Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Blake Baggett recovered after a crash to finish 11th on his RM-Z450 Saturday night in NRG Stadium in front of a crowd of 48,024.
The finish gave Baggett enough points to take over sole possession of sixth-place in the standings with three rounds remaining in the 17-race AMA/ FIM World Supercross Series.
Baggett found the Houston Supercross track to be challenging because of the composition of the dirt. As a result he was little further back in practice than he would have liked, but he finished timed qualifying in 12th.
“The track was technical,” he explained. “It wasn’t super-hard, but it was still tricky. It was easy to make a mistake with that sandy base on the top and hard-pack underneath. There were lots of ruts, lots of choices; and I didn’t put it solidly together.”
In the Heat-race Baggett was involved in an exciting battle in the end with Chad Reed, but came up short and had to go to the Semi. Once in his Semi, Baggett battled for the win, ultimately ending-up finishing a close third, good enough to put him safely in the Main Event.
After a solid start to the 20-lap final, Baggett found himself forced wide in turn one and got stuck in the middle of a 22-rider traffic jam.
“I came from the outside at the start and got a good jump and a good lean,” Baggett said of his run to the first turn. “But the way the track was, I got pushed wide and we bunched up and I was back there in the chaos.
Once the traffic spread-out a bit, Baggett found himself in 13th at the end of lap one. He then put his head down and mounted a charge on his speedy RM-Z450.
“I was steadily working my way towards the front and maybe got into eighth or ninth when I got hit from behind going over the wall and went down.”
In spite of the crash, Baggett was able to get back in the race and crossed the finish-line in 11th, just one-and-a-half seconds short-of getting back inside the top-10.
“I’ll go back and regroup,” Baggett concluded. “I know what I need to work on and I’ll just keep plugging away. We’ve got a few (races) left and we’ll see what we can do.”
Houston 450 Supercross Results: 1. Cole Seely (Honda), 2. Ryan Dungey (KTM), 3. Eli Tomac (Honda), 4. Josh Grant (Kawasaki), 5. Chad Reed (Kawasaki), 6. Andrew Short (KTM), 7. Davi Millsaps (Kawasaki), 8. Broc Tickle (RCH Suzuki), 9. Justin Barcia (Yamaha), 10. Justin Brayton (KTM), 11. Blake Baggett (Yoshimura Suzuki).
