Supercross 2022: Results and points after Round 15 in Foxborough

By Apr 24, 2022, 12:29 PM EDT
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Jason Anderson kept his playoff hopes alive at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts with a second consecutive win in Round 15 of the Monster Energy Supercross championship, but left the race 43 points behind Eli Tomac.

It was the fifth win of the season for Anderson, who could tie Tomac for the most victories in 2022 if he sweeps the last two rounds. The last time Anderson had back-to-back wins earlier this season was in Anaheim 3 and Minneapolis. He finished second the next week in the Texas Triple Crown in Arlington.

With a points’ lead to protect, Tomac rode a conservative race. He and Anderson bumped early in the event, so Tomac chose discretion over valor and dropped back. Once in heavy traffic, he continued to lose positions and finished seventh on the afternoon. The series heads to his home state of Colorado next week, where he can wrap up the title if he finishes sixth or better.

RESULTS: Click here for 450 Results; Click here for 250 results

Chase Sexton was the only rider who could keep up with Anderson in Foxborough. He closed the gap in traffic, but once Anderson cleared the pack Sexton lost three seconds before the end of the race. This was the third straight podium and sixth top-five in the last seven races for Sexton.

Following a modest result of 10th last week in Atlanta, Marvin Musquin rebounded and took the final spot on the podium. Musquin was happy to be among the top three. His first 10 races of 2022 produced only one podium; he has now earned four in his last five efforts.

Click here Heat 1 results | Heat 2 | LCQ

Malcolm Stewart kept a perfect record of 2022 top-10 finishes alive with his fourth-place finish in Foxborough. Considered a challenger for the Supercross championship early in the season, Stewart is now 69 points behind Tomac after Round 15, but is part of a tight battle for third in the standings with Justin Barcia and Musquin.

Barcia did his part to keep his position in the standings by rounding out the top five.

In sixth, Cooper Webb was the only other rider to finish on the lead lap after passing Tomac at the end.

Click here for Round 15 450 Overall results | Rider Points | Manufacturer Points | Lap Chart

Austin Forkner won the battle, but Jett Lawrence won the 250 East war with one race remaining for this division. It was an emotional night for both riders.

Forkner’s 12th career win came in his second race after returning from an injury in the Texas Triple Crown when he broke his collarbone after a mid-air collision with Lawrence. Last week, Forkner won his heat, but faded to seventh in the feature.

At Foxborough, he and Lawrence started the race mid-pack and rode to the front in tandem.

Lawrence needed to finish sixth or better to win his first 250 title and he easily sealed the deal with a second-place finish. Lawrence was originally slotted into the 250 West division, but an off-season crash caused the Honda team to trade positions with his brother, Hunter Lawrence who is embroiled in a battle with Christian Craig.

Jett has had a perfect record of podium finishes through eight rounds.

Click here Heat 1 results | Heat 2 | LCQ

Pierce Brown took the lead from Cullin Park in the feature and held it for the next 14 circuits until he was passed by Forkner. Lawrence followed shortly after, but Brown held on to score his second podium of the season. He was also third in Detroit.

Park faded to ninth at the checkers.

Mitchell Oldenburg scored his fourth top-five of the season after crossing under the checkers in fourth.

Kyle Chisholm, who has split his time between the 250 and 450 classes in 2022, rounded out the top five.

RJ Hampshire entered Foxborough as the only rider with a shot at beating Lawrence for the title. He had a steep hill to climb after finishing 12th in his heat and being forced into the Last Chance Qualifier. He led every lap of that race to advance to the main, but could muster only a sixth-place finish in the big show.

Click here for 250 East Overall results | 250 East Rider Points | 250 Rider East/West Points Combined | Lap Chart

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 1 AT ANAHEIM: Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb renew rivalry with 1-2 finish

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 2 AT OAKLAND: Jason Anderson wins, Roczen struggles to tighten points’ standings

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 3 AT SAN DIEGO: First time wins for Chase Sexton (450s) and Michael Mosiman (250s)

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 4 AT ANAHEIM: Eli Tomac solidifies points’ lead with first win of season

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 5 AT GLENDALE: Tomac is first rider to repeat in 2022

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 6 AT ANAHEIM: Anderson ties Tomac with two wins in 2022

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 7 AT MINNEAPOLIS: Anderson makers it three, closes in on Tomac

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 8 AT ARLINGTON: Tomac wins the overall and takes maximum points, Anderson wins two features

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 9 AT DAYTONA: History made: Tomac is winningest Daytona rider

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 10 AT DETROIT: Tomac makes it three in a row and takes sole possession of fifth on winners list

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 11 AT INDIANAPOLIS: Justin Barcia moves to second after controversial race

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 12 AT SEATTLE: Tomac’s streak continues with fifth straight win

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 13 AT ST LOUIS: Marvin Musquin gets first win of 2022 in Triple Crown format

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 14 AT ATLANTA: Anderson keeps pressure on Tomac with win

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Strong rebounds for Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi amid some disappointments in the Indy 500

By May 28, 2023, 10:00 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou had not turned a wheel wrong the entire Month of May at the Indy 500 until Rinus VeeKay turned a wheel into the Chip Ganassi Racing pole-sitter leaving pit road on Lap 94.

“There is nothing I could have done there,” Palou told NBC Sports. “It’s OK, when it is my fault or the team’s fault because everybody makes mistakes. But when there is nothing, you could have done differently there, it feels bad and feels bad for the team.”

Marcus Ericsson was a master at utilizing the “Tail of the Dragon” move that breaks the draft of the car behind him in the closing laps to win last year’s Indianapolis 500. On Sunday, however, the last of three red flags in the final 16 laps of the race had the popular driver from Sweden breathing fire after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden beat him at his own game on the final lap to win the Indianapolis 500.

