Cooper Webb & Levi Kitchen Sweep Anaheim 2 Triple Crown Main Events

– The birthplace of modern supercross as we know it today, Southern California, hosted the opening round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross’ Triple Crown on Saturday, with Monster Energy racers Cooper Webb (Star Racing/Yamaha) and Levi Kitchen (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki) sweeping the 450 and 250 main events, respectively, at Anaheim’s Angels Stadium.

“I’ve never had the red plate (denoting No. 1 in the standings), so I’m looking forward to keeping that thing,” said Kitchen, who won his second-straight Anaheim 2 Triple Crown main event.

In addition, Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Eli Tomac, the two-time 450 class SX champion, scored his first SX podium finish after injuring his Achilles tendon last season, placing 2nd behind Webb. Tomac’s teammate, 250 Western Region (WSX) racer Nate Thrasher, continued to run well, picking up the 3rd place podium result at A2. In total at Round 4 of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Monster Energy racers came away with both wins, four of the six possible podium positions, four of the top five spots in 250 class racing and five of the top ten positions inf 450 class racing.

And with the win, Webb’s 22nd of his career and first with Yamaha, he moved onto the overall 450 class podium (3rd place) – against a field of five 450 class racers all within ten points of each other heading into Round 5 (Detroit). Also, Kitchen moved into a 1st place tie in the 250 class WSX standings with Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Jordon Smith (5th at A2), both with 84 points.

Wedged into the Monster Energy highlight from A2 was the curious result of Jason Anderson (Monster Energy/Kawasaki). Anderson looked to have a 2nd place 450 class finish in-hand when the AMA penalized him, per item 1.6.20 of the AMA Rulebook, for gaining an unfair advantage (in Anderson’s case, time) by skipping the whoop section following an opening lap crash in Moto 3. In the end Anderson was dropped to 4th place (following a tiebreaker with Tomac and KTM’s Aaron Plessinger). Anderson then lost four championship points, and currently sits in 5th place overall in the overall standings, seven points back of Plessinger.

Quotes

Webb: “Oh, man. It was awesome. To be consistent all day… like I keep saying, it’s been a bit weird to not win a main event, but overall it feels great to get a win, first one of the season. It was a rough end to last year and it feels great to be up here, pack in the points swing, (and) to represent the team and my new sponsors. It feels really awesome.”

Tomac: “I was pretty frustrated after those first two races. I was like, ‘Okay, here I’m just, what am I know, fifth, seventh place guys right now?’ I don’t know. I just had to go do something. I had to get off the gate there. So it was good. Had a good flow. I was able to get the whoop combo down, and felt like that was important for me. … Yeah, felt good.”

Kitchen: “We’re all really close right now. Obviously, I want to be the dominant guy. But yeah, it’s closer now. You can’t start in like fifth and sixth with these guys and have them up front. You’d have to have a pretty amazing… I don’t even know what you’d have to do to be able to get up to them. I think it’s tighter than in years past. Especially the top five of us. We’re all pretty experienced by now, so it’s definitely tight racing.”

Thrasher: “I felt like it (A2) was a big step in the right direction for me, and we’re still learning, still working, still trying to get a little bit better, but last week (testing) I think we found a little bit and it showed this weekend. It was a very hardpack track out there today and on the bike I was racing a couple weekends ago and I was struggling pretty bad with the hardpack. So yeah, it was definitely a little bit better spot for me.”

450 Highlights

• Coming out of qualifying in the No. 1 spot was the white-hot Justin Cooper (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha. Cooper was the only racer in the entire 450 class to clock a sub-58 second (57.9330) lap. Anderson qualified in 3rd (58:3220).
• Former Monster Energy athlete Chase Sexton (KTM) pulled a great start and dominated the opening Moto 1, with Webb in 2nd place by just over two seconds, and holding off Suzuki’s Ken Roczen by less than that. Crucial finish for Webb as Sexton, who can be prone to unforced errors, rode well out of the opening gate. Anderson and Tomac rounded out the Moto 1 top five in 4th and 5th, respectively.
• Moto 2 would be all Anderson as the Monster Energy great, riding under a microscope following his post-race confrontation with Honda’s Jett Lawrence last week, grabbed the race lead on the second lap and never looked back – winning the 12-minute plus 1 lap race by 3.472 seconds over Webb. Cooper would place 5th and Tomac 7th. Webb’s 2-2 through two motos has him in 1st place heading into the final moto of the year’s first Triple Crown.
• Tomac stepped up early and grabbed the race lead in the first turn, then put the hammer down, leading the remainder of the race in a decisive 7.1 second Moto 3 win over Sexton. But it’d be Webb who’d parlay a 2-2 with a 5th in Moto 3 to earn the Triple Crown win at A2. Anderson, with his AMA foul, was credited with an 8th place finish in Moto 3, knocking him down from 2nd place to 4th on the night.

250 WSX Highlights

• Kitchen would qualify in the No. 2 spot behind RJ Hampshire (Husqvarna), with three more Monster Energy guys right behind – Shimoda (3rd), Smith (4th) and Thrasher (5th).
• Kitchen would throw the first punch in 250 Moto 1, railing his Monster Energy Kawasaki KX250 out in 1st place after the first turn – and held that position through the checkers – as Hampshire would challenge, but ended up taking 2nd by .0723 seconds. Thrasher was 8.6 seconds back in 3rd, foreshadowing the night’s overall 250 Triple Crown podium in the opening moto.
• Moto 2 was tough on Monster Energy’s Thrasher and Smith as they both wadded up early and had to fight back in the 10 minute plus 1 lap moto. Probably the night’s best race would transpire next as Hampshire, who was leading, was caught by Kitchen as the two brought the Anaheim faithful to their feet. Hampshire’s .870 second victory put him and Kitchen in a virtual tie for the win heading into the third and decisive moto. Shimoda rounded out the Moto 2 podium to make his case at a shot at the overall 250 Triple Crown podium.
• Reminiscent of the classic motocross film “Winners Take All,” it’d be Kitchen in Moto 3 who’d pull great start and parlay that into the early lead. Kitchen was then able to catch his breath a bit when Hampshire, who didn’t get the greatest of starts, crashed in the whoops – and went from 4th to 8th, pretty much eliminating him from the top podium spot as long as Kitchen could keep it on two wheels (which he did). In the end Kitchen’s 3rd gave him a 1-2-3 finish and the overall victory. And Thrasher won the final moto to secure the third and final Triple Crown podium spot, with Shimoda placing 2nd (4th overall).

Notes & Quotes

• Big Anaheim round of applause for 2024 Dakar Rally champion Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy/Honda Team), who rode a victory lap in front of the capacity crowd (43,753) on his Honda CRF450 Rally. Brabec hails from nearby San Bernardino, Calif.
• “Being able to come to seventh from dead last in 12 minutes was pretty tough,” said Anderson, despite his AMA penalty for cutting part of the track after a wreck.
• Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Gavin Towers placed 2nd in a hotly contested SX Futures main event at A2. Towers clocked an event-fast 1:03.195 lap in his pursuit of winner Cole Davies (Gas Gas), who topped Towers by 6/10th of a second at the tape.
• The pro pits were full of glistening factory bikes as rules state that, for Triple Crown events, racers can have two bikes (in case something happens in the first two motos that’d effect the third moto). Just more eye candy for those holding pit passes.
• Monster Energy AMA Supercross’ “Legends and Heroes” honored Lars Larsson at the Anaheim 2 event. Larsson was instrumental in introducing motocross (aka “scrambles”) to Americans back in the late 1960s. The Swedish great had early ties to both Husqvarna (in the U.S.) and Torsten Hallman Original Racewear, now known simply as Thor. An AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame member, Larsson is still racing at 83! Hat’s off to Larsson from the crew at Monster Energy.
• “It’s tough, especially the last one, because I’m doing math in my head and I think we all do when we are in a good spot going into the last one,” said Webb on what was going through his head in the third and decisive moto.

Up next…

Monster Energy AMA Supercross heads east to the Home of the Detroit Lions – Ford Field – Saturday, Feb. 2nd, for Round 5 of the series – and the opening round of the Eastern Region (ESX) 250 Supercross season.