2017 St. Louis Supercross 250SX Results and Recap
Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM’s Jordon Smith took his second consecutive win of the 2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX Eastern Regional Championship Series at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.
Smith’s win puts him six points behind series leader, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy, who finished second after running off the track midrace. Claiming the final podium position was Rockstar Energy Husqvarn’s Zach Osborne.
When the gate dropped for the 250SX East Main Event, Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/WPS/KTM’s Dakota Alix grabbed the SupercrossLive.com Holeshot. Savatgy, rounded the first corner in second place and quickly made his way around Alix to take over the lead, with Smith quickly taking position behind Savatgy. Alix dropped back to sixth by the end of Lap 1, and faded the 13th at the finish.
Savatgy and Smith pulled a bit of gap out front while the fight for third heated up between Motorsports/Kawasaki’s Gannon Audette, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo, and Osborne. Cianciarulo and Osborne battled for fourth place on the third lap and Osborne was able to execute the pass on Cianciarulo on the inside. Osborne then went after Audette for third and made the pass on Lap 5, with Rockstar Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis also passing Audette.
Once in the lead, Savatgy put a gap between himself and Smith. However, Savatgy nearly crashed exiting a corner, riding off the track attempting to regain control of his Kawasaki KX250F and running into an official. While Savatgy did not go down, the incident allowed Smith to move into the lead.
Savatgy applied pressure to Smith, but made inadvertent contact with a lapped rider late in the 19-lap Main Event, giving breathing room to Smith. Savatgy then faced a charge from Osborne behind him.
Savatgy made a couple pass attempts on Smith on the last lap, but he was unable to regain the lead. That allowed Smith to take his second consecutive victory after scoring his first-ever a week ago in Detroit.
“The racing this year has been crazy. The top five riders are so close,” said Smith, who became the third 250SX Class rider this season to earn his first career win and follow it up with another victory. “[Tonight] it was about the start and minimizing the mistakes. The track was really tough. My team made some changes to my bike and they worked out great.”
Savatgy’s fourth straight runner-up finish is the third in a row in which he led laps, but came up short of the win.
“We rode good and did what we had to do. I executed off the start, put ourselves in a good position [out front], and started to pull away,” said Savatgy. “It seems like I want to just give these things away. I can’t even begin to explain it. I’m frustrated, obviously. We’ll go into the break, regroup, and come out swinging [at the next race].”
Osborne rounded out the podium in third on his Husqvarna FC 250 machine.
“Tonight was a pretty big surprise for me,” said Osborne. “I had a stomach bug all week, but I struggled my way back to health tonight. Around the fourth lap of practice, I had a big crash and banged myself up pretty good, so I sat out the second practice. I was in a good position to win in the main, but I just ran out of steam in the end. I gave it my all, so I’m not too disappointed.”
Savatgy leads the championship standings by six points over Smith, who sits six points ahead of former series leader Osborne. Osborne, in turn, is six points ahead of Cianciarulo, who finished a distant sixth place. It was Cianciarulo’s worst finish since a seventh place in Round 2 in Atlanta.
Ferrandis finished fourth for the second consecutive week and sits fifth in the series standings. Craig, who finished right behind Ferrandis at St. Louis is also right behind him in the standings, 23 points back from the Frenchman.
Alix’s holeshot made him the fifth different rider in seven rounds to score a holeshot. Only Smith and Cianciarulo have two holeshots this year in the 250SX East.
The Monster Energy Supercross 250SX Eastern Regional Championship Series takes a two-week break and returns to action at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on April 29.
2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East Results – Round 13 – St. Louis
- Jordon Smith – KTM 250SX-F Factory Edition
- Joey Savatgy – Kawasaki KX250F
- Zach Osborne – Husqvarna FC250
- Dylan Ferrandis – Yamaha YZ250F
- Christian Craig – Honda CRF250R
- Adam Cianciarulo – Kawasaki KX250F
- Mitchell Harrison – Yamaha YZ250F
- Gannon Audette – Kawasaki KX250F
- Kyle Cunningham – Suzuki RM-Z250
- Anthony Rodriguez – Yamaha YZ250F
- Jesse Wentland – Honda CRF250R
- Luke Renzland – Yamaha YZ250F
- Dakota Alix – KTM 250SX-F Factory Edition
- Lorenzo Locurcio – Yamaha YZ250F
- Fredrik Noren – Honda CRF250R
- Paul Coates – Yamaha YZ250F
- Henry Miller – Yamaha YZ250F
- Joshua Cartwright – Yamaha YZ250F
- Dylan Merriam – Yamaha YZ250F
- Cody Williams – Yamaha YZ250F
- Steven Clarke KTM 250SX-F
- Jerry Robin – Yamaha YZ250F
2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East Standings (round 7 of 9):
- Joey Savatgy, 146 points (1 win)
- Jordon Smith, 140 (2 wins)
- Zach Osborne, 134 (3 wins)
- Adam Cianciarulo, 128 (1 win)
- Dylan Ferrandis, 104
- Christian Craig, 81
- Luke Renzland, 70
- Anthony Rodriguez, 69
- Mitchell Harrison, 66
- Kyle Cunningham, 62
