It’s official. Martin Davalos has fired the first shot of the 250SX East Championship after topping a wild and eventful night in the Georgia Dome, round one of the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross Eastern Regional 250SX Series. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna racer, now in his 11th year of pro racing, celebrated his third career win, and did so in dominant fashion, leading nearly wire to wire. In second place was Malcolm Stewart, who many had their eyes on in Atlanta after he put down some blazing fast laps in qualifying. Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger turned a lot of heads after he fought his way through the pack to round out the podium in third.
Martin Davalos topped his qualifying heat race, besting Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Tyler Bowers and KTM rookie Dakota Alix. The second 250SX heat of the night was the start of some wild incidents, as several riders got stuck in the starting gate. The race was red-flagged for a complete re-start that saw Stewart jump out front ahead of Shane McElrath. Troy Lee Designs Red Bull KTM rider McElrath went on to have a nearly disastrous night after that.
In the 250SX main, McElrath got the jump over the field only to get bounced off the track in the first turn and drop all the way back to dead last. Davalos quickly found his way around R.J. Hampshire, Alix and Darryn Durham to secure the lead. He simply never looked back from there, but if he had, he would have seen quite a bit of excitement as Bowers, Durham, Jeremy Martin and Plessinger mixed it up.
Stewart was another who quickly dispensed of the lead riders to get out front, working his way into second place behind Davalos, and the two pulled clear of the field. But it wouldn’t be enough to completely keep him out of trouble. Several laps into the main, McElrath had worked his way up to about 15th from the bottom of the field only to crash again in the sand section. Stewart didn’t see the downed KTM until he was already in the air, and could only watch as he came down and crashed into McElrath’s bike. Fortunately the two riders did not appear hurt.
“That was totally my fault,” Stewart said. “I didn’t see him down until he picked his bike up and I was already committed and I was like, ‘Oh boy, get ready for the ride…’ I don’t know who it was but I just wanted to say sorry, man!”
The two nearly got together again as Stewart was lapping McElrath a second time, and McElrath pulled off the track after the near miss.
Stewart lost time on Davalos, but did not lose his hold on second place in the meantime. Martin Davalos’ lead had stretched to 10 seconds, but Stewart quickly closed the gap back up, and was only four seconds off at the finish.
It was still a decisive victory for Davalos, his third career supercross win. Despite a smooth and incident-free ride, Davalos admits it was a rather wild night in Atlanta.
“I got caught up with a lot of lappers,” Martin Davalos said from the podium. “It was pretty dangerous out there. People were going left and right. I’m glad I could keep it on two wheels and was able to get my first win for Husqvarna.”
Stewart was happy to take second place – a good jumping off point for the season, although he is looking forward to getting to the top of the podium, and if his lap times are any indication, he will likely get there.
Plessinger had an impressive ride, as fourth-place finisher Jeremy Martin, but Justin Hill – who rounded out the top-five – was the hard-charger of the night, having stormed through nearly the entire field (everyone except McElrath) going from 21st to fifth place in the main.
Atlanta Supercross 250SX Main Event Results:
- Martin Davalos (Hus)
- Malcolm Stewart (Hon)
- Aaron Plessinger (Yam)
- Jeremy Martin (Yam)
- Justin Hill (KTM)
- R.J. Hampshire (Hon)
- Darryn Durham (Yam)
- Tyler Bowers (Kaw)
- Alexander Frye (KTM)
- Jimmy Albertson (Suz)
