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/1379564
me yet coming into this round. I knew coming in we had some things to work on." "After the last two years of not really getting what I came for, now to be battling up front for the lead and overall wins, it just feels good," said Plessinger. Further back came Ferrandis, methodically working his way up from that mediocre start to reach third, which was more than enough to clinch his first 450MX win in his first 450 National. "I didn't really expect it, honestly," admitted Ferrandis after his unexpected victory. "I didn't wake up this morning and think I would leave the track with the red plate! I'm really happy. Winning round one as a rookie is away from the field in a little duel of their own. The gap between them would yo-yo back and forth in small increments until the end of the moto, when Plessinger picked up the pass and started pressing Roczen for what would have been his first-ever 450MX moto win. But then just before the rhythm section at the finish line Plessinger ran his YZ450F off the left side of the track and had to slow to re-enter. Just like that, Roczen was gone with the second moto win. "I feel like I had some really good lines throughout the track, but the track is really gnarly," said Roczen who would claim second overall. "It feels good because I wasn't really the old MOTOCROSS LUCAS OIL PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1 / MAY 29, 2021 FOX RACEWAY / PALA, CALIFORNIA P76 PALA 1 MX NOTES A crash that knocked the wind out of him and bent up his bike pretty good put Dean Wilson (14-DNF) out of the second 450MX moto on the third lap... RJ Hampshire (3-9) and Max Vohland (DNF-7) tangled and went down in the second 250MX moto when Hampshire at- tempted a pass... Jason Anderson was running fifth in the first 450MX moto when he fell and lost several places. Other than that, Anderson rode well on the day, going 10-4 for sixth overall... An incident in the first 250MX moto collected half of the 250MX Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha Team. Jarrett Frye, Nate Thrasher and Colt Nichols, who initiated the pileup, all either went down or were hung up in the melee. Jo Shimoda also was involved and so nearly were Jett Lawrence and Alex Martin... Hunter Lawrence (6-5) went down multiple times in both 250MX motos but still put together a solid sixth overall... Pierce Brown (23-10) had to pull into the pits for a new shift lever after colliding with another rider while running up front in the first 250MX moto... Ken Roczen's moto win was his first since Unadilla in 2018. Briefly... just such a great feeling. I just felt good today and gave everything I had." Finishing fourth in the final moto was Anderson, followed by Osborne, who rode much better the second time out despite hav- ing missed a lot of training and testing time with a bulging disc in his back. Jett Lawrence picked up where he left off at Pala. The Aussie won last year's 250MX final and this year's opener.