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/827115
MOTOCROSS LUCAS OIL PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1 / MAY 20, 2017 HANGTOWN MX / RANCHO CORDOVA, CALIFORNIA P84 But you never know until the gate drops. I'm happy to be up here. It'll help me sleep easier at night." Plessinger tied on points for the day with Alex Martin, but the second-moto tiebreaker left him third overall. "Over the years at Hangtown, I've gotten sixth two years ago, fourth last year, and then third this year, so I'm moving on up!" Plessinger said. "I had a good start the second moto and just fell behind. I made sure to be smart and not wreck myself early in the moto. It was gnarly out there. And hot." CN 450MX 1. Eli Tomac (Kaw) 1-1 2. Marvin Musquin (KTM) 2-2 3. Josh Grant (Kaw) 3-3 4. Dean Wilson (Hus) 10-4 5. Broc Tickle (Suz) 7-4 6. Blake Baggett (KTM) 6-8 7. Cooper Webb (Yam) 5-9 8. Cole Seely (Hon) 4-12 9. Justin Barcia (Suz) 11-5 10. Justin Bogle (Suz) 8-10 250MX 1. Zach Osborne (Hus) 1-1 2. Alex Martin (KTM) 4-4 3. Aaron Plessinger (Yam) 3-5 4. Adam Cianciarulo (Kaw) 2-8 5. Austin Forkner (Kaw) 11-2 6. Colt Nichols (Yam) 5-6 7. Joey Savatgy (Kaw) 7-7 8. Justin Hill (Kaw) 8-9 9. Mitchell Oldenburg (KTM) 6-12 10. Michell Harrison (Yam) 9-11 After over four months of Super- cross, where the races are at night during the winter and spring (leading to cool and even cold tem- peratures), the start of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship can be a bit shocking for racers, crewmembers, and even photog- raphers and journalists. Hangtown was brutal, and it was made worse by unseasonably cool temperatures in California in the couple of weeks leading up to the MX National opener. Most of the racers have been staying in California for the final swing of the Supercross series and leading into the Nationals, and after the season-finale Las Vegas Supercross, California daytime tem- peratures hovered in the low-to- mid 60s—ideal for riding, but not for warm-weather training. The Hang- town MX National featured temps in the low-to-mid 90s, but honestly felt significantly hotter than that. Even the breeze was hot. Add that to the incredibly rough and difficult track conditions, and it goes a long way toward explaining the rash of inconsistent results throughout both classes. It's not often that a guy can go 10-4 for fourth overall like Dean Wilson did in the 450cc class, nor is it a common occurrence for a 4-4 score to land a guy second overall, like it did for Alex Martin in the 250cc class. Glen Helen, as of now, is supposed to be somewhat cooler in terms of temperature, but things can change before then. The craziest thing might be that the site of round three in Lakewood, Colorado, which is scheduled to take place the weekend after Glen Helen, is currently under a blanket of snow! Anybody have a line on about 100 of those snow-bike kits? With the much higher temperatures, many of the teams were running additional cooling devices on their motorcycles, such as electric radiator fans. Last year, the Monster Energy Kawasaki team ran an en- gine-oil cooler behind the left-side radiator to help keep their engines cool, and this year they added some trick carbon-fiber shrouds to direct air from the back of the left- side radiators to the oil coolers. Some pundits actually blamed some of the new electronics for quite a few of the malfunctions we saw in the 250MX class. As usual, the teams themselves were hushed about what Briefly... RJ Wageman won the FMF 125cc Dream Race.