Slaw
It has been a rough start to Garrett Marchbanks’ 450SX tenure with Monster Energy Kawasaki.
He failed to qualify at the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season opener at Anaheim 1 and then missed San Diego after a mid-week crash and not passing concussion protocol. He rebounded in the series second trip to Anaheim, making the main and finishing 14th. He took home 15th at Houston’s Triple Crown and then had a season-high 13th last weekend in Glendale.
In Seattle, Marchbanks had a hard crash in the 450SX main event and after being down for a while but was able to get up under his own power. He finished 22nd, three laps down from race winner Eli Tomac.
In a Kawasaki press release, Marchbanks said he “knocked the wind out of myself pretty bad and couldn’t breathe for about two minutes” but that he is fine.
“I love Seattle. The track was fun, but gnarly all day long. I felt like I started to get my flow and the bike together after second qualifying. We made a slight adjustment going into the heat race and had a good heat race from it. I started to feel better around Lap 4, we were able to put some good laps together and felt good going into the main event, with a good gate pick. I got off to a decent start and made some good passes in the main event. I was finally able to run up there in that Top 10 area and was able to battle the guys I knew I could always be around. I felt like I finally had that flow I’d been searching for, but I hit a weird spot in the rhythm and had a big crash. I knocked the wind out of myself pretty bad and couldn’t breathe for about two minutes. I got up and was just trying to catch my breath. I had to pull into the mechanics area to make some adjustments to my bike, and gave myself a minute to regroup because I was struggling to feel my hands. I wanted to go back out and finish this one out for the team, but I just had to roll this one out through the finish. Besides that, I thought it was really good improvement. I was having a lot of fun out here and looking forward to the rest of the season.”
