Cycle News

SUPERCROSS ROUND 2 / JANUARY 12, 2019 STATE FARM STADIUM / GLENDALE, ARIZONA P50 MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS up much of a fight. Honestly, second this week is so good compared to how last weekend went. I was just happy to be up here and battling again. I was happy to get on the podium, even top five." Baggett rode away with his first victory in his fifth year in the 450SX class, and he did it in style. "[It feels good] just to be able to feel good enough to run be- hind Jason [Anderson], and I've had weekends when I could run of a pass around the outside down the start straight to take the lead from Anderson, after which Anderson seemed to let him go. "I was trying my best," Ander- son said. "I felt like I was riding good, but I felt Blake right there and didn't feel like I had the speed like I was putting down the first laps when I got into the lead. Sometimes you have the pace to get a comfortable gap but I wasn't gapping Blake. He got up on me and I didn't put trying to get on the podium." Roczen got up in fourth, eventually passed Musquin for third, where he would finish, but he was quite a ways behind the lead duo. At this point, Anderson seemed to be checking out, but one rider, Baggett, managed to keep him in sight. As the laps wound down, Baggett actually caught up and began applying some serious pressure on the Husqvarna rider, eventually making a power-move iii My Own Race: 12 SHANE MCELRATH 3RD 250SX Shane McElrath seemed unsatisfied with his third-place finish in Arizona. "I'm usually pretty good at this hard-packed stuff, but today Adam [Cian- ciarulo] just, he was on it," McElrath said. "I felt good on the bike all day, it's just the track was really intense; it was really fast, and one little mistake in one of these long rhythms, and I couldn't really get it back. So, I'm a little bummed just in some of the choices I made, but the main thing is, I'm healthy. I'm happy to be up here, but we need to be a little better if we want this number-one plate." 61 GARRETT MARCHBANKS 9TH 250SX Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's supercross rookie Garrett March- banks is still learning, and this week it was about the very long start straight on the floor of State Farm Stadium. "That was a much different start com- pared to the first race, which is something I'll be learning this year," March- banks said. "Starts are very important with how quick the guys out front can get away in the first few laps. We'll be working on starts and continue to build so we can keep racing inside the top 10." 31 RJ HAMPSHIRE 4TH 250SX WEST For the second week in a row RJ Hampshire (Geico Honda) just missed making the 250SX West podium. "Felt good all day," said Hampshire. "My speed was better this weekend, just my starts were terrible! It's hard to be bummed about another fourth because of how bad my start was, but I was so close to a podium. That's the goal every weekend and we've been just off. I'm really happy with how I feel on my bike right now."

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