2016 St. Louis 250SX Results | Martin Wins, Stewart Falters

2016 St. Louis 250SX Results and Coverage | Martin First To Take Two Wins

The wild and unpredictable Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East season continued inside The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis. Series leader, GEICO Honda’s Malcolm Stewart, crashed three times in the Main Event on his way to an 8th place finish. Stewart was 44 seconds off the pace of the winner, Yamaha/Yamalube’s Jeremy Martin.

Martin, who was outside of the top 10 in the previous two rounds, became the first 250SX East rider to take two wins in the first six races of the nine-race regional Monster Energy Supercross championship series. “It was nice to get the holeshot, since I’ve been on ground two of last three weekends,” Martin said. “I was able to get a good start and ride my own race, and not worry about anything but hitting my lines.”

Despite his dismal night, Stewart managed to hold onto a single-point lead over challenger Aaron Plessinger, riding for Yamaha/Yamalube. Plessinger is the only rider with four 250SX East podiums in 2016, and no rider has finished in the top 7 at all six races.

The Supercross 250SX East race started off promising enough, with Martin pulling the holeshot, and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Gannon Audette and Stewart in hot pursuit. Stewart quickly passed Audette and looked determined to not allow Martin to escape. However, in the tricky sand section that included a two-line 180-degree turn, Stewart stalled his CRF250R in the corner’s inside apex. As Stewart restarted, Mad Racing/Yoshimura/Suzuki’s Matthew Bisceglia hit an unexpectedly moving Stewart and both went down. Stewart kept the bike running and was able to complete the first lap in 11th.

Regardless, Martin was gone on his Star Racing Yamaha YZ250F. By the end of the first lap, Martin has already amassed a three-second lead over 2nd place Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM’s Shane McElrath who was trailed by Plessinger. With Martin untouchable—his lead eventually stretched to over nine seconds at Lap 11—it was up to Plessinger and McElrath to determine the other two positions on the podium. McElrath held onto 2nd until Lap 6 when Plessinger cleanly passed McElrath—who had won his Heat race earlier—on a rhythm section.

McElrath faded quickly, finishing 10 seconds behind Plessinger, but a comfortable four seconds up on GEICO Honda’s RJ Hampshire. McElrath scored his third consecutive top 5 finish, while Hampshire’s 4th is his best finish of the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross 250SX East season. Plessinger now has three podiums in a row and, while one point behind leader Stewart, is 15 points ahead of teammate Martin with three rounds remaining. “I’m just going to take [the championship battle] race by race,” Plessinger said. “Obviously, it’s close, but I can’t think about it too much, otherwise I [might] lose it.”

Audette, who recently picked up his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki ride, finished 5th, over three seconds shy of Hampshire. “In the main, I had another great start in 2nd until a rider [Stewart] passed me and then almost immediately stalled in my line,” Audette explained. “While avoiding him, I caught a tough block and ended up with a minor tip over. From there, I just tried to put my laps together and came home with a 5th. Overall, I feel it was a good weekend—not quite the podium I wanted, but it’s hard to complain about a top 5.”

After Stewart’s opening miscue put him back into 11th by the end of the first lap, Stewart worked out to grab as many points as possible. By Lap 4, Stewart had made his way up to 7th, losing him five positions. On the final lap, Stewart went down again, this time wile running in 6th. Stewart dropped to 9th but passed Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki Tyler Bowers, who was suffering from arm pump, for 8th before the checkered flag.

Other notable finished were Traders Racing/Kawasaki’s Anthony Rodriguez, whose 6th was his best of the year, and a 15th by Round 1 winner, Rockstar Energy/Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Martin Davalos, who crashed in the first corner of the Main.

Photography by Simon Cudby

 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East Round 6 Results, The Dome at America’s Center, St. Louis, April 16 

2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East Standings (after 6 of 9 rounds)