Supercross Flashback: Round 15

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2019 - Denver

With cold and the potential for snow at the long-awaited return of Supercross to Denver, the Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/KTM/WPS guys dialed in their bikes with some electric grips to keep their hands warm. Where did they source them? Rocky Mountain ATV-MC, of course. Here's the part number for the kit. They had it set up on a separate circuit, and with a battery mounted next to their starter battery.

As promised, snow showed up just in time for practice. It was a cool novelty, but otherwise didn't have much affect on the action.

Normally Zach Osborne's helmet is pretty stock-looking Rockstar design, but we like the addition of his number on the top for a little extra identity.

By race time, the snow was gone, and it was actually pretty nice in the stadium.

During the night's action, Cameron McAdoo and Garrett Marchbanks got tangled up in the air. Cameron made it through and continued on. You can see how Garrett fared.

That's some international language that any guy can relate to.

Adam won this one. At the time we said that Dylan Ferrandis knew that he had a tall task ahead of him if he was going to catch Adam Cianciarulo for the 250 West title. But with an eight-point gap and their last race being an East/West Shootout, anything could happen. That was a big prophetic.

Eli Tomac took the 450 win in front of his home state fans. We haven't heard that kind of crowd response for a win in a long time...or maybe ever. The closest would likely have to be in '13 when Ryan Dungey beat Ryan Villopoto in Minneapolis.

Eli was clearly delighted at both the win and the response from the crowd. The gap to Webb is now 18 points with two rounds left. All he can do is keep winning and hope for a little help in the title chase.

2018 - Foxborough

We caught Supercross Ref, John Gallagher, doing a little yard work on the track this morning. There are definitely some lunkers out there for rocks.

Rob Gronkowski did a media event where he was introduced as the newest Monster Energy Supercross team rider. Of course, the local media wanted to know what was up with his status with the team, and whether he was planning on retiring, but he said for now he's focusing on Supercross. You can tell how seriously Ricky Carmichael took him.

That's was another race down, and a 15-point lead heading into Vegas. Zach ended up with a second-straight 250 SX title.

Points leader Jason Anderson got a good jump, but Christian Craig nabbed the holeshot.

Eli Tomac had made a clean pass for the lead in the main, but Marvin Musquin made a rare inelegant move. The two riders tangled, with Eli going down, and his throttle grip getting stripped off in Marv's back wheel.

Marvin tried to talk to Eli after the race, but you can see how that went.

2017 - Salt Lake City

Marvin Musquin had something new on his bike, this carbon fiber piece designed to help prevent his radiators from bending when he lands with his leg out over jumps.

There are some moments that make a huge difference in a season, and the crash below was one of them. Aaron Plessinger had a comfortable lead, but after getting bucked around a bit, and having a foot slip off the pegs, the whoops bit him.

Finishing 1-2 was awesome for Shane McElrath and Mitchell Oldenburg.

There was quite a bit of confusion after the race. Justin had fended off a challenge from Martin Davalos in the closing stages of the main, which gave him enough points to wrap up the title...but he didn't actually know it, and was looking for confirmation from his crew. It was just about at this point where he was figuring it out.

This put an end to a long championship drought for the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad, and they were plenty excited about that.

A 1-2 for the TLD boys? Yeah, they wanted the souvenir photo to remember this.Plessinger's crash, combined with Shane McElrath's win also moved Shane back into second in the 250 West point standings. Mitchell Oldenburg was psyched on his best-yet finish, and obviously Justin Hill was happily rocking the championship jersey, trophy, and number one plate.

Eli got by Ryan Dungey on lap 19 of 27, with a clean pass at the end of the whoops. He'd tried there several laps in a row and finally got it done. But his ride through the pack was amazing.

2016 - Foxborough

We'd seen a few different sensors mounted up on bikes and helmets over the previous year or so, and this one is the most unobtrusive so far. The TV crew was working on a pointer-style graphic (think NASCAR) that shows relative positions and time gaps between riders.

The Legends and Heroes crew honored Doug Henry before the start of Saturday's action.

Miss Supercross, Juliana Daniell, getting a little social during the 450 main.

Maybe the most entertaining section of the track was watching the riders flattrack onto the start straight after completing each lap. It was fun to watch the riders lay down big, greasy slides.

250 East points leader, Malcolm Stewart (GEICO Honda), scored the lead early in the first 250 heat race, and held it all the way to the finish.

With his 250 win, Martin Davalos stayed in fourth in the 250 East standings, and Malcolm Stewart kept the lead over Aaron Plessinger, and stretched it out to five points.

Ken Roczen said that he got a little loose in the first turn, and Ryan Dungey hugged the inside line and came out in front.

