Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team’s Justin Barcia put on a show for the fans in the first moto at Unadilla in New Berlin, New York as he rode with a new confidence and came away with a third in the opening moto. His 3-10 moto scores pushed him to sixth overall. Teammate Aaron Plessinger ran into trouble in moto one after a good start and did what he could to salvage the day, going 31-18 for 20th overall.
After putting in many hours at the test track in between rounds, the hard work paid off big for Barcia. His newfound confidence had him pushing through the extreme rutted course after a mid-pack start. Despite the challenges of the course, Barcia looked comfortable and pushed his way all the way up to third to finish with his first moto podium of the season. He was on track to repeat his performance from moto one when he went down on the opening lap. Barcia got up as quickly as he could but had already fallen to 15th. He put on a good charge and finished 10th in the moto to score sixth overall.
The opening moto started well for Plessinger who came around the first lap in eighth, but he quickly moved down the charts when he felt something was not right with his bike. After being scored 31st, he didn’t have a great gate pick for moto two, making for a tough start in 28th. Plessinger put his head down to move through the riders in front of him, eventually making it up to 18th. His 31-18 finish put him 20th overall and ready to come back swinging at the next round.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team returns next weekend for round 11 of the Pro Motocross Championship in Mechanicsville, Maryland for the Budds Creek National on August 18.
Jim Perry
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“The first half of the season has definitely been a grind, however, the team has been working hard and I think it shows. These last couple of weeks we’ve made some progress and finally got a positive result. As the season winds down, we’ll head to Budds Creek next weekend which has been a good track for both guys. We’ll take what we’ve learned today, move on and look to have a solid finish next week.”
Justin Barcia
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team