Round 3 of the AMA Supercross series at Anaheim’s Angel Stadium, which hosted the first-ever Triple Crown event, saw Team Honda HRC’s Cole Seely capture second overall for his first podium result of the season, with an impressive 1-2-7 tally. When the gate dropped for the first of three 450SX main events, Seely got off to a second-place start. He quickly moved his CRF450R into the lead on the opening lap and rode unchallenged for the remainder of the eight-minute-plus-one-lap race. In the second main, Seely got a top-five start and moved into second on lap two. He kept the leader honest, making advances toward the end of the race before a mistake forced him to settle for second. The evening’s final race proved to be the biggest challenge as a less-than-desirable getaway left Seely nearly 14^th on the first lap. The Californian spent the 15-minute contest maneuvering through the field to salvage a seventh-place finish, enough to wrap up second overall.

With Saturday’s race marking the one-year anniversary of Ken Roczen’s frightening crash, the German had a challenging evening overcoming his subconscious. Although he had hoped for another podium finish, he was pleased to put this race behind him and walk away healthy with a ninth-overall result. In the first main event, Roczen took an eighth-place start and then struggled to find his rhythm, losing spots before taking the checkered flag in 11^th. Another poor start in the second race left him outside the top 15 on the first lap, but he advanced to 12^th by the finish. The last main saw Roczen start near the front before settling into fourth on lap five, which is where he finished.

NOTES

• On Friday night, Team Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen and Cole Seely joined GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin, Christian Craig, and Chase Sexton in an appearance at Del Amo Motorsports Orange County for a pre-race Supercross party, where fans had the opportunity to hang out and get autographs from their favorite Red Riders.
• Competition was fierce during the daytime qualifying sessions, with a mere .729 seconds separating the top 12 riders. Roczen secured the sixth-quickest time with a 50.746” lap, while Seely was seventh with a 50.799” time. Both marks were secured in the second session.
• For opening ceremonies and the evening’s first main event, Roczen chose to make a bold statement by using the same yellow Shift gear that he was wearing one year ago in his horrific, injury-inducing crash. “It was my idea to wear the same gear from last year’s crash,” Roczen said. “It was all about making a statement and I think it did that. Not everyone was crazy about the idea, but I’m not superstitious and felt this was a cool way to officially put everything behind me and move forward.”
• The new Triple Crown format was an adjustment for not only for riders but also mechanics, as they were not given a lot of time between main events to prepare for the evening’s next race. With no issues throughout the night, it wasn’t a huge factor, but Seely’s mechanic Rich Simmons explained that had damage been incurred, things might not have been as easy. “There was only about an hour between each race tonight,” said Simmons. “If you take into consideration spending 10 minutes down on the track for podium stuff after the race, then needing to be staged 20 minutes prior to the race, we don’t have a ton of time at the truck. Luckily, we didn’t have any issues, but if we had it would’ve been tough to turn around. I don’t like that we’re pressed on time to get down there, then sit in staging or on the gate for 25 minutes.”
• MotoConcept Honda’s Justin Brayton was impressive all day, locking in the fifth-fastest qualifying time in practice before putting together three solid main-event rides to secure fourth overall with 2-6-3 finishes.
• For GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin, Anaheim two marked his third and final appearance in the 450SX class. With 15-15-10 finishes in the Triple Crown, Martin scored 12^th overall aboard his CRF450R. The Minnesota native will now shift his focus back to the 250 class where he’ll be contesting in the 250SX East Championship beginning on February 17 in Arlington, Texas.
• The Triple Crown event proved beneficial for GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig, who made his first podium appearance of the season, scoring third overall with 2-3-5 finishes. Despite having a disappointing overall result, Craig’s teammate Chase Sexton had a few noteworthy moments throughout the evening. The rookie scored the holeshot in two of the three main events before leading a majority of the final main event and eventually crossing the finish line in third.
• Following his solid second-place finish, Seely moved up two spots in the championship standing, sitting second with 59 points, while Roczen is fourth with 56.
• This Saturday, Team Honda HRC will campaign round 4 of the AMA Supercross series, in Glendale, Arizona. The evening before the race, a rider appearance is scheduled at RideNow Powersports in Peoria.

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