SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts/Honda | 2019 Denver Supercross Report

www.motoconcepts.com
INSTAGRAM | @motoconcepts

After more than two decades away, the Monster Energy Supercross Series returned to Colorado for the fifteenth round of the 2019 season, the 2019 Denver Supercross. The addition of a new city to the series posed a number of challenges, as the elevation of Broncos Stadium at Mile High had an impact on riders and motorcycles while an April weather system brought cold temperatures and even snow. The SmarTop | Bullfrog Spas | MotoConcepts | Honda team with riders Ben LaMay and Mike Alessi took on all of the challenges and came away from the race with plenty of positive points to build off of.

Denver’s location in proximity of the Rocky Mountains means that the city is always vulnerable to sudden shifts in the weather, something that race teams experienced in Denver due to warm temperatures and sun early in the week to below freezing temperatures and even snow flurries during the practice sessions on Saturday afternoon at the open-air venue. The chill was something that all in attendance felt, but the riders and teams also had to cope with less oxygen in the high elevation air, which drastically restricted the performance of the motorcycle engines and athlete bodies.

Ben LaMay’s results have steadily improved since starting his fill-in ride with the team and the trend continued in Denver. A 44.632-second lap time in qualifying put LaMay thirteenth overall in the 450 class and he battled to a seventh-place finish in 450 Heat Race Two, which advanced him directly to the Main Event. A very fast track design meant that riders were going to put in a high number of laps during the Main Event, and LaMay clicked off twenty-seven laps over the course of the race on his way to a twelfth-place finish. Steady finishes in recent rounds have helped LaMay chip away at the small advantage that competitor Kyle Chisholm holds over him in the championship standings and with two races left to go in the season, LaMay is within four points of finishing the season with a seventeenth-place overall rank.

Denver was the last round of the initial three race fill-in agreement between LaMay and SmarTop | Bullfrog Spas | MotoConcepts | Honda, but with solid results and the progress made, the rider and team have agreed to extend the deal through the end of the Supercross season in Las Vegas.

Mike Alessi, meanwhile, wrapped up his seven-week stint with the team in Denver. Alessi’s return to Supercross was impressive, as the veteran racer picked up the pace each week and qualified for each 450 Main Event. Alessi was seventeenth overall in qualifying with a 45.230-second lap time and finished in ninth-place during 450 Heat Race Two, a finish that put him in the Main Event. Unfortunately, Alessi experienced issues with the altitude before the gate dropped and was not able to turn a lap in the feature event. He was credited with a twenty-second-place finish.

“I want to give a huge thank you to Mike Genova and everyone at SmarTop | Bullfrog Spas | MotoConcepts | Honda for giving me the opportunity to come back to Supercross after two years and fill in for my friend Vince Friese,” said Alessi after the weekend. “It was a fun experience. Denver was my last race filling in for the team. Now time to focus on outdoors and getting ready for my summer of racing in Canada. Thanks to all the fans who came out and cheered me on. See you at the races!”

The 2019 Monster Energy Supercross Series will take its lone break of the season this week in observance of Easter and will pick back up on April 27th at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey and will then conclude on May 4th at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.