Steve Cox | April 23, 2017
2017 Salt Lake City 250cc SX Results: After a dominant showing two weeks ago in Seattle, Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger still had a lot of ground to make up on points leader Justin Hill (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki) if he was going to have a chance at the 2017 250cc West SX title.
With only two rounds to go in the series (Salt Lake City and Las Vegas), Plessinger had to make up 18 points on Hill, which is the equivalent of two wins by Plessinger and a fifth and a sixth in the two races for Hill. It wasn’t impossible, but it was unlikely, given how Hill has been riding lately.
When the gate dropped in the altitude of Salt Lake City tonight, Hill’s teammate Austin Forkner came away with the holeshot, but Plessinger was quickly into the lead and began to pull away as Hill worked his way up from a start outside the top five. Forkner was relegated to third by TLD/Red Bull KTM’s Shane McElrath, who gave chase to Plessinger, and McElrath’s teammate Mitch Oldenberg went to work following Hill through the field.
2017 Salt Lake City 250cc SX Results
And then it happened: Plessinger, all by himself, got a little off-line in the whoops, skipped a whoop with his front wheel, and went down hard while in full control of the main event. The crash put Plessinger out of the race, leaving only McElrath – now leading the race – mathematically still able to challenge Hill for the championship.
A few laps later, Forkner also went down in the whoops when Kawasaki privateer Ryan Surratt seemed to unintentionally drift toward Forkner in the whoops for a moment as he was being lapped, throwing off Forkner’s rhythm. He’d get up in fifth and eventually finish sixth.
As the laps began winding down, Oldenberg found his way by Hill for second, but Hill still had 26 points in-hand in order to clinch the 250cc West a round early. Perhaps slowing a bit too much in the late stages, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Martin Davalos caught Hill on the final lap and forced his way by the points leader only two turns before the finish. However, a mistake on the ensuing straightaway got Davalos off-rhythm and Hill was able to keep it pinned around the outside in the final turn to just nip Davalos at the line for the final podium position – and the championship.
Hill takes his first-ever professional title with third place, while McElrath scores his third main-event victory of the season and Oldenberg ends up with his best-ever finish in second place.
Early reports have Plessinger nursing a shoulder injury. We don’t know how severe it is just yet, but the 250cc West will gather up one final time in Las Vegas in two weeks for the season finale.
2017 Salt Lake City 250cc SX Results
2017 Salt Lake City 250cc SX Results
For more of the latest motocross and supercross news and information, click here.