Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb became the fourth different Monster Energy AMA Supercross winner in four rounds when he took the victory at the Anaheim 2 Supercross in front of 43,753 fans in Angel Stadium. Anaheim 2 was the first of three Triple Crown events this year which combine the results from three races to determine one winner on the night. Webb won the overall with (2-2-5) race results.
Angel Stadium delivered clear skies for the racers and great racing for the fans. After two consecutive mud races many riders went into the Anaheim 2 Supercross viewing it as the “real” start of the season due to the normal conditions. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
Going (5-7-1), Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac had the crowd cheering when he earned second place overall with a win in the final race of the evening as the sport celebrates 50 years of racing this year. Last week’s winner, Red Bull KTM’s Aaron Plessinger, earned third place with (6-4-3) and retains the points lead heading into Round 5. In the Western Regional 250SX Class, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen fought hard for the overall win with (1-2-3) race scores. And Supercross Futures, a part of SMX Next held its first of five races to feature the future stars of Supercross; in what was the best battle of the night. Troy Lee Designs Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Cole Davies emerged with the victory over Monster Energy Star Yamaha’s Gavin Towers.
First place 450SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“If you do really well the first two [races], the third one sometimes is easy… I had a lot of wiggle room [in Race #3] and could just, honestly, have a solo ride in fifth place. But it is a little bit weird, for sure, to not go over the checkered flag first. But I think that’s kinda the unique thing about the Triple Crown, is we’ve seen a lot of this happen. You can have big point swings, and you can have one bad race and then have two good ones [and] you end up on the podium and something like that. So it’s never over for sure in these kind of situations… I saw Jason [Anderson] right in front of me [in Race #3], he went down, and it probably wasn’t the best thing for me, because it was instantly like, ‘All right, I can just kinda chill,’ but I was grateful to put myself in that situation.” – Cooper Webb
Second place 450SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“I was pretty frustrated after those first two [races]. I was like, ‘Okay, here I’m just – what am I now, fifth – seventh place guy right now?’ I don’t know. I just had to go do something, I had to get off the gate there, so it was good. It was good. Had a good flow. I was able to get the whoop combo down, and I felt like that was important for me, and yeah, felt good.”.” – Eli Tomac
Third place 450SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“I knew Detroit was the next race and I really, really wanted to carry the red plate into Detroit given the events that happened last year.” [Plessinger crashed while leading Detroit 2023] “That’s gonna be a special race and yeah, I’m ready for it. I’m ready to get back to Florida this week and put in some work and then go up to the freezing cold and hopefully my moustache doesn’t break off in the 20 degree weather [laughs]. But no, I’m ready to get back up there and do some damage.” – Aaron Plessinger
The Western Regional 250SX Class held its second round and Levi Kitchen became the fourth rider in four rounds to take home a win. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s RJ Hampshire battled hard in the first two races but a flat tire in the third Race took his chances at an overall victory. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Nate Thrasher followed up a win last weekend with a third place finish at Anaheim 2.
First place 250SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“We’re all really close right now. Obviously I want to be the dominant guy, but yeah, it’s closer now. You can’t start in like fifth and sixth with these guys and have them up front. You’d have to have a pretty amazing – I don’t even know what you’d have to do to be able to get up to them. I think it’s tighter than in years’ past. Especially the top five of us, we’re all pretty experienced by now, so it’s definitely tight racing.” – Levi Kitchen
Second place 250SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“For the first time in my career I had a flat tire on a Supercross track, so yeah, it was eventful. I knew something was wrong, didn’t necessarily know what until it shot me off in the whoops… I was fine the next couple laps, and then once that rear tire breaks the bead and it’s off the rim, that’s when it gets really, really scary. But overall it was an awesome night. That first and second moto were sick. If we could do that every weekend, I mean, we’d probably get paid a lot more because that was a show. [smiles]. But like I said, that was fun. All in all, it was a really solid day.” – RJ Hampshire
Third place 250SX Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
“[The new bike is] the same motor package but a whole different chassis. So all the suspension characteristics are completely different. So we’re still leaning, but I think I got a good package this weekend. I felt like it was a big step in the right direction for me, and we’re still learning, still working, still trying to get a little bit better, but last week [in testing] I think we found a little bit and it showed this weekend… It was a very hardpack track out there today and on the bike I was racing a couple weekends ago I was struggling pretty bad with the hardpack. So yeah, it was definitely a little bit better spot for me.” – Nate Thrasher
First place SX Futures Class – Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.“It was an awesome battle. We were just going back and forth. And it was super tiring, I was breathing so hard and, you’re just glad to be on top… I couldn’t even feel myself. I was like so frickin – I was like in a dream it felt like.” – Cole Davies (#17)
Off the track, members Green Day were in attendance at Angel Stadium to take in the Triple Crown action. Drummer Tre Cool showed up with keyboardist Jason Freese ahead of the band’s 2024 The Saviors tour. Photo Credit: Getty Images/Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
Others in attendance include: USA Olympic Skateboarder Nyjah Huston, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empiredirector Gil Kenan, Influencers Ben Azelart and Hayes Grier, world-renowned drummer Jason Bonham of Bonham and Sammy Hagar’s “The Best of All Worlds” Van Halen Tour, rock guitarist Carlos Cavazo of Quiet Riot and Ratt, who was also recently inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame.
