Red Bull/KTM's Marvin Musquin (Photo: Hoppenworld.com)

Beyond these three, the East Region was also an opportunity for Blake Baggett and Justin Bogle to show some competitiveness. Baggett came close to winning a few times, while Bogle hovered around the podium more often than not. Unfortunately, both riders had trouble with consistency, with Baggett forcing himself to fight from the back of the field on more than one occasion following a poor start, while Bogle would see a potential breakthrough performance go to waste with a costly mistake. With just one race to lay it all on the line, these two riders should be considered wild cards.

Out West, it was really a matter of Tomac vs. Dean Wilson. The pair won all but two races and really set the tone in the championship. Wilson’s incident with Tomac in Seattle left him with the lingering effects of a dislocated shoulder, which he didn’t help by crashing hard one week ago. It’s difficult to say if Wilson will be at his best on Saturday, which will only hurt his chances at a Shootout win.

The other victories were taken by Cole Seely and Ryan Sipes, but neither rider has been as consistent a threat as they would have liked. However, if everything falls into place out of the gate, they could be threats. After all, Sipes is the defending Lites Shootout Champion.

Perhaps the strongest rider in the entire Lites division not to claim a win this season is Marvin Musquin. The Frenchman has really had an impressive rookie campaign during his first full season of Supercross competition, proving that his back-to-back world motocross titles were no fluke. In Seattle, Musquin was perhaps the fastest rider in the stadium in either class. Unfortunately, a slow start hurt his chances at a win.

The Lites Shootout can be the kind of race where the racing gods smile upon a deserving rider, and given the way things have gone this season, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I think it could be Musquin’s night. It’s Vegas and gambling is a way of life. I think the Frenchman is determined to prove to the world he has what it takes to achieve success on U.S. soil.

There’s only one way to find out how it will all unfold on Saturday, by tuning in live on SPEED, beginning at 10:30 p.m.