Australasian Dirt Bike – June 2019

http://www.adbmag.com.au JUNE 2019| 23

Out

of

luck

KTM’SMARVINMUSQUIN

musthavebeenridingwithhis

eyesshutorbeendistractedby

wifeMathildestanding

tracksidewhenhejumped

throughthemedicalflagat

Seattle.TheRedCrossflag

THERE’SNEVERAgood

timetosufferaninjurybut

whileleadingthe250SXEast

CoastChampionshipwithtwo

roundsremaininghastobeone

oftheworst.Kawasaki’sAustin

Forknerwasleadingthetitleby

26 pointsgoingintoNashville

butcrashedinthewhoops

duringpractice,hurtinghis

knee.Hecouldnotridetherest

ofthenight,whichleftthedoor

openforrivalsChaseSexton

(Honda)andJustinCooper

(Yamaha)toclawbacksome

valuablepoints.Instead,they

decidedtotakeeachotherout

ontheopeninglapoftheMain.

SextonandCooper’santics

minimisedthepointsdamage

but,withnoresultforForkner,

thepairclosedtowithinthree

andsevenpointsrespectively.

KENROCZENMAYbe

earningapacketfrom

Honda,butnomoneyinthe

worldcanbuyhimluck.

Maybeit’stheHonda

Hoodoo,butRoczen’syear

sofarhasbeentough.

Beingdeniedthewinin

ArlingtonbyKTM’sCooper

Webbintheclosest-ever

AMASupercrossfinishmust

havehurt,butthingsdidn’t

getanybetter.

Acrashintheopeninglap

oftheMainEventat

DaytonaputtheGerman

waybackinthepackafter

qualifyingsecondfastest.

Hefinishedeighth.Atthe

nextround,Indianapolis,

Roczenstruggledallnight,

qualifyingtenththen

finishingeighthintheMain.

Thingsgotbetteratthe

followingroundinSeattle

andRoczenfoundthe

secondsteponthepodium.

ButattheHoustonTriple

Crownhecameout

swinging,winningthe

openingracebeforeasmall

crashinRaceTwoforced

himoffthetrack.Helined

upforthethirdandfinal

racebutcouldonlymanage

eighth.

InNashville,thingsdidn’t

getanybetter.While

runninginthird,Joey

Savatgycrashedinfrontof

Roczen,takinghimout.

Roczenremountedbut

couldonlyclimbbackupto

eighth.Weseeapattern

developing.

EYES WIDE

SHUT

BAD

TIMING

IT’S BEEN A rough start to

the season for the Pirelli MX

Nationals. After months of

drought in various parts of

Australia it seemed that a

large dose of rain-in-lieu

arrived in one cloud

positioned directly above

Appin motocross track.

Anyone familiar with Appin

will know what it’s like in the

wet and, after running the

opening motos for all classes

in torrential rain, the

organisers called it a day.

The track was unrideable

due to the amount of water

and the Overalls were

awarded based on fi rst-moto

results. Thank goodness for

pressure washers.

RAIN

CHECK

means wheels on the ground

and, with riders strewn

across the track from a fi rst

lap pile-up involving Chad

Reed, Marvin obviously

wasn’t paying attention.

He went on to win the Main

and wasn’t docked any

positions but lost seven

championship points which,

at the pointy end of the

championship, might prove a

signifi cant penalty.