Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team made its first stop on the east coast with Justin Barcia racing to a top-10 finish at High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. While the weather was beautiful, the track was quick to get choppy and rutted, making it difficult to pass. Dean Ferris was able to make the most of his decent starts to finish just behind his teammate in 11th.

The track at High Point Raceway is known to be more technical with a lot of off-camber sections, including a new section the riders had to learn for 2019. Barcia had to come through the pack in Moto 1 after a tough start in 16th, and steadily picked off riders to make it up to 10th. Moto 2 was much better on the start for him, running in the top five, but he got shuffled back into 10th and finished off the day to score 10-10 for 10th overall.

Australian Ferris was hopeful that his familiarity of the High Point Raceway circuit would help. As many riders struggled to keep it on two wheels, he was able to stay consistent throughout the opening moto and finish just behind his teammate in 11th. The second moto was almost deja vu as he came around the first lap in 12th, making his move on 11th early and riding steady to the end of the moto to finish the day 11th overall with an 11-11 tally.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team are back next weekend for the first trip to WW Ranch Motocross Park in Jacksonville, Florida on June 22.

Jim Perry

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“Today did not go as planned. Both Justin and Dean have been working hard these past two weeks, but unfortunately the results didn’t show it today. Both guys struggled with the high-speed, choppy, Mount Morris track and could never get comfortable. Justin got a great start in the second moto and ran towards the front of the pack with the leaders, however, he was just unable to hold that pace and eventually slid back to finish inside the top 10. We’re looking forward to heading to Florida and we’ll spend some time making improvements and come back full steam at the WW Ranch next weekend.”

Justin Barcia

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing

“Not the day we wanted, obviously. I struggled a bit getting comfortable with the setup and things like that. We definitely are going to work hard and try to figure it out to be really good for Jacksonville. On a positive note, I had a really good start in the second moto I. I just didn’t have a good, comfortable feeling today overall. We’ve got to regroup and put the not-so-great finishes behind us and move forward into next weekend. I believe that we’ll figure out how to get that comfort and when the time is right, we’ll be right there. All in all, not the best day, but a few positives to take out of it. We have to do a lot of work to get where we want to be.”

Dean Ferris

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing

“Today I qualified twelfth and went 11-11, so I guess that’s where I belonged at the moment. I really struggled to go with the faster guys, which was kind of disappointing for me as I went so well here three years ago. We’ll keep trucking forward and keep trying to improve.”

2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 450 Class Thunder Valley MX Park Results

1.Eli Tomac (3-2)

2. Ken Roczen (6-1)

3. Jason Anderson (2-5)

4. Cooper Webb (7-3)

5. Zach Osborne (5-4)

6. Marvin Musquin (4-7)

7. Blake Baggett (1-15)

8. Joey Savatgy (8-6)

9. Justin Bogle (9-8)

10. Justin Barcia (10-10)

11. Dean Ferris (11-11)

 

2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 450 Class Standings

1. Ken Roczen 136

2. Eli Tomac 134

3. Zach Osborne 110

4. Marvin Musquin 107

5. Jason Anderson 106

6. Cooper Webb 98

7. Justin Barcia 77

8. Dean Ferris 69

9. Justin Bogle 63

10. Blake Baggett 61

Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.