Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team’s Justin Barcia fought his way back from a mid-pack start to take an impressive second-place finish on a wild night of racing tonight in Atlanta, Georgia. Teammate Aaron Plessinger continues to make progress, scoring his best result so far this season in seventh.
Despite a less than perfect start in 11th, Barcia was a man on a mission. His night was flavored with a combination of speed and capitalizing on rider errors to progress through the pack. With four laps remaining, he passed in the fast left hander to take fourth and then moved into third going into the sand section. He put his head down to chase after second and made his move after the bridge in the final laps of the race to take his third podium of the season, moving him back up to third in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 450SX standings.
Plessinger continues to improve in his sophomore season in the premier class. The 24yr old was able to stay with his teammate in the opening laps but couldn’t mirror Barcia’s rise through the pack on a track that presented very limited passing opportunities. Running a solid race in ninth, he too was able to take advantage of his competitor’s errors and move into seventh in the final moments of the race.
Next up is Round 10 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season at the iconic Daytona International Speedway for the 50th running of the Daytona Supercross in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Saturday, March 7.
Jim Perry Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
We couldn’t be more proud of the effort that the team and Justin put in throughout the day. They made small tweaks on his bike, getting it set up for the Main Event and it really showed. Aaron put in his season-best finish of seventh place. Both guys are happy at the end of the night with their performance. We’re going to go home, work on a couple of things and get ready for the 50th running of the Daytona supercross next week.
Justin Barcia – Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team
What a crazy race! I started middle of the pack and made lots of passes in the beginning. I kind of got into a groove in the middle and was behind a couple guys waiting for some mistakes to capitalize on something. They started falling apart a little and I was able to move into second towards the end and just rode really solid. The track broke down a lot. It was the roughest supercross I’ve ridden in a while, but all in all, I felt really good and the bike was solid. I can’t thank the whole team enough for making good changes on the bike all day and always believing in me.
Aaron Plessinger – Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team
Atlanta was pretty good. It’s the best race I’ve had so far this season and we keep making forward progress. The track was gnarly. It got really rough, really rutted and the whoops broke down a lot. It was a really high paced race to say the least. I felt really good, but got a little off rhythm for a couple laps but got it back an
