Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team’s Dylan Ferrandis Returns to the Top at Washougal2019-07-30 07:56As the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross 250MX title chase winds down, Dylan Ferrandis scored an important victory in both motos to take the overall and maximum points at round 9 of the championship at Washougal MX Park on Saturday, July 27. His teammate Justin Cooper ended the day third (2-4), the fifth double podium this season for the Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing squad. Colt Nichols salvaged an eighth-place finish overall (5-9), with rookie Ty Masterpool finishing 13th (12-15) and Mitchell Oldenburg further back in 16th (37-11). When it came to the starts, the Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing prepped YZ250F proved to be a weapon with all five rocketing up front out of the gate. The team kept their impressive holeshot record – 11 out of 18 so far, this season – with Cooper taking the honors in Moto 1 and Nichols in Moto 2. From there Ferrandis was the man to beat, holding off the competition and eventually besting his teammate. The Frenchman took the lead from Cooper in the whoops section and maintained the top spot to the checkers. In the second moto, Ferrandis didn’t waste any time getting to the front, passing his fellow bLU cRU rider Nichols at Horsepower Hill. Although he had the lead early, he had his work cut out. His title rival Adam Cianciarulo pulled out all the stops and pressured him throughout the race making for a thrilling last lap as Ferrandis held on to the win by .548 of a second to take the overall. The result on the day was important for the championship battle as he closed the gap to 28 points with three rounds remaining. Cooper, who maintains a healthy third place in championship standings at 346, was looking to return to the top this weekend. The New Yorker got off to a great start with the holeshot, and while he lost a position to his French teammate, he was able to hold on to the runner-up spot in the first moto. He got another good start in the second moto, but was unable to capitalize on it and found himself shuffled back in eighth. Cooper fought back and charged his way up to fourth. The 21yr old kept pushing hard to try and take third, but a bobble had him looking at the bigger picture – championship points and the final spot on the podium. The other holeshot winner on the day, Nichols, was also unable to capitalize on his starts. In the first moto, he got shuffled back to sixth. He was able to work his way into the top five, but a mistake had him on the ground and having to go to work all over again from 10th. Nichols never gave up and was able to fight his way back to fifth. In the second moto, his start was stellar, but the Oklahoman lost his early lead to his teammate. He got shuffled further back to fourth then another error had him back on the ground and having to salvage a ninth-place finish to take eighth overall. The day also proved tough for both Masterpool and Oldenburg. The rookie had to work his way back through the pack to finish 12th after a crash in the first moto, and managed a 15th-place finish in the second moto to end the day 13th overall. As for Oldenburg, bad luck found him caught up with a lapper, ending his race early in Moto 1. A bit beat up, the Minnesotan rallied for the second moto to finish 11th and salvage a 16th overall finish. The Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing team gets a weekend off before heading back east to New Berlin, New York, for round 10 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at Unadilla on August 10. Wil Hahn Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team Manager “Today was a great way to bounce back after a tough day last weekend in Millville. The starts were great! Going 1-1 on the day was important for the title fight, and was great to have another double podium. We’re looking forward to a week off before the final stretch. We look to keep this momentum rolling into these last three rounds.” Dylan Ferrandis Dylan Ferrandis Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team “The track is always slippery at Washougal, but today it was a bit worst due to the bit of rain we got all morning. I still had a lot of fun riding today. I got two very good starts and was really happy with myself. I had good battle with AC [Adam Cianciarulo] in the second moto. We made a good show for the fans, I hope they liked it and I look forward to watching it later myself. I’m pretty pumped about winning both motos today. It’s a good bounce back after my bad weekend in Millville. I look forward to racing again in two weeks at Unadilla.” Justin Cooper Justin Cooper Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team “The bike was really good this weekend! A couple mistakes in the motos, but nothing we can’t recover from. The conditions were really good with it misting in the morning, the track was moist all day and pretty rough. It was difficult to be consistent with the slick lines out there and that cost me a couple of times especially in the first moto when I lost the lead. It was good day overall, though. I’m still looking to get back to the top, but I feel we are headed in the right direction.” Colt Nichols Colt Nichols Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team “My YZ250F was awesome today. The track was technical, but honestly really good. I got an awesome start in the second moto, I just didn’t ride smart and ended up on the ground in both races. That was disappointing, but we have a few rounds left to put it all together and get the result we are looking for.” Ty Masterpool Ty Masterpool Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team “It was tough conditions out there. It felt like I was on a concrete road with dirt on it and potholes everywhere, but it was a new track for me and I learned a lot. The bike was great like always. I’m ready to get back to work and I’m looking forward to the last few rounds.” Mitchell Oldenburg Mitchell Oldenburg Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team “It was a bit of a rough day, but not terrible. Practice went really well. I was really feeling good, loving the track. In the first moto, I was running I think fifth or sixth and just got together with a lapper. I think he looked back to get out of the way and actually when he looked back, turned right into me and T-boned me. I went down off the track and twisted my ankle a bit. So overall, a decent rebound for the second moto in 11th. We’re still building. I’m looking forward to Unadilla and getting next weekend off to get stronger and fitter for the last three rounds.” 