Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 25, 2015 P53 Briefly... year long. I've had so much support from all the fans in America, France and throughout Europe. I kind of feel like I let everyone down, but we still had a great season." Before the national motos got un- derway at Ironman Raceway, the inaugural Legends Race was held. A star-studded field of former win- ners and national champions like Ricky Carmichael, Kevin Windham, Jeff Emig, Jeff Stanton, Tim Ferry and more put on a show for the fans, with Carmichael coming out on top. Robbie Reynard finished second, with Ferry rounding out the podium in third. Emig was forced to slow with a flat tire. When asked how important getting third in the championship was to him Joey Savatgy replied, "I'm go- ing to be honest with you, third in the championship doesn't pay me any bonus check. It's cool to get third, don't get me wrong, but in the same breath we're a ways off." My Own Race: 51 JUSTIN BARCIA 4TH O/A (7-3) 450 MX AutoTrader/Toyota/JGRMX Yamaha's Justin Barcia came into Indiana sec- ond in the 450 standings and five points up on Ken Roczen. After a 7-3 and fourth overall, Barcia lost that all-important runner-up spot to Roczen by six points (447-441). "It wasn't the best day," Barcia said. "I had a big crash in practice and hit my head a little bit so I was just a little off the whole day. I struggled a lot and it's just kind of is what it is. I went off the track in the first moto and lost some positions. In the second moto I ran up front for a little bit then made a few mistakes and ended up third. For a bad day it was okay, but I definitely wasn't happy with my performance. I feel like if I hadn't crashed in practice I would have been a little bit better off." 157 AARON PLESSINGER 1ST O/A (2-1) 250 MX Aaron Plessinger broke through to win his first national after being on the podium several times this season. He ends the season ranked sixth in the 250 class. "This is amazing," Plessinger said. "Today I was on another level and I really love this track. I only live about two-and-a-half hours from here [in Ohio]. I was able to charge hard in both motos and it ended out working really well for me in the end. Today was a great learning experience. I'm just a rookie but I have many years ahead of me and I'm looking forward to improving. It's a great place to win my first national. My dad won two GNCC Championships here in '94 and '95. I knew I had the overall whether I got by (Joey) Savatgy or not, but I just kept pushing because I've never had a moto win. It felt awesome." 1 KEN ROCZEN 2ND O/A (3-1) 450 MX Ken Roczen gave up his number one plate to rival Ryan Dungey, but after battling with a nagging back injury and bike setup issue all summer, Roczen still managed to pull out second-place in the final 450 class standings after a great season-ending battle with Justin Barcia for the spot. "Coming in as the champion and after all those struggles we definitely still wanted to finish it off in second," Roczen said. "I don't know what's tougher, being the hunter or the one being hunted. I was five points back (to Barcia coming in the Indiana round), which is not a whole lot, but it's still enough to where if you're not necessarily winning there's not a lot of points to make up and ob- viously Justin is another rider who has been very consistent and has been going really good. My confidence these last three races and things with the bike have improved a whole lot. And that makes a big difference. Coming in here I was really relaxed. The first moto I had a few struggles. I didn't start very good and right after the first turn I had a bunch of dirt on my goggles. The dirt was really wet and I got some of it in my eyes and it was really hard to get that blur off. In the middle of the moto I struggled a little bit because I couldn't get by Justin. I picked things up towards the end, but I ran out of tear-offs. I was charging the whole moto and picked up some positions in the end, so that was good. In the second moto I got a way better start. Early in the moto I finally had some clear track and rode my race. It's good finishing off the season with a win, that's what we wanted to do." on Barcia and gained ground on Roczen out front, but was un- able to challenge for the win. Roczen took his first moto win since the fifth round of the season at High Point, 6.256 seconds ahead of Dungey, who saw his six-moto winning streak come to an end. Barcia followed in third. "We were running fourth at the beginning [of moto two], so it's a little tougher to take the lines you

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