Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 42 OCTOBER 21, 2014 P57 were four or five of us that were almost identical in speed. "Me and Davi were tied on points going into the third moto, so it was pretty much whoever beat each other, and he was just right out in front of me. I was just trying to pin it and catch him, but he was doing the same thing. Congratulations to him." JUSTIN HILL'S WILD RIDE One of the most surprising rid- ers of the night was Red Bull KTM's Justin Hill. He recently joined the team and is slated to compete in the 250 class, which is the only class that he's ridden since turning pro last year. Even though the MEC allows a 250 to compete against the 450s in the Cup class, Hill chose a 450 and looked as though he's ridden the bike his entire career, caus- ing many to ask, "who is that guy on the number-32 KTM?" (Not only did he change teams but he also changed numbers.) He was fourth quickest in qualifying and was in contention to win it all after finishing second in the first two motos. Unfortunately for him, he tangled with another rider on the first lap of the third moto, putting him out of podium contention. He finished out the race with a sore hip, but his 2-2-18 was still good enough to give him sixth overall. "I felt good all day," Hill said. "They put me in the B practice this morning with the unseeded riders and privateers, I'm not say- ing anything about those guys, but that kind of fired me up a bit, okay, this isn't quite right. I know this is my first 450 race, but c'mon! I qualified fourth [overall combined]. I got second in the first two motos; battled it out with Trey. The last one started out re- ally good, probably one of my better starts of the night, and it was me and Trey again, but we kind of came together at the end of the straight, and he came in on me from the left and I had to avoid hitting his rear and crashed really hard. I lost the front and immediately got ran over by the whole field. I'm a little bit beat up but I'm not the most sissy guy out there, so I'm okay [laughs]. "After this I feel confident," Hill added. "I've put in 110 [per- cent] tonight. I felt good tonight; I thought coming into the last one I thought maybe I could cut into Trey's deal and looking how it all played out, if I would've just stayed there I would've had the overall, but it is what it is. It's mo- tocross and so many things can go wrong that is out of the rider's control and it was just one of those things." CN MONSTER ENERGY CUP OVERALL 1. Davi Millsaps (Kaw) 3-4-1 2. Eli Tomac (Hon) 4-3-2 3. Trey Canard (Hon) 1-1-8 4. Ryan Dungey (KTM) 8-5-3 5. Malcolm Stewart (Hon) 7-7-5 6. Justin Hill (KTM) 2-2-18 7. Jason Anderson (Hus) 15-7-4 8. Jake Weimer (Kaw) 10-10-6 9. Justin Barcia (Yam) 6-6-16 10. Blake Baggett (Suz) 5-8-21 Briefly... which included a holeshot in the third moto. He ended up seventh overall. In the KTM Junior Supercross Chal- lenge, which pitted all of the race winners from the 2014 Supercross season, Canada's Preston Mas- ciangelo emerged on top after be- ing pressured by Julien Beaumer the whole race. Beaumer made a run on Masciangelo on the last lap but slid out in a turn. Masciangelo was thrilled to get the win, and Beau- mer was left speechless. MEC NOTES: Yoshimura Suzuki's newest member Blake Baggett crashed in the third race, got up and finished. Afterward, though, he was having trouble breathing and was complaining of pain in his chest area. He went to the hospital for evaluation… Yamahalube/Star Racing Yamaha's Cooper Webb moved up to a 450 and qualified for the program via a second-place finish in the LCQ; he went on to go 13-19-12 for 16 th overall… SmartTop/ MotoConcept's Mike Alessi came to race but was unable to qualify. His best time in practice was stripped by the AMA for stopping on the track, which put him out of the top 18. He was then required to compete in the LCQ, where a bad start left him plac- ing outside the needed top five… French rider Dylan Ferrandis, who was a member of the winning Moto- cross of Nations team, qualified sixth and went 19-15-13 for 18 th overall… Honda's Cole Seely crashed during practice, taking a shot to the head. He was unable to pass the concus- sion test afterward and was not al- lowed to race.

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