SUZUKI RIDERS SHINE FROM LAS VEGAS TO JEREZ
May 4, 2015
BREA, CA – The 2015 FIM/AMA Supercross season came to a close Saturday in Las Vegas with Vicki Golden making series history and two other Suzuki riders scoring top-10 finishes in front of 35,241 fans at Sam Boyd Stadium. On Sunday, attention turned to MotoGP in Jerez, Spain, where 122,000 strong witnessed Suzuki riders turn in solid performances.
Suzuki highlights of this weekend’s action included:
- Vicki Golden becoming the first female rider in AMA Supercross history to qualify for the evening program.
- Blake Baggett ending his highly-successful rookie AMA/FIM Supercross campaign in the top 5.
- Broc Tickle also closing out the 2015 Supercross season with a top-10 series ranking.
- Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro taking his third-consecutive top-10 MotoGP result with a seventh at Jerez.
Golden Night in Las Vegas
Vicki Golden will forever go down in history as the first female rider to make the evening program at an AMA/FIM Supercross event, and she accomplished the feat on a Suzuki RM-Z250.
Golden, who made her Eastern Regional 250SX Class debut on February 14 at Arlington, Texas' AT&T Stadium, qualified 35th out of 42 riders. Her latest groundbreaking achievement is part of a series of firsts for the sport, which also includes becoming the first female in history to complete Ricky Carmichael's Road to Supercross in AMSOIL Arenacross last season, earning her 250SX Class license to attempt to qualify for a Monster Energy Supercross race. In 2011, Golden became the first female to qualify for an AMSOIL Arenacross Lites Class Main Event.
"This is all so surreal right now," Golden exclaimed. "Last week after East Rutherford I thought it was over. I didn't expect to come here to Vegas and we learned a few days ago that we had the opportunity, so I figured let's go out there and give it one last shot. It's been a rough season and about everything that could go wrong has.
"I recently learned I've been battling mono since November and it's taken about everything I have just to put in one fast lap. I've felt so tired and I haven't been doing any riding during the week. I've just showed up and raced, but this week I put in a little riding once we learned we'd be coming to Vegas and everything worked out. I've accomplished the goal I set out to achieve this season.”
Baggett a Supercross Rookie No More
Blake Baggett ended his highly-successful rookie AMA/FIM Supercross campaign with another strong outing in the Las Vegas finale, scoring sixth on his Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing RM-Z450. It marked his 13th top-10 finish in the series this year and helped him close out the 2015 Supercross season as the fifth-ranked rider, only three points shy of a fourth-place ranking.
Another notable accomplishment for Baggett was the fact that he was one of only four riders who finished all 17 rounds of the 2015 AMA/FIM Supercross Series. Baggett felt he was helped to that record of reliability because he rides the dependable Suzuki RM-Z450.
Baggett reflected on the final night of Supercross 2015 and is already looking forward to the start of the Pro Motocross season, which kicks off with the Hangtown Motocross Classic on May 16th in Sacramento, California.
“Here in Las Vegas I had a few sections that were good and a few sections that were bad,” he said. “I got out of here in one piece and finished up fifth on the season. Now I’ve got one weekend off and we head to the outdoors.”
Tickle Finishes Ranked a Solid Eighth in 2015 Supercross
RCH/Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Broc Tickle continued to show a fighting spirit with yet another top-10 Supercross finish in Las Vegas. The result put him eighth in the final series standings, this in spite of sitting out a round earlier in the year due to injury and then coming back and racing while still recovering from the injury.
“I wanted to end on a good note and I feel like it was a solid season for me,” Tickle said. “Coming back from injury last year I wanted more, but that’s a good thing. We always want to get better, that’s what we thrive on. I’m looking forward to the outdoors. I’m feeling really good on the bike. I think we’re going to go to the outdoors and surprise some people.”
Strong Representation for Suzuki in Vegas Finale
In addition to Baggett and Tickle’s solid results aboard their powerful and agile Suzuki RM-Z450s in Las Vegas, kudos also go out to Nick Schmidt and Dustin Pipes, who also qualified their RM-Z450s into the Main. AJ Catanzaro also made the 250 East/West Shootout aboard his Suzuki RM-Z250.
Team Suzuki swings back into action in two weeks’ time as the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship kicks off at the Hangtown Classic National on May 16th.
Another Strong Result for Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro at Jerez
No pressure for Aleix Espargaro right? You’re 25, racing in front of 122,000 of your countrymen and are on a first-year MotoGP factory team. No problem for the Spaniard though - at Jerez, Espargaro and Suzuki’s new MotoGP squad continued to impress. Espargaro raced to seventh at the Grand Prix of Spain, matching his best result of the season. That’s three-consecutive top-10 finishes now for Espargaro. His Team Suzuki Ecstar stablemate Maverick Viñales, finished 11th. That was good enough for the MotoGP rookie to remain in the series top 10.
Next up for Suzuki’s MotoGP team is the iconic Le Mans circuit in France on May 17th.
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