Supercross Statistics | Arlington in Numbers 6

Whenever Monster Energy Supercross engages the Triple Crown format, there is just an explosion of information to digest. It is often difficult to keep track of the rankings from one main event to another, let alone anything more in depth than that. This edition of 'Supercross Statistics' on Vital MX could be considered an explosion of information, as there is a wide of variety of facts (some more relevant than others) for you to chew on. If you want to enter the chat, head to the Vital MX forum or @VitalMX on social media.

• Jason Anderson became the third different rider to top 450SX timed practice and he did that by the slimmest of margins. 0.055 separated him from Ken Roczen in second and Chase Sexton was 0.004 further back in third. When was the last time that the top three were separated by a number as small as that in timed qualifying? That would have been at the final round of the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross series; Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb and Malcolm Stewart were separated by 0.058 in the daytime on that day.

• Although Sexton did not get pole position, he did extend his streak of qualifying inside of the top three. '23' has qualified in the top three at the last eleven Monster Energy Supercross races – he last qualified in third in Salt Lake City at the tail end of last season. Eight of those eleven qualifying sessions have ended with him in pole position, by the way. Whilst we are on the subject of Sexton, he has qualified third on average since he entered the premier division at the start of 2021. What are the chances that average continues to come down?

• Hey, we had six manufacturers in the top six in 450SX timed qualifying! Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, KTM and Husqvarna filled the spots in that order. When did that last happen? It was not too long ago, to be honest, as it happened in Atlanta (round fourteen) last year. Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Yamaha, Husqvarna and GASGAS filled the top six in timed qualifying on that day. Just think: We could have ten different manufacturers in the top ten once Ducati, Triumph and Beta are racing in Monster Energy Supercross.

• Cooper Webb was the overall winner in Arlington in his ninety-ninth 450SX start. Daytona will be the big one hundred! Time flies, right? Arlington was his twenty-first victory aboard the bigger bike and thirty-second across all classes in Monster Energy Supercross. It should come as no surprise that his win rate in 450SX is at 21% – that is just simple math. Webb did not start to win until he got onto a KTM, of course, and his win percentage is at 28% since going 'orange' in the winter of 2019.

• There was actually a significant milestone for Webb in Texas – it was his fiftieth podium in 450SX. Hurrah! Webb has a 51% podium percentage since he entered 450SX and, again, there were not many trophies secured in his Yamaha days. The podium percentage sits at 68% since he joined KTM. Do you want one more general stat? Webb's average finishing position thus far this year is second, whereas it ended up being third in his title-winning seasons. 2023 Monster Energy Supercross is going well for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's star.

• Unbelievably, Webb has the best average ranking of the three title contenders. Third is the average for both Tomac and Sexton. Tomac finished in fifth in Tampa and sixth at Anaheim 2, so that has pulled his average down, and Sexton's teetering on the verge of having an average of second like Webb. Had he won Arlington, that is where his average finish would be! This random fact proves that this is indeed a game of inches and there is absolutely nothing separating those title favorites in the all-out fight for the crown.

• Okay, that statistic sparked an idea. How would the premier-class standings look if Monster Energy Supercross never adopted the new points system? The order would not change, but the top three would be separated by four points instead of five. Webb would be one point behind Tomac, rather than two, and Sexton would be four back instead of five. Anderson would be two markers further back than he is currently though, so there are ups and downs. Let's remember to track this, yeah?

• Sexton won the first Triple Crown of the season in Anaheim, California, with a tally of seven points. Webb had eight on the scoreboard when he topped the box in Arlington and that ties the highest score to ever win in this format. Eli Tomac has won with a tally of eight on three different occasions (Anaheim in 2018, Minneapolis in 2018 and Detroit in 2019). It was almost four years ago exactly that a 450SX rider won with a score of eight! 1098 days had passed since that night of racing in Detroit.

• Right, onto the actual racing in Arlington. It is about time! Webb was aided by Grant Harlan in the final main event, but was he closing on Sexton prior to that incident? It was not like he was clearly faster than the HRC Honda star, but he was certainly inching up. The lap times below support that sentiment. It was on lap thirteen that the lead changed hands.

• Sexton and Webb were battling in the lower half of the top ten at the beginning of the night. Who would have bet on the overall coming down to those two at that point? The dynamic was different at that time – Webb did not have much for Sexton when he got passed on lap three. How did the times look whilst those two were battling in traffic? Jump into the times from that first main.

