Steve Cox | July 7, 2018
2018 RedBud 250cc National MX Results: Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger is an enigma. The RedBud MX National, round seven of the 12-round Lucas Oil/AMA 250cc Motocross Championship, marked Plessinger’s third 1-1 performance of the series. It was a completely dominant day on the tough, deeply rutted track. But outside of those six moto wins, his finishes go: 3-4-6-4-9-5-3-7. Only two podium finishes in the entirety of the rest of the motos run so far this year.
Still, with help from some racers dropping out due to injury, and even more inconsistency from others, Plessinger is sporting a massive 35-point lead following his 1-1 day in Michigan.
2018 RedBud 250cc National MX Results
TLD/Red Bull KTM’s Shane McElrath was the top qualifier on the day, and he took the early lead after narrowly missing out on the holeshot to Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner. McElrath led the first couple of laps while Plessinger worked his way by Forkner, and then McElrath on lap three to take the lead. Forkner followed him past McElrath and gave chase. Forkner was a man on a mission, though, and just past halfway he made an aggressive, but clean, move on Plessinger to take over the front spot on the inside of a left-hander, but only two turns later, Forkner went to the outside after the sand whoops and Plessinger dived into the inside line fully committed. When the lines intersected, Forkner went down hard, his front wheel climbing Plessinger’s rear wheel as they exited the turn.
Plessinger went on to take the moto win over GEICO Honda’s RJ Hampshire, Plessinger’s teammate Dylan Ferrandis, McElrath’s teammate (and second in points) Alex Martin, McElrath, and Forkner’s teammate Garrett Marchbanks, in his first race back since straining his MCL in his knee at High Point.
2018 RedBud 250cc National MX Results
In moto two, it was Plessinger’s former teammate Mitchell Harrison (now racing for Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) who took the holeshot, while there was a big pileup before the first turn that took out McElrath, his teammate Jordon Smith, Plessinger’s teammate Colt Nichols, and Hampshire. Hampshire ended up with a DNF from the crash and looked to be favoring his shoulder.
Plessinger didn’t wait long to slice through the top few racers and take over the lead, while the rest of the field started gobbling Harrison up, too.
Forkner, starting from way outside after his moto-one crash, rounded lap one in fifth and fought his way up to second by the halfway point, but this time, he wouldn’t get close enough to Plessinger to challenge the points leader for the race win.
Plessinger took the win over Forkner, Martin, Ferrandis (who had another late-race charge for fourth), Forkner’s teammate Joey Savatgy, Hampshire’s teammate Chase Sexton, Plessinger’s teammate Justin Cooper, and then Harrison in 8th and McElrath recovering from the first-turn fall to take 9th. Nichols was 17th and Smith was 20th.
2018 RedBud 250cc National MX Results
Plessinger managed to add another 12 points to his championship lead with his perfect day at RedBud, while Martin lost those 12 points but still finished second overall and sits second in the points standings with five rounds left to run. Ferrandis was third overall on the day with his 3-4 score.
The series takes a weekend off next weekend and returns to action at Spring Creek MX Park in Millville, Minnesota, on July 21st, which is very literally Martin’s home track.
2018 RedBud 250cc National MX Results
2018 RedBud 250cc National MX Results
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