BAGGETT AND TICKLE LOOK STRONG AT THE MEADOWLANDS
April 25, 2015
BREA, CA – The FIM/AMA Supercross season is quickly winding down, but Suzuki riders are still heating up. This past weekend’s round at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, New Jersey, was the penultimate round of the series and Suzuki Supercross riders were strong in front of 60,582 fans on hand at MetLife Stadium. Riders and teams enjoyed the added national exposure of the first-ever live broadcast on the FOX broadcast network for a rare daytime event.
Suzuki highlights of this weekend's action included:
- Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing Blake Baggett continuing to improve in his rookie 450 season with a fourth-place result – his best since his Daytona podium.
- Baggett’s excellent result moved him into the top-five in the series standings.
- RCH Soaring Eagle Jimmy Johns Suzuki Factory Racing’s Broc Tickle bounced back to score a solid sixth-place result.
- With six riders in the Main, Suzuki placed more riders in the Meadowlands Supercross than any other brand. All of this in front of a national network TV audience.
Fourth Top-Five Finish for Blake Baggett
Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett has long said his main goal in his rookie 450 campaign was to make it through the season healthy while learning the ropes on the bigger, more powerful Suzuki RM-Z450. Yet in spite of his cautious approach, Baggett has gone beyond almost all expectations in this series. His rookie year can only be looked at as a major success, and Baggett was certainly back in top form in the Meadowlands. The No. 4 Suzuki rider was locked in a tight battle with Andrew Short during the start of the Main, but Baggett was able to move past the veteran, take off, and open a big gap before crossing the finish line in fourth. Baggett’s fourth place finish marked his best finish since his third-place Daytona Supercross podium.
The result in front of a network TV audience was not only one of the best of the season, but it also moved Baggett to a season-best fifth in the series standings with just one round to go.
“It went pretty well,” Baggett said in his typical low-key manner. “I didn’t get the greatest start and was pretty buried, but I just plugged away and worked my way forward and I ended up getting up to fourth. Third was still a little bit in front of us. I was probably slowly inching up on them, but the track was technical today, which made it hard not to make a mistake in pretty much every rhythm lane. It was hard to get a full clean run in the rhythm lanes, much less a full clean lap. I’m going to keep working to close out the series strong and I look forward to Las Vegas.”
Tickle Back to Form
After a tough outing in Santa Clara, California last week, RCH Suzuki’s Broc Tickle came back strong with a sixth in the Meadowlands. It marked his 10
th top-10 finish in the last 11 rounds. It was also his best result since a fourth at Atlanta II back in February. He did all this in spite of a bad start to the 20-lap final, which forced him to fully utilize the nimble handling of his Suzuki RM-Z450 to slice through the field.
“The start was terrible in the Main,” Tickle admitted. “I got pinched off and I think I came around the first corner pretty much last. I worked past a group of guys and got into ninth and then riders started making mistakes and losing positions.”
On the white flag lap, Tickle tangled with Andrew Short, who backed off and made an unexpected jumping combo through one section that found Tickle in the air with nowhere to go but to land into the back of Short’s machine. Both Short and Tickle survived the last-lap impact to finish.
“It was definitely better this weekend,” Tickle concluded. “I felt like I had better intensity. I’ve been having fun testing for the outdoors. I’m going to do the same thing this week and go to Vegas to have fun.”
Suzuki Has Six Strong in the Main at the Meadowlands
Suzuki placed six riders in the Main at New Jersey, making Suzuki the manufacturer with the most bikes in the Main. Along with the solid performances by Baggett and Tickle, four other riders – Nick Schmidt (Team3br/DSC Construction Suzuki), Ronnie Stewart (DirtCandy Graphics/PRBC.com Suzuki), Dustin Pipes (Tpj.com/Fly Racing Suzuki) and Tevin Tapia (3TPerformance/DTMX/BRT Suzuki) – all made the big show on Saturday.
Schmidt was 14th, matching his best result of the season. Stewart was 16th, which was his best finish of 2015 and it couldn’t have come at a better time. This was a home race for the racer from Easton, Pennsylvania. He was featured in local media and had a huge rooting section of over 300 friends and family on hand to cheering him on, all wearing yellow t-shirts featuring Stewart’s No. 69.
“MetLife 2015 was a great experience, “Stewart said. “I really enjoyed racing during the day and was overwhelmed with all of the support from friends and family. We had quite the cheering section; it was definitely cool! Every time I went into that left-hand corner on the far side I couldn’t even hear my bike because there were so many people screaming and yelling for me.”
In addition to the six riders who made the Main, Suzuki also recognizes Ryan Smith, Alexander Nagy and Gregory Crater who raced in the evening program on their Suzuki RM-Z450s.
In the 250 East ranks, AJ Catanzaro made the final and scored a 13th. It marked his best result of the season. “My motor is great,” Catanzaro said. “That was pretty obvious when I pulled the holeshot from the outside in my Heat race.”
Michael Mims also made the evening program aboard his RM-Z250.
Vicki Golden ended her 2015 quest to become the first female to qualify for an evening program at an FIM/AMA Supercross event. She’s been hampered by lack of energy all season and just found out that she was suffering a fairly severe bout of mononucleosis for most of the Supercross season. In spite of being unsuccessful in her goal, she gained the respect of many of her fellow competitors and bravely endured the relentless spotlight shone on her all season.
“Hopefully I put all my bad luck into this year and next year will be problem free,” Golden said. “At least we made it through the year and learned a bunch. We can carry that to next year and be 100 percent prepared and come out swinging.”
The 2015 Supercross season concludes this coming Saturday, May 2nd at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. Fans can meet and get autographs from riders, including Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett and RCH Suzuki’s Broc Tickle on Friday, May 1 at Carter PowerSports, 6275 S Decatur Blvd. in Las Vegas from 6-7:00 pm. If you can’t make the season finale in person, you can watch live on Fox Sports 1 starting at 10:00 pm Eastern.
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