ANAHEIM, California: Jorge Prado won Heat 1 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, with Ken Roczen taking the second heat.
The intensity was high for the season opener and it showed. Aaron Plessinger crashed in Heat 1; Justin Cooper crashed in Heat 2, and headed to the Last Chance Qualifier.
Heat 2
It was another crowded start in Heat 2 with a close battle between Chase Sexton, Hunter Lawrence, Ken Roczen, and Justin Hill riding side by side, four-wide.
Roczen emerged with the lead.
Sexton crashes heading up the tunnel jump with four minutes remaining on the clock. He fell to eighth.
Halfway through, Lawrence was second to Roczen with Christian Craig in third.
Justin Anderson passed Hill for fourth with two minutes on the clock.
RJ Hampshire and Justin Cooper went down in the sand section midway through the heat. Hampshire clung to ninth. Cooper fell to 11th.
“I’m away from all the content,” Roczen said. “I want to have nothing to do with it. I just had a really good offseason and this feels like I’m just going to another race.”
Roczen won by a whopping 8.7 seconds over Lawrence.
Anderson took the final podium position.
Fourth-place Christian Craig and Sexton rounded out the top five.
Hill, Vince Friese, Hampshire, and Shane McElrath also advanced directly into the Main.
The Last Chance Qualifier will have some star power with Cooper and Plessinger lining up.
Heat 1
Aaron Plessinger got the holeshot and the crowd went wild.
Cooper Webb showed his determination to win the season opener and rode in hard on Lap 2. He slid into the side of Plessinger and took sent them both to the ground.
Jorge Prado assumed the lead, bringing Justin Barcia with him in Ducati’s debut.
Webb fell out of the top nine with its guarantee of a start in the feature. Plessinger fared worse and dropped all the way to the back of the field.
Dylan Ferrandis brought Ducati into the top five as well.
As time ran off the clock, Eli Tomac moved into second around Barcia.
Tomac caught his new teammate Prado on the final lap, but could not quite complete the pass.
Prado won by half a second.
“Not many expected me to win the first race of the year,” Prado said. “It was a great start with my riding and it clicked everything together.”
Barcia and Ferrandis battled for the final podium position. It went to Barcia.
Joey Savatgy rounded out the top five.
In Triumph’s debut, Austin Forkner advanced to the Main.
Plessinger finished 14th and did not did not.
Malcolm Stewart (sixth), Forkner (seventh), Webb (eighth) and Mitchell Oldenburg (ninth) also advanced.
Last Chance Qualifier
Plessinger and Cooper put on a great show as they battled for the final spots on the gate, finishing first and second.
“It was a freak thing,” Plessinger told Peacock’s Will Christien about the contact with Webb. “I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but sometimes you have to realize it’s the first lap of the new year.”
Colt Nichols and Mitchell Harrison also advanced into the Main.
Fifth-place Kevin Moranz was the first rider on the outside looking in.
