Fresh off a 2021 AMA Supercross Championship opening round win Justin Barica had to contend with riding the main event of round two in first gear as any chance of a repeat win went begging.
In Supercross racing, momentum is key and Barcia came into Tuesday‰Ûªs race prepared to ride the wave as he lined up for round two at NRG Stadium. He clicked off another holeshot in 450SX Heat 2 and it was right away that he established himself as the man to beat on the opening lap. Riding nearly a flawless race, the round-one winner backed up his performance with a second-straight heat race win.
In the Main Event, Barcia didn‰Ûªt get a standout start and he was shuffled into a chaotic group of riders on the first lap. As he was trying to break away, he got crossed up and clipped a tuff block, which caused his shifter to break off and he was stuck in first gear for the rest of the 20-minute plus one-lap Main Event. With obvious modifications required for his riding style, Barcia did what he could to salvage the remainder of the race, ultimately finishing ninth.
‰ÛÏI didn‰Ûªt get a very good jump in the Main Event and we were outside the top-five pushing each other and I just cross-rutted a little bit, clipped a tuff block and ended up breaking a shifter off," Barcia explained. "With my luck, it got stuck in first gear, so I did a lap and I was pretty nervous ‰ÛÒ I missed the triple. I tried the jumps in first gear but it was squirrelly when the dirt is sticky like that so I just salvaged what I could. I‰Ûªm in it for the long-run so I just have to push through things like that when they happen. All-in-all, it‰Ûªs not that bad of a spot, obviously would have liked to been out front tonight but it wasn‰Ûªt my night.‰Û
