Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1335637
IIIMY OWN RACE: 2 COOPER WEBB 3RD 450SX "I actually nailed my start in the main event, but I got shuffled back in the first few turns," said last week's win- ner Cooper Webb. "The leaders just got out front and they rode awesome. I kind of got buried in fi h, and it was hard to make passes tonight, you had to be pa ent and wait for some mistakes. I dug deep, AC [Adam Cian- ciarulo] and I had a good ba le at the end, and I was able to get third place, but you can't give Ken [Roczen] and Eli [Tomac] that kind of track posi on, and we saw what they did tonight." 30 JO SHIMODA 3RD 250SX EAST No one ever "lucks" into ge ng on a podium in a Supercross, but Jo Shimoda thinks he did. The Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider inherited third place a er Craig and Lawrence tangled on the final lap. "This wasn't really how I wanted to earn my first podium, but I'm s ll thankful we made it here," said Shimoda. "I eventually want to earn it on my own and prove to my- self that I am capable of being up here with these guys. I have a lot of posi- ves to take away from this and hope to be in the running for the podium on Tuesday." SUPERCROSS MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 / JANUARY 30, 2021 LUCAS OIL STADIUM / INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA P50 battle for the lead as Cianciarulo, Roczen and Tomac pulled away from the rest of the pack. For the next eight laps, Cian- ciarulo, who is seeking his first career AMA Supercross victory, was riding well, but the pace was, as Tomac described it afterward, "hot" with still a lot of racing left. Eventually, the blistering pace got to Cianciarulo who saw both Roc- zen and Tomac get around him in succession; a lap later he also fell. "I wasn't 100 percent content on my riding performance to- day," said Cianciarulo. "I felt like I struggled to find a flow." And then there were two. By the halfway point, Roczen looked in control but gave Tomac a second chance at the win when the Honda rider got out of shape and went off the track. After taking the long way around a turn, he 450SX Roczen came into Indy 1 with a bit of an axe to grind after seeing a seemingly sure win slip away on the last lap by a slower rider last week in Houston and getting penalized four points for a racing infraction that he didn't feel was warranted a week before. As a result, Roczen came out swinging in the evening program at Indy, winning his heat after passing Zach Osborne, who is never easy to get around, and pulling away. In the main event, Roczen started off third behind leader Tomac, who nailed the holeshot (a rarity for him), and Adam Cianciarulo. With two the two Kawasakis ahead of him, Roczen, on the HRC Honda, had his work cut out for him but caught a break when Tomac, who was beginning to inch away, went down momentarily when he dropped his front wheel into a whoop and washed out. This set the stage for an intense three-way Roczen had to fight his way around both Monster Energy Kawasaki factory riders, including early leader Adam Cianciarulo (9).