SUPERCROSS
MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 8 / FEBRUARY 20, 2021
CAMPING WORLD STADIUM / ORL ANDO, FLORIDA
P58
It was another disappointing
night for defending champ
Eli Tomac. Back-to-back
titles seem unlikely at this
point as we head into the
second half of the season.
BROWN OUT
TLD/Red Bull/GasGas Team rider
Pierce Brown was originally slated to
line up for the opening round of the
250SX Western Regional Champion-
ship, but ultimately made the decision
to push back his debut as he contin-
ues to log more time on the bike fol-
lowing ACL surgery last September.
SMITH CRASHES OUT
Jordon Smith, fresh off a wrist injury,
was looking forward to a fresh start to
the 250SX West Series but already
finds himself in a hole after crash in
the whoops led to a DNF. He nearly
pulled the holeshot in 250SX main
restart but crashed on the fourth lap
while running second. "The whole
day was going great, and I just lost
some of the needed strength for the
whoops," he said. "I have a lot of
positives to build on and I'm thankful I
was able to walk away okay."
HARD-PACKED
Many of the racers commented on
the much drier and harder-packed
Orlando track for race two, includ-
ing Aaron Plessinger. "I went around
one corner, and I barely even leaned
over, and my back end almost spun
around all the way on me," he said.
"It was so hard-packed and so rough.
The whoops were so edgy and slick
and blue-grooved. It was crazy. It was
worse than the test tracks."
OSBORNE'S BACK
Zach Osborne said he had a back
issue going into the evening program,
which helped explain his less-than-stel-
lar (for him) eighth in the main. "I kind of
tweaked my back in the last practice,
and I really struggled with it tonight,"
he said. "I had a mediocre start and an
eighth-place finish, which is not really
anything to write home about."
ROBERTSON AND
MARTIN'S BACK
Rookie Stilez Roberts (Rockstar
Energy Husqvarna) said of the
incident that saw him land on the
Jeremy Martin, casing a multi-rider
pileup and a red flag, "I got a decent
start, about 10th through the first
jump, but Jeremy Martin rolled, and
I thought he was going to jump, and
I ended up landing on him," he said.
"I crashed and bent my bike up, but
I still gave it a go in the main and just
tried to salvage what we could."
Briefly...
