00:00It is an absolute vibe in here right now. Let's go racing.
00:05Eight-lap race up first, your first of two sprint races.
00:08You see Max Anstey in a different position on the start because the first turn is going right.
00:13So he's on the very inside playing it safe to his left.
00:17Shane McElrath, the defending champion.
00:19There's Kalana Humphrey, a youngster who was added to the roster late in the season for Stark.
00:24He's raced the last two rounds and tonight he will mix it up with the big boys.
00:29Anstey, McElrath and Schock who sit one, two and three in championship points.
00:35You've got an exciting night of racing coming your way but up first it is SX2
00:40and the first gate drop of the South African GP.
00:46Anstey, perfect out of the gate, great shift, sweeps a little wide.
00:51McElrath up the inside as is Enzo Lopes and Anstey gets pushed back to third.
00:56Now remember, the story in this race is Anstey only needs to get seventh to lock up this championship.
01:04Shane McElrath though out of the gate and in control of this first peak.
01:09Picking up right where we left off in Sweden a week ago, the battle late.
01:13Oh, McElrath with a little kick out there.
01:16But the battle late was between Lopes and a hard-charging Shane McElrath who leads the way.
01:21And Jase, this man has been on the gas since the first lap of practice and now he's got clear track.
01:26He's on his way.
01:27Yeah, Shane McElrath definitely came to race today.
01:30Oh, you see the boys are getting dirty.
01:33That is only going to help Shane get away.
01:36Yeah, Shane's got the clear track.
01:37Conditions are the best they'll see all night long.
01:40And for Max Anstey, if he wants to win this race, a quick pass on Enzo Lopes will put him in position to make that charge.
01:47But it looks like they've settled in.
01:49Colin Park now sits fourth as Shane McElrath continues to check out on Enzo Lopes and Max Anstey.
01:55This might be the best that the track has been all day.
01:58We might see some crazy lap times get laid down early in this race as these guys try to sort out this pecking corner early.
02:06McElrath ripping through the whoops.
02:08He's up over two seconds right now.
02:09Here comes Anstey around the outside.
02:11Lopes tries to play it cool at the inside defensive and Anstey's around and now it's his shot at some clear track and a clear run at the number one.
02:19Now let's see if Max, let's see if Max is going to go after Shane.
02:25This right now, if it stops, he wins the championship.
02:28How hard does he go now?
02:29Well, that's been the question you have, I have had all week long.
02:32Is it about the title or is it about the race win?
02:35And he told us earlier today in qualifying, you told Chris the beat, I don't really even know the math.
02:40I'm just here to race.
02:41So my guess, you're going to see a hard charging 99 right now.
02:44He's going to take a run at Shane.
02:49Lopes settles in third.
02:52Colin Park fourth.
02:53Cody Shock is up to fifth.
02:55And there is some traction on this track.
02:58It will dry out throughout the night.
03:00Practice and qualifying was really dry.
03:02So Jace, I have to imagine right now they're kind of reevaluating the traction underneath them.
03:08Yeah, and a lot of these guys were making big bike changes early through the day.
03:12I wonder how many guys changed from the Super Bowl or from their qualifying into tonight.
03:17That's probably going to play into this a little bit.
03:19It's just what the bike is going to do under them in these racing conditions.
03:23And for Max Anstey, he's said multiple times how much he loves his bike this season.
03:28Not a lot of changes.
03:29Maybe a click or two in one direction or the other this season.
03:33But for Shane McElrath, if there were changes, they were made in the right way.
03:37He has pulled out three and a half seconds on Max Anstey.
03:42Look, we've spent a lot of time talking about the championship and how important it is for Max.
03:46But how about for Shane showcasing for the teams of World Supercross, hey, I haven't got a win yet as the number one defending rider.
03:53He might get one right now putting on a great clinic in this 250 class.
03:57And when you're the guy that has the number one plate on your bike, you have to get a win on the season.
04:03It is massive.
04:04He was so close last weekend in Sweden.
04:06He just got beaten by Enzo Lopes.
04:08This would be massive in terms of momentum, in terms of his career going forward.
