For anyone who hasn’t seen the first 450 moto from the second round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Hangtown, go back and watch the reply on Peacock. Aaron Plessinger and Eli Tomac put on an exciting race out front. Unfortunately for Aaron, this was the second year in a row where he led almost an entire moto at this track just to be passed at the end. Only last year it was his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Chase Sexton who passed him on the last lap on his way from last to first. And this year he had the four-time champ, Tomac breathing down his neck. It would have been Plessinger's first career 450 moto win.
Fans of the Cowboy were hoping he could hold off Tomac but Aaron said after the race he misjudged the number of laps left:
“I just felt really good that first moto and I just wanted to see how long I could go, pretty much. And I knew it was hot, but I misjudged the timing. I thought there were two laps to go about four laps to go, and when I got the two-lap board, I thought it was the finish. And I looked back like, ‘You gave me the wrong thing.’ It was supposed to be the checkered flag. So that kind of put a damper in things and Eli got around me and I blew myself up trying to sprint a couple of laps before that… So, second overall on the day, I am pumped on it, and hopefully it is a little cooler next weekend.”
So, how does one make that big of an error in professional racing? Well remember it was hot at Hangtown, so hot that officials shortened the length of the second moto by five minutes for the rider’s safety. Also, Aaron was going for his first ever 450 moto win with Tomac in Beast Mode right behind him. Who could possibly think straight in those conditions? Aaron knew he needed to sprint; he just did it a little too soon.
“I don’t really know," he said. "I thought I saw the two-lap board, I guess. I don’t really know. It was like 99 degrees that first moto, I don’t know, maybe I saw something on the pit board? I don’t really know what I saw. I definitely thought it was going to be the finish way earlier than what it was and I got the two-lap board and I was like, ‘Ehhh no, that shouldn’t be there.’ [Laughs] Eli got close to me probably five, six laps to go and I was like, ‘All right, I’ve got to sprint.’ So, I sprinted and that’s when I saw whatever it was that I saw and I was like, ‘All right I can sprint for another lap,’ and I did. And I didn’t see anything at the finish, and I was like, ‘Crap. This is going to be bad.' Because my heart rate was about 180 and it was very, very hot and it was just not a good mixture. I blew myself up for sure.”
It only takes a look to the 250 class to understand how much the timing of sprint laps matters. Behind Haiden Deegan in front, the riders in the 250 class get shuffled around more than a deck of cards, depending on when each rider decides to sprint. Some riders sprint too early, especially in the heat, only to get passed by the same riders a few laps later. It happens.
Jason Weigandt caught up with the team manager at KTM, Ian Harrison on the Weege Show after the race and he commented, “I think he was seeing stars the last few, so then he was like, ‘Well how many is left?’ and then he lost count.” However, he also had this to say about the way AP has been riding so far this summer, “I am seeing the best Aaron Plessinger I have ever seen on my team.”
That’s quite the compliment. And it is well deserved too as Aaron has podiumed three out of the first four motos to start the season, and during that first moto at Hangtown when he was leading, he set the fastest time of the moto, 0.3 faster than Tomac and a half of a second faster than Jett Lawrence. Aaron said he wants to be a contender for wins this summer, and if he keeps it up, he could very well be.
