DIRT NEWS
World Supercross Championship is real : it was a real supercross and nothing was second level with it , it was all first class and it was great to see the big crowd here . It was really cool to see the stadium filled up . To be honest I was looking at it thinking this is a big stadium but I think we filled it pretty well .” Ken Roczen said on finishing second on the night , “ In my superpole lap I wasn ’ t quite as clean as I wanted to be in the beginning , but the quad was huge and I wasn ’ t really planning on it but I saw Josh [ Hill ] do it . What made it really nice though was that it set me up real nice for the turn because I didn ’ t have to do that single into it with how slippery it was . In that first main event , obviously things happened really quick but from what I could tell there was a tiny line or ledge and the angle I was coming in on , I just wasn ’ t set up for it . It was so minimal but it just happened so fast . I tried to save it but I couldn ’ t . It was a bit of a bummer because it felt like it was set up to be a really good race . But it was tough out there and you couldn ’ t really rely on anything out on track because the berms were really flat . But it made for some great racing tonight .” In the SX2 category McElrath , who finished third in his heat race , took the overall victory for Rick Ware Racing and leads the championship standings by a single point after going fourth , third and fifth in the night ’ s three GP races , highlighting the importance of consistency in the World Supercross Championship ’ s main event format . Chris Blose ’ s second place in the first GP race aboard his Bud Racing Kawasaki gave him a good haul of points that meant he would take second overall on the night , despite taking fourth and eighth place finishes in GP race two and three . While finishing on the overall podium in third , MotoConcepts Honda ’ s Mitchell Oldenburg will arguably be going home disappointed after winning the first and third GP races , but a disastrous second GP race – that saw him crash into the back of Pipes Motorsport ’ s Derek
Kelly and take a heavy fall – cost him the overall victory on the night . Home hero Max Anstie ’ s British Grand Prix got off to a perfect start , as he won his heat race , coming from behind to hit the front and pull away . The Honda Genuine Honda Racing rider also won the second GP race , but average starts left him with work to do in race one and three , and he could only manage 11th and 10th for sixth overall . “ Winner of the first ever World Supercross Championship SX2 race has a pretty good ring to it ,” Shane McElrath reflected . “ This was a lot of work to get everything ready to go in minimal prep time , for a lot of guys . Coming here was like , okay , we ’ re all kind of starting from the same level , and the track was really good . I felt good on the bike and we were really learning every time out there . Here for the first-ever world supercross event has been a blast and there ’ s been some really good competition , really good racing between our class and the WSX class , and I ’ m very excited for the future of this . It ’ s big .” Australian superstar Chad Reed ’ s return to competitive racing was , sadly , cut short , the former world champion crashing heavily in his heat race . He sat out the rest of the night ’ s action , with a view to making a return at his home Grand Prix in Melbourne , Australia .
22 KIWI RIDER