2015 AMA Supercross – Anaheim II Results

Suzuki‘s Ken Roczen increased his lead in the AMA Supercross 450 championship while a last-lap pass gave Yamaha‘s Cooper Webb his second-consecutive victory but the big story in Anaheim was Chad Reed getting disqualified after running Trey Canard into a barrier in apparent retaliation for an earlier incident.

The drama started on Lap 8 when Canard misjudged a jump and landed on the back of Reed’s bike, sending both riders crashing. Both riders were able to remount, but seconds later, Reed made a beeline for Canard and steered him off the track and into a Tuff Block. Reed was immediately black-flagged for the incident, immediately disqualifying him from the race and forcing him to get off the track.

After the race, admitted it probably wasn’t the right thing to do but argued an immediate disqualification was too harsh a punishment. Instead, he argues, the decision should have come after the race so he would at least have a chance to appeal.

As all this was happening, Roczen was well in control of the race, taking the lead on the second lap and holding on to win by 5.221 seconds. KTM‘s Ryan Dungey finished second while last week’s winner Eli Tomac completed the podium for Honda.

The 250 class Main Event provided a different kind of drama with four different riders holding the lead during the 15-lap race.

Husqvarna rider Zach Osborne took the holeshot and lead the opening two laps but he wasn’t able to escape the pressure from Jessy Nelson. The KTM rider took over the lead on Lap 3 and developed a comfortable lead.

Nelson may have been too comfortable, however, crashing while leading on Lap 6 and allowing Kawasaki‘s Tyler Bowers to take over. Bowers began to pull away while KTM’s Justin Hill and Webb battled for second behind him. Webb eventually gained the advantage and began to reel Bowers in.

Webb drew closer and closer until the final lap when he cut inside as Bowers ran wide around a corner. The two made contact exiting the hairpin turn with Bowers taking the worst of it and crashing. Bowers recovered but it was too late as Webb crossed the finish for the win.