With the first ever Monster Energy Supercross Triple Crown in the rearview mirror, the pecking order at the top of the 450SX class was still up in the air. Heading into round 4 in Glendale, Arizona there had been three different winners and Jason Anderson held the red plate. Championship damage had been done to Anaheim 1 winner Marvin Musquin and Eli Tomac who both scored zero points at round 2 in Houston. Tomac had rebounded with an overall win at the Triple Crown, meanwhile Ken Roczen was showing consistency and appeared to be gaining strength per weekend. A welcome sight to the 450SX podium was the resurgence of Justin Barcia who was making it clear that he would be racing at the front.
Glendale is one of the largest floors on the Monster Energy Supercross tour and typically produces higher speeds and consistently one of the longest starts of the season. The 2018 version lived up to its history and all night long the bikes would be making it into 4th gear on the horsepower begging start stretch.
When the gate dropped for the 450SX Main Event it was none other than Eli Tomac making it to the holeshot stripe and a sense of 2017 déjà vu became apparent as he had won the previous year’s main event by about 20 seconds. Tomac put his head down and pulled away from the pack and would take the checkered flag uncontested.
Deeper in the pack, point leader Jason Anderson had started 4th but was riding tight making some mistakes and would fall back as far as 7th. Was the pressure of the red plate going to be too much for the Husqvarna racer? Anderson was able to regroup around the halfway mark and make some passes to eventually land in 4th position at the finish. Barcia brought his Yamaha home in second place, and Ken Roczen rounded out the podium.
In the end, round 4 didn’t answer as many questions as it asked. Tomac had won two in a row but was almost 50 points back. Anderson proved that he would battle through an off night and salvage points. And who would win first? Justin Barcia, or Ken Roczen?
The 2018 Monster Energy AMA Supercross an FIM World Championship was just beginning to heat up!