Cycle News Staff | October 20, 2019
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo has come off of a breakthrough year that, by most estimations, came quite a few years later than it should have, in nearly winning the 250cc Western Regional Supercross Series in May, and then actually winning the 250cc National Championship, before he made his move to the Monster Energy Kawasaki team to join their star racer, Eli Tomac, as his teammate.
But unlike many of the teammates to star racers in the pits, it became clear at the Monster Energy Cup that Cianciarulo isn’t planning on playing second fiddle to Tomac.
Cianciarulo’s wins first 450cc race at Monster Energy Cup
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo went 2-2-1 to win the 2019 Monster Energy Cup in his debut 450cc race, and he had to hold off his superstar teammate to do it. Photo: Steve Cox
Cianciarulo got the early lead in the first of three main events, but fell, and although his teammate Tomac got a terrible start, he had worked his way up into the top five by that point and passed his way into the lead over the course of the 10-lap race, eventually winning the first main over Cianciarulo (who recovered for second) and Motoconcepts/Smartop Honda’s Malcolm Stewart.
Tomac comes up just short of a Monster Energy Cup repeat
Defending Monster Energy Cup champ Eli Tomac tossed away a win in the second of three main events and ended the night with a 1-3-2 score for second overall behind his new teammate. Photo: Steve Cox
In the second main event, it was Tomac’s turn to toss it away, when he highsided out of the lead in the back section of the track, which handed a solid early lead to Stewart, who went on to win the race, despite it being his first race back following a broken femur suffered early in the year. Cianciarulo again snagged second place, while Tomac recovered for third.
Stewart gives the Kawi boys hell in Vegas
Malcolm Stewart won the second of the three main events, but a poor start in the final race landed him third overall, which was still a very strong performance since he hadn’t raced since he broke his femur about 9 months ago. Photo: Steve Cox
This set the stage for the final main event of the night, with teammates Tomac and Cianciarulo tied with Stewart all on four points, so whoever defeated the other two in the final main would likely end up the 2019 Monster Energy Cup Champion.
Cianciarulo got the early lead again, but it wasn’t long before Tomac was knocking on the door trying to find a way by and into the lead (Stewart suffered a bad start and ended up not being a factor in the third main, but finished a strong third overall on the night).
Tomac couldn’t find a way around Cianciarulo, so he took the Joker Lane on the penultimate lap so that he could put in a heater of a final lap, hoping to pass his new teammate as Cianciarulo took the Joker Lane on the last lap of the race. But Cianciarulo sensed that’s what Tomac did, and he also put in a heater of a lap. While it wasn’t quite as fast as Tomac’s, it was enough, and Cianciarulo held off his teammate to take the win in the final main event, and overall. Tomac was second in the main and overall, and Stewart was third in the main and overall (although 12 seconds behind the leaders, having had to come through the pack.
Cianciarulo has now raced exactly one professional 450cc race, and he won it, and the $100,000 paycheck that came with it.
Jett Lawrence takes the 250 Futures
Jett Lawrence dominated both motos in the 250cc Futures class at the Monster Energy Cup. Photo: Steve Cox
Factory Connection Honda’s Jett Lawrence—younger brother of Hunter Lawrence—was dominant in the 250cc Futures class, starting near the front in both motos and winning them both going away. Second overall went to Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jalek Swoll with a 3-2 score.
Evan Ferry dominates MEC Superminis
Evan Ferry (75) grabbed this holeshot in Supermini Futures moto one from the far outside and went on to win both motos to take the 2019 Supermini title in his debut with the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team. Photo: Steve Cox
Like the 250cc Futures class, the Supermini Futures class featured a dominant performance in both motos as well, but this time it was new Rockstar Husqvarna recruit Evan Ferry—son of former factory star Timmy Ferry. Evan Ferry made a masterful start in the first moto from the far outside to take off with the lead and the win, then started second in the second moto, made a quick early pass, and then took off with that win as well.
2019 Monster Energy Cup Results
2019 Monster Energy Cup Results
2019 Monster Energy Cup Results
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QUALIFYING
Tonight’s Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas has another $1 million on the line for any racer who can manage to win all three main events in the premier Cup class. But after giving away $1 million in each of the past two Monster Energy Cup events, they’re throwing everything at this event to make it as difficult as possible for it to happen for a third year in a row.
There are three different starts—two inside the stadium (one with a right-hand first turn, and one with a left-hand first turn) and one outside the stadium—and one of the three main events will be raced backward on the track. Which one? We won’t know until just before the start of the race.
Eli Tomac qualifies first for tonight’s Monster Energy Cup
Eli Tomac qualified first as he attempts to become the first person to win the Monster Energy Cup two years in a row. Photo: Steve Cox
In the 450cc class, the two Monster Energy Kawasaki racers qualified 1-2, with defending event champ Eli Tomac snaring the top spot (via an average of their practice times going both directions on the racetrack) just in front of Adam Cianciarulo.
Behind them came the Motoconcepts/Smartop Honda duo of Malcolm Stewart in third and Vince Friese in fourth. Then came Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Dean Wilson in fifth, but Wilson went down in the final practice session trying to quadruple into a rhythm section (a jump that he was already doing) and went down hard, suffering what is likely either a broken femur or dislocated hip.
Dean Wilson out with a leg/hip injury, severity to be confirmed later
Dean Wilson qualified fifth but will miss the event after a big crash left him with either a broken femur or a dislocated hip. The track crew changed the track after his crash, as he was the second one to get carted off from the same section. The first was France’s Jordi Tixier, who was knocked out. Photo: Steve Cox
Behind Wilson in qualifying it was Monster Energy Yamaha’s Justin Barcia, GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin, Benny Bloss (in what is likely his final ride for the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM team), MXGP World Champion Tim Gajser, and Monster Energy Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger.
Chad Reed, on his new cbdMD-backed Honda, had to qualify for the night show through the LCQ, where he finished third. He was still getting the mapping right on his new Mountain Motorsports-supplied CRF450R prior to the night show.
Chance Hynes qualifies first in Supermini
Chance Hynes just edged Evan Ferry to qualify first in Supermini. Photo: Steve Cox
Kawasaki Team Green’s Chance Hynes qualified first in the Supermini class, just few tenths of a second faster than the Husqvarna team’s newest amateur racer Evan Ferry, the son of longtime factory racer Timmy Ferry and his wife Evie.
Jett Lawrence tops 250 Futures qualifying
Jett Lawrence qualified on top in 250 Futures. Photo: Steve Cox
GEICO Honda’s Jett Lawrence qualified on top in the 250 Futures class (formerly called the Amateur All Stars class), and was the only racer in the class to get into the 58-second laptime range, with a 58.596. Behind him came Brock Papi, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jalek Swoll and the rest of the field.
The racing kicks off at 7 pm Pacific time.
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