The riders have their final say on a spectacular 2016 series.
Ryan Dungey: (1st in 450SX) “Kenny made the pass—and he was riding good—and he ended on that jump. I thought he was going to save it so I committed off that double, but then he didn’t and the bike came to the right. I was like, “Ah man, here we go.” I hit him pretty good. We hit his bike pretty good, but I was glad it [my bike] didn’t get bent up. That would of been a bummer. But we were able to remount—the bike stayed running, I picked it up and got remounted in first. From there, Jason [Anderson] was putting some pressure on us. So I just tried to keep her steady; keep her smooth.
Jason Anderson: (2nd in 450SX) “My race was pretty good. My starts were also pretty good tonight. I stayed in it and was trying to catch Dungey for a minute but I ended up second. I feel like I had a good little rhythm through the whoops and that was helping me out a lot. I was pretty comfortable out there, but the lappers made it really tough when I got around them. All in all it was a pretty good finish to my sophomore season.”
Eli Tomac: (3rd in 450SX) “The conditions changed here in Las Vegas more than I’ve ever seen. We started the day with a track that flowed really well and was in great condition. Then the rain started and we missed the second practice. The Night Show became an absolute mudder and one of the most challenging Monster Energy Supercross races of my career. I’m fortunate to get out of here with a third and I’m really excited to leave the season with a few podiums and some momentum for next year.”
Aaron Plessinger: (4th in 250SX) “I got off to a good start, but unfortunately I hit Coop [Cooper Webb], and I bent my shifter under my foot peg. I was stuck in first gear the whole first lap. I went into the mechanics area, they bent it back and I came from like twentieth to fourth. We didn’t get the Championship, but it’s been a good season. We’re looking forward to outdoors.”
Blake Baggett: (5th in 450SX) “Yeah, definitely! It’s been a rocky rocky year. I missed the first few because I was injured, and then I came back, wasn’t ready, got injured again and went back out. It’s been tough, but I made it from pretty much last in the first turn—I think there was only two or three bikes behind me—to fourth. I just got caught in some blue flag situations that I got the short end of the stick in that. I lost a lot of time and then [Chad] Reed got to the back of me. He got around me and I got him back ’cause he messed up in a rhythm lane, but he was able to roll it and get to the inside. It was so sloppy that there was nothing I could do to try and cover it. I put up the biggest fight I could and fifth is gonna be the best for our season. So two fifths on the season—not exactly the season we wanted by all means—but were healthy and ready to fight in the outdoors. We need to some podiums for sure out there.”
Cole Seely: (9th in 450SX) “I didn’t have a great start to the night with a vision issue in the heat, but we got it figured out for the main event. It’s not too fun coming through the pack during a race like this, but I didn’t want to give up and battled to make it into the top 10. Hopefully we can enjoy some nice weather in the coming weeks as we put our focus on outdoors.”
Josh Grant: (11th in 450SX) “It was definitely an interesting weekend. With all the rain and how everything played out. I’m honestly excited to get that race done and now that the last Monster Energy Supercross is over I’d like to really thank the Monster Energy Kawasaki team for allowing me to come out and compete. I’ll be building on the weekend off and bringing that speed into Hangtown and the rest of outdoors.”
Joey Savatgy: (1st in 250SX) “This is what it’s all about. I work hard during the week and I work hard all year, to end the season like this is great. We were fast in the dry and we got it done in the wet. It hurts that we lost the title but in the same breath we made a statement and ended the year very strong. I’ll be here next year battling for the title.”
Zach Osborne: (2nd in 250SX) “Today had a great end result. I was third-fastest in practice before the rain came. The night show started pretty rough. I crashed in the first turn in the heat race and had to go to the LCQ. I didn’t fall in the first turn of the main but did get caught up in that little melee. I came from 17th to 2nd – 6 seconds out of the win. I’m pretty happy with how it went and I feel like I rode well. I’m looking forward to carrying this momentum into Hangtown.”
Malcolm Stewart: (3rd in 250SX) [On wrapping up the 250 East Championship] “It feels good. I’m speechless right now. To achieve this Championship, it means everything to me. I couldn’t have done it without my brother. I felt like, the stuff that we went through this whole entire year, it was definitely an up and down season for him and for me. I somehow managed to keep the bike on two wheels tonight, and I pulled it off. I felt [Aaron] Plessinger was riding an amazing race. He was in the mechanics’ area I heard, came all the all way back to 4th and almost got me at the finish line. Hats off to that guy. he didn’t have anything to lose. He went out there, was comfortable, and I felt like I was ok, but as the laps came down, I felt like I started to get a little nervous. It’s all part of it. Like I said, I can’t thank the GEICO / Honda crew, my mum and dad and everybody enough. We’re a team. It takes a team to be a champion, and we finally did it tonight.”
Gannon Audette: (5th in 250SX) “I qualified the best I have all season in Las Vegas, which gave me a good gate pick for the heat. I had a good start and transferred to the main with a seventh place finish. The Main Event was messy as it was still pouring rain for the entire 12 laps. My goal was to keep it on two wheels and finish in the top five which is exactly what I did. I’m happy to finish off the year with another great finish for the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team.”
Christian Craig: (8th in 250SX) “Started the day not bad, qualified second, then it started pouring so I had to change the game plan. Main event, I got a decent start and was running fifth for a while and went down. It was hectic and muddy, tough to ride. But no excuses. I ended up third in points in my first year after a few years off, so I can’t complain.”
Martin Davalos: (10th in 250SX) “This was a fun weekend, but it was definitely the toughest track of the year. It was really demanding and challenging. There was only one line. I was riding good in the heat race but made a mistake and crashed pretty hard. The main event was just survival. You couldn’t jump anything, there was only one line, and people were going down left and right. I’m just happy I’m healthy. I’ve had a pretty good season with two wins. I’m really excited about what’s to come, and I’m trying really hard to not stress out about tonight because it’s definitely something that I’ve never ridden.”
Cooper Webb: (11th in 250SX) [On winning back-back 250SX West Championships] “It’s awesome to get a back-to-back title. You know, we work really hard for all that. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the night we were looking for honestly. I wanted to do a lot better than I did, but with the wrist injury, crashing in the second turn and all the cards we were dealt, it’s good to get the job done. It was stressful at first but I’m happy.”
Mitchell Oldenburg: (12th in 250SX) “This was a super tough race and I just did my best to keep it on two wheels. I’m glad it’s over and really looking forward to starting fresh when we line up for the first motocross race in two weeks.”
