Cycle News

VOLUME 56 ISSUE 30 JULY 30, 2019 P61 didn't need all of it. He caught Roczen with three laps left to go, and then tried to dive under the Honda rider in the sharp left at the top of Horsepower Hill, only to fall. But he didn't panic. Tomac remounted about five sec- onds behind Roczen, and one lap later, he was again on Roczen's tail in the same section. He then made the pass for the lead through the shaded section before the finish line. The two made contact with Roczen going off the track momentarily. From there, Tomac went on to win over Roczen, Webb, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Jason Anderson and BAGGETT MISSES OUT Rocky Mountain ATV-MC KTM's Blake Baggett bowed out of compe- tition at Washougal with a mystery illness. He won a moto going away earlier this year at High Point, but according to his team, his condition has been getting gradually worse since the super-hot Florida National, where the heat index was over 115 degrees. Besides that runaway moto win at High Point, Baggett has only managed to finish inside the top five one time this year, and that came in the first moto at RedBud. "The sport seems to elevate every year and for us athletes we just want to be our best and try and win," Baggett said. "Over the past few seasons, I have won indoors and out, so I know what my body is supposed to feel like. I'm not one to ever throw in the towel even on a race, but after last weekend and through this week, I was best advised by my doctors and team that it was time to sit one out until we figure out this virus I got going on." TOUGH ONE FOR PLESSINGER Monster Energy Yamaha's Aaron Plessinger had a clutch issue during the sighting lap in the first moto, and he didn't start the moto. If that wasn't bad enough, he had last gate pick for moto two. He was 19th after the first lap and ended up 13th in the moto. "It was a struggle all day," Plessinger said. "I didn't really have that great of a practice time, was struggling with the whole bike, pretty much. I went out for the first moto [and] went for the sight lap, and my clutch started slipping really bad. We tried to fix it, but then the clutch started not to work at all, so I didn't make the first moto. Went out for the second moto and had the 40th gate pick and got a really bad start. I just tried to charge as hard as I could. It was a really tough day." LAWRENCE INJURED Geico Honda's Hunter Lawrence broke his collarbone before the Washougal MX National and an- nounced on social media before the weekend that he was going to be out for a while: "Hey guys, so a freak accident happened yesterday while I was out training. We had something break in the engine at the top of a jump-up-ramp and locked up, by the time I let go of the handlebars, I was already lawn-darting into the ground. My team pulled apart the engine ASAP, and what we found was a freak accident. What part broke, we normally run for 100 hours, and this part only had three hours on it! So it wasn't my team's fault. As of now, we are unsure of the time frame I am out…most likely surgery is required. So sorry guys, I'm speechless." ANDERSON PENALIZED In the second 450MX moto, Jason Anderson lost his patience when try- ing to pass Joey Savatgy for third just a handful of laps into the race. Dur- ing a pass attempt, Anderson was forced off the outside of the track by Savatgy. Rather than letting off the gas and trying to make a pass at a later time, Anderson stayed on the gas and completed the pass going into the next turn while technically being off the track. Anderson was running fifth on the last lap but was penalized two spots for his off-track pass on Savatgy, ultimately landing Briefly...

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