Slaw Dog
Writing about “takeouts” or “aggressive riding” or “incidents” as some like to call them is a tough business. Especially for team PR reps.
While we all probably wish they would just say “Hey, we are super pissed at X and the move was dirty” that ain’t happening in Slaw’s lifetime.
With that said, we saw some “aggressive riding” as the AMA likes to call it in Tampa. Jason Anderson/Justin Barcia. Hunter Lawrence/Michael Mosiman. HLaw and Nate Thrasher.
RELATED: Jason Anderson Placed on Probation Following Incident with Justin Barcia in Tampa
Well, here is how the respective team PRs described the incidents.
Lawrence | Thrasher
Honda: He dogged Michael Mosiman until making a hard pass on lap 9, and he passed Max Anstie for second in the same corner two laps later. At that point, Lawrence was six seconds down on Nate Thrasher, and with eight laps remaining, he began eating into the advantage, finally reaching the leader’s rear fender on the last lap. The two made contact twice, with Lawrence finally executing the pass in the final corner and crossing the finish line with a margin of just .134 seconds—the closest 250SX main-event finish in eight years.
Yamaha: Unfortunately, the series points leader was able to close the gap in the final moments of the race and passed him in the final corner. Although a runner-up finish was not the result he was looking for, it was a good rebound from last weekend’s 15th-place result and advanced him to seventh in the point standings.
Anderson | Barcia
GasGas: When the gate dropped for the final race of the night, he was among the early leaders but found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the resulting collision dropped him to the tail end of the field. After remounting, Justin was able to work his way back to eighth at the checkers.
Kawasaki: After the start, Anderson sat in sixth fending off pressure from the competition while simultaneously looking to advance forward. Brief contact with another rider while attempting a pass during the opening lap of the main event shuffled Anderson back to 22nd.
Lawrence | Mosiman
Honda: He dogged Michael Mosiman until making a hard pass on lap 9, and he passed Max Anstie for second in the same corner two laps later.
GasGas: In the 250 main event, Michael Mosiman showed strong pace and quickly moved into the top three, and looked like he was set for a shot at a podium finish. Unfortunately, contact led to him remounting in eighth, and he was able to work his way back to seventh at the finish.
Main image: Jessica Reed
