Written by Tyler Pastorius
In an exciting race where the gap between first and third place was 0.9 seconds, with seven minutes left to race, Adam Cianciarulo on his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki raced to victory. This was the second year in a row he won the main event. The rest of the podium was rounded out by Jordan Smith (Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM) in second, followed by Shane McElrath (Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM) in third. What even makes this victory even more impressive for Cianciarulo is that he rode with a torn ACL and will have surgery on it this week. This will force him to miss the Lucas Oil Motocross season.
Although Cianciarulo won the main event, he lost the 250 West Championship by two points to Aaron Plessinger. With roughly seven minutes left in the race, shortly after Cianciarulo took the lead, Plessinger came up sideways on the big sweeping left-handed corner, going into the long straight away at Monster Alley and almost got bucked off his Star Racing 250 Yamaha. His body strength helped him center his bike off before the sand section, to keep his position in eighth place in which he ended up finishing in that position as well. If Plessinger finished anywhere lower than 11th place and Cianciarulo won the race like he did, then Cianciarulo would have been the 250 West Champion. Instead, Plessinger claims his first Monster Energy Supercross title in Vegas with a strong season of four total season wins.
Jordan Smith tried to capture a victory and attempt to dethrone Zach Osborne but Osborne’s points lead coming into the race was too big for Smith to overcome. With Osborne finishing in seventh place, it allowed him to win the 250 East Championship. This was his second 250 supercross title. On his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna, Osborne claimed a total of three wins this season. Osborne has been one of the more consistent riders this season and because of that, he had a good lead coming into the final race of the season. Even with Smith finishing in second place tonight, Osborne won the 250 East title by eight points. Osborne will look to take control in the outdoor races in the Lucas Oil Motocross season, which kicks off in two weeks during the Hangtown Motocross Classic in Sacramento, CA
This was a close season for the Supercross Lites class and it will be interesting to see who moves up to the premier 450 class in 2019. The Lucas Oil outdoor season kicks off in two weeks while the Monster Energy Cup isn’t until October 15th of this year. Supercross will return in January in 2019.
