It’s always fun to be at Angels Stadium, as the place feels like the real home of Supercross. This’ll be the second of three visits to the venue in 2022, and the baseball diamond has been a busy place since the opening round. Don’t expect this to be the same track as A1 in any way; the dirt has sat on the baseball diamond for weeks now and was subjected to a Monster Jam event, things have dried out and beaten in the SoCal soil.
The A2 track is beefy, with long rhythm lanes full of big jump combinations, multiple 180 turns, an elevated corner, 13 whoops, and a sand section. The final layout is slightly different from the rendering put out earlier in the week; the whoop pad before the sand section has been scrapped and replaced by a standard-size triple.
Conditions look to be much firmer and faster at A2, so the corners and transitions of jumps will develop much differently. Dirt Wurx soaked the track down and reworked the lanes after Friday’s riding sessions, an attempt to lock in some much-needed moisture. Forecasted cloud cover on Saturday and cool temperatures will help the track from drying out.
Three different winners in the 450 Class and mixed finishes by the rest of the field has created the closest points chase in the sport’s history. As we enter the fourth race of the season, the top-10 riders are split by just 14 points. Eli Tomac is at the top of the list with 59 points, Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton have 58 each, Justin Barcia has 56, Jason Anderson and Aaron Plessinger are even with 54, Ken Roczen and Malcolm Stewart are tied with 52, Marvin Musquin has 47, and Dylan Ferrandis.
