backwards," Sexton said. "I got
freight-trained and just didn't feel
like I was racing out there. I'm
pretty frustrated with the ride."
SIPES BACK IN
ACTION
Ryan Sipes (TLD/Red Bull/
GasGas) returned to Supercross
race at Daytona to kick off his
run of Supercross, GNCC and
flat track racing during Bike
Week. Sipes crashed in his heat
race which resulted in a red flag.
Despite injuring his hand, Sipes
joined the re-start and qualified
fifth. "My hand was pretty sore,
but adrenaline kicked in and I
was able to mix it up with those
guys for a little while in the heat
race, so that felt cool," Sipes
said. "The adrenaline wasn't
quite there in the main, and I
had a lot more swelling, so I was
having a hard time hanging on.
I went and got X-rayed and no
broken bones, just some bruis-
ing." Sipes plans to race again
in Atlanta. (Sipes ended up not
riding in Sunday's Wild Boar
GNCC.)
WEATHER DELAYS
Track viewing for the racers
was postponed due to weather
in accordance with the speed-
way's rule; for every lightning
strike within eight miles of the
speedway, there is a mandatory
30-minute operational hold.
Free-practice sessions were
canceled, and the qualifying
schedule was revised, giving
each group one sighting lap dur-
ing its first session.
Briefly...
I definitely rode pretty tight in the
main event but is what it is. I put
my head down there at the end
and made some good lap times
and I was able to get AP [Pless-
inger] there at the end."
Plessinger looked like the
Plessinger of old, the one that
won the 250MX and 250SX East
Championship in 2018. "This is
definitely a monkey off my back,
for sure," he said. "Going back
to Daytona two years ago, I was
lying in the emergency room
with a shattered heel and not too
sure what was going to happen
after that, so to come here and
rebound like I just did, it's crazy.
I'm speechless. I felt like I had
more to give on the last couple
of laps, but a podium is a podium
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 10 MARCH 9, 2021 P67
Yamaha) and had to settle for
second in a heat race. The same
scenario played out in the main
event, only this time it was for
second place. However, on the
last lap, Plessinger, who had ear-
lier passed Webb for the position
on the fourth lap, made a slight
mistake, but it was just enough
to allow Webb, who stayed right
with Plessinger the whole race,
to get past the Yamaha rider and
take a crucial second place just
before the checkered flag. It
bought him a few more precious
points in the championship.
But Webb had nothing for
Tomac, nor did anyone else for
that matter. "It was a great night,"
Webb said. "I was trying to hang
with Eli, but he was hauling butt.
