VOL. 55 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 28, 2018 P55
shire to take the lead, after which he put his head down and started
pulling away again.
Hampshire went down a few laps into the moto and got up
fourth, behind Plessinger, Sexton, and Colt Nichols, but Sexton
also went down a handful of laps after that, which moved Nichols
up to second and Hampshire up to third, where they would both
finish in the moto. Behind Hampshire came Ferrandis, Forkner,
Sexton, Cooper, Joey Savatgy, series runner-up Alex Martin, and
McElrath rounding out the racers on the lead lap.
Plessinger took the overall with his fifth 1-1 finish of the year while
Hampshire (4-3) was second overall and Sexton (2-6) was third.
"I'm super-excited! That was a perfect race," Plessinger said. "RJ
was riding really good, but I made the pass by him and Chase and
just tried to be smooth, and not fall, and that's what I did. It worked
out for me. They were catching me there for a little bit, and I was just
smooth and steady. They'd catch me and fall down and catch me
and fall down. It was a good race for me, that's all I can say." CN
FIGHTING FINISH
Just six points separated sixth
through eighth—Chase Sexton (287
points), Austin Forkner (284) and
Dylan Ferrandis (281)—in the 250MX
standings going into the final round.
After the Indiana race, all three rid-
ers held their ground, with Sexton
finishing out the year with 324 points,
Forkner 314 and Ferrandis 310.
TOP PRIVATEER
Kyle Cunningham might have been
passed by factory Yamaha rider
Cooper Webb in the final 450MX
standings at Indiana, but Cunning-
ham, riding a self-sponsored Suzuki
RM-Z450, still finished out the 2018
championship in 10
th
place as the top
privateer in the class.
REED RETURNS
After missing out on making the
Australian Motocross of Nations Team
for the upcoming RedBud Motocross
of Nations this October, Chad Reed
felt he had something to prove. And
when Chad Reed thinks people doubt
him, he has a tendency to make them
regret it. Reed got the opportunity to
test an AutoTrader/Yoshimura Fac-
tory Suzuki RM-Z450 and decided
to line up at the last national of the
year. The 36 year old hasn't raced
an outdoor national in over three
years. Reed nearly got the holeshot
in the first moto on his way to a solid
top-five finish in the mud. And he got
the holeshot in the second moto and
likely would've ended up in the top
five again if he didn't have trouble on
the first lap while running third. He
still grabbed eighth, just in front of
Tomac, and finished the day with a
5-8 for eighth overall on tiebreakers,
a single point away from fifth overall.
It sounds like JGR has an offer on
the table for an SX-only deal for Chad
Reed in 2019.
Briefly...
