Broc Tickle to Fill in for Aaron Plessinger with Monster Energy Yamaha
After Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racin's Aaron Plessinger suffered a dislocated wrist while training last week, the team announced he could miss up to 12 weeks while he recovers.
Steve Matthes had reported earlier this week that Broc Tickle was testing with the Yamaha squad this week in order to fill Plessinger's spot for the 2020 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship (slated to begin August 15).
Sounds like Tickle going to test ride the factory Yamaha for potential AP fill-in & yes, I thought he had a deal
— Steve Matthes (@pulpmx) July 22, 2020
with JGR Suzuki also 🤷🏻♂️
This afternoon, Yamaha announced that Tickle had officially been added to the team to fill Plessinger's spot aboard a Yamaha YZ450F.
“I’m super excited about this opportunity and grateful to be a part of the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team for the outdoor season that starts up here in a couple weeks,” said Tickle. “For myself, I’m just really looking forward to it. It’s a great opportunity, and a good group of people around me. We’ll start off at Loretta’s and build from there.”
“Unfortunately, Aaron was injured last week just as we were ramping up for the start of the motocross season,” said Jim Roach Yamaha Racing Department Manager for YMUS. “We are excited to have someone with Broc’s experience on the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory team and are looking forward to getting the Pro Motocross season started!”
Following an FIM suspension sentence from 2018 after a failed an anti-doping test, Tickle was allowed to compete in an AMA race again in February 2020 and he was signed by the JGRMX/Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing team as a 450SX fill-in for injured riders Joey Savatgy and Fredrik Noren. In the 2020 Tampa Supercross—his first AMA race since the 2018 Seattle Supercross on April 7, 2018—Tickle finished 12th. He finished 20th in the 450SX standings of the 2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship with a season-best sixth at the final round Salt Lake City 7 Supercross.
Tickle's deal with JGRMX was supercross-only but the team was expected to provide him support throughout this summer. However, when Plessinger suffered his injury and Yamaha reached out to Tickle, he was able take the spot under the Yamaha tent.
