WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 53 ISSUE 14 APRIL 12, 2016 P83
450SX
1. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
2. Ken Roczen (Suz)
3. Jason Anderson (Hus)
4. Trey Canard (Hon)
5. Blake Baggett (Suz)
6. Chad Reed (Yam)
7. Christophe Pourcel (Hus)
8. Justin Brayton (KTM)
9. Eli Tomac (Kaw)
10. Mike Alessi (Hon)
250SX EAST
1. Aaron Plessinger (Yam)
2. Malcolm Stewart (Hon)
3. Gannon Audette (Kaw)
4. Shane McElrath (KTM)
5. Martin Davalos (Hus)
6. RJ Hampshire (Hon)
7. Anthony Rodriguez (Kaw)
8. Tyler Bowers (Kaw)
9. Luke Renzland (Yam)
10. Cedric Soubeyras (Kaw)
Falling Out
Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha's
Jeremy Martin has improved his
supercross game every year
since he turned pro. The two-time
and defending 250cc National
Motocross Champion has always
been a more natural outdoor racer
than he is indoors, and some of
his struggles (missing main events
at the opening round two years
in a row, and missing the first two
main events in his second year)
have been well documented. But
he has also won some races. His
championship credentials, along
with his ability to win races and the
fact that he's riding arguably the
best 250cc machine in the series,
led a lot of people to believe 2016
was his year to win his first super-
cross title.
Things were going great to
start the season, with a fourth
at round one followed by a win
and a second-place finish (after
falling in turn one) in Daytona
and Toronto, respectively, but
in rounds four and five of the
250SX East, Martin has strug-
gled tremendously.
First, in Detroit, Martin suf-
fered his second main-event,
first-turn crash in a row, which
was only compounded by an-
other fall a few laps in and the
twisting of the front end of his
machine, which caused him to
pull into the pit area to have his
front end straightened out. The
result was a 13th-place finish and
the points lead shifting to GEICO
Honda's Malcolm Stewart.
Still, after Detroit, Martin was
only seven points behind Stewart
with five rounds still to run. He
still controlled his own destiny
in the championship chase. But
that idea came off the rails in
Indianapolis where Martin went
down so hard in the main event
while running a strong third that it
literally broke the handlebars off
his Yamaha. Even if he was physi-
cally able to continue the race
after such a tremendous hit, he
was forced out of the race.
Now, with only four rounds left
to run, Martin trails points leader
Stewart by 28 points, and even
trails his teammate and Indy
winner Aaron Plessinger by 18.
If Martin is going to have a real
chance at this championship,
he's going to need a lot of help
from Stewart and Plessinger,
both of whom seem to be pick-
ing up momentum rather than
losing it right now. CN
It was a tough night for Plessinger's teammate Jeremy Martin who was a
title contender going into the 250SX East race. A big crash, a damaged
bike and an ugly DNF puts him 28 points behind the leader, Malcolm
Stewart, with four races left.
