Image: Adam Spence.

Special American guest Cooper Webb (Star Racing Yamaha) has won the second night of the AUS-X Open at Sydney’s Allphones Arena, holding off all the pressure in the world put upon him by Australia’s international hero Chad Reed (Yamaha).

The pair crossed the line separated by just 0.268s after 20 gruelling laps, as the raced beam live on free-to-air television via 7mate across the nation.

The race started with excitement as Reed was toward the rear of the pack due to a reported gate-drop malfunction, but things really heated up when then leader Dan Reardon (CDR Yamaha) went down on lap 13 in the first corner.

Reed went down with him and Webb was caught up in it as well, allowing initial leader Lawson Bopping (DPH Peter Stevens Yamaha) to sneak back through for another turn at the front.

But Webb got going quickly and he moved into the lead on that same lap, with Reed remounting in third. From there Reed went by Bopping on lap 14 and quickly set after Webb.

A gritty attack on the final lap was close, but not close enough, and it was Webb who took the chequered flag first. With his night two win, being crowned AUS-X Open champion was a solid way for Webb to wrap up a gruelling end to 2015, while Reed’s 2016 preparations continue to build in the lead-up to Anaheim 1.

“I’m stoked to be crowned the AUS-X Open champion in Sydney, It was a crazy race to say the least!” Webb said. “I knew it was going be a tough race to win, you know Chad’s the fastest guy here and I knew he was going to be extremely hard to beat but I just put my head down and tried to be smart and I held him off, barely.”

Reed said: “Win or lose it’s a win for me this weekend and thanks so much to the fans out here for making the AUS-X Open such an awesome event. This event is a real boost for supercross in Australia and I just want to thank Ricky and Cooper for coming out and most importantly the fans who came down to Sydney or watched the broadcast on 7mate, it’s been an awesome weekend back home.”

Behind them was Bopping, Daniel McCoy (SFC Yamaha), Reardon, Cheyne Boyd (Park4MX Yamaha), Robbie Marshall (Honda), Aaron Tanti (Yamaha), Jono Krusic (Yamaha) and Josh Spanos (Honda).

Image: Adam Spence.

A frantic SX2 final belonged to Jimmy Decotis (Penrite Honda), making it back-to-back wins at AUS-X Open by a comfortable five-second margin over Penrite Honda Wilson MX teammates Jackson Richardson and Geran Stapleton.

Richardson went down early on while in a podium placing, but eventually clawed his way back to the runner-up in an aggressive pass by Stapleton in the final turn on the final lap.

Making it a 1-2-3-4 for Honda was CRF Honda Racing’s Joel Wightman in fourth, while Tomas Ravenhorst completed the top five. Completing the top 10 was Jesse Madden (Raceline Pirelli Suzuki), Jake Vella (Yamaha), Lewis Woods (Davey Motorsports KTM), Jack Simpson (Davey Motorsports KTM), who also went down during the main, and Jake Williams (Wilson MX Penrite Honda).

Once again Reed and the GOAT, Ricky Carmichael, put on a spectacular show for the fans in their head-to-head showdown. With Carmichael on the inside today, he exited the first turn in front and withstood the immense pressure of Reed over two and a half laps.

But Reed eventually blitzed by through the whoops on the final lap. An attempt by RC to counter in the final turn was close, however Reed got the run and lit the candles – the duo once again receiving loud applause by the appreciative crowd on hand.

Carmichael’s speed was once again the talk of the pit, lapping amongst the SX1 regulars in timed practice and qualifying sessions. He was also in the single-lap Superpole shootout, slotting into fourth with a 30.788s lap (Reed’s pole was 29.995s) and even one place ahead of Webb (30.790s).

“It was an exciting weekend and you couldn’t have asked it to turn out any better than the way it did, especially considering the circumstances and the whirlwind the AUS-X Open went through with people dropping out at the last minute, so it was a really fantastic event,” said Carmichael. “The fans were fabulous and personally they gave me an incredible welcoming and I’m thankful for the opportunity.”

The Monster Energy FMX Best Trick contest was once again won by Australian fan favourite Jackson Strong, this time with a front-flip (without the one-hander today) to beat out Frenchman Tom Pages’ alley-oop flair and Japanese ace Taka Higashino’s rock solid flip.

2015 AUS-X Open Day 2
Allphones Arena – Sydney, NSW

SX2 non-seeded practice results:
1. Jake VELLA 32.963s
2. Kyle WEBSTER 33.431s
3. Luke WILSON 33.876s
4. Brock McLEARY 34.431s
5. Brody CASSIDY 35.581s
6. Jamie HARVEY 36.816s
7. Boyd HOCKING 37.685s
8. Jake WILLIAMS 39.884s

SX2 seeded practice results:
1. Jimmy DECOTIS 31.719s
2. Jackson RICHARDSON 32.032s
3. Geran STAPLETON 32.527s
4. Lewis WOODS 32.651s
5. Tomas RAVENHORST 33.359s
6. Jack SIMPSON 33.406s
7. Jesse MADDEN 33.738s
8. Joel WIGHTMAN 35.266s

