SEATTLE — A post-race penalty marred Marvin Musquin’s victory Saturday night as 58,721 fans attended round 12 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season at CenturyLink Field.
Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin won the race, his second win of the season, but incurred a seven-point penalty for jumping through a section while the red cross flag, signaling tires must remain on the ground, was being displayed. The penalty erased the points Musquin would have otherwise gained on Red Bull KTM teammate Cooper Webb, who finished fourth.
In the Western Regional 250SX class Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis nabbed his career-first victory in a close finish ahead of points leader Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne grabbed the holeshot in the 450SX class feature with Musquin right behind; Team Honda HRC teammates Ken Roczen and Cole Seely and Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac rounded out the top five at the start of the race.
Musquin took only a few corners before grabbing the lead. But exiting the second corner after the holeshot, several riders had gone down, bringing out the red cross flags when the pack came back through. With a safety-issue no-jumping rule in effect, Musquin jumped through, creating a question mark of a possible penalty before the points would finally be given out.
Musquin gained enough of a gap to say out of reach of a pass attempt by Roczen. Behind them, Tomac made his way past Seely for second while Osborne dropped several positions in the opening laps. Points leader Cooper Webb battled with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy for the final top five position.
It would take over 13 minutes for Webb to catch and finally pass Seely. And that’s where the top four placed as they crossed the line with Musquin lighting the finish line flames, Roczen close behind, Tomac a bit back, and Webb salvaging fourth.
On the podium, Musquin learned that his victory was under review, and viewed footage of the incident, “I feel really bad. I was leading and you know, all the nerves and excitement, and I got there, I can see on the video right there I’m slowing down, but then after that I’m jumping. So yeah, we’ll see what’s going on on that, but nothing I can do right now. Right after I went through that section I was looking back, didn’t know what to do, I was kinda slowing down, but it was too late. But other than that, it was a fantastic race.”
Ken Roczen, said right after the race, “As the red cross flag came out I was rolling and I saw him doubling through, and I was like, ‘Oh, that was not OK,’ I knew it right there and then. That’s when he gapped me quite a bit, but after that I was such in race mode and towards the end I forgot about it until they said something again. But, I mean, it was a clear red cross flag so I’m excited to see what they’re going to say. I just bounced back pretty good [from an illness] from the last two weeks. I’m not 100 percent yet, I noticed it even before the main event, but overall I rode my heart out and we had a solid race so I can’t be happier right now.”