2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Round Five – Oakland Coliseum
By Trevor Hedge – Images by Hoppenworld
250 SX Final
All three Australians made it through to the 250 Main with Jay Wilson, Aaron Tanti and Luke Clout earning their spot on the start gates after some impressive performances in the heat races.
Luke Clout was right in the thick of it from the off in Oakland
Come the Main it was the #101 Penrite Honda that was the fast starter of the Aussies in fourth place as the riders negotiated lap one.
Luke Clout
Out front was Alex Martin, Austin Forkner and Dylan Ferrandis.
Alex Martin
Forkner worked his way past Alex Martin a couple of laps into the race and Ferrandis then pushed the Suzuki man further back to third.
While fighting for seventh place Mosiman went down and a number of riders then got caught up in the incident, including Falk and Hayes. Jay Wilson also lost a lot of time caught up on a tough block while trying to get around the melee that had been caused by Mosiman, losing almost ten positions in the process.
Up front Forkner was maintaining the lead but was being chased hard by Ferrandis.
Martin was still in third place ahead of Clout but Justin Cooper was starting to close in on both men as he mounted a challenge for the final step on the podium.
Justin Cooper eventually got the better of Clout
Cooper slipped past Clout with ten-minutes remaining in the moto, demoting the Aussie to fifth. The 25-year-old then came under pressure from Hartranft with five-minutes remaining, his fifth place finish was under threat.
Dylan Ferrandis then put a somewhat controversial move on Forkner for the race lead, the Kawasaki man taking avoiding action from a charging Ferrandis, the two never made hard contact but the Frenchman is currently on probation after another questionable move at a previous round on Christian Craig. This incident though looked clean enough from my perspective and Ferrandis came out the other side with a two-second lead over Forkner.
Once past Forkner Frenchman Dylan Ferrandis pulled away to a clear victory
Clout withstood the pressure from Hartranft well but with a minute left in the moto the KTM man did manage to slip by and take that fifth position. On the final lap though Hartranft made a mistake and slipped back to eighth which allowed Clout back through to secure a fifth place finish. The South Australian was also the first Honda home and is now eighth in the championship standings.
Luke Clout
Justin Cooper stole third place from Alex Martin in the dying stages of the race then pulled away with apparent ease to secure that final step on the podium.
At the chequered flag it was Ferrandis the clear victor over Forkner and the defending champion now leads the 250 West Championship by two-points. Ferrandis was loudly booed by the crowd as he was being interviewed after the race. Forkner made no complaint about the move in his post-race interview and owned up to simply just making a mistake.
Dylan Ferrandis the victor
Aaron Tanti carded a top ten finish, a strong ninth to the Serco Yamaha man. Jay Wilson recovered to 16th place after losing a lot of time in the incident involving Mosiman early in the race.
Aaron Tanti
250 Video Highlights
250 SX Results/Standings
Source: MCNews.com.au