SX1 non-seeded practice results:
1. Kale MAKEHAM 31.620s
2. Aaron TANTI 34.114s
3. Robbie MARSHALL 34.180s
4. Cheyne BOYD 35.174s
5. Jono KRUSIC 35.957s
6. Josh SPANOS 36.187s

SX1 seeded practice results:
1. Cooper WEBB 30.427s
2. Lawson BOPPING 30.595s
3. Daniel REARDON 30.704s
4. Ricky CARMICHAEL 30.887s
5. Gavin FAITH 30.894s
6. Chad REED 31.084s
7. Daniel McCOY 31.559s
8. Kade MOSIG 32.122s

SX2 non-seeded qualifying results:
1. Tomas RAVENHORST 32.119s
2. Luke WILSON 32.213s
3. Kyle WEBSTER 32.449s
4. Jake VELLA 32.995s
5. Brock McLEARY 33.526s
6. Brody CASSIDY 34.584s
7. Boyd HOCKING 34.721s
8. Jamie HARVEY 34.964s
9. Jake WILLIAMS 35.823s

SX2 seeded qualifying results:
1. Jimmy DECOTIS 30.361s
2. Jackson RICHARDSON 30.850s
3. Geran STAPLETON 31.536s
4. Lewis WOODS 31.936s
5. Jack SIMPSON 32.426s
6. Joel WIGHTMAN 32.464s
7. Jesse MADDEN 32.707s

SX1 non-seeded qualifying results:
1. Kale MAKEHAM 31.570s
2. Cheyne BOYD 31.692s
3. Robbie MARSHALL 32.075s
4. Aaron TANTI 32.784s
5. Josh SPANOS 34.929s
6. Jono KRUSIC 35.194s

SX1 seeded qualifying results:
1. Chad REED 29.979s
2. Gavin FAITH 30.093s
3. Lawson BOPPING 30.157s
4. Daniel REARDON 30.328s
5. Ricky CARMICHAEL 30.498s
6. Cooper WEBB 30.534s
7. Daniel McCOY 30.665s
8. Kade MOSIG 30.957s

SX2 heat one results:
1. Jackson RICHARDSON
2. Lewis WOODS
3. Kyle WEBSTER
4. Luke WILSON
5. Jesse MADDEN
6. Brock McLEARY
7. Boyd HOCKING
8. Jake WILLIAMS

SX2 heat two results:
1. Jimmy DECOTIS
2. Geran STAPLETON
3. Jack SIMPSON
4. Tomas RAVENHORST
5. Joel WIGHTMAN
6. Jake VELLA
7. Jamie HARVEY

SX1 heat one results:
1. Daniel REARDON
2. Gavin FAITH
3. Daniel McCOY
4. Robbie MARSHALL
5. Josh SPANOS

SX1 heat two results:
1. Chad REED
2. Cooper WEBB
3. Lawson BOPPING
4. Kade MOSIG
5. Cheyne BOYD
6. Jono KRUSIC
7. Aaron TANTI

SX2 semi one results:
1. Jesse MADDEN
2. Kyle WEBSTER
3. Jake WILLIAMS
4. Brock McLEARY
5. Boyd HOCKING

SX2 semi two results:
1. Jack SIMPSON
2. Jake VELLA
3. Joel WIGHTMAN
4. Tomas RAVENHORST
5. Jamie HARVEY

SX1 semi one results:
1. Daniel McCOY
2. Robbie MARSHALL
3. Josh SPANOS

SX1 semi two results:
1. Lawson BOPPING
2. Kade MOSIG
3. Cheyne BOYD
4. Aaron TANTI
5. Jono KRUSIC

SX1 Superpole results:
1. Chad REED 29.995s
2. Daniel REARDON 30.134s
3. Lawson BOPPING 30.621s
4. Ricky CARMICHAEL 30.788s
5. Cooper WEBB 30.790s
6. Daniel McCOY 30.904s

SX2 LCQ results:
1. Luke WILSON
2. Tomas RAVENHORST
3. Jamie HARVEY
4. Boyd HOCKING
5. Brock McLEARY

SX2 final results:
1. Jimmy DECOTIS
2. Jackson RICHARDSON
3. Geran STAPLETON
4. Joel WIGHTMAN
5. Tomas RAVENHORST
6. Jesse MADDEN
7. Jake VELLA
8. Lewis WOODS
9. Jack SIMPSON
10. Jake WILLIAMS
11. Luke WILSON
12. Kyle WEBSTER

Star head-to-head results (Reed vs. Carmichael):
1. Chad REED
2. Ricky CARMICHAEL

FMX Best Trick results:
1. Jackson STRONG
2. Tom PAGES
3. Taka HIGASHINO
4. Rob ADELBERG
5. Ryan BROWN

SX1 final results:
1. Cooper WEBB
2. Chad REED
3. Lawson BOPPING
4. Daniel McCOY
5. Daniel REARDON
6. Cheyne BOYD
7. Robbie MARSHALL
8. Aaron TANTI
9. Jono KRUSIC
10 Josh SPANOS

Click here for detailed results