The Monster Energy Supercross Round 17 showcased a tight battle early among points’ contenders Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen, but the results will show that Webb earned not only the 2021 championship, but he did so in style with his eighth race win of the season.
In the first five minutes, Roczen and Webb battled side by side. Their spirited battle allowed Roczen’s teammate Sexton to catch the pair and with a much faster Honda underneath him, Sexton shot into the lead.
But Webb earned his 2021 championship with tenacity and an unwillingness to give up. With six minutes remaining on the clock, Webb grabbed the inside line on a tight turn, nudged Roczen off line with a knee and scooted into second. Webb only needed to finish 19th or better to secure his second title in three years, and with the leader in sight, he knew he could be aggressive.
Webb’s KTM teammate Marvin Musquin passed Sexton in the closing laps to finish second on the heels of last week’s win.
Sexton was denied his first career 450 win. He was forced to settle for his third podium finish in the last five races.
Sexton missed the middle of the season due to an injury sustained in Houston 2 while he led that race. He battled back and scored back to back runner-up finishes in the first two Atlanta events, but then slipped off the podium in the next two races.
The 450 class rookie of the year, Dylan Ferrandis finished fourth for the second consecutive race.
Last week, Malcolm Stewart earned his first 450 podium. This week he finished fifth for his second consecutive top five.
Joey Savatgy in sixth, Justin Barcia in seventh and Aaron Plessinger in eighth grabbed the next three positions.
After winning his heat in convincing fashion, Eli Tomac settled for ninth in the race and secured third in the championship.
Once Roczen lost contact with the leaders, he faded to 10th at the checkers, but earned enough points to finish second in the championship.
Chaos erupted behind the leaders in the 250 East/West Showdown, but the title contenders were in front of the incident.
When the dust settled, the rider with the best position was Colt Nichols who only needed a solid run to wrap up the 250 East championship. Nichols rode to a comfortable lead by the midway point, but when he was chased down by Jett Lawrence, he decided not to put himself at risk and allowed his East rival to pass uncontested.
Lawrence held on to win the 250 East/West championship. It was his third win of the season.
Cooper’s closest rival for the championship, Jo Shimoda finished a distant sixth.
In the 250 West series, Justin Cooper only needed to finish 17th or better to win his championship.
Cooper settled into ninth early in the race. He found a safe place to ride and dropped more than 25 seconds behind the leader. Cooper maintained his ninth-place result and claimed the 250 West title.
The battle for the final position on the podium came down to the final lap as Hunter Lawrence made a dramatic pass on Cameron McAdoo to join his brother in the top three.
McAdoo finished fourth.
Earlier in the afternoon, Seth Hammaker was awarded the 250 Rookie of the Year trophy. He backed up that honor with a fifth-place finish in the Main.
Pierce Brown finished seventh, Jalek Swoll was eighth and Kyle Peters rounded out the top 10.
