Aaron Plessinger takes Glen Helen 250MX win
Alex Martin & Jeremy Martin complete overall podium
Images by Hoppenworld
Aaron Plessinger took the double 250MX win at Glen Helen, after Justin Cooper took the top spot in qualifying. The two wins left Plessinger on equal 88 points with Zach Osborne, while Alex Martin and Jeremy Martin took second and third overall respectively.
Qualifying
Justin Cooper showed speed in both of the 250 practice sessions, setting the top time in the first session (2:37.337) and the No. 2 time in the second session (2:39.833). His time from the first session held up as the morning’s fast lap and gave him the first gate pick for Moto 1. Qualifying second was Jeremy Martin (2:38.552), who won a moto last year at Glen Helen and will be looking to answer back after Osborne pulled off a 1-1 sweep at Hangtown. Osborne was fourth fastest (2:40.473), coming in just behind Joey Savatgy (2:39.684).
250 Qualifying Times
- Justin Cooper, 2:37.337
- Jeremy Martin, 2:38.552
- Joey Savatgy, 2:39.684
- Zach Osborne, 2:40.473
- Shane McElrath, 2:40.862
- Alex Martin, 2:41.154
- RJ Hampshire, 2:41.458
- Austin Forkner, 2:41.478
- Aaron Plessinger, 2:41.611
- Garrett Marchbanks, 2:41.619
Moto 1
Zach Osborne rounded the first turn out in front of the field to grab the holeshot but his lead was short-lived. Local privateer Gage Schehr got around Osborne to move into first, and Plessinger passed Osborne for second. Schehr’s time in front is undoubtedly a moment he’ll never forget, but Plessinger was able to get around him by the end of the first lap.
Several minutes into the moto, the top five consisted of Plessinger, Osborne, Alex Martin, Shane McElrath and top qualifier Justin Cooper. Jeremy Martin, Joey Savatgy, Garrett Marchbanks, RJ Hampshire and Sean Cantrell made up the rest of the top 10 at the time.
The top three (Plessinger, Osborne, Alex Martin) all started to settle into their positions and open up a gap on the rest of the field, while the next trio of McElrath, Cooper and Jeremy Martin bunched up into a battle for fourth and fifth. Some pass attempts were made, but no positions inside the top five changed hands until there were just nine minutes left in the moto. That’s when Cooper was finally able to make a succesful move on McElrath for fourth, and about two minutes later, Jeremy Martin was able to capitalize on a mistake by McElrath to move into fifth.
McElrath continued to slide in the remaining minutes, falling back to eighth after getting passed by the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki duo of Marchbanks and Savatgy, then ending up ninth after getting passed by Hampshire.
Out front, Plessinger continued to lead Osborne. At one point the gap was up to four seconds, but Osborne cut that down to under three seconds with just a few laps to go. Before Osborne could mount a charge though, he went down in a turn and lost about 11 seconds. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider was forced to settle for second place, and Plessinger was able to close things out for his first moto win of the season.
Alex Martin took third place, while Cooper and Jeremy Martin rounded out the top five.
250 Moto 1 Results
- Aaron Plessinger
- Zach Osborne
- Alex Martin
- Justin Cooper
- Jeremy Martin
- Joey Savatgy
- Garrett Marchbanks
- RJ Hampshire
- Shane McElrath
- Chase Sexton
- Jordon Smith
- Sean Cantrell
- Austin Forkner
- Jordan Bailey
- Dakota Alix
- Martin Castelo
- Justin Hill
- Michael Mosiman
- Enzo Lopes
- Ryan Surratt
Moto 2
After grabbing the holeshot, Alex Martin opened up a little gap on the first lap of the race. Behind him, Pro Circuit teammates Austin Forkner—who finished 13th in the first moto—and Joey Savatgy battled for second. Within the opening minutes though, Jeremy Martin, Aaron Plessinger and Zach Osborne all got around Savatgy to move into the top five.
After fending off a fierce challenge from Osborne, Plessinger made a move on Jeremy Martin about five minutes into the race to take over third place. Plessinger and Jeremy Martin then were both able to capitalize on a mistake from Forkner to each move up a spot, and Osborne soon got around Forkner as well.
Once Plessinger moved into second place, he was more than three seconds behind Alex Martin but went straight to work on reeling him in. Upon catching the leader, Plessinger found an inside line that Alex Martin could do nothing to challenge. Now in the lead, Plessinger slowly started to pull away en route to his second moto win of the day. The 1-1 sweep resulted in Plessinger’s first overall victory since last year at Muddy Creek.
The rest of the top five was filled with uncertainty though. At one point Alex Martin, Jeremy Martin, Osborne and Savatgy were all within about three seconds of each other as they battled for second through fifth place. No positions were changing hands for most of the race, but as the moto neared its conclusion, several events unfolded that would play a role in the points battle.
First, with under four minutes to go, Osborne lost control of his bike as he went through the whoops and ended up crashing it into a metal gate that surrounded the perimeter of the track. As Osborne struggled to get his bike unstuck from the gate, he ceded fourth place to Savatgy. Less than two minutes after that, Jeremy Martin was finally able to pass his older brother for second place.
Those incidents allowed Jeremy Martin to pick up a total of six points on Osborne in the title fight, effectively negating the points that Martin had lost to Osborne earlier in the day during Moto 1. They also enabled Plessinger to pull into a tie with Osborne for the points lead.
Furthermore, the incidents also bumped Osborne (2-5) off the overall podium and allowed J-Mart (5-2) to take third overall via the tiebreaker (better Moto 2 result).
Second overall for the day went to Alex Martin (3-3).
Alex Martin
“Today was fun, it felt really good to get the holeshot and get out front and lead some laps. Plessinger was riding really well. I saw Jeremy coming and I knew he was going to be strong but some of the lappers kind of made trouble for me. I’m really happy to come away with two podium-finishes here today and second-overall at Round 2.”
Zach Osborne
“Glen Helen was pretty good, I had a couple mistakes that cost me, and carried a bit of an injury in, but it was a decent weekend. I’m glad to get out of here unscathed and I’m ready to make my way to some good tracks.”
250 Moto 2 Results
- Aaron Plessinger
- Jeremy Martin
- Alex Martin
- Joey Savatgy
- Zach Osborne
- Austin Forkner
- Justin Cooper
- Chase Sexton
- RJ Hampshire
- Garrett Marchbanks
- Justin Hill
- Shane McElrath
- Jordan Bailey
- Jordon Smith
- Sean Cantrell
- Brandon Hartranft
- Martin Castelo
- Michael Mosiman
- Challen Tennant
- Ryan Surratt
250 Point Standings after Glen Helen
- Aaron Plessinger, 88
- Zach Osborne, 88
- Jeremy Martin
- Alex Martin
- Justin Cooper
- Joey Savatgy
- Chase Sexton
- RJ Hampshire
- Garrett Marchbanks
- Jordon Smith