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 250 Class Washougal Results 1. Dylan Ferrandis (1-1) 2. Adam Cianciarulo (3-2) 3. Justin Cooper (2-4) 4. Michael Mosiman (7-3) 5. Chase Sexton (4-6) 6. RJ Hampshire (8-5) 7. Cameron Mcadoo (6-8) 8. Colt Nichols (5-9) 9. Alex Martin (13-7) 10. Brandon Hartranft (9-12) 13. Ty Masterpool (12-15) 16. Mitchell Oldenburg (37-11) 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 250 Class Standings 1. Adam Cianciarulo 394 2. Dylan Ferrandis 366 3. Justin Cooper 346 4. Colt Nichols 261 6. RJ Hampshire 254 4. Hunter Lawrence 233 7. Alex Martin 229 8. Michael Mosiman 220 9. Chase Sexton 214 10. Shane McElrath 181 11. Ty Masterpool 144 20. Mitchell Oldenburg 62 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team’s Justin Barcia Takes Top-10 Finish at Washougal It was another tough Lucas Oil Pro Motocross round for the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team at Washougal MX Park on Saturday, July 27. Justin Barcia led the way, scoring another top-10 finish (10-9), whilst teammate Aaron Plessinger rebounded from a DNS in the first moto to end the day 17th overall (40-13). Once again, starts proved to be the Achilles’ heel for the team’s veteran rider Barcia, who found himself outside of the top twenty in the first moto. Never willing to give up, the Florida resident put his head down and quickly worked his way to 13th at the end of the first lap. He then moved up into the 10th, but had fight his way back to a top-10 finish after coming together with a lapper around the halfway mark. In the second moto, Barcia got a better start, but still had to battle his way back from 15th to ninth to take 10th overall. The day didn’t start much better for his rookie teammate. A technical issue on the sight lap prevented Plessinger from starting the first moto. That misfortune put him at a disadvantage in the second moto with the last gate pick in 40th. The 2018 Pro Motocross 250MX Champion didn’t let that discourage him and went to work through the pack to cross the line 13th at the end of the 30-minute-plus-two-lap moto. Jim Perry Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager “Washougal was a tough one. The track was tough, slick and hard to find a groove, but starts were definitely our downfall. In moto one Justin suffered a poor start outside the top twenty. He rode solid race and worked his way up to 10th. In the second moto, he started a little bit better but was only able to finish inside the top 10 in ninth. For Aaron, things looked to be going well, however in the first moto we had a technical problem that didn’t allow him to start the race. He came back in the second moto, but didn’t get the best gate pick and had to start on the far outside. He rode hard all moto long, but was outside the top 10. Definitely a tough day. We will take this next weekend off, regroup, work on our starts and come back at Unadilla, a place where both guys have had solid results.” Untitled Justin Barcia Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing “We struggled a little bit this morning, made lots of little changes all day. In the first moto, got a bad start again. I charged through the pack up to the top 10. I passed a lapper and got taken out, so that kind of put me back a little bit, but still managed to finish 10th. Then got another bad start in the second moto, which is frustrating. I can’t figure those out at the moment. I just charged as far as I could forward and rode the best I could today. It was a tough one, but just going to keep working and getting better and move forward.” Untitled Aaron Plessinger Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing “It was kind of a struggle all day. I didn’t really have that great of a practice time, was struggling with the whole bike, pretty much. Went out for the first moto. Went for the sight lap and my clutch started slipping really bad. We tried to fix it but then the clutch started to not work at all, so I didn’t make the first moto. Went out for the second moto and had the 40th gate pick and got a really bad start. I just tried to charge as hard as I could. We’re going to keep trying to make improvements and spend time down in Florida now. It was a really tough day. Hopefully we can come back and rebound at Unadilla.” 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 450 Class Washougal Results 1. Eli Tomac (1-1) 2. Ken Roczen (2-3) 3. Marvin Musquin (5-2) 4. Cooper Webb (3-5) 5. Jason Anderson (4-7) 6. Zach Osborne (9-4) 7. Joey Savagty(6-6) 8. Fredrik Noren (8-8) 9. Dean Wilson (7-10) 10. Justin Barcia (10-9) 17. Aaron Plessinger (40-13) 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 450 Class Standings 1. Eli Tomac 392 2. Marvin Musquin 342 3. Ken Roczen 335 4. Cooper Webb 324 5. Jason Anderson 304 6. Zach Osborne 295 7. Justin Barcia 221 8. Justin Bogle 185 9. Fredrik Noren 182 10. Blake Baggett 175 22. Aaron Plessinger 48 Source: Yamaha Motor Europe Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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