In the night’s first of three 450SX races, Roczen grabbed the holeshot and early lead aboard his CRF450R, quickly pulling away from the rest of the field. Seely also got off to a good start, sitting sixth after the first lap. The Californian worked his way into fifth on lap five before gaining one more position to take the checkered flag in fourth.
Meanwhile, Roczen rode smooth and confident up front, leading the entire 16-lap race to take a convincing win. In race two, Seely came out even stronger, rounding the first turn in the top five and quickly moving into the third, then second on lap six. Through the final four minutes, Seely relinquished two spots, finishing in fourth. Unfortunately, Roczen got tangled up with another rider’s rear wheel in the first turn, sending him to the ground hard. He remounted but was unable to complete the race.
The German was quickly evaluated in the Alpinestars Mobile Medical, where it was determined there was no serious injury, and Roczen made the decision to line up for the third race. In that race, Seely scored a seventh-place start, with Roczen outside the top 10. Seely lost several positions before a last-lap crash left him 11thon the night, while Roczen advanced, salvaging eighth place by the checkered flag.
“The first main event tonight was seriously so good! We grabbed a great start and got out front right away, pulling a 10-second gap on the rest of the field,” said Roczen. “It was amazing to see the checkered flag before anyone else; unfortunately, it was only in one main. In the second one, I got tangled up with Dean’s [Wilson] rear wheel and went down pretty hard. I smashed my toe and originally thought I had an ankle injury but luckily that wasn’t the case. My bike was also so bent up after the crash. I got checked out and it actually started to feel better, instead of worse, after 15 to 20 minutes. That was good but my toe was still in a lot of pain. Luckily I was able to just jump back on the bike and do what I could in the third main, salvaging an eighth-place and getting 10th overall. It’s not really how we wanted to end tonight, especially with how well the day and first race went, but again we’re healthy and moving on to the next one. At one point, it will come.”
