News 24 Jan 2018

Triple Crown format 'too hectic' for full supercross season

450SX leader Anderson against unique schedule on a consistent basis.

Image: Supplied.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson has admitted that he believes the three-race format of last weekend’s Monster Energy AMA Supercross Triple Crown event would be chaotic over the course of a complete season.

After finishing third overall via a 7-3-1 scorecard to extend his 2018 championship lead to 11 points, the former 250SX West champion wouldn’t want to see the entire series switch formats in the future.

Anderson was forced to sprint his way through from 13th on lap one to seventh in the first final of eight minutes, improving to third in the second leg and then comfortably winning the third moto to seal a podium on combined scores. He said that starting against the elite riders of the sport three times in one night to decide the round results was a difficult task.

“[It’s] way too hectic for 18 rounds of that,” Anderson said. “No way [laughs]. It’s kind of scary, honestly, one start a night with all the top guys is one thing, but tonight doing three starts with everyone is pretty crazy.

“Those first laps if you’re not one or two, you don’t know if you’re gonna hit the triple or double it, so it’s pretty scary. At the same time, it’s probably a little bit more action for the fans, but for us it is hectic doing three starts.”

The opening race saw Anderson start in the mid-pack and soon caught up in an opening lap incident with Broc Tickle and Malcolm Stewart, however he managed to rebound for seventh in one of his most important rides of the night. He displayed patience on his way to position and moved forward from there as the moto-length extended.

“It’s so short of a race and it’s so hard to make up time,” Anderson said. “I’m lucky I was able to get up to seventh and salvage something out of that, but that first race was tough – it was all about the start. It was a lot of racing tonight and… it was kind of crazy. It was a curveball for us and for me.”

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