California. "I've been helping
my fiancée take care of our little
one, Jake, and, yeah, that's
really about it. It's been so nice
just to spend a couple week-
ends at home with the family and
not have to worry about booking
flight or this and that. It's been
really good just kind of chilling
at the house and taking my mind
off racing for just a minute."
Already typecast as something
of a free spirit in the deathly seri-
ous American racing paddock,
Plessinger is an athlete who
looks for some sort of solace
from the rattling dynamo that is
professional racing.
"It is definitely tough to get
away," says the perennially laid
back Plessinger. "You just have
to find something that works for
you that kind of takes you away
from life. For me, I play some
Xbox and then I've got my gui-
tars. The guitars and the music
help me the most out of it. I try
to stay on top of it, but it's hard."
Whatever it is that Plessinger
did as a member of the Monster
Energy/Yamalube/Star Rac-
ing Yamaha team, it certainly
worked, as the Buckeye strung
together a season for the ages.
"I thought it was a phenom-
enal year," he smiles. "I mean I
couldn't have asked for more. I
won the supercross champion-
ship, got engaged, found out I
was having a little boy, won the
outdoor title and got to go race
[MX of Nations] against some
guys that I never raced before
and always looked up to, so it's
Plessinger says he
could not have asked
for anything more from
2018, but he probably
would have liked to
have won the MXoN.
Maybe next year.
VOL. 55 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 18, 2018 P115
