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/720681
MOTOCROSS LUCAS OIL AMA PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 12 / AUGUST 27, 2016 IRONMAN RACEWAY / CRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA P78 For Adam Cianciarulo, the 2016 AMA Nationals may have marked a turning point in his career. While he didn't win any races, it was the first full championship that Cianciarulo has finished since turning pro, com- pleting every race along the way. He finished out the day fifth overall and the championship eighth overall. "It was another good day," said Ciancia- rulo. "I had a good bit of confidence from the last round and felt strong. I've had good speed and my body is catching up and I'm getting back to where I belong. My goal for the year was to get through all the motos and I did that, now I'm working towards keeping my speed at every round. I've got what it takes to win; I just need it every weekend." Having clinched the title a week early, Ken Roczen was hoping to do something a little different for the fi- nal race at Crawfordsville, like race a 250cc two-stroke. "I would've been pumped…I'm always up for some shits and gigs," Roczen said of the possibility. He even had a 2008 Su- zuki RM250 lined up to race, but a closer look at the AMA rulebook showed that the bike wasn't legal to race due to homologation rules, since Suzuki no longer makes this bike available to the U.S. market. "If you would've asked me last year at this press conference [how our team—Soaring Eagle/Jim- my John's/RCH Suzuki Team— would've done this year] I would've said I do not know," Roczen said of his team's turnaround from last year to this year. "But it's pretty amazing to me to see what we've done, where we came from and how much of a low we had last year. We're the first privately owned team to pull it off [win a championship]. I had so much more fun this year; the team vibe was way, way better, and my bike was way better than last year." After years of being one of the most dominant teams in 250cc moto- cross, the GEICO Honda team struggled outdoors in 2016. They won the 250SX Eastern Regional Supercross Championship with Malcolm Stewart, but Stewart sat the Nationals out, and at the end of the championship, the best GEICO Honda rider in the points standings was RJ Hampshire in 11th. His only top-five moto finish was a fifth place in the first moto of the year at Hang- town. His teammate Jordon Smith was second in that same moto, but only managed two other top-five moto finishes on the year, and af- ter missing a few rounds with inju- ries, Smith ended the series 16th in points. Rookie Tristan Charboneau missed a large chunk of the season as well on his way to 20th place in the points, Christian Craig dropped out of the championship after break- ing his leg at round two at Glen Hel- en, and Jimmy Decotis spent 3/4 of the outdoor championship hurt, as well. None of them managed a single top-five finish in the races they were able to start. In contrast with the GEICO Honda team, the Yamalube Star Rac- ing Yamaha team ended the 2016 250MX National Motocross Cham- pionship with four of its five racers in the top six in points, with Webb winning the title, Alex Martin finish- ing second, and then Aaron Pless- inger and Jeremy Martin ending the championship in fifth and sixth place. And chances are pretty good that if Jeremy Martin didn't get hurt at Washougal and drop out of the championship, four of the top five spots would've gone to Star Yamaha riders. The only other 250cc team that was even close to challenging the Star Racing team was "ol' reliable", the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasa- ki team. Easily the most successful 125/250cc Championship team in the history of the sport, the PC guys had Joey Savatgy and Austin For- kner both winning races and finish- ing inside the top five in points, and then Adam Cianciarulo (8th) and Arnaud Tonus (9th) also finishing in the top 10. Briefly... Arnaud Tonus