When the gate dropped in Detroit marking the start of the 250SX Eastern Region Championship, it didn’t take long before disaster struck for nearly half of the field in the first turn. Many of the championship contenders went down and were unable to make their way back into the top ten by the end of the night. In Arlington the results were once again flipped upside down when race leader Austin Forkner went down hard. As a result, the top four from Arlington were not even in the top 14 in Detroit! Cameron McAdoo and Tom Vialle rounded out the podium in second and third and met with the press after the race to talk about the season so far.
Cameron McAdoo
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider Cameron McAdoo has made a name for himself as being a sort of warrior on the track. He has a never give up attitude that we have seen in years past after he has refused to let crashes keep him down. Even in Detroit a very unusual wardrobe malfunction, a result of that first turn pile up, did not stop McAdoo from finishing.
“This is kind of a warrior’s sport, and all these guys are just as much of a warrior as me. Unfortunately, I've had to, um, show it a little more, but yeah, coming into Detroit, I was pretty behind. I missed pretty much all of December riding and a good portion of January [due to an off-season shoulder injury]. So, I had a few weeks back on the bike and having a heat win was nice and then being involved in that first turn pile up, I messed my knee up pretty good there too. So, I kind of had two nagging things and those were a bit frustrating the last few weeks. But luckily, we had three weeks off and I rode one day last week, so, it was just nice to have a pretty solid, consistent day. Did a lot of laps in practice, had a heat win and then like Haiden [Deegan] talked about hitting his marks. Like that was pretty much the key to this main event because I think that I had maybe three moments that felt fairly significant. And like, what happened to Austin this track was, it was gnarly. So, like it can reach up and bite you and you just really had to be locked in. So, it was encouraging to have just a solid day, after a pretty tough Detroit and I'm just excited to keep building forward and building some strength back and getting some more time on the bike again.”
Some might even think that when riders are dealing with nagging injuries and the track is as technical as Arlington, the best thing to do would be to back it down and play it safe. But not McAdoo, even though he struggled with the same rhythm lane where Forkner went down.
“I think, no, not back it down and play it safe. That's never helpful for me. Like I said, staying locked in is the best thing, we have to race forward. We're so used to trying our hardest every day during the week, and I think when you do start backing it down, that's when it can get even more dangerous. But yeah, that was a pretty big struggle for me, that lane in the main, for some reason. I think I have some things to change up, but yeah, I had two pretty big frame cases right there and then I 50/50 off the side of the whoops. So, at that point, I just knew I needed to kind of use some alternate lines and do what I could do best consistently because that line wasn't working for me.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Tom Vialle | Avignon, France  | 172 |
| 2 |  Haiden Deegan | Temecula, CA  | 168 |
| 3 |  Coty Schock | Dover, DE | 132 |
| 4 |  Pierce Brown | Sandy, UT | 131 |
| 5 |  Max Anstie | Newbury, England, United Kingdom  | 125 |
| 6 |  Cameron McAdoo | Sioux City, IA | 120 |
| 7 |  Chance Hymas | Pocatello, ID | 116 |
| 8 |  Jalek Swoll | Belleview, FL | 116 |
| 9 |  Daxton Bennick | Morganton, NC | 111 |
| 10 |  Seth Hammaker | Bainbridge, PA | 95 |
Tom Vialle | 3rd
It seems strange to think that Arlington marked Deegan's first supercross win, and also strange that it marked the first career supercross podium for two-time MX2 World Champion Vialle. His podium finish was even more impressive considering he had a scary get off in timed qualifying in the same rhythm section as Forkner.
“Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty happy to be on the podium. I actually had kind of the same crash as Austin in the practice," he said. "I kicked a little bit, then over and then it went a little bit to the right and I went to the left, but I was pretty happy to be healthy after that crash. And I didn't have a good heat race, but I rode way better in the main event. My start wasn't that good, but I came like from sixth or seventh or something and then back to third. I'm pretty happy. I mean, I rode consistent the whole moto and I just need a better start to be fighting upfront.”
With so many crashes at the start of the East Region, it feels similar to the two mud races to start the season in the 450 class, as it is hard to really tell after two rounds where everyone stacks up. McAdoo and Vialle are looking to keep it on the podium again in Daytona, but with a stacked field, and, well being Daytona, there is no saying what is going to happen next in this series.
