Cycle News

CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 56 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 29, 2019 P55 Wilson would be asked to fill in for Osborne, but having already locked down his own private sponsors, some of which conflict with the factory team's sponsors (such as his sponsor Toyota of Escondido and the factory team's Paradise Chevrolet sponsor), it wasn't that easy. As a result, Wilson stayed put. Now with Anderson out, Wilson was reportedly offered a tem- porary ride at the factory team, which he turned down. The latest rumor is that the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Team offered him a full-time factory ride for the rest of the year, but as of Oakland, Wilson has not accepted it. WILSON'S KNEE SCARE Speaking of Dean Wilson, he suffered a scare in the first turn of his heat race at Oakland, when he stabbed his left foot into the ground and immediately slowed, then pulled off the track. He has a history of knee injuries that have kept him out of quite a few champi- onships over his career, including last year (which led to him losing his official factory ride), and the foot-stab scared him that he had possibly hurt his knee yet again. However, once back to the pits, he felt better, then he went out and won the LCQ and finished sixth in the main event. So far this year, he's gone 4-8-5-6 and sits sixth in the points, within 14 points of the championship lead. He's also the top Husqvarna rider in the champion- ship. PLAYING IT SAFE? While Eli Tomac showed outright blistering speed in the past, he has yet to "show up" in 2019, except for the third moto last week, but it might be by design. In 2018, Tomac was winning round one when crashed out and recorded a DNF, and never really recovered for the championship. This year, he has yet to win a single, full 20-minute main event yet he finds himself third in points, only three points out of the championship lead. At this point last season, he had won two of the four races but was already 36 points out of the championship lead and could never recover. "We're in a good position, not only in the point standings but also for the sea- son," Tomac said. "I'm healthy and consistently finishing in the top five. I'll get back to work with the entire Monster Energy Kawasaki crew and continue to improve each week. It's all a process and I feel good about this season." Is Tomac simply waiting to kick it into gear? Five-time Super- cross Champion Ricky Carmichael always said the race for the cham- pionship doesn't start until Daytona. Perhaps that's when we'll see the real Tomac. STREAK BROKEN Geico Honda's RJ Hampshire came into the Oakland Supercross with six- straight fourth-place finishes, dating back to last year. He finished fourth in the first three rounds of the 2018 250SX Eastern Regional Supercross Series (before suffering a massive crash and DNF in qualifying at Day- tona) then finished fourth in the first three rounds of the 250SX Western Regional Supercross Series this year, but he crashed multiple times in the Oakland main event and ended up an unlucky 13th. PLESSINGER'S BLIND SPOT Aaron Plessinger (Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing) was battling for a top-five finish around a quarter of the way through the 450SX main event when he went down over the wall jump, leaving his bike lying in the landing zone. He frantically tried to get the flagger to motion to the oncoming racers to go around his motorcycle (since the racers couldn't see it) but in the end, it was to no avail. Plessinger's bike was landed on multiple times and he scored a DNF. "I got a good start but then stalled it on the wall jump," Plessinger said. "I had to jump off, then someone landed on my bike and bent it all up. I had to pull in twice to straighten it out." BARCIA'S TAILBONE Justin Barcia had a big, scary crash a week before Oakland at Anaheim 2, but luckily (it could've been a lot worse) for him, his longest-lasting injury from the crash was a badly bruised tailbone. It made his day much more painful than it could've been, but he still managed to salvage a seventh-place finish and remain just 11 points out of the points lead after four races. "Wow. What a day," he said. "I had to be really mentally tough. I rode through a lot of pain, but made the best of it. Coming in I knew it would be difficult, but I was pretty optimistic about what I could handle. It was a crazy race for me. It was a difficult track, pretty rough, and I just had to push through the pain. It could have been a lot worse. After last weekend's crash, I thought I wasn't going to be able to race but I salvaged some points tonight." Briefly...

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