We knew the 2015 season would be different in a lot of ways with four-time champion Ryan Villopoto headed to MXGP, plus the suspension of James Stewart, and so far, Anaheim 1 have been largely unpredictable when it comes to selecting the main event winners.

Sure, we knew Kenny Roczen and Eli Tomac would be contenders in 450SX and they’ve split the wins so far to prove that, but the sheer depth in the field this year has been the major talking point for many. In fact, just making the 22-rider main event in a huge achievement.

Roczen has established himself as the title favourite at the early stage (and it is early!), especially since Tomac crashed at A1 and could only work his way back to a 20th place finish (now 21 points off Ken). If he’s to claw his way back into the title race, he better start up a win streak right now and minimise any mistakes from this point.

On the podium at A1 with Roczen was rookie Jason Anderson (Husqvarna’s first for 39 years) and Trey Canard, who many also believe will battle it out with Roczen and Tomac for the number one plate come Las Vegas. And at Phoenix, of course it was Ryan Dungey who stole the final podium placing from Weston Peick in the closing laps.

Image: Simon Cudby.

Aside from Roczen so far, nobody has shown race-winning consistency, but like I said, it is still early in the piece with 15 rounds remaining. Dungey, however, has been the second most consistent with 4-3 results and the points reflect that as he’s second overall. Consistency, combined with race wins when you can, will be the determining factor in the end.

Anderson has been particularly impressive with his debut podium, and although sixth on paper at round two wasn’t as good, he did fight his way through the pack to get that result. So he’s currently third in the points and could win races before the year’s out. What will be interesting to see is how he handles such a long season in the stadiums.

Canard looked really solid at Anaheim and again at Phoenix, but things didn’t go his way and he ended up eighth. And that’s the way it’s going to be all year long – things don’t go to plan in the early laps and riders will be battling to salvage top 10s positions and the points that go with it.

We mentioned it last week in Moto 360, that times have been tough for the Australian contingent so far. Chad Reed will be the first to tell you that a pair of 10th places weren’t in his plans, which has him in a three-way tie for ninth in the standings with Broc Tickle and Jake Weimer (just three points back from Tomac).

Image: Simon Cudby.

Brett Metcalfe has been impressive considering the field he’s in and that the last time he raced supercross in the US was in 2012. After finishing 17th at Anaheim and 16th at Phoenix, he’s setting the platform for some solid results and he’s getting a fair amount of television airtime in the process via the semis, etc.

Australian domestic regulars haven’t had it so easy, with Matt Moss yet to make a main event in contrast to his unreal performances from one year ago. It will be interesting when we get a chance to speak to him and find out just how much more difficult it is this year compared to last. I do think though that he will make a main before his time’s up following the first six races.

At least Moss is getting to compete though, because so far, the factory Kawasaki team of Adam Monea and Jake Moss haven’t had the chance to race at all through injuries, but the good news is that Monea yesterday confirmed he will debut this weekend at Anaheim 2. As for Jake, fingers crossed he’s fit for the MX Nationals.

I haven’t mentioned the 250SX class at all in this month’s US Report, but it too has been full of action with a heap of new faces rising to the top of the leaderboard. Keep and eye out for Aussie Jackson Richardson and, as of A3, Luke Wilson in the mix and we’ll follow their progress along the way as well.