Round one of the FIM World Supercross Championship kicked off this weekend in Vancouver and the first of four of these things provided some good action both classes. The crowd here in Canada appeared to be pretty good, better than the last time Supercross visited the city back in 2006, at least as far as this reporter cam remember, anyways. The dirt, however, was the same as back then, grey color, very rocky and since this is the Pacific Northwest in late October, it was soft like Seattle or Indianapolis. The track proved to be tricky when it broke down and lots of racers were thrown to the ground or sideways at a moments notice.
The format for WSX brought lots of gate drops also! Each class (SX1 and SX2) got three “mains” and then the top eight from those three mains one to a combined SX1 and SX2 Superfinal. Yes, 250s versus 450s! Plus, everything the guys did counted for points, also including a Superpole qualifying lap (for points) before the opening ceremonies even began. The top racers were out there a lot and a few grumbled afterwards about the short amount of time between races, never mind the amount of laps.
The big winner was Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac who swept everything but the first SX1 main. In that race he and Pipes Motorsports Suzuki's Ken Roczen put together what was probably their 763rd great race of their careers in battling it out. Roczen got the edge in that one. Here's how I explained the battle on Twitter/X.
After that, Tomac’s starts were on fire and he wasn’t really challenged. That first SX1 main, though, saw Motoconcepts' Vince Friese get a good start, as usual, and battle hard, as usual, to keep Roczen and Tomac behind him which resulted in some swapping of spots. Once that first main finished, it was rather easy for Eli as Roczen struggled with bad starts and/or crashes. The only issue Tomac had was a late flat tire in the final race, but he even hung on to win with that!
"It was sketchy," said Tomac. "I went over the wall and it was flat. It [the track] was rough. Rough and had some rocks out there."
Roczen went from seventh to second in Main 2 but then hit a rock, washed his front end out and got up in 11th. After that he couldn’t get up front early enough to challenge ET3 and admitted afterwards that “Right now, Eli is a bit better than me”.
Tomac added: “It was good, I had a good rut for the start and I botched one of the entries into the first turn but then last Moto was good. It was a pleasant environment and city, I had a good time with everything.”
Firepower Honda’s Joey Savatgy was off the pace of the top two but rode well to get third overall on the night, himself, Pipes Motorsports Colt Nichols and Friese found themselves constantly swapping spots and battling out there. But in the end, it was 3-2-3-4 scores that put the #17 into the last podium spot.
SX1 main 1 results pic.twitter.com/AUQ35JmSkz
— Racer X (@racerxonline) October 27, 2024
SX1 main 1 results pic.twitter.com/AUQ35JmSkz
— Racer X (@racerxonline) October 27, 2024
In the SX2 (250) class, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Max Anstie was probably the fastest rider of the day in practice, Superpole and even the first two SX2 main events but after that, Anstie crashed his way back in main 3 and Superfinal.
Shane McElrath felt the gate dropped earlier than he expected for him in the first main event which hurt his start but after that, with some bike adjustments, the #12 would take the overall in SX2 with 7-1-1-6 (top 250 rider) scores on the night. Anstie finished third overall and McElrath’s teammate Cole Thompson got second overall in front of his home countries fans.
A good night of racing in Vancouver for the revamped WSX crew. The format was interesting, the racing was good and the series heads to Perth in Western Australia in three weeks for rounds two and three (a double header). Should be interesting to see if Roczen can close the gap with ET3. Anstie was only competing in SX2 as a Wild Card in Vancouver and will not race in Australia, so that class looks like it’s going to be wide open. Can McElrath keep it going there? We'll see in a few weeks.
