SUPERCROSS
MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 8 / FEBRUARY 23, 2019
FORD FIELD / DETROIT, MICHIGAN
P60
250SX East
In the 250SX East class, Austin For-
kner somehow managed to look even
better than he did in his first two wins
of the season, absolutely dominating
all three main events to become the
first racer to sweep a Triple Crown
event. He was on another level as he
absolutely dominated all three main
events and ended up winning the over-
all with a 1-1-1 score over TLD/Red Bull
KTM's Jordon Smith (2-2-4) and Geico
Honda's Chase Sexton (4-4-2), while
Justin Cooper (Monster Energy/Yama-
lube/Star Racing Yamaha) finished off
the podium for his first time this year in
fourth overall with a 3-5-3 score. For-
kner's teammate Martin Davalos was
fifth with a 5-7-5 night.
Forkner hasn't started worse than
second place all year.
"It's frustrating," said Forkner's clos-
est championship rival, Smith. "Every
time you come off the gate, he's right
there [up front], and it's frustrating.
Tonight, I got really good starts, but
he was just riding really good, and I
was trying to manage a little bit with
my wrist, but he was still riding really
good. I think he only made one real
mistake all night, when he came up
short on the triple on the first lap of the
main event, so, I think it's just going to
be about getting good starts and trying
to keep pressure on him, and getting
in the battle with him in the early parts
of the race. He's doing a really good
job of kind of breaking away early and
not having too much pressure, so I
think that's the biggest thing, just get-
ting off with him and trying to create
some pressure and battle with him."
Forkner now leads the title by 13
over Smith, with Cooper two points far-
ther back, and Sexton another three back,
but Forkner will face a new challenge in At-
lanta, where we return to a standard format
with a single main event in each class, but
in the 250cc class we will see the first East/
West Shootout of the year, with the East and
Austin Forkner
(24) has so far
taken the 250SX
East class by
storm.
