Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOLUME 56 ISSUE 22 JUNE 4, 2019 P61 Red Bull repeater banners gave no real re-entry point in the area, and how Cianciarulo appeared to stay off the gas for a couple of seconds after he re-entered the track, giving Cooper a bigger lead than he had when Ciancia- rulo went off the track. The AMA rulebook states that if a racer goes off the track, they must get off the throttle (which Cianciarulo appeared to do), find the closest, safest place to re-enter the track (which Cianciarulo seemed to do), and not gain an advantage (which appeared he did not). "I felt I did everything right. I told the guys in there, I said I'd do the same exact thing again. I looked up, and there was no break in the banners. Going up a hill like that, trying to 50/50 those banners that are super staked in: One, I'm going to drag them all of the track, which is going to cause a hazard for other riders; Two, I stand a chance of washing the front end and getting one of those wooden stakes somewhere hurting me somehow. So, I was looking for a break in the banners, and there was nothing. So I hit the banners straight on as slow as I possibly could. Obviously, Justin [Cooper] was there. I think I was six-tenths behind him when I went off the track. Then I was 1.7 after that. So, obviously, he went by me. I rolled up the face of the jump. I rolled all the way down. Check the RPMs in the data. The bike was basically off. So I felt like I did everything I could. There's been plenty of times where I made the wrong decision in those sce- narios, but in that case, I stand by exactly what I did." Briefly... 250MX Only 20 minutes before the first moto of the day, 250MX moto one, it was sunny in Lakewood, Colorado, but by the time the rac- ers charged up the start hill, the sky had already turned ominous. Rookie Ty Masterpool (Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha) got the holeshot but was swallowed up in the opening lap by Geico Honda's RJ Hampshire, who took the lead, along with Cianciarulo and Masterpool's teammate Justin Cooper. Hamp- shire led for a few laps, but Coo- per was on the move and went around Cianciarulo, then Hamp- shire, and began to pull away out front. Cianciarulo, however, moved into second soon after the rain be- gan to fall and by around halfway, he began eating into Cooper's lead. Just as he got Cooper's lead under two seconds, with about six minutes left to go on the clock, the AMA threw the red flag and checkered flag simultaneously due to lightning in the area. For Cooper, it was his third mo- to-one victory in as many rounds this year. Cianciarulo was second, just in front of Dylan Ferrandis and Michael Mosiman (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna). Hampshire ended up fifth just in front of Masterpool, Chase Sexton (Geico Honda), Shane McElrath (TLD/Red Bull KTM), Alex Martin (JGR/Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing) and Hunter Lawrence (Geico Honda). Determined to get his first-ever AMA National overall victory, Coo- per grabbed the holeshot to start the dry second moto, but Ciancia-