Cycle News

IIIMY OWN RACE: 7 AARON PLESSINGER 5TH 450SX "I'm stoked about how the heat race went with the win," said Aaron Pless- inger. "Then we went into the main, and there weren't too many great gates, so I just tried to pick the one that I felt would be best. I got a mid-pack start and just charged. I tried to ride my own race, and I started to click off people one by one, but the track was tricky; it was rough and started to dry out. You had to be pa ent in the berms otherwise it was easy to go down." VOLUME 58 ISSUE 11 MARCH 16, 2021 P63 "I got a great start and made my way into the lead early on and I led every lap," Cooper said. "It's awesome and it feels great to have these Texas fans here. It was a huge night and to get the red plate is great, I'm super grateful." His championship rival, Ken Roczen, didn't have the same luck in the Lone Star State. A big crash in the heat race put Roczen on the ground and forced him to fight for a transfer position. He salvaged a seventh-place finish leading into the main but wouldn't have a desired gate pick to defend his points lead. A poor start in the main event put Roczen deep in the field, crossing the first lap in eighth position. Uncharacteristically, he was stuck in seventh place for a number of laps, battling with the likes of Wilson and Joey Savatgy. He eventually found his way past the duo but could only manage sixth place on the night, yielding nine precious points to Webb. Roczen now sits second in the championship standings, seven points out of the lead. "Good thing yesterday wasn't the fi- nal round," Roczen said, maintaining that positive attitude we've seen all season. The number-94 rider was on a roll earlier in the season, even stringing together a three-race win streak during the Indianapolis residency. More recently though, Roczen has seen his points lead dwindle and hasn't led a lap in the past few main events. Clearly, he still has the speed to run up front, but after years of injury and health concerns, many could be ponder- ing whether or not Roczen has handed the points lead over for good. Fans who were looking for a Webb-Roczen matchup will be forced to wait until Tuesday night's race. A series of smack-talk com- ments took place after the main event last weekend, but the two never found each other on track in Arlington. When asked about Roc- zen's opinion on the back-and-forth banter, Webb said, "Yeah, I love it and I feed off it." 27 MALCOLM STEWART 14TH 450SX Malcolm Stewart was riding well un l a weird incident with Jason Anderson who he torpedoed in a turn that result- ed in Stewart ge ng launched off his bike, landing well off the track on the concrete floor. He was lucky not to get seriously injured. "All day was great," Stewart said. "The main event was going good but Anderson just got into me. It wasn't a big deal. I was just go- ing to square him up, but when I went to square him up, my re hooked up, and I went straight into the guy. That wasn't my inten on at all. It wasn't the night we were looking for, but I'm just glad I didn't get hurt when I hit the concrete because I went flying." (Above) Justin Barcia (51) got on the podium for the fourth time this season with a second. He's still fourth in the championship. (Left) Jason An- derson didn't make any friends en route to his first podium of the season. He bowled his way to the front a er an eighth-place start.

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