Monster Energy Supercross Makes Bay Area Return with Inaugural Race at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara

2015-04-14 16:39
Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, will make its return to the Pacific Time Zone this weekend by making a second visit to California's Bay Area for the first time ever in the sport's 42-year history. The brand new, state-of-the-art Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara will make its supercross debut this Saturday, April 18, in the heart of the country's high-tech region known as Silicon Valley.

While the majority of Monster Energy Supercross' visits to the Bay Area have taken place in nearby Oakland and San Francisco, the championship did have a six-year stretch of races in San Jose, the neighboring city to Santa Clara, hosting races at Spartan Stadium on the campus of San Jose State University from 1990-1995. Today, Levi's Stadium sits a mere 10 miles from Spartan Stadium, bringing back memories of the beginning of the modern era of the sport in which Jeremy McGrath made the word supercross commonplace thanks to his dominant ability and dynamic personality.

Saturday night's race will air live on FOX Sports 1 at 10 p.m. EDT/ 7 p.m. PDT.

Live coverage from Santa Clara will also be available on the authenticated FOX Sports Go app.

Media Day will take place Thursday, April 16, at 12 Noon PDT at Levi's Stadium, featuring Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki.

On Saturday, April 18, fans can Log on to www.SupercrossLive.comto watch Race Day Live presented by AMSOIL with Jim Holley and Andy Bowyer from 4:30 p.m. EDT/ 1:30 p.m. PDT
to 7:30 p.m. EDT/ 4:30 p.m. PDT

Some key insights to watch heading into this Saturday night's race include:
Who will go down in the history books as the first riders to win the inaugural Monster Energy Supercross at Levi's Stadium?
Will newly crowned 450SX Class Champion Ryan Dungey break through for his first career win in the Bay Area?
Will the championship see its seventh different 450SX Class winner? Equaling the most parity in a season since 1997?
Can rookie Cole Seely capitalize on his inaugural 450SX Class win last weekend and make it two-in-a-row?
Will newly crowned Western Regional 250SX Class Champion Cooper Webb earn his sixth win in eight races, capturing his first victory in the Bay Area along with it?
Can Malcolm Stewart, who won his first career 250SX Class race in Oakland in January, become the first rider to sweep the Bay Area?
Can Shane McElrath turn back-to-back runner-up finishes into the first 250SX Class victory of his career?

Last weekend in Houston, Red Bull KTM's Dungey capped off what has been one of the most statistically dominant seasons in Monster Energy Supercross history by clinching his second career 450SX Class title with four races remaining. Dungey finished second after starting deep inside the top-10 and having to work his way through the field. It signified the Minnesota native's 13th straight podium finish in 14 races this season and also marked the first premier class title for KTM.

"To win in 2010 was awesome, but this time I felt we really earned it and deserved it," explained Dungey on the podium in Houston. "It's hard to know what to say, there's just so much running through my mind right now. KTM brought me here four years ago to win a championship and we finally accomplished it. I pictured tonight going a little differently in my mind, but we caught a few breaks and kept it on two wheels. We had to work for it tonight."

With the pressure of winning the championship behind him, Dungey is free to race purely for victory as he looks to add to the career-best record he set for wins in a single season, which currently stands at six. However, no pressure on Dungey also means there's no pressure on the rest of the 450SX Class field. Fresh off his first career win last weekend, Team Honda HRC's Seely would love nothing more than to claim back-to-back wins, cementing his third position in the championship standings and putting the pressure on GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac for second.

Additionally, former Main Event winners like Monster Energy Kawasaki's Davi Millsaps, Discount Tire Racing/TwoTwo Motorsports Josh Grant, and Autotrader.com/Toyota/Yamaha's Justin Barcia have yet to take the checkered flag this season and know their time is running out. Moreover, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing's Jason Anderson, Team Yoshimura Suzuki's Blake Baggett and Autotrader.com/Toyota/Yamaha's Weston Peick all hope they can join in the coveted distinction of being a 450SX Class Main Event winner.

In six years of Monster Energy Supercross competition in San Jose, five different riders walked away victorious. One of them, Doug Dubach, earned his first and only 450SX Class victory in San Jose, so history suggests Monster Energy Supercross could enjoy another first-time winner at Levi's Stadium.

Like his 450SX Class counterpart Dungey, Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha rider Webb's dominant path to the Western Regional 250SX Class Championship came to a conclusion in Houston, one race prior to the Western Regional season coming to an end on Saturday in Santa Clara. Since starting the season with a seventh-place finish, Webb has finished no worse than second and has won five of the last six races. He put an exclamation point on his championship-winning run last weekend by emerging victorious yet again. No rider has consistently been able to challenge Webb in 2015, but with the championship now over, expect an all out battle amongst these rising stars to claim a win in the Western Regional finale.

During Monster Energy Supercross' last visit to the Bay Area from Oakland in January, Team Honda HRC's Trey Canard took his first win of the season at O.co Coliseum in the 450SX Class. GEICO Honda's Stewart claimed his first career win in the 250SX Class.

Source: Feld Motor Sports

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