRF450RWE? '23' has just completed his thirtieth 450SX main event, so that is a podium rate of forty-three percent. Additionally, he has been outside of the top five in just nine of those races.

• Anaheim 2 has been labelled as one of the best nights of supercross action, but there were two leaders in the 450SX class and that was it. Sexton led twenty-four of the laps on the night, then Jason Anderson led the other eighteen. Would most not presume that there were more lead changes? Weird, right? The only pass for the lead occurred in the final main event.

• The RM-Z450 is built for Triple Crown races, it would seem, as the last time that Suzuki exited a stadium with a trophy was in Detroit in 2019. Chad Reed took his 'yellow' steed to third overall via 3-5-7 results in the Triple Crown event on that night. How many days passed between Suzuki podiums? It was a real drought for the Japanese manufacturer – 1435 was the exact number of days.

• It had even been a while since Ken Roczen earned a trophy in Monster Energy Supercross. '94' won the first event last season, of course, and then did not return to the podium, so it had been 385 days since he stood on the box in supercross. Anaheim 2 marked the fifty-eighth podium of his 450SX career and seventeenth aboard the RM-Z450.

• When Roczen joined the Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki squad in the winter months, a lot was said about the fact he had returned "home" to where his heart lies. Well, in fairness, his record aboard the RMZ-450 is quite impressive. Roczen has completed twenty-nine 450SX mains in 'yellow' and therefore his podium percentage with the manufacturer is fifty-nine. Not bad!

• The Anaheim 2 layout was littered with different sectors and Roczen was the fastest in the last part of the circuit. The fifth sector started at the sand section and ended at the finish line; Roczen was the best there in main event one (by 0.003) and main event three (by 0.011). It was in the final main that he set the best time of the entire night there and, unbelievably, he did it on the very last lap!

• Why would Roczen go quicker than he has all night in the final sector on the final lap of the night? Well, that is a reasonable question and not the norm. Roczen thought that he had to beat Dylan Ferrandis in order to finish on the podium and so he charged all of the way to the very end. It turns out that he did not need to do that at all though – there was a miscommunication on his pit board.

• There was another sector where the best time of the event was recorded in the final main (not on the very last lap this time though). The first sector on the circuit stretched from the finish to the end of the first rhythm section. Before the last main, the best time there came from Chase Sexton in the first main (15.900). Christian Craig went quicker in the last main though – 15.015 was his time.

• Cooper Webb had an awful start in the first main event – ninth at the end of the first lap – and did well to climb to sixth by lap four. Webb looked so quick behind Eli Tomac and there was a period where he took a chunk out of the current champion. The table below covers that portion of the race. There is no doubt that Webb has shown flashes of pure brilliance through the first three (or four) rounds.

• If someone told you that Cooper Webb set his second-fastest lap of the whole night at the very end of the final main event, would you be surprised? The 58.279 that he did on lap three of the first main was his best time of the program. It was not until lap twelve (of fourteen) of the main three that he matched that pace – he did a 58.375 and attempted to make a run at Chase Sexton.

• Eli Tomac was mediocre timed qualification, but came alive when the main events started. There were no laps led by him, admittedly, but that should not be confused for a lack of pace. Tomac was so fast in the second main event specifically – he posted the three quickest laps of the race and ran a pace that was four tenths faster than his peers. Despite that, he was not the best in any of the sectors.

• Random fact time: Dean Wilson was the quickest in the third sector in the first main event! Who would have put money on that? The third sector covered the whoops and that was it. Wilson went the fastest there with a time of 2.827 and that was only beaten by Jason Anderson (2.801) in the final main. It was just two seconds of glory, quite literally, but '15' deserves a tip of the cap for that.

• Chase Sexton, Jason Anderson and Ken Roczen had season-best results at Anaheim 2. Who achieved a similar feat in the final trip into Angel Stadium? Aaron Plessinger in seventh, Dean Wilson in thirteenth and Fredrik Noren in fifteenth. Not many athletes were able to use the Triple Crown to their advantage, which is a surprise when you consider the fact that Malcolm Stewart was not present.

• The 450SX field is not the deepest that it has ever been, which should not come as much of a shock to the keen fans. In total, twenty-eight different riders have experienced the 450SX main across the three rounds that have been run. When was the number last that high at the start of the season? Thirty was the figure after three rounds of 2017 Monster Energy Supercross, so it has been a while.