2021 Orlando Round 8 Supercross Recap
An injury riddled night highlighted Orlando 2 of the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross season as Round 8 also featured the start of the 250 West class on Saturday at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fl.
In the 450 class, Cooper Webb shaved seven points off Ken Roczen's lead with his second straight win and third of the season. Webb, the 2019 Champion, got a great start and passed Adam Cianciarulo for the lead nearly midway through and had little trouble thereafter. Webb only trails Roczen by six points for first in the Championship standings.
A rookie, Cianciarulo led the first 10 laps and looking for his first career win in the 450 class, but the pass by Webb set up a battle for second with veteran Marvin Musquin who started showing a wheel. But Cianciarulo took an endo in the whoops with the bike landing on him and Musquin slipping by. Cianciarulo was done for the night and might be done for the season with a broken collarbone.
Justin Barcia took third getting back on the podium for the first time since his opening round win. Roczen salvaged points to keep the Red Plate after starting 12th and working his way to fourth. Jason Anderson rounded out the Top 5 for his best finish of the year. Defending Champion Eli Tomac seemed to fade near the end and finished sixth. Tomac now trails Roczen by 31 points.
The 250 West class dropped the gate for the season and dropped a bunch of riders too. On the opening lap, Alex Martin crashed and was knocked out cold resulting in a Red Flag. But the restart did not feature his brother Jeremy Martin, a Heat race winner and one of the title contenders, who was landed on by Stilez Roberston resulting in a shoulder injury. After the restart, Jordon Smith, trailing leader Justin Cooper, slammed into the face of an up-ramp just past the whoops section nearly midway through the race and a hopeful second-place to start his season ended with him in the pits and 19th place.
Meanwhile, Cooper avoided any mayhem and get-offs to get the win after leading the entire way. Cooper was also out front when the first start was red flagged. Cooper finished second in the West class last year and also opened the 2020 season with a win. Cameron McAdoo, who hit a medical personnel attending to Alex Martin during the red flag, shook off that incident to take second-place. Garrett Marchbanks, started 10th but worked his way to third. Jalek Swoll and Hunter Lawrence rounded out the Top 5, respectively.
Riders get a two week break and remain in Florida for Round 9 on March 6 at Daytona International Speedway. Until then, check out the photos below and live Round 8 all again.
2021 Orlando 2 Supercross
