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After a tough start to the day at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing’s Dylan Ferrandis scored a hard fought second-place finish to help his title defense in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX West Championship. His teammate Justin Cooper finished fourth in the demanding conditions in Salt Lake City. With a four-month break since the last 250SX West race in San Diego, both Ferrandis and Cooper were eager to get back to battling for the title. That battle was fever pitch when the gate dropped in the Heat races. Ferrandis got off a great start and led the first three laps before an incident with another rider had him over the bars and in the dirt. He quickly rejoined and worked his way back to finish fifth. Cooper also had a tough Heat race. The New Yorker got off to a bad start and had to work his way back from seventh to finish fourth. In the Main Event, Cooper redeemed himself with the holeshot, but unfortunately was passed early. A little further back, the reigning champ got off to a good start from his less than ideal gate pick and was right in the thick of it in the top five. The stacked Western division made for an intense battle in the challenging conditions in Salt Lake City. Cooper fell back to third and shortly after, he lost the position to his teammate in the whoops and maintained fourth all the way to the finish. The fast Frenchman kept his forward charge and made the pass for second right after the finish line jump. Ferrandis continued to put his head down to try and chase down the leader, but ultimately had to settle for the runner-up position. In the end, it was a good result looking at the championship picture as he holds onto the red plate with a 10-point lead. Unfortunately for Cooper, finishing fourth dropped him to third in the standings, 11 points behind Ferrandis. The team returns to action this Sunday for Round 8 of the Western Regional 250SX class (Round 15 of the series) on June 14 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Wil Hahn – Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing Team Manager “Today started out great with Justin and Dylan qualifying 1-2, then we had two challenging Heat races. We came out of the gate strong for the Main, but we just lacked the intensity when it counted. We’re going to go back to work and come back stronger on Sunday.” Dylan Ferrandis – Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing “It was a difficult day for me. I kind of struggled to set up the bike. We had too much power and I needed to try different things to get the bike the way I wanted. The crash in Heat race didn’t help too much and I got a bad gate pick in the Main. I just put my head down and gave everything I had to finish second, which is not too bad in the big picture of the championship.” Justin Cooper – Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing “The conditions were very tough today. I need to rebound on Sunday to try and close the points gap. I’m definitely disappointed in my day, but we will regroup and I will come back ready and do better.” |
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