The 2013 Monster Energy Supercross Series continued to traverse the West Coast, as its time in California would not be complete without a stop in the Bay Area and Oakland’s O.co Coliseum. We have seen plenty of excitement, surprises, and momentum swings to last a year, but we are now only four rounds into the 17-stop tour.

Eli Tomac’s stranglehold over the 250 championship was broken, as two mishaps in the main event kept him from finishing the race. It would be Ken Roczen taking the opening at the top of the order, and now the Red Bull KTM racer also has control over the championship point standings.

While the first weeks of his championship defense appeared shaky, the dominating Ryan Villopoto of the past years is back. Though second-turn crash knocked a slew of competition out of the fight for the win, Villopoto was already in the lead and pulling away from the other 19 racers on the field. Despite this two-race streak of wins, Davi Millsaps continues to lead the 450 Supercross standings.

250 West Coast Championship

Heat One

Jessy Nelson was quickest to turn one in the first eight-lap 250 heat race, but most of the crowd’s attention was on defending champ and points leader Eli Tomac, who went down in turn one. Cole Seely snuck under Nelson and took the lead for a few seconds, but lost traction and went down on the slippery track. Nelson regained the lead and was never challenged as he raced to the first heat race win of his young career. Tyla Rattray moved into second when Jake Canada skipped off the track in the whoops, and stayed there to the finish. Third went to Jason Anderson, while Seely moved back to fourth. After crashing in turn one, Tomac recovered to seventh.

1. Jessy Nelson (Hon)
2. Tyla Rattray (Kaw)
3. Jason Anderson (Suz)
4. Cole Seely (Hon)
5. Jake Canada (Suz)
6. Christian Craig (Hon)
7. Eli Tomac (Hon)
8. Jean Ramos (Kaw)
9. Chris Plouffe (Hon)

Heat Two

Zach Osborne snared the holeshot at the start of the second 250 heat, but his lead only lasted a lap, as Ken Roczen blazed past in the sand section and took over the point. Roczen established a two second lead almost immediately, and maintained it to the finish. Osborne was a solid second, with Martin Davalos, Joey Savatgy, Malcolm Stewart and Austin Politelli.

1. Ken Roczen (KTM)
2. Zach Osborne (Hon)
3. Martin Davalos (Kaw)
4. Joey Savatgy (KTM)
5. Malcolm Stewart (KTM)
6. Austin Politelli (Hon)
7. Kyle Cunningham (Yam)
8. Travis Baker (Yam)
9. Kade Mosig (Kawasaki)

LCQ

Max Anstie holeshot the LCQ but went wide in the first turn and let many riders slip past. JDR KTM’s Josh Cachia stole the lead and held it to the end. Killian Rusk came home second, in spite of a massive late-race charge by Scott Champion.

1. Josh Cachia (KTM)
2. Killian Rusk (Hon)

Main Event

Savatgy grabbed a surprise holeshot at the start of the 15-lap 250 main, but Troy Lee Honda’s Cole Seely stole the lead on lap one. Roczen moved into second quickly, while his rival Tomac was mired in the middle of the pack. Tomac’s woes continued when he went down early in the race and dropped back to nearly last. Things went from worse to worst for Tomac at the halfway point when a gnarly crash in the whoops left him on the side of the track, in pain and unable to continue.

Out front, Seely rode a calm and collected race. Roczen was faster, but made more mistakes and would gain and then lose ground to the leader. Seely bobbles a couple times in the rhythm section after the sand and allowed Roczen to really close in, and on lap 12 the German rider forced his way past when he took the low line in a bown corner.

Once into the lead, Roczen began to pull away and sliced through the lapped traffic with efficiency. Seely held on as best he could, but at the finish, Roczen enjoyed a five second lead. Thirteen seconds further back came Anderson, who notched his first-ever podium finish. Davalos and Malcolm Stewart rounded out the top five.

 

Top Lap Times
1. Ken Roczen 55.453
2. Cole Seely 55.988
3. Eli Tomac 56.022
4. Malcolm Stewart 56.349
5. Jason Anderson 56.441

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