On Saturday evening, Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen scored the Anaheim 1 AMA Supercross 450SX victory for the fourth time in his career. The German was perfect all night aboard his CRF450R, leading every lap of his heat race and the main event. In the 250SX West Region opener, Hunter Lawrence notched a third-place result.
Roczen nailed the premier-class holeshot in the final, while Chase Sexton – fresh off a heat win of his own – tucked in behind him, and the teammates ran nose-to-tail for the first eight laps. At that point, Sexton bobbled on a jump landing and went down, losing one position. The Illinois native quickly remounted and regained the spot, only to crash in the whoops and drop to midpack. During the race’s second half, Sexton charged steadily forward, climbing to fourth by lap 17 of 22, although a last-corner tussle with Marvin Musquin dropped him to fifth. Meanwhile, Roczen crossed the finish line with a margin of over seven seconds on the runner-up rider.
In the quarter-liter ranks, Lawrence suffered a poor start and completed lap one in 10th place, but he reached the top five by lap six and advanced another position four laps later. Early on the 16th and final go-around, the Australian moved into a podium position, and he nearly took over second in the final turn before ultimately settling for third. Also impressive was SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MCR Honda’s Vince Friese, who made the top five after leading the early laps aboard his CRF250R.
