Photos by: Doc Weedon
After locking down his first ever title, winning the 2018 Western Regional 250SX Supercross Championship, Monster Energy / Star Racing / Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger comes into the 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship with high expectations in the 250MX class. At the opener, though, he was nowhere near Zach Osborne and Jeremy Martin. The #23 went 3-4 on the day for 3rd overall, but he was 11 seconds back in moto one and 22 seconds back in moto two.
Well, what a difference a week can make. At round two at Glen Helen, Aaron didn’t holeshot either moto, but he ended up leading all but four laps on his way to a perfect 1-1 performance. In the opening moto, he started right with the red plate holder, Osborne, and checked out to a 12-second win over the #1. In moto two, he started around 5th and by lap five was back into the lead and riding away with another win.
The 1-1 day at Glen Helen moved Aaron into a tie with Osborne atop the Championship standings and will put his #23 on top of a red background heading into round three next weekend at Thunder Valley. While he and Zach will both have it, this will mark the first time Aaron will have a red background on his bike for an outdoor national.
After the race, MotoXAddicts’ Chris Cooksey caught up with Aaron to talk about his perfect day at Glen Helen.
Aaron, big 1-1 for you at Glen Helen. What did you think of the track?
I thought the track was alright. It was definitely a lot deeper than Hangtown was. It got really, really rough in the second moto and I found some really, really good lines. Yeah, it played out perfect for me. (laughs)
Everybody else seemed to have trouble passing, but you seemed to be able to make some moves and make passes. Was it because you were taking some unorthodox lines or what was it? Did you find it hard to pass?
Um, actually, I was getting by guys pretty quick. I think a little bit was I was finding smoother lines and exploring the track a little bit more than those guys were. I think I was a little bit more out of my comfort zone by doing that, and it kind if played out good for me.
Your ride at Hangtown, would you call that a bit of a Supercross hangover? What we saw from you today at Glen Helen was not even comparable to how you rode at Hangtown.
So Hangtown, it was weird. My bike was a little bit off and I didn’t have my sprint speed down. When I went out for the second moto, I just couldn’t get going the way I wanted to. Shoot, in these motos I felt like I could get up to my speed like whenever I wanted to. However I wanted to do it, I was gonna do it. I think a lot of that we can credit to this week because all we did was sprint. Before Hangtown, all we did was pretty much motos. I was good at the end of the motos at Hangtown, but it was too late. I think my sprint speed is what happened.
There were big jumps out there as always at Glen Helen. What did you think of them? Did they tame them down enough for you or would you like to see a little bit more?
I think it was good. I think they tamed them down. I think they knocked down the triple in the back and the double after that. I didn’t really think the finish line was too bad. I think it’s just another jump. It actually played out to be a pretty fun track.