Ken Roczen scored the win, but with Ryan Dungey's 43-point lead it was hard to keep Ryan Dungey from clinching the following weekend.

2015 - Santa Clara

We broke in a new Supercross venue that weekend, with the new (and very cool) Levi's Stadium. This place is huge.

Davi Millsaps had nothing to say about his termination from the Monster Energy Kawasaki team earlier that week...or much else for that matter. Neither did Kawasaki. But the one common theme in all the sources we've heard from is that something was allegedly found in Davi's locker in the team rig that led to his dismissal.

Chad Reed (Discount Tire Racing/TwoTwo Motorsports) benefitted in his heat racewhen Cole Seely got blocked by a track worker as they tried to wheel it off the track. Chad took the win.

Cole Seely was none too pleased about dropping from the lead to fifth.

Aaron Plessinger led for three laps, but then went down, handing the lead back to Josh Hansen. By this time, Cooper Webb was running in second spot, and the two raced together for a couple laps, until Cooper worked his way by and into the lead.

Early on, it was Justin Barcia out front, with Chad Reed close by and Ryan Dungey lurking just behind. Ryan came through to win this one.

2014 - Seattle

Remember that time Vince Friese filled in over at JGR? If we remember right, it didn't go that well, with a big crash in practice.

This bike might be one of the more unique MX machines we've seen, and there were some really unique bikes at the Legends and Heroes rig that weekend. Check out the very clean frame, billet triple clamps, and more.

Justin Barcia throwing down over one of the triples.

Jason Anderson was the 250 points leader, and he went on to win the 250 West crown that year.

Cole Seely (Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil/Honda).

Ryan Villopoto grabbed his fifth win of the '14 Monster Energy Supercross season in Seattle, but it wasn't all easy. He had to work his way through the semi, which made for a gate pick that wasn't optimal. But he nailed the start, and from there, it was his show. That's one step closer to another title (his fourth straight).

Ryan Villopoto (Monster Energy Kawasaki) did his part in trying to wrap up the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross 450 title by winning in front of his home crowd in Seattle but is now just a mere two points away from mathematically eliminating everyone else from contention, and we've only got two rounds left. He'd try and wrap it up at the Meadowlands in two weeks.

2013 - Seattle

Bevo has been around what seems like forever. In reality, at this point, it was his 40th year of pro motocross, and the photo on the left is from the late 70s when he was wrenching for Donnie Cantiloupi.

After leading until the two-thirds mark, Eli had a crash over a small double that had him scrambling to remount, and handed the lead over to Ken Roczen. Afterwards, Eli said, "I feel like I just got robbed."

That was Ken Roczen's third win of the season (every other finish is a runner-up spot), and he had a 20-point lead over Eli Tomac with two rounds remaining.

Justin Barcia grabbed the holeshot in the main event, but behind him, Chad Reed (TwoTwo Motorsports) and Ryan Dungey had already crashed. Ryan was able to continue on, though he had a tough race ahead while working through the pack. Chad was banged up enough that he was unable to continue.

2012 - Seattle

Nick Wey was all about Winner Takes All and Team Hurricane, and was sporting this jersey in the pits before practice, and working on his movie lines.

Thor did up these cool Ryan Villopoto masks to hand out to fans in Seattle, but they didn't go completely unscathed. Jeff Alessi made some modifications to his, and it took a few years for the full irony of this to become apparent.

Wilson and Tomac went back and forth, with Dean making a couple of aggressive passes on Tomac, including one that forced Eli off the track. Each time, Tomac reeled him back in, and you could see he was working hard to reel in Wilson.

Ryan Sipes grabbed the win, and making up for a rough early part of the season.

The big-bores blast off the line, and while it looked like Roczen and Weimer have the best jumps, it was Andrew Short first around the first turn.

There's nothing like a first Supercross win, and Andrew Short was enjoying this one.

This howl after the finish? Pure joy.

2011 - Seattle

Travis Baker (56) and Cole Seely (36) teamed up to lead from the start aboard their Troy Lee Designs / Lucas Oil / Hondas.

That was Cole Seely's second win this season, and his podium-mates here each had a win of their own.

Ryan Villopoto put in an amazing ride to charge through the pack after a first turn tangle. He was tenth after the first lap, and nearly picked off a podium spot at the end.

Chalk up another win for James Stewart. He credited a change to his bike (going back to an earlier setup) for his return to the podium.

2010 - Seattle

Heading through the first turn at the start of the Lites main event, it was the GEICO Powersports Honda teammates of Trey Canard and Blake Wharton, shadowed by DNA Shred Stix / Star Racing / Yamaha's Broc Tickle. Unfortunately, the teammate thing went out the window in the second turn, with contact between Wharton and Canard that left the 38 on the ground.