Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing endured a mixed 10th round of the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross Championship on paper, but there was plenty of promise on display from Pierce Brown and Ryder DiFrancesco at the Budds Creek National this weekend.
- A P5 score in the final moto a positive sign from PB
- Early laps hold Ryder D back in one of his tougher outings
- One more round to go before we set our sights on SMX!
Racing the GASGAS MC 250F Factory Edition, Brown’s raw speed has been evident throughout the outdoors and there was more of the same to be witnessed on Saturday afternoon. He was ninth in qualifying and finished seventh in Moto 1, before putting on a charge in the final race to take home a fifth-place finish. Combined, PB was credited P7 and is also seventh in the championship.
Pierce Brown: «It was a positive day for me today. I went 7-5 for seventh, which wasn’t my best overall of the season, but I felt like my riding was good and I was excited about it! The last couple of rounds have been solid for me and I think we’re building some momentum coming into SMX. We’ll look to finish off the outdoors strong at Ironman.»
For DiFrancesco, his starts ultimately impacted his chance to fight closer toward the front of the field, climbing from 18th at the end of the opening lap to 13th in the first moto, and then recovering from an early crash in Moto 2 to salvage points in 17th. That placed him 16th overall, which sees him positioned 10th in the standings with one round to go.
Ryder DiFrancesco: «I just didn’t get off the gate today and this place is super-hard to pass, so a start would have helped. I fell in Moto 2 and was pretty buried, but we salvaged something and now we’ll move on to Ironman before SMX.»
Next Race: August 24 – Ironman Raceway, Indiana
Standings 450MX Class 2024 after 10 of 11 rounds
1. Chase Sexton, 454 points
2. Hunter Lawrence, 426
3. Aaron Plessinger, 359
7. Malcolm Stewart, 271
8. Christian Craig, 217
12. Justin Barcia, Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing, 148
Results 250MX Class – Budds Creek National
1. Levi Kitchen (USA), Kawasaki
2. Tom Vialle (FRA), KTM
3. Haiden Deegan (USA), Yamaha
6. Julien Beaumer (USA), KTM
7. Pierce Brown (USA), Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing
9. RJ Hampshire (USA), Husqvarna
16. Ryder DiFrancesco (USA), Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing
Standings 250MX Class 2024 after 10 of 11 rounds
1. Haiden Deegan, 445 points
2. Levi Kitchen, 383
3. Tom Vialle, 369
7. Pierce Brown, 257
10. Ryder DiFrancesco, 218
11. Julien Beaumer, 207
13. Casey Cochran, 164
26. RJ Hampshire, 27