Energy Team’s rookie Adam Cianciarulo who
rode an impressive race fending of the greats
of the class including teammate Eli Tomac to
take victory. Even more impressive is the fact
the rookie, who crashed during the first round of
qualifying and hurt his finger, didn’t bow to the
pressure put on by the big names and rode the
moto of his life.
Cianciarulo found himself in the lead again in
Moto 2, and looked set to steal a clean sweap
of RedBud 2 when he found his line converging
with a lapped rider. The resulting fall stole any
hope of taking the top step of the podium again,
but Cianciarulo managed to hang on to the
podium to finish in third behind Zach Osborne
and KTM’s Blake Bagget.
It wasn’t all tears for the rookie, as his impressive
1-3 placings secured him the overall win – a
career first – and propelled him up the points
standings. Definitely a rider to watch.
“It’s hard to put this into words,” Cianciarulo said
of his win. “I felt a lot more comfortable out front
after leading wire to wire in the first moto, but
unfortunately I had a little mishap with a lapper.
To be honest, I wanted to go 1-1. That didn’t
happen but I was happy I was able to get up
and regroup. I felt great even at the end there.”
Cianciarulo now sits in third place in the AMA
Pro Motocross Champion standings, leaping
ahead of teammate Eli Tomac by five points to
sit on a total of 170 points. Zach Osborne continues
to lead the championship after posting a solid
4-2 result to stay ahead of KTM’s Marvin Musquin
by 28 points.
The next round of the AMA Pro Motocross
season heads to Spring Creek in Minnesota on
September 20.