Steve Cox | April 1, 2017
2017 St. Louis 250 Supercross Results: If you’re going to get hot, do it at the end of a championship. While Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne has still won more races than anybody else in the 2017 250cc Eastern Regional Supercross Series, a fluke front-wheel problem in Detroit a week ago has set him back significantly. Osborne came into the St. Louis Supercross trailing Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy by 10 points in the title chase. But it was TLD/Red Bull KTM’s Jordon Smith who once again capitalized (and closed in ever closer to Savatgy in the championship hunt).
2017 St. Louis 250 Supercross Results
Smith was actually the racer who, coming from the far outside in Detroit, cut across Osborne’s front wheel – very likely unintentionally – in the first turn, causing Osborne some broken spokes and leading to a lackluster 18th place for the points leader at the time. Smith ended up winning that event, the first of his career.
Fast-forward a week to St. Louis, and Osborne set a blistering pace on the way to his heat-race victory at the beginning of the night, but when the main event got underway, it was Savatgy jumping out to the early lead while Osborne finished lap one in 8th place. Smith was close enough to keep Savatgy honest in the early going, and Savatgy – for the second race in a row – made a costly error all by himself out front, cross-rutting and going off the track, relinquishing the lead to Smith.
By this point, Osborne found himself in third place, and with the times he was putting up earlier in the night, it was easy to assume he would quickly join the lead duo out front, but although he did eke himself up into striking distance on a couple of occasions, he could never stay close enough to mount a serious challenge.
Just as a week earlier, Smith held off the hard charging Savatgy at the finish line, with Osborne coming in a somewhat-distant third, followed by Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis and GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig. Behind Craig came Savatgy’s teammate Adam Cianciarulo, who started inside the top five but fell back o sixth at the finish.
The points standings now show Savatgy still leading by six points over Smith, with Osborne six points further back, and then Cianciarulo six points further back still, with only two rounds left to run.
Next weekend, the 250cc West gets back up and running in Seattle, while the East takes a hiatus until the penultimate round in New Jersey on April 29th. That’s a long time to think about how the last two rounds are going to go for the four guys with a mathematical shot at the title.
2017 St. Louis 250 Supercross Results
2017 St. Louis 250 Supercross Results
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