04:14It's been a struggle, but he is really riding himself in the form at the back end of this season.
04:19And those struggles have been pretty rangy.
04:21He started the season out with a little bit of a sickness at round two.
04:24There was mechanical issues.
04:26Had him swapping bikes to the backup bike, back to the race bike.
04:29And then since Australia, it's been getting better and better and better.
04:34And now maybe the best we've seen him all season.
04:36Yeah, Max Anstey is starting to close.
04:39And you have to remember, we are in a true world championship.
04:43Five continents over six weeks.
04:46These guys have not been able to ride.
04:48They haven't been able to test their bikes.
04:50That is a massive factor for these guys to deal with week to week in this championship.
04:55And how about the track conditions?
04:56I mean, I think back to the opening round in Buenos Aires, hard pack.
05:00Then we go to Vancouver, super soft and ruddy.
05:02To Australia, back to hard pack.
05:05Sweden a week ago, maybe one of the softest races I've ever seen.
05:08And now back onto the hard pack.
05:10So talk about the range of difficulty on the track as well.
05:13These guys have been really put through the ringer this 2025 World Supercross championship.
05:17And you just get so little time on the track to change.
05:21You think about the bike setup that you would have been running in Sweden to this.
05:25It's chalk and cheese.
05:26You only have a couple of sessions on the track.
05:28Everybody is working overtime to figure it out.
05:31The Shane McElrath has it figured out right now.
05:35And Max Anstey is reeling him in little by little on the clock.
05:39He's under three seconds.
05:41But mathematically, the way they're riding right now, it would take a mistake from Shane for Max to really close that gap.
05:48I haven't seen one pickup out of Shane McElrath since that first run through the woods.
05:54And maybe Max has a little more speed, Chase.
05:56But it's not enough in a quick eight-lap sprint.
05:58Well, and these laps are counting down.
06:00And we are only a couple of laps from crowning a champion if it stays like this.
06:05But this is going to be absolutely massive.
06:09Massive for Shane's confidence.
06:11And think about the overall team title that we're going to be handing out right now as well.
06:15You've got the Pipes Motorsports Suzuki team versus Quad Lock Honda.
06:19There is a Quad Lock Honda out front right now that is adding to that tally as well.
06:24Stacking the points for the team championship.
06:26Max Anstey, again, said earlier, I'm not worried about the championship.
06:30Math is on his side.
06:32A seventh or better in this race.
06:34And this man right here will be your 2025 World Supercross champion.
06:38As he continues to drive forward, chipping away.
06:41Now almost to two seconds.
06:43Little mistake right there.
06:45And for Max Anstey, I have to imagine just getting the championship over with it.
06:49Getting it out of conversation might help him as well.
06:52Because as much as he's tried to avoid it, we have not let him off the hook.
06:55And I was at Star Racing the first day that Max came back for an injury.
07:00He got a motocross bike.
07:01He went to a local turn track.
07:03And he is just the definition of a grafter, as they say in the UK.
07:08Put it in the graph to get back.
07:10Majorly disappointing 2025.
07:12But I've got a feeling that this second World Championship just might make up for all of the hardship that he's faced so far this year.
07:19And he's mentioned since the opening night in Buenos Aires how important it is to win this World Supercross champion for himself, for his hometown, for his family, for his team.
07:30This one's been big for him, and he's been great all season long.
07:34And for your defending champ Shane McElrath, I mean this is exactly what you need to do to, I guess, just turn the story around a little bit.
07:42All right, be good on the final night.
07:45Shane McElrath does just that as he grabs the win in sprint race number one of SX2 and there is your champion Max Anstey on the GSM Yamaha team.
07:56A phenomenal season, a championship season, and that 99 turns to a 1 in 2026.
08:03Well, he made the math very easy for us with the second place.
08:07Man, that's so cool.
08:08He had his son out with him doing the lab in the opening ceremonies.
08:12He's been soaking this whole championship in.
08:15He's been enjoying traveling the world with his family, and he's won himself another championship.
08:22This is one of the feel good stories of the year.
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