The 2017 Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Series is almost upon us, and nearly all of the major pieces have fallen into place.
To start with, there are some key changes to the 2017 series. Once again, it comprises 17 rounds, but in 2017, rather than two races in San Diego, the series returns to having only one round at San Diego’s Petco Park, and it will be the 2017 series’ “Military Appreciation Night”. Last year’s Military Appreciation Night, at San Diego 2, saw promoter Feld Motorsports give away over 600 free tickets to active-duty military personnel while Feld also donated $5500 to the San Diego USO.
Just as in past years, the first and only break in the series doesn’t come until very late. This year, the break comes after round 14 of the championship, which puts a premium on staying healthy through the early part of the series. On both sides of that break are races that could also be expected to throw wrenches into the championship chase, as the April rounds in Seattle, Washington, and Salt Lake City, Utah, have resulted in some crazy weather over the years. Seattle is known for rain, and rain is always a possibility there, but in Utah, not only do the teams have to deal with racing at altitude, but Rice-Eccles Stadium has actually hosted a snow supercross in 2010. Kevin Windham won it, and lapped everyone but Andrew Short (in third place) and Davi Millsaps (in second place) on his way to the win in the shortened 15-lap main event.
Besides the venue changes, there’s a rumor that the standard length of a premier-class main event will change from 20 laps to 20 minutes plus one lap (or plus two laps). And just as last year, the two regional SX championships will combine for a points-paying East/West Shootout in Las Vegas to determine the champions on both coasts.
2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Schedule
Round 1-January 7, Angel Stadium, Anaheim, Calif.
Round 2-January 14, Petco Park, San Diego, Calif.
Round 3-January 21, Angel Stadium, Anaheim, Calif.
Round 4-January 28, U. of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz.
Round 5-February 4, O.co Coliseum, Oakland, Calif.
Round 6-February 11, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Round 7-February 18, US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minn.
Round 8-February 25, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ga.
Round 9-March 4, Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
Round 10-March 11, Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona, Fla.
Round 11-March 18, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Ind.
Round 12-March 25, Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.
Round 13-April 1, The Dome at America’s Center, St. Louis, Mo.
Round 14-April 8, CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Wash.
Round 15-April 22, Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah
Round 16-April 29, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
Round 17-May 6, Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nev.
2017 Teams/Riders
The 450cc Supercross Championship sees a few pretty massive changes for 2017 in terms of the riders and teams. First, there’s the move of championship favorite Ken Roczen to the factory Honda squad alongside Cole Seely, where both will be fielding the factory-racing version of the all-new, highly touted 2017 Honda CRF450R.
With Roczen moving to Honda, longtime Honda racer Trey Canard made the move over to the Red Bull KTM team, where he will compete alongside defending series champion Ryan Dungey and second-year 450cc competitor Marvin Musquin.
Josh Grant will be joining Eli Tomac on the Monster Energy Kawasaki team full-time after filling in for Wil Hahn on the team for a few races in 2016. Hahn has announced his retirement from racing after three injury-plagued years in the 450cc class.
The Yoshimura Suzuki factory racing team shut down after the 2016 season, and Suzuki’s official factory team has been shifted to the RCH team, which won the 2016 450cc National MX championship with Ken Roczen. With Roczen at Honda, the RCH team touts two former 250cc Supercross champs in its lineup: Broc Tickle returns to RCH in 2017 joined by Justin Bogle, the latter reportedly bringing a big-money sponsor to the team for the new year. This leaves 2016 fill-in rider (and also a former 250cc SX champ) Jake Weimer out in the cold (although he is still riding an RCH Suzuki every day at the supercross test tracks to keep his skills honed just in case something pops up).
The Joe Gibbs Racing team, which has fielded Yamahas since its inception in 2009, has switched to Suzukis in 2017, bringing along its team racers Justin Barcia and Weston Peick, while also fielding two 250cc racers in Matt Bisceglia and longtime JGR contracted fill-in racer Phil Nicoletti (who will be moving back up to the 450cc class outdoors).