Despite the two disappointments, team owner Chip Ganassi was seen on pit road fist-bumping a member on his four-car team in this year’s Indianapolis 500 after his drivers finished second, fourth, sixth and seventh in the tightly contested race.

Those are pretty good results, but at the Indianapolis 500, there is just one winner and 32 losers.

“There is only one winner, but it was a hell of a show,” three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Chip Ganassi Racing consultant Dario Franchitti told NBC Sports. “Alex was very fast, and he got absolutely caught out in somebody else’s wreck. There was nothing he could have done, but he and the 10 car, great recovery.

“Great recovery by all four cars because at half distance, we were not looking very good.”

After 92 laps, the first caution flew for Sting Ray Robb of Dale Coyne Racing hitting the Turn 1 wall.

During pit stops on Lap 94, Palou had left his stall when the second-place car driven by VeeKay ran into him, putting Palou’s Honda into the wall. The car sustained a damaged front wing, but the Chip Ganassi crew was able to get him back in the race on the lead lap but in 28th position.

Palou ultimately would fight his way to a fourth-place finish in a race the popular Spaniard could have won. His displeasure with VeeKay, whom he sarcastically called “a legend” on his team radio after the incident, was evident.

“The benefit of being on pole is you can drive straight and avoid crashes, and he was able to crash us on the side on pit lane, which is pretty tough to do, but he managed it,” Palou told NBC Sports. “Hopefully next year we are not beside him. Hopefully, next year we have a little better luck.”

Palou started on the pole and led 36 laps, just three fewer than race leader Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing.

“We started really well, was managing the fuel as we wanted, our car was pretty good,” Palou said. “Our car wasn’t great, we dropped to P4 or P5, but we still had some good stuff.

“On the pit stop, the 21 (VeeKay) managed to clip us. Nothing we could have done there. It was not my team’s fault or my fault.

“We had to drop to the end. I’m happy we made it back to P4. We needed 50 more laps to make it happen, but it could have been a lot worse after that contact.

“I learned a lot, running up front at the beginning and in mid-pack and then the back. I learned a lot.

“It feels amazing when you win it and not so good when things go wrong. We were a bit lucky with so many restarts at the end to make it back to P4 so I’m happy with that.”

Palou said the front wing had to be changed and the toe-in was a bit off, but he still had a fast car.

In fact, his Honda was the best car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway all month. His pole-winning four lap average speed of 234.217 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a record for this fabled race.

Palou looked good throughout the race, before he had to scratch and claw and race his way back to the top-five after he restarted 28th.

In the Indianapolis 500, however, the best car doesn’t always win.

“It’s two years in a row that we were leading the race at the beginning and had to drop to last,” Palou said. “Maybe next year, we will start in the middle of the field and go on to win the race.

“I know he didn’t do it on purpose. It’s better to let that pass someday.”

Palou said the wild racing at the end was because the downforce package used in Sunday’s race means the drivers have to be aggressive. The front two cars can battle for the victory, but cars back in fourth or fifth place can’t help determine the outcome of the race.

That is when the “Tail of the Dragon” comes into the play.

Franchitti helped celebrate Ericsson’s win in 2022 with his “Tail of the Dragon” zigzag move – something he never had to do in any of his three Indianapolis 500 victories because they all finished under caution.

In 2023, however, IndyCar Race Control wants to make every attempt to finish the race under green, without going past the scheduled distance like NASCAR’s overtime rule.

Instead of extra laps, they stop the race with a red flag, to create a potential green-flag finish condition.

“You do what you have to do to win within the rules, and it’s within the rules, so you do it,” Franchitti said. “The race is 200 laps and there is a balance.

“Marcus did a great job on that restart and so did Josef. It was just the timing of who was where and that was it.

“If you knew it was going to go red, you would have hung back on the lap before.

“Brilliant job by the whole Ganassi organization because it wasn’t looking very good at half-distance.

“Full marks to Josef Newgarden and Team Penske.”

Franchitti is highly impressed by how well Ericsson works with CGR engineer Brad Goldberg and how close this combination came to winning the Indianapolis 500 two-years-in-a-row.

It would have been the first back-to-back Indy 500 winner since Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002.

“Oh, he’s a badass,” Franchitti said Ericsson. “He proved it last year. He is so calm all day. What more do you need? As a driver, he’s fast and so calm.”

Ericsson is typically in good spirits and jovial.

He was stern and direct on pit road after the race.

“I did everything right, I did an awesome restart, caught Josef off-guard and pulled away,” Ericsson said on pit lane. “It’s hard to pull away a full lap and he got me back.

“I’m mostly disappointed with the way he ended. I don’t think it was fair and safe to do that restart straight out of the pits on cold tires for everyone.

“To me, it was not a good way to end that race.

“Congrats to Josef. He didn’t do anything wrong. He is a worthy champion, but it shouldn’t have ended like that.”

Palou also didn’t understand the last restart, which was a one-start showdown.

“I know that we want to finish under green,” Palou said. “Maybe the last restart I did, I didn’t understand. It didn’t benefit the CGR team.

“I’m not very supportive of the last one, but anyway.”

Dixon called the red flags “a bit sketchy.”

“The red flags have become a theme to the end of the race, but sometimes they can catch you out,” Dixon said. “I know Marcus is frustrated with it.

“All we ask for is consistency. I think they will do better next time.

“It’s a tough race. People will do anything they can to win it and with how these reds fall, you have to be in the right place at the right time. The problem is when they throw a Red or don’t throw a Red dictates how the race will end.

“It’s a bloody hard race to win. Congrats to Josef Newgarden and to Team Penske.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500