The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship made its Southern California stop at Fox Raceway in Pala, California this weekend and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team’s Justin Barcia collected another top-10 finish with a 7-10 moto score. Dean Ferris, who didn’t have as much experience with the circuit coming in, still managed to finish 11th with a 10-13.
Barcia knew going in that it would be a tough race with the expected hard-packed and dry conditions. He also knew starts were important and the Floridian got a great fifth-place start in the opening moto, but got shuffled back to seventh a few laps in. He was able to keep pace to finish out the moto in that spot. The last moto of the day saw Barcia get out to a 10th-place start and he went up and down a few spots before settling into 10th, where he would finish. The 7-10 score placed him eighth overall, and still seventh in the championship standings.
A rookie in the U.S. championship, Ferris is learning the tracks for the first time and still coming away with solid scores. In the opening moto, the multi-time Australian Motocross Champion started 13th and managed to make a few passes forward to round out the top 10. He started the same in Moto 2, but a mistake had him having to battle his way back to 13th, ending the day 11th overall.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team will start to head east with Round 3 on Saturday, June 1 at Thunder Valley Motocross Park in Lakewood, Colorado.
Justin Barcia
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team
“I didn’t get a great flow in the morning and didn’t qualify my best, but going into the moto I knew I would do better. Ended up finishing seventh In the second moto, where the track got even more rough. I’m still building up my fitness and getting stronger coming off of my injuries from earlier this year. All in all it was a decent weekend. I’m glad to leave Fox Raceway healthy, but definitely looking to keep improving and getting better. I’m looking forward to Thunder Valley, I usually do good there.”
Dean Ferris
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team
“I feel like I started the weekend solid, making improvements. First moto was pretty solid and had to dig pretty deep for that one. In the second moto, I got more comfortable with the settings and was pushing toward the front. I ended up having a crash but pushed as hard as I could. All in all we are making progress and will keep working toward improving.”
2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 450 Class Fox Raceway Results
1. Eli Tomac (1-1)
2. Marvin Musquin (3-2)
3. Ken Roczen (2-3)
4. Zach Osborne (5-4)
5. Jason Anderson (4-5)
6. Cooper Webb (6-6)
7. Justin Hill (8-7)
8. Justin Barcia (7-10)
9. Fredrik Noren (9-9)
10. Cole Seely (11-8)
11. Dean Ferris (10-13)
2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 450 Class Standings
1. Eli Tomac 93
2. Ken Roczen 89
3. Marvin Musquin 74
4. Jason Anderson 72
5. Zach Osborne 70
6. Cooper Webb 65
7. Justin Barcia 52
8. Dean Ferris 42
9. Justin Bogle 41
10. Cole Seely 38
Jim Perry
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager