Jordon Smith Wins In The Mud at San Francisco | 2024 Supercross Round 2

Mud bog racing notwithstanding, all the other top forms of motorsport in the States – NASCAR, NHRA, IndyCar, MotoAmerica etc. - all shut down when the skies open up. Race cars and bikes are parked in the paddock and fans, in many cases, are sent home packing. But not Monster Energy AMA Supercross.

And the old 19th century adage, made popular by Feld’s traveling circus - The show must go on - certainly applied on Saturday at San Francisco’s Oracle Park.

Before a surprising amount of fans that endured hours upon hours of pouring rain, Monster Energy’s Jordon Smith (Star Racing/Yamaha) slogged his YZ250F to WSX class victory through a literal muck field. Lined with footpeg-deep ruts, peaked jumps that melted down to rounded mounds and a seemingly never ending curtain of mud chunks that were fired about by violently spinning rear knobby tires, the Oracle Park racing surface rendered protective goggles, and ultimately vision, practically useless one of the worst racing quagmires seen in recent years.

“It was survival out there,” said Smith, who earned his first 250 class supercross victory since Daytona (Fla.) in 2018. “Really good to get off to a good start, holeshot. After that it was like just stay up.”

And joining Smith with podium efforts of their own at Monster Energy AMA Supercross’ mudder Round Two were Eli Tomac (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha), who placed 2nd in the shortened 450 (as was the 250 class) main event, with Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki) placing 2nd behind Smith in the 250 main.

Commendable efforts in the conditions were also put in by Monster Energy’s Dylan Ferrandis (Phoenix Honda) and Adam Cianciarulo (Kawasaki), who brought home 6th and 8th place finishes, respectively, in the 450 main. 

Quotes

Tomac: “My goal is to get on the podium. That is my mindset. This I where I want to be, hope to be. Put myself in a great position off the start, went back to the outside (gate selection). Key to be in the top three. That was my focus for the main. Tried to execute that. Then tried to stay on two wheels at that point. It was tough. Started out really thick, then stayed thick even with all that water. After the finish line you could literally get stuck. I got stuck there for a second or two. Heavy dirt, really good ruts. I almost looped out at one point, grabbed handful of throttle and hung off the back (laughter).”

Kitchen: “I didn’t get off to the greatest start, my jump was good, then I blew off the track in the first turn. So I was pretty buried. By lap two I saw P2 (2nd place) on the pit board, maybe P3. Didn’t notice that Jordon (Smith) was leading until right to the end pretty much. It was fun, lucky I got close, but on a night like tonight a second feels like a win for me tonight.”

S

450 Highlights

• Heat 2 saw Ferrandis take advantage of a late mistake by race leader Aaron Plessinger (KTM) to take the lead – and hold off former teammate Cooper Webb (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha. The Monster Energy duo of Ferrandis and Webb would go 1-2 in Heat 2, with Tomac (4th) and Cianciarulo (6th) making the main out of Heat 1.
   
• Justin Cooper (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha) would have to transfer to the main via the LCQ, where he placed 7th.
   
• In the 450 main, a huge pile up would collect multiple racers on the start straight, including Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson and Ferrandis.
   
• Tomac would survive the opening straight carnage, as would Cianciarulo, as they took off on Lap 1 close behind 450 main event leader Chase Sexton (Honda).
   
• Tomac would keep Sexton in sight for all of the time-reduced main event, but couldn’t close to challenge for the lead. Ferrandis’ charge back to the 6th position following his opening straightaway crash was highly impressive.

250 WSX Highlights

• Heat 1 saw Monster Energy-backed Jo Shimoda (Honda) pull a massive start and beat Smith to the first corner holeshot. Smith would later crash in the whoops. Shimoda would win Heat 1 by 19 seconds over Smith.
   
• The second heat saw both Kitchen and his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki teammate Max Vohland dominate the start straight – only to lose the holeshot in the ensuing corner. Kitchen and Vohland would transfer to the 250 WSX San Francisco main with 3rd and 4th place finishes, respectively.
   
• Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Nate Thrasher, who had a rough go in the second heat race (10th), would go on to win the LCQ to make the main.
   
• Smith and Vohland get off to the 1 & 2 spots in the 250 main. Shimoda would go down behind them in the first rhythm lane, cross rutting and innocently tipping over. Shimoda would leave the race on Lap 1.
   
• Vohland, running in 2nd place, would come to a stop in the middle of the track at the 5:25 mark of the 250 main – bike stalled, night over for him as well.
   
• Kitchen would catch up closer to race leader Smith, cutting the lead to under 6 seconds, but Smith would ride mistake-free to through the checkers.

Notes & Quotes

• Because of the weather at San Francisco, the normal multi-round qualifying session was reduced to one round. So heading into the heat races (1 & 2), racers had only been on the track one time prior to gating for their heat.
   
• As the rain continued and track conditions worsened, the AMA and Feld’s track crew made the decision to shorten the main events, 450s down to 15 minutes + 1 lap and 250s down to 10 minutes +1 lap.
   
• “If you don’t get a start, you get absolutely blasted by mud,” said NBC race announcer Ricky Carmichael. And such was the case for 250 WSX points leader/Anaheim 1 winner RJ Hampshire (Husqvarna) heading into the San Fran 250 main. Hampshire got collected with Julien Beaumer (KTM) at start and ended up being a non-factor to 1st and 2nd place main event winners Smith and Kitchen, handing the WSX point lead over to Smith after two rounds of racing.
   
• Monster Energy AMA Supercross, which had raced across the bay in Oakland (Calif.) for the past 14 seasons, returned to San Francisco’s Oracle Park for the first time since 2010. The last winner at San Francisco? That’d be Monster Energy’s own Ryan Villopoto aboard the Kawasaki KX450F.
   
• And a big ‘High Five’ goes out to the operations staff at Feld Motorsports for not only pulling off Saturday’s race in highly difficult conditions, but also with the clean-up, move out and having everything ready to go for this weekend’s race at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium.

Up next…

Monster Energy AMA Supercross drops back down to SoCal for the running of the Jan. 20 San Diego Supercross at Snapdragon Stadium.