Cycle News

SUPERCROSS MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS ROUND 8 / FEBRUARY 24, 2018 TAMPA, FLORIDA / RAYMOND JAMES STADIUM P64 iii My Own Race: 46 JUSTIN HILL 6TH 450SX Justin Hill was impressive in his first SX race on a 450. "I was less than intimidated by the 450 guys," he said. "The speed was easier than I thought it would have been. I was comfortable at battling the front-runners. The experienced guys seem to do less dumb stuff. Riding with the smart guys seems to work better for me. As I get more involved in the 450 class I feel like I could be the guy, because that type of riding style suits me well. The first few laps after I got up fol- lowing the crash I was trying to regroup. I had a bent front brake lever, and it was hanging pretty far down. Then I started getting the quad jump again. There was no way I was going to do that section without a front brake. I'll have another week on the Suzuki RM-Z450 and head to Atlanta with new goals." 24 DYLAN FERRANDIS 2ND 250SX EAST Dylan Ferrandis was the fastest qualifier in Tampa and ran a strong main event, eventually finishing second after nearly shoving his way by eventual winner Austin Forkner on the last lap. "To be honest, I'm not really satisfied, because I should win," the Frenchman said. "I didn't race since Budds Creek last year, the national, and last weekend was not really a race for me—I crashed off the start, and decided to make a stop, and my leg was painful—so it was really my first race tonight, and it was a little bit stressful. I was riding a little bit tight, and burning so much oxygen, so I just ran out of oxygen to make an attack on Austin [Forkner]. I finished second, so that's not so bad. It's a big improvement over last week, and it's good for the team to put the Yamaha bike on the podium." 1E ZACH OSBORNE 3RD 250SX EAST Osborne admitted to getting tight but still managed a strong third- place finish and maintains his points lead as the series heads to round three. "It was super-tricky, but I'm thankful to be up here on the podium," Osborne said. "I tightened up in the middle of the race and was just a little to conservative. Those guys were shredding every lap. I'm more happy with this third-place tonight than I was with the win last weekend. Last weekend, I wasn't quite there race- craft-wise, but this weekend I felt much better with the heat-race win, and it feels nice to be on the podium again." 25 MARVIN MUSQUIN 2ND 450SX Marvin Musquin scored his third second-place finish in a row in Tampa. "I'm happy about my riding," Musquin said. "Obviously, in the main, it was a lot better and I was able to get in the lead, and then get into some laps leading the main event. So, that felt good. It's been a little bit too long for me [to lead], and it felt good. I corrected my whoops a little bit from the heat race, and I was a little bit better. We made some adjustment on the bike, and overall it was good. I passed [Tomac] back once, but I wish I could've kept him back there, but he rode good. And Jason [Anderson] was riding good back there—he was charging—but I kept my rhythm the whole main event."

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