250SX
II STEWART TAKES OVER
Among the top five in the
250SX Eastern Regional
Points Standings following
round four in Detroit, the first
three of them have at least
one main-event finish outside
the top five, and the last two
haven't. However, fourth and
fifth place have missed at
least one round altogether.
Needless to say, the
250SX East hasn't exactly
been the model of consis-
tency so far this season, and
we're not even to the halfway
point yet.
Prior to Detroit, the only
two racers who had finished
inside the top five at every
round run thus far were
points leader Jeremy Mar-
tin (Yamalube/Star Racing
Yamaha) and second place
in points Justin Hill (Troy Lee
Designs/Red Bull KTM).
That streak ended in Detroit,
first with Hill having a huge
crash in a rhythm lane near
the end of the final practice
session of the day, leav-
ing him with a concussion
and sitting him out of the
night's racing. But for Mar-
tin, it ended at the end of
the start straightaway in the
main event, when Rockstar
Energy Husqvarna's Martin
Davalos squeezed Martin
down against the inside Tuff
Blocks, causing Martin to go
down in the first turn for the
second week in a row. This
time, it was Monster Energy/
Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Tyler
Bowers who was down in
turn one with Martin. (Martin
went down again a few laps
later due to a twisted front
end, then had to go into the
pit area to straighten it before
he started working back
through the pack again.)
The week before in To-
ronto, Martin found himself in
second place by the halfway
point in the race, where he
would finish. This week,
Bowers caught up to fourth
place by the halfway point,
and that's also where he
finished.
But out front, it was Bowers'
teammate Arnaud Tonus who
led early, only to lose the lead
to GEICO Honda's Malcolm
Stewart a few laps in through
the whoops. A lap later, while
trying to stay with Stewart,
Tonus ended up going down
in those same whoops, ending
his night early.
Stewart took the win over
Martin's teammate Aaron
Plessinger and Hill's team-
mate Shane McElrath (Troy
Lee Designs/Lucas Oil/
Red Bull KTM) while Martin
ended up finishing 13th.
With five rounds left to run,
Stewart now finds himself in
the points lead with seven
to spare over Martin, then
Plessinger another six back
followed by Hill and Davalos.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 53 ISSUE 11 MARCH 22, 2016 P61
Malcolm Stewart
was the big
winner of the
250SX East
Main. He's now
the new points
leader.
