Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/671116
SUPERCROSS MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES, AN FIM WORLD ROUND 15 / APRIL 23, 2016 GILLETTE STADIUM / FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS P50 250SX The big question going into the 250SX East race was, could Malcolm Stewart re- bound from his three crashes in last week's main in St. Louis? For the most part, the answer was, yes. The GEICO Honda rider, who led Aaron Plessinger by just one point heading into the Foxborough race, easily won his heat race and got out to a fast start in the 15-lap 250SX main event. And making things even bet- ter for him was that Plessinger was back in ninth—he was in prime position to grab back big points on the Yamaha rider, Plessinger. It looked to be Stewart's race. But Martin Davalos, fourth off the start, and Jeremy Martin, sixth off the start, had other ideas. As did TLD/Lucas Oil/Red Bull KTM's Shane McElrath, who was in second. By the fifth lap, they were all holding down top-four positions; Stewart having his hands full with McElrath, closely followed by Davalos and Martin. It was an exciting race, which kept the near 39,000 fans in Gillette Stadium highly entertained. Davalos eventually got around McElrath and then, on the eighth lap, Stewart for the lead. Then everyone's attention focused on Martin, who eventually got by McElrath and Stewart, as well. With just four laps remaining, Martin made a run on Davalos and got super close, then he made a couple of little mis- takes that were just enough to let Davalos get the win with almost four seconds to spare. Stewart crossed the finish line exactly four seconds behind Martin and about a second and a half ahead of McElrath. Plessinger, meanwhile, just couldn't get going and spent most of the race staring at the back of Tyler Bowers' jersey in sixth. He eventually made the pass on Bowers but didn't have the time to mount a serious attack on McElrath who he could see right in front of him. Stewart might've lost a great opportu- nity to gain big points on Plessinger, but it was a far better weekend than the previ- ous weekend and he'll have to be content with the four points that he did grab. He and Plessinger are now separated by five points with two rounds to go. "I'm just happy to be up here," Stewart said from the podium. "Overall, the race didn't go as planned, but it was better than last week." For Davalos, his second win of the season was a moral booster more than anything, since a DNS earlier in the season (due to rumored visa issues that prevented him from traveling in Toronto) and one 15th- place finish have put him well out of the title hunt before the Foxborough race. He's currently fourth in the championship, 13 points out of third (behind Martin). "It's been a couple weeks since I've been able to ride like this," said Davalos. "Jeremy [Martin] was riding really good and Malcolm [Stewart] was leading there early on. I just had to focus on my laps. I knew the track would be rutted [after the rain in the morning], but it turned out to be a great day and I'm just really pumped." CN