VOLUME 57 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 7, 2020 P63
fourth place, which was by far his best-
ever result at the opener. He admitted
at the Friday press conference that his
best result at A1 was 14th. Behind him
came Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
2018 champ Jason Anderson, Honda
HRC's Ken Roczen, Monster Energy
Kawasaki's Eli Tomac, and Honda
HRC's Justin Brayton.
250SX west
Number-one plate holder Ferrandis
qualified at the top of the field for the
season opener and won his heat race
as well, but Austin Forkner (Monster
Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki), who
was making his racing debut since in-
juring his knee in last year's SX series,
his wrists badly enough that the
team nearly had him sit the race
out altogether.
NO TROPHY FOR YOU
After the 250SX main event, the
three riders on the podium—Aus-
tin Forkner (yet to be penalized),
winner Justin Cooper and Dylan
Ferrandis—all seemed confused
when they weren't handed race
trophies or champagne, which
were misplaced. Instead, For-
kner held up three fingers, and
Cooper held up one finger, while
Ferrandis just looked around
puzzled as to why they had no
trophies. Lacking champagne,
Cooper attempted to shake a
can of Monster Energy Drink to
celebrate his first-ever SX win.
HEEL
Joey Savatgy (JGR/Yoshimura
Suzuki Factory Racing) might
miss the entire Supercross se-
ries after suffering a compound
fracture of his heel at the AUS-X
Open. The most optimistic
timeline for his return is about
12 weeks. Jimmy Decotis and
Freddy Noren are making up the
team's 450SX race effort.
NEW FACES AT
YAMAHA
Monster Energy Yamaha brought
on some new technicians for
2020, and they started over com-
pletely with development on both
Justin Barcia's and Aaron Pless-
inger's YZ450Fs. The new engine
guy is Jon Primo, who worked at
the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit
Kawasaki team for about eight
years before going to Yamaha.
The new chassis guy is Sergio
Avanto, who actually worked for
the Yamaha factory team over 15
years ago. Avanto is a mechanical
engineer and worked with Yamaha
during the years when Jeremy Mc-
Grath, David Vuillemin, Jimmy But-
ton and Timmy Ferry were racing
there, then he went to Kawasaki
throughout James Stewart's time
on green machines.
FIRST DECADES
Former 125cc SX Champion
Damon Bradshaw noted that
Yamaha has won the first
Supercross of every decade:
Marty Tripes, Los Angeles 1972;
Mike Bell, Seattle, 1980; Damon
Bradshaw, Anaheim, 1990; Jer-
emy McGrath 2000 and 2010;
and Justin Barcia 2020.
WILSON BACK AT IT
Dean Wilson had a positive
return to racing after suffering
a dislocated hip at the Monster
Energy Cup in October. Wilson
only had a couple weeks on his
new Rockstar Energy Husqvarna
factory bike before Anaheim 1,
but he still qualified a respect-
able ninth in the 450SX class.
Unfortunately for him, Wilson
collided with another rider in the
first turn of the main event and
suddenly found himself in 21st
place. He worked his way up to
13th at the finish.
Briefly...
Justin Cooper
captured his first
career win in the
250SX class, and he
did it right where he
wanted to do it—at
Anaheim 1.
