Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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SUPERCROSS MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES, AN FIM WORLD ROUND 8 / FEBRUARY 27, 2016 GEORGIA DOME / ATLANTA, GEORGIA P50 My Own Race: 49 MARTIN DAVALOS 1 ST 250SX Martin Davalos was thrilled to get back on the top step of the box again, scoring a solid win to start of the 2016 250SX East Championship. "I'm so proud of all the hard work and the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing team that is standing behind me," said Davalos. "We had a tough year in 2015 with my sickness. They believed in me. Everyone has been putting in so much work. I had awesome starts and rode my own laps. I didn't care about anyone else besides myself and it paid off. The biggest challenge was lappers around the 10th lap. I understand they're racing their own race, but I think they could be a little safer." 7 JAMES STEWART 14 TH 450SX James Stewart and his Yoshimura Suzuki team were focused on getting through a race to the finish, which they did manage to do, though not unscathed or without a bit of controversy. James said, "It was a tough day for us; we were trying some new stuff on the fork and it just didn't work. I struggled pretty bad with it in practice, so I went back to a setting I hadn't used in two months. It was better in my heat, but I had a little crash in the sand. Then in the semi, I was running third on the second lap and I jumped into that Dragon's Back and jammed my left knee…it looks like a watermelon now. That put a damper on my night quickly, but no matter what, whether I finished in 20th or first, I needed to ride 20 laps…[the knee] was hurting like hell, but I just wanted to finish. You have to start somewhere, but from how our day started, to how it ended, it is a positive. I know that people are going to say whatever, but I know I still have it. We'll turn this around, we'll get it done." 25 MARVIN MUSQUIN 2 ND 450SX After the race, Marvin Musquin seemed to be in good spirits, considering his level of disappointment. "It was a great race," he said. "I didn't expect that, obviously. It was a good track for me, really technical and I had some good lines. I had a great start. I didn't get the holeshot, but I got into the lead really quick. I was really aggres- sive and trying to push really hard. Lap times were short today, so it was a short main event. I was not looking much at the pit board. It was a little bit difficult to watch; sometimes I was, but at one point, Frankie [Musquin's mechanic] said there was six laps to go and I didn't ex- pect that. It went pretty quick. Today was 45-second lap times instead of one minute. Usually with these 20-lap- pers, the race is a lot longer. I saw Ryan getting close to me in some areas, so I tried to go faster in those areas."