Barcia Scores a Top-Five Finish and Brown Shines Bright with a Heat-Race Win
With Round 7 of the AMA Supercross Championship heading east, Pierce Brown joined teammate Justin Barcia and the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing squad in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the opening round of the 250SX East division. Barcia made the most of a challenging night, rallying back for a solid top-five result in the 450SX class, while Brown kicked things off with an impressive heat-race win and a strong sixth in his first Main Event of 2022.
- Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing kicked off the eastern tour in Minnesota
- Justin Barcia scores a top-five finish on the MC 450F
- Pierce Brown sealed the deal with his first heat-race win on the MC 250F!
With a fourth-place start in his heat, Barcia made his way into third halfway into the race and he set his sights on the battle ahead. Unfortunately, he pushed a little too hard and lost the front-end, dropping him back to eighth late in the race. He put up a good fight to secure a seventh-place transfer into the main.
With a bad gate pick for the Main Event, Barcia found himself back in ninth on the opening lap. He put his head down and got to work right away, making moves to put himself just outside the top-five battle heading into the final laps. With the misfortune of a couple riders up front, Barcia was able to execute late in the race to secure himself a top-five finish on the night.
Justin Barcia: "It’s cool to have the east coast guys back, I had a lot of fun with PB in the truck today! I was riding well in the heat, making a comeback and got a little whiskey throttle and ended up crashing, so that put me back pretty far. I had a bad gate pick from the heat race but I made the most of it in the main and put in a fight, it was definitely difficult! I struggled a lot, it was one of the harder nights riding-wise but all-in-all I salvaged a fifth, which was crazy because the ride didn’t feel that well at all. I’ll take the fifth and move on from here and keep on grinding.”
For Brown, there was no such thing as first-round jitters as he rocketed his MC 250F into second off the line in the heat race. He quickly moved into the lead and he never looked back, checking out from the rest of the pack to seal the deal on his first heat-race win!
Getting a mid-pack start in the Main Event, Brown had his work cut out for him as he worked his way into 10th by the second lap. He made a few more moves to climb into eighth early on and he kept hammering toward the top-five battle. Sitting in seventh with two laps to go, Brown made a swift last-lap pass to take the checkered in sixth.
Pierce Brown: “Today went pretty smooth for the most part. I got a heat-win under my belt, so that felt good. In the Main Event, I didn’t get the start I needed and I just had to play around with those guys back there, it was tough to make passes. That kind of dictated my night but I’m happy to come out with a sixth place. I’ve got some stuff to work on for next week but for the most part I’m stoked – I checked some things off the list tonight and I’m amped for next weekend!”
The Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing Team heads to Arlington, Texas for Round 8 on Saturday, February 26.
Results – 2022 AMA Supercross Championship, Round 7
450SX – Main Event Results
1. Jason Anderson (Kawasaki) 26 laps; 2. Cooper Webb (KTM) +02.833; 3. Marvin Musquin (KTM) +15.086 … 5. Justin Barcia (GASGAS); 21. Justin Starling (GASGAS)
250SX East – Main Event Results
1. Jett Lawrence (Honda) 20 laps; 2. Austin Forkner (Kawasaki) +05.349; 3. Cameron Mcadoo (Kawasaki) +07.134 … 6. Pierce Brown (GASGAS)
Championship Standings – After Round 7
450SX
1. Eli Tomac (Yamaha) 151pts; 2. Jason Anderson (Kawasaki) 148; 3. Malcolm Stewart (Husqvarna) 131; 4. Justin Barcia (GASGAS) 128
250SX East
1. Jett Lawrence (Honda) 26pts; 2. Austin Forkner (Kawasaki) 23; 3. Cameron Mcadoo (Kawasaki) 21 … 6. Pierce Brown (GASGAS) 17