VOLUME 58 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 19, 2021 P53
Eighteen-year-old Jo Shimoda
(Monster Energy/Pro Circuit
Kawasaki) was the top finishing
"youngster" in fourth, followed by
Hampshire and Lawrence.
IIIMY OWN RACE:
what we learned last year is that you
have to be consistent every race to be
in the hunt at the end."
It wasn't a great start to the season for
a number of riders who were expected
to do well, such as defending champ
Eli Tomac (1) and Chase Sexton (23).
Tomac got off the gate about mid-
pack and had a couple of run-ins
with another rider (Vince Friese) and
was already running in 16th place by
the fourth lap. He ran 13th and 14th
for much of the race, stuck behind
Dean Wilson, and then got passed
by Wilson's teammate Zach Osborne
towards the end of the race. Tomac,
who was fourth in his heat and
qualified second in the afternoon),
ended up 13th. Tomac, however,
doesn't have a good track record
when it comes to Supercross openers,
so his fans probably shouldn't panic
just yet. Many were expecting good
things out of 450SX rookie Sexton,
especially when he came out of the
afternoon qualifiers as the top rider.
After finishing fourth in his heat race,
the two-time 250SX East Champion
crashed on the second lap after
slamming into Martin Davalos' downed
bike. Sexton crashed again later on
and finished a lap down in 14th.
Zach Osborne, who looked brilliant in
winning the second heat race earlier in
the evening, went down in the first turn
in the main. He was dead last after the
first lap, but Osborne got up and charged
hard the rest of the way for 10th.
38 AUSTIN FORKNER
2ND 250SX EAST
"It's amazing how great I feel for get-
ng second," said Aus n Forkner. "I
overcame a lot this past year with my
injury and le ng a championship slip
away. It was exci ng to come back to
a brand-new bike and put in the work
off the bike. My start wasn't what I
was hoping for, but my goal was a po-
dium. To work my way up to second,
I had to make some solid passes and
ride consistently, so all in all, I'm re-
ally happy with how the race went."
64 COLT NICHOLS
3RD 250SX EAST
"I can't really complain about a third
place," Colt Nichols said. "I just have
to get out of the gate a li le bet-
ter. I had really good speed but just
struggled to pass some guys. The track
was kind of one-lined and you were
running into each other. So that made
it difficult. It was literally a constant
ba le. At one point me and [Aus n]
Forkner were going at it really hard.
Then he was able to get by RJ [Hamp-
shire] pre y early and got a gap. I was
kind of stuck ba ling RJ there for a
li le bit. Then Je [Lawrence] caught
up to me; it was just a freight train
there for a minute."
