CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 56 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 15, 2019 P47
"I didn't think of him diving in
there like that; I didn't hear him
either. I was committed to the
inside rut [and] saw a white bike
come in there and went down.
I tried to get up as quick as
possible; luckily my bike was
still running. After that I was just
ally the second time in a mat-
ter of a few laps that Anderson
made contact with someone in
that corner, the first being his
pass on Marvin Musquin for
second).
"We were racing, you know,"
Roczen said of Anderson's pass.
BARCIA FLIP-FLOP
Justin Barcia went from the highs
of winning Anaheim 1 to the lows of
finishing sixth in Arizona. "It was a
really difficult day for me," Barcia said.
"The track was really high speed.
It had some really technical rhythm
sections. For some reason, I could
never get a good flow on it. It was a
little bit frustrating I would say, but I
felt like every time I went on the track I
kind of got better and better and made
some really good bike changes. I wish
I could have gotten more comfort-
able right off the bat. I just never felt
comfortable today. It was definitely a
frustrating day compared to my win
last weekend. "In general, it wasn't
a good day for the factory Yamaha
team, with teammate Aaron Plessinger
finishing 11th. Team Manager Jim Perry
said, "[It was] a disappointing day
in Phoenix for the boys in blue. We
struggled from the time we unloaded
to the time we loaded. Both guys just
were not comfortable on the track—a
tricky rhythm section and slick, dry
dirt. Seemed like they were making
progress throughout the day, and by
the main event they were the best all
day, but not good enough to challenge
for a podium finish."
HILL ON TOP
Justin Hill (JGR/Yoshimura Suzuki
Factor Racing) actually topped the
leaderboard in qualifying at State
Farm Stadium, about two tenths of a
second in front of Cooper Webb (Red
Bull KTM), who edged Eli Tomac for
second by 0.003 of a second. In the
main event, he came through lap one
in last place and caught up as high as
ninth around the halfway point before
fading to 13th at the finish.
Briefly...
