John Short | One To Watch
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INSTAGRAM | @johnshort43
INSTAGRAM | @manlukracing
Keep an eye on John Short through the next few weeks. The Texas rider has shown steady improvement over the last few years and he could become a top-10 threat in the 250 East Coast region. During the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, Short proved that he could run the pace of the pack as a privateer in the 450 Class (Short scored points in 16 motos and posted five top-10 finishes). His speed last summer was impressive enough, but the fact that he was doing it with little outside help on a rather basic Honda CRF450R (he ran the stock exhaust for much of the summer) is what caught our attention and made us wonder how he would do with the full support of a team.
We weren’t the only ones. Over the offseason, it was announced that Short had landed a ride for 2020 with Manluk K&R Racing, a growing effort funded by a machining and fabrication company in Canada. The team’s plan for 2020 is different from most: they will support three riders (Short, Chase Marquier, Ryder Floyd) through the 250 East Coast region in the 2020 Monster Energy Supercross Series and then spend the summer racing the full outdoor portion of Rockstar Energy Triple Crown Series in Canada, with a few random Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship rounds thrown in for good measure. “I’ll do the full Canadian outdoor series and five to six Nationals in the United States. The Manluk and KR guys are going to make sure we have everything put together,” explained Short of his unique deal. “I spoke with the Manluk guys before the outdoors was over last year and I knew they would have a good program; It was just a matter of the pieces coming together. We have some good support and I’m pretty pumped because I have never had a mechanic or parts, so this is exciting.”
Short spent the offseason in Texas, which allowed him to test with Merge Racing at tracks in the area and remain in his normal routine. “I’ve had good preparation in Texas. There are not a lot of distractions, so it’s just us doing our thing and working on bikes,” he noted of the team’s US home base. “I get done riding and get home at the same time as a normal person and I don’t know what to do with myself (Laughs). I feel like I should be changing tires or breaking things down. I feel like I need a hobby.”
Although the 250 East Coast region is Short’s focus for the Supercross season, the Tampa opener wasn’t his first race of the year. He and the team decided that it would be a good idea to get in a few gate drops while the series was on the West Coast, so Short lined up for the Glendale and San Diego Supercross rounds in the 450 Class. He missed making the 22-rider cut for the Triple Crown at Glendale, but he showed speed during the afternoon’s qualifying session and was ranked 27th overall in the lap times. His San Diego results were more impressive; aboard his small-bore CRF250R in the premier class, Short was 32nd overall in the qualifying results and upped his pace to finish fifth in the 450 LCQ, one spot shy of making the Main Event.
Tampa was a good race for Short in many ways. Quick through the afternoon practice sessions, Short was 12th overall in the 250 Class qualifying results (a 51.107 lap time in the 250 A Group First Qualifying session was rather remarkable) and he followed that up with a sixth-place finish in 250 Heat Race Two, which put him into the night’s 250 Main Event. A good start had Short in eighth place through the opening laps, but he eventually slid a few spots in the running order and finished the race in 15th.
This weekend’s race in Arlington will be an important round for Short, as he will be in his home state and will have the three motos of the Triple Crown to make a mark on the overall results. “After a couple of good results last summer, I believe in myself and I know that I can do it. Really, that is the biggest thing,” Short shared with us recently. “I’ve always thought, ‘Well, maybe I can do this.’ And now I know that I can run up front. That means the world to me.”
