Canard’s teammate, Justin Barcia, made his premier class debut, finding himself in the number-3 position until he suffered a crash on Lap 15. Barcia, who won the Monster Energy Cup in October, finished seventh.

“Overall my first race went pretty well; I won my heat race, which was cool, and got a good start in the main,” said Barcia. “I was in third behind Trey most of the race until I accidently hit neutral causing me to crash, but I was able to get up and finish in seventh.”

Two-time defending Monster Energy Supercross Champion Ryan Villopoto finished a disappointing 16th, crashing three times in the Main Event. However, he is ready to capitalize on his lackluster performance this weekend in Phoenix.

“We had a really good week of testing heading into Chase Field,” said Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Villopoto. “Last week was not what we were looking for, but we’ll come into Phoenix fresh and ready to finish where we belong. I’ve never won a 450SX main in Phoenix, so we plan to change that on Saturday.”

Villopoto’s teammate Jake Weimer finished fifth overall, and after a finishing in the top five at eighth races in 2012, he is ready to make his approach to the podium in 2013.

“We had a solid weekend to build from in Anaheim,” said Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Weimer. “The bike was awesome, so we’re just looking to improve on last week’s fifth place. I feel that the podium is achievable and we were up there last year in Phoenix, so we plan to be there again this weekend.”

Yohsimura Suzuki’s James Stewart demonstrated tremendous discipline throughout the evening’s racing. After tweaking his knee and opting out of the opening ceremonies to rest, Stewart put in a smart ride in his eight-lap heat race. The talented rider got a great start on his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 and led the first half of the race before finishing third. In the 20-lap Main Event, Stewart again played it safe and simply kept it on two wheels. As a result, the two-time 450SX Class Supercross Champion finished well within the top 10 and was happy to pick up as many points as possible in just the first race of a long, 17-round series.

“Things started out pretty good in Anaheim,” said Stewart. “We were fastest in practice and top qualifier. We had some really good speed and the Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 was working great all day. Then I had a little mishap in practice; I didn’t fall over, I just caught my knee wrong. That turned my night around right there. Honestly up until then I felt like we had a win in us. We finished eighth, but with the pain and being able to finish in the top 10, I feel like I won the race. The knee is a bit banged up, but we’re going to Phoenix and hopefully get things rolling from there. The points are wide open right now, the competition finished all over the board, so even though we had an off night, we’re right there in points.”

Kevin Windham began his 18th professional season with a 10th-place result in the 450SX Class. Windham had qualified sixth in his Heat race.

"My goal was to ride hard but ride smart at the same time,” said Windham. “I need to build my confidence back up. Obviously riding safe isn't going to translate to wins and I know I'll need to turn it up a notch, but tonight was really about keeping it on two wheels. There was a lot of carnage out there with guys going for broke. I didn't think it was time for me to push it that hard.”