VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P65
fell and he roosted me with a
dirt clod straight in my eye."
Both Sexton and Webb gave
up valuable points to Tomac as
they finished fourth and fifth, re-
spectively. Sexton was the last
rider on track to not get lapped.
Sixth on the night was
Twisted Tea Suzuki Progressive
Insurance Team rider Shane
McElrath. It was his first top-10
finish of the season.
Privateer Kevin Moranz,
aboard a Next Level Racing-
backed KTM, also cracked the
top 10 with a seventh. The Kan
-
san's previous best was a 14th
at Houston.
Yamaha-mounted Benny
Bloss was eighth for his best
Roczen grabbed the final spot
on the box, his second third-place
finish in as many weekends. The
Progressive Insurance/Ecstar
Suzuki rider led for almost half
the race but then fumbled in the
whoops which gave the spot to
Barcia. He kept the kickstart-
equipped bike running but went
for another wild ride late in the
race when he cased the finish line
jump and nearly went down.
"The finish line jump, in the air,
I expected my hands to rip off
the handlebars," Roczen said. "I
held on for dear life but that re
-
ally messed up my goggles. All
my sweat just went in there and
I had to take my goggles off. As
soon as I did that Dean Wilson
AP/AC
Neither Aaron Plessinger nor Adam
Cianciarulo lined up for racing on
Saturday night after both riders
crashed during the day's qualifying
sessions. Cianciarulo tangled with
Justin Barcia after Barcia got out of
shape just ahead of him. Barcia was
also shaken up in the incident but
went on to win. Cianciarulo did get
back on the bike and qualified eighth
but chose to sit out the evening
program. Plessinger's was a solo
incident. He was slow to his feet but
did not get back on the bike.
FIRST FOR SHIMODA
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawa-
saki's Jo Shimoda won one of the
two 250SX heat races, which was,
believe it or not, his first career heat-
race win. "The track was pretty tricky
with a kind of softer dirt that had
ruts and some sharp transitions as
it broke down," he said. "When the
track is like that, it is super important
to be precise with your riding and hit
your marks each lap, so that was my
focus when it came time for rac-
ing. In the heat race, I had a strong
start and led the whole race for my
first heat-race win. Even though
I've won a main event, I had never
won a heat race before so that was
awesome; especially because it's
still only my second race back and
against all the riders from 250SX
East." He was ninth in the main.
FUTURES
Another round of the Supercross Fu-
tures program happened before the
weather rolled in on Saturday night.
KTM's Julien Beaumer again found
himself up front, checking out with
the lead and the eventual main-event
win. Daxton Bennick and Ryder
Difrancesco rounded out the podium.
Briefly...
