VOL. 55 ISSUE 20 MAY 22, 2018 P67
SX champ Jason Anderson
(Rockstar Energy Husqvarna)
took the lead from Craig
before Craig fell in a corner.
Anderson was soon under
heavy pressure from Red Bull
KTM's Marvin Musquin with
Tomac hot on his heels.
Musquin held Tomac
at bay for a few laps, but
eventually he succumbed to
the constant pressure and
Tomac took off with the moto
victory over Musquin and
Monster Energy Yamaha's
Justin Barcia. Anderson
finished fourth with some
pretty heavy arm-pump while
AutoTrader/JGR Suzuki's
Weston Peick made a pass
on Honda's Ken Roczen
for fifth in the closing laps.
Behind Roczen came Rocky
Mountain ATV-MC KTM's
Blake Baggett, Craig and Phil
Nicoletti.
Anderson got the hole-
shot to start moto two, but
Nicoletti pushed him back to
second right away, and then
Barcia came through and
passed them both to take the
lead before the end of lap
one. Anderson worked his
way forward to pass Barcia
for the lead a few laps later,
only for Musquin to chase
them both down and take
the lead just past the halfway
point.
Tomac started outside the
top 10, and he even fell once
around the halfway point,
but he only got faster after
450MX
When Monster Energy Kawasa-
ki's Eli Tomac is on, he's basical-
ly unstoppable, and more often
than not, he's on at Hangtown.
Honda's Christian Craig got
the holeshot in moto one while
fast-qualifier Tomac fought his
way up to fifth. Newly crowned
ROUGH START FOR
MELLROSS
Australian Hayden Mellross made the
jump from the 51Fifty Energy Ya-
maha team in Supercross to return to
outdoor racing with the CycleTrader/
Rock River Yamaha team at Hang-
town, but it didn't go as he had hoped.
He qualified 14th during the day, but
suffered a big crash in the first moto
that landed him with a DNF in that
moto and a DNS in the second. He
reported on his Instagram page that
he'll be seeing a doctor on Monday,
May 21, to get checked out, but didn't
indicate exactly what it is that's hurting
him.
CHEST PAINS
Hangtown marked the return from
a broken collarbone for Monster
Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Austin
Forkner. Since it was his first race
back, he kept his expectations tem-
pered but still ended up disappointed
with a moto-two DNF after scoring a
solid fourth-place in the first outing.
Forkner had a freak thing happen off
the start in moto two when his hole-
shot device released early, allowing
the front end of the bike to come up
at him unexpectedly and hit him in the
chest, which he said on his Instagram
page popped some ribs out of place.
Eventually, the pain got too intense to
handle and he had to drop out of the
moto. He should be back on the line
at Glen Helen.
TAFT'S 10TH
Although we expected Bradley Taft
to be racing Hangtown for his usual
CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha
team, he announced the day before
the race that he'd be racing Hangtown
in the 450MX class on a Husqvarna
Briefly...