• Sexton got caught up with Anderson in turn one of that first main event, hence why he was trying to move forward from so far back. '23' was classified as twelfth at the end of the first lap and got to work. Although he did not quite win, he had the best average time of the main. When was the last time that the winner did not end up with the quickest average lap? Well, actually, it was not that long ago and it involved the two riders above! Sexton had a stronger average time than the eventual winner, Webb, in Tampa two weeks ago.

• How did Sexton stack up against Tomac, who was out front, whilst trying to fight through the field in the first main? There is a period from that race covered in the table below. The table starts on lap five (Tomac was leading and Sexton was fifth at that point).

• Speaking of Sexton, ending second in Arlington helped him raise his podium percentage to 50%. That is not a bad record for someone who is fairly new to the 450SX class! '23' has had seventeen podiums in thirty-four starts and eight of his seventeen trips onto the podium have involved silver medals. 74% of the time, he has finished in the top five. Actually, on that note, he has not dropped outside of the top five in his last thirteen starts. Shall we get back to round seven of 2023 Monster Energy Supercross?

• Sticking with the theme of Tomac vs. Sexton, it was a showdown between those stars early in the third main. Seemingly, it was the first sector and that rhythm with the dragon's back where Sexton shined in comparison to his foe. Sexton ended the third main event with an average of 16.509 in sector one. Webb's average was 16.625, so more than a tenth slower, and Tomac had an average of 16.930. The table below shines a light on the speed difference on that part of the track. Maybe hugging the inside and jumping into the dragon's back was the way to do it?

• It is worth noting that Sexton's best time in sector one is not featured in that table – it was 16.193 on lap ten. In comparison, the quickest that Tomac did was a 16.459 on the fourth lap. There was clear separation on that fairly small portion of the circuit. Webb's best was a 16.202 on lap seven, so right there with the pace that Sexton was doing. '2' was not quite in the picture at that point in the race though!

• It is obvious that Tomac was, truthfully, slow in sector one in the third main event, but he had the best time there in the first main. Tomac did a 15.992 there in that race and Sexton, in comparison, posted a 16.185, so more in line with his speed at the conclusion of the event. The Triple Crown provides such an intriguing look at how riders adapt to the ever-changing track, especially with a section as chewed up as that rhythm before the whoops.

• On that note, it surprises me that a rider did not dominate in a sector across all three mains. There was no rider who set the best time on one part of the track consistently. Sexton had the best time in sector one in mains two and three, then Tomac had the fastest time in sector two in mains one and three. No one did the trifecta though and color me shocked. It just seems logical that someone would have one part of the track nailed down.

• Ken Roczen was ranked in fifth at the end of the night and reached a milestone! Arlington marked the one hundredth time that he has ended in the top five in Monster Energy Supercross, including both 450SX and 250SX. Roczen hit the marker 4410 days after his first top five (a fourth at round four in Oakland in the January of 2011). Since moving into the 450SX division specifically, he has finished inside of the top five 67% of the time. The most shocking thing about this is that he has finished fifth just twelve times in his career.

• It is time for the most random fact of the feature. Hurrah! Justin Cooper had a rather quiet evening, with the exception of the superb start in main event three, as he recorded 11-9-9 scores for ninth overall. Shockingly though, he had the quickest time in sectors three and four in the second main. Where did that come from? Nobody knows. There was seemingly something he liked about sector three, as he was the second best in main one and fifth in main two. The third sector was from the triple to the holeshot line.

• The fourth sector was an anomaly though, as he went the quickest there in main two and did not come close to repeating that. '32' was the eleventh fastest there in main one and seventh best in the finale. The strangest thing is that he did not exactly speed up in sector four in main two – his time was just two tenths quicker than the one that put him eleventh in main one. Most of the top riders did not uncover the same speed that they had in the other stints, for whatever reason. The mind boggles.

• Justin Hill (tenth), Dean Wilson (eleventh), Benny Bloss (twelfth) and Kyle Chisholm (sixteenth) were the only riders who recorded season-best finishes in Arlington. Colt Nichols (fourteenth), Joey Savatgy (twentieth) and Justin Starling (twenty-first) had their worst results of the campaign on the complete other end of the scale.