AMA Supercross Points Leaders Extend Their Advantages, More Trouble for McAdoo

Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, GA — April 17, 2021

Saturday night wraps up the three-race Monster Energy AMA Supercross residency at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Last Saturday afternoon’s live broadcast on NBC drew the biggest audience in the history of Supercross. Over 600,000 people tuned in to watch the first-ever AMA Supercross event at Atlanta’s NASCAR track.

But, everyone is still talking about Tuesday’s 250 SX West feature. Cameron McAdoo’s horrific crash, his remarkable tenacity to pull himself up off the track, and plead with the medical crew to release him to ride in the restart. Then, despite hurting everywhere, McAdoo perseveres through the 20-minute moto and finishes 3rd to keep his 250SX West title hopes alive.

After tonight’s event, the series moves to Salt Lake City for the two-round season finale. This is the last round for the 250 SX West riders before the East/West showdown on May 1st as the 250 SX East riders will be back on the track next week April 24.

More Trouble for McAdoo

Cameron McAdoo(31) is not going to forget Atlanta Motor Speedway’s Supercross track anytime soon. After the unbelievable effort Tuesday, McAdoo crashed again today during qualifying. This time he flew off the bike but his body took more abuse as he landed hard on the red Georgia clay racing surface.

After making it to the starting gate in Heat 2, McAdoo fired off in 6th place at the start. However, in the early laps, he faded to 11th position. Then, the adrenalin seemed to kick in. As Hunter Lawrence(41) was easily pulling away at the front. McAdoo worked his way back into a qualifying position finishing 7th

250 SX

The man McAdoo is chasing in the standings is Justin Cooper(32) the points leader who is 9 points up on his injured rival. Cooper won Heat 1 easily, setting up the faceoff between the pair in the 250 SX West Main Event.

Nate Thrasher(91) won the 250 SX Last Chance Qualifier last Saturday, then went on to win the main event. He fell into the LCQ again this Saturday and won it in the same fashion, pulling away after taking the holeshot.

The Main Event for the 2nd week in a row was halted by a red flag. And yes, Cameron McAdoo was involved. Just past the line marking the holeshot, McAdoo hit a Tuff Block and stumbled. In the tightly bunched pack, one rider ran over the top of McAdoo’s helmet as Chris Blose(60) ran over McAdoo’s shoulder riping his jersey. Without hesitating, McAdoo reported to the gate for the restart. Blose was not so lucky, he had to be carted off the track by the medical crew and taken to a local hospital.

Not so lucky also, Justin Cooper was leading the race as the red flag brought things to a halt. No problem, at the drop of the gate on the restart, Cooper raced to the front again. Right behind him his teammate, fresh out of the LCQ, Nate Thrasher was looking to make history. McAdoo started 8th but was quickly up to 6th and in a battle with Hunter Lawrence who is only 16 points off the lead of Cooper.

McAdoo closed off the track forcing Lawrence into a Tuff Block and Lawrence went down. At the front Cooper stumbled in a corner and Thrasher passed to take the lead. Is it possible that Thrasher could do the LCQ win and Main win on consecutive Saturdays?

McAdoo, now up to 4th, hits the rear wheel of Seth Hammaker(150) and goes down again. The incident collects Pierce Brown(45) who runs into McAdoo and falls off his bike. With 12 minutes to go, McAdoo is now back in 11th place. Still, on the move towards the front, he runs up to the 8th position. Garrett Marchbanks(48), trying to move forward himself, runs McAdoo high and deep into a banked corner and collides with the unluckiest guy on the track. Both riders go down and their bikes become entangled.

By the time they get separated and back to racing, McAdoo is 17th and Marchbanks 18th. Based on track position, Lawrence has moved into 2nd in the points standings. But, there are 9.5 minutes and a lap still to go. Back out front, Thrasher has built a three-second lead on Cooper.

Winning for Nate Thrasher is easy. Just win the LCQ and then go out and run away with the 450 SX Main Event. Cooper takes 2nd, Hammaker 3rd. Lawrence’s 4th place finish leaves him 20 points behind Cooper. McAdoo, despite fighting up to the 13th position, is now 22 points out of the top spot.

If Cooper can avoid serious injury, start the final race of the season, and just not finish last, the title will be his.

250 SX West Main Event Results

250 SX West Points Standings

450 SX

In Heat 1 of the 450 SX class, Dylan Ferrandis(14) shot to the early lead. In a super competitive moto, he led Chase Sexton(23), Aaron Plessinger(7), Eli Tomac(1), and Malcolm Stewart(27).

When Ferrandis clipped a Tuff Block and went down, all four riders that were trailing passed him. Sexton, riding well in his late-season come back, inherited the lead and held it to the checkered flag. Stewart blew past Plessinger and Tomac in the same corner to move into 2nd. Plessinger held off Tomac for the 4th spot. Michigan’s Broc Tickle will ride in the Main with a 7th place finish.

Heat 2 featured the two riders fighting it out for the points lead. Ken Roczen(94) cut Cooper Webb’s(2) advantage to just 13 points on Tuesday. Webb shook off the cobwebs that seemed to hinder his performance midweek and took the top spot out of the starting gate. Roczen started 8th.

Jason Anderson(21), who had a mid-air collision on Tuesday night, has been riding like a mad man since. He rode past Webb, taking the top spot and holding it to the checkers. Roczen made up time and track position to finish 3rd behind his nemesis.

450 SX Main Event

Webb and Roczen line up next to each other in the starting gates near the center of the track. But, it’s Plessinger who takes the early lead with Roczen in 2nd and Webb in 5th. Everyone is looking at Anderson as he is poised to make a run at back-to-back podiums when he gets tangled up with Ferrandis and both riders go down.

Webb moves up to 3rd in hopes of challenging Roczen. However, Roczen creates some separation by passing Plessinger for the lead as the position gaps begin to grow. Webb is not safe as Justin Barcia(51) and Tomac begin to chase him down. Picking up the pace, Webb moves past Plessinger for 2nd as Tomac rides into 4th ahead of Barcia.

Halfway through the timed portion of the race, Roczen holds an 8.5 second lead over Webb.

Late in the race, Roczen gets squirrely at the end of the whoops section and drops his bike. Quickly back aboard, he still loses 5 seconds of his lead. With his opponent now in sight, Webb begins to close on Roczen. With 2 laps to go Webb makes the pass and with it a gets a 6 point swing in the points.

A bobble by Webb on the final lap allows Roczen to close. But, Webb holds on for the win and Roczen is now 16 points behind with two events left on the schedule. Tomac gets by Plessinger to make it to the podium. Michigan man Broc Tickle comes in 14th.

450 SX Main Event Results

450 SX Points Standings