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/970089
CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 55 ISSUE 15 APRIL 17, 2018 P61 for Anderson, he would've won the 2018 Triple Crown title (Tomac scored 73 total cham- pionship points in the three Triple Crown events to Ander- son's 70, and those points totals would've reversed if Anderson won in Minneapolis.) But, alas, it's looking in- creasingly likely that he'll have to settle for the 2018 Monster ANDERSON TALKS PENALTY After the race, Anderson talked about the penalty that cost him the win and the Triple Crown Championship. During the second race, Anderson ran off the track and re-entered after riding along side a section of jumps. "In the rule- book it says you're not allowed to gain positions and you have to re-enter the track at the safest spot," Anderson said. "I didn't gain any positions—I lost five and entered at the safest spot. The rule- book is personal preference for those guys [AMA] I guess." Evidently, the AMA felt that Anderson actually accelerated while he was off the track, warranting the one-position penalty. "I didn't accel- erate, I was going the same speed—it's opinion," Anderson said. STAY DOWN Prior to the 2018 season, it was widely understood—even by Zach Osborne himself—that Osborne would be moving up to race the 450MX class during the 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Cham- pionship, vacating his 2017 250MX title without attempting to defend it. How- ever, rumors have been circulating that the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team would prefer to keep Osborne in the 250MX class to run the big number-one on their motorcycle. If this turns out to be correct, with the way that Jeremy Martin (a two-time 250MX national champion) is riding right now, the 250 class of the 2018 Pro Motocross Cham- pionship could be an interesting one. BARCIA IN, WEBB OUT The Minneapolis Supercross saw the first race back for Justin Barcia who was in contention for the championship prior to breaking his hand in Arlington, Texas a couple months ago. Barcia was on the gas in Minneapolis, going 3-7-4 off the couch for a strong fifth overall in his first race back. However, just Yamaha's luck, as soon as Barcia returned to action, his young teammate Cooper Webb went down in the first of the three 450SX main events and exited the event with a broken leg. Webb revealed later via Instagram: "I was involved with some carnage in the rhythm section right off the start and I ended up getting landed on in the 1st main event of the night. I ended up with a fractured tibia as of now. Have an appointment Monday with an ortho to see the final word. Extremely bummed to say the least..." FORKNER'S TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD NIGHT Austin Forkner had everything going his way at the start of the night in Minneapolis, dominating the first of the three 250SX main events from holeshot to checkered flag. "I mean, yeah, this is still only my second year, and it's still just a work in progress," Forkner said after his win. "I mean, getting a good start and making my life easy like that obviously helps, but it's just learning and just progressing, and I feel like I've done pretty good at that throughout this season. We had a break for the last couple of weeks, and I really needed that, because I was kind of sick and couldn't really get over it, but I'm feel- ing pretty good now, so it's good to start the night out with a win." However, it all unraveled during the second main event, when Forkner went down four times and ended up 10th. If that wasn't bad enough, in the final main event he had a major endo in a section of whoops and early reports indicate he suffered a broken left collarbone. "I wish things went differently but injuries have been brutal this season," Briefly...