Perhaps the biggest unknown heading into the 2017 series is rookie Cooper Webb. The North Carolinian has won two consecutive 250cc Western Regional SX titles, and he toughed out a fractured wrist to take down the 2016 250cc National MX Championship prior to moving up to the 450cc class for 2017. The 21-year-old Webb will join 34-year-old multi-time champ Chad Reed on the official Yamaha factory team, backed by Monster Energy. Reed will race supercross-only, while Webb plans to race indoors and outdoors, with the team possibly adding a second racer for the AMA National Motocross Championship. Dean Wilson has been spotted on a Yamaha at local test tracks, but both James and Malcolm Stewart (the latter of whom is the current 250cc Eastern Regional SX champ) have also been spotted on Yamahas, so it’s anybody’s guess what’s going to happen there. Malcolm Stewart has been racing off-season supercrosses in Europe on a Factory Connection-backed Honda 450 (wearing his brother’s Seven gear), though he’s not slated to rejoin the team in 2017.
The big 450cc names still unknown for the coming year are Weimer, Wilson, and both Stewarts. News should be out soon about any or all of them.
The only shuffling beyond the norm in the 250cc ranks came within the last couple of weeks, as Star Racing Yamaha’s Colt Nichols – who impressed on the CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha squad in 2016 – broke his femur while practicing, and he’s going to have his spot filled on the team by 30-year-old Dan Reardon. The Australian Reardon had raced in the USA for a few years for the GEICO Honda team, then retired from racing. After a few years on the sidelines training and coaching other racers, Reardon returned to action in Australia in 2016 and managed to win the Australian 450cc Supercross Championship for Yamaha in his first year back racing. With Nichols’ injury, Reardon got the nod to give the USA another go.
It’s difficult to break down which racers in the 250cc ranks will be competing on which coast, because many/most teams wait until the last second to decide because of the frequency of injuries in the sport. The only good rule of thumb to go by is that if the guy is hurt now, he’s more likely to be racing East if he races at all, and that if he’s coming here from Europe, chances are pretty good that he’ll get going on the East in order to maximize testing time to get used to supercross before hitting the track in anger.
2017 AMA 450cc Supercross Teams
Team Honda
14 Cole Seely
94 Ken Roczen
Smartop/Motoconcepts Honda
10 Justin Brayton
61 Vince Friese
800 Mike Alessi
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna
21 Jason Anderson
377 Christophe Pourcel
Red Bull KTM
1 Ryan Dungey
25 Marvin Musquin
41 Trey Canard
Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM
4 Blake Baggett
18 Davi Millsaps (Supercross-only)
RCH/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing
19 Justin Bogle
20 Broc Tickle
Monster Energy Kawasaki
3 Eli Tomac
33 Josh Grant
Toyota/Monster Energy/Joe Gibbs Racing Suzuki
32 Weston Peick
51 Justin Barcia
Team Monster Energy/Yamaha Factory Racing
2 Cooper Webb
22 Chad Reed (Supercross-only)
CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha
85 Tommy Hahn
2017 AMA 250cc Supercross Teams
GEICO Honda
6 Jeremy Martin
31 RJ Hampshire
48 Christian Craig
N/A Chase Sexton
57 Jimmy Decotis (Supercross-only)
Smartop/Motoconcepts Honda
N/A Cameron Macadoo
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna
16 Zach Osborne
30 Martin Davalos
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki
17 Joey Savatgy
24 Austin Forkner
36 Adam Cianciarulo
46 Justin Hill
TLD/Red Bull KTM
26 Alex Martin
28 Mitchell Oldenburg
38 Shane McElrath
44 Jordon Smith
Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM
34 Benny Bloss (450 outdoors)
Toyota/Monster Energy/Joe Gibbs Racing Suzuki
37 Phil Nicoletti (450 outdoors)
43 Matt Bisceglia
Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha
23 Aaron Plessinger
39 Colt Nichols
45 Mitchell Harrison
108 Dylan Ferrandis
122 Dan Reardon (Supercross-only)
CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha
74 Bradley Taft
N/A Lorenzo Locurcio
Barn Pro Racing Yamaha
58 Chris Alldredge
76 Scott Champion
51Fifty Energy Yamaha
51 Tyler Bowers
64 Hayden Mellross
Traders Racing
50 Luke Renzland
78 Nick Gaines
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