Steve Cox | February 3, 2018
2018 Oakland 450cc Supercross Results: On easily the gnarliest racetrack of the year so far, points leader Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) put together a needed victory to solidify his early-series points lead in Oakland. The track was soft and broke down easily throughout the day, leading to incredibly tricky ruts and unpredictable transitions in the middle of the rhythm sections.
Honda’s Cole Seely got the holeshot, and after winning his heat race, he seemed to be in a perfect position to take his first win of the year as he led the first 11 laps of the race, but on lap 12, he went down in one of the rhythm sections, handing the lead to teammate Ken Roczen. At the exact same time, Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin was taken out while running third by his teammate Anderson, and when Musquin and Seely rejoined the race, they ended up together, fighting it out for fourth for a few laps while Roczen led comfortably over Anderson and Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM’s Blake Baggett.
2018 Oakland 450cc Supercross Results
Jason Anderson took his second main-event win of the season in Oakland. PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOPPENWORLD
The fastest qualifier in Oakland, Monster Energy/Knich/Yamalube Yamaha’s Justin Barcia, won his heat race going away, but in the main event, he started well outside the top 10 and went to work, while the winner of the past two 450cc main events, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac, battled it out with his teammate Josh Grant for seventh and eighth. A few laps into the race, Barcia caught the battling pair of Kawasakis and, just after Grant fell in a corner, Barcia took the inside on Tomac and knocked the Kawasaki rider down. Barcia found himself seventh, while Tomac and Grant got going again at the back of the 22-racer field.
2018 Oakland 450cc Supercross Results
The 450cc podium of Jason Anderson (middle), Ken Roczen (left) and Blake Baggett (right). PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOPPENWORLD
Barcia eventually caught up and passed Seely for fifth, but that’s where his climb to the top stalled out. In the last few laps, Anderson finally dropped Baggett off his tail, and he chased down Roczen. The two battled it out on the difficult circuit, both making myriad mistakes and trading the lead a handful of times until, on the last lap, Anderson made a mistake in the whoops, and Roczen (apparently unaware of the mistake) took extra effort to cover the inside of the following corner, which messed up his drive into the following rhythm section, and Anderson took advantage, going around Roczen for the lead, and taking the win over Roczen, Baggett, Musquin, Barcia, Seely, Barcia’s teammate Cooper Webb, Musquin’s teammate Broc Tickle, and Motoconcepts/SmarTop Honda’s Justin Brayton rounding out the racers on the lead lap.
Grant ended up 10th, Tomac 13th.
Anderson now sports a 15-point lead over Roczen in the championship, with Barcia just two points behind Roczen in third. Musquin now sits 8th in points, 42 points behind Anderson, and Tomac lost all of the ground he made up over the last couple of weeks and now sits 52 points behind Anderson in the championship chase.
The series heads to San Diego this Saturday night.
2018 Oakland 450cc Supercross Results
2018 Oakland 450cc Supercross Results
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