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00:00This afternoon. Heat 2, 250 East Division here in Pittsburgh. Gates down. Hampshire center of your screen. Good start. Got that inside run. Gets by Max Voland. Hampshire leads the way.
00:17Right up the inside. I thought Voland was going to be able to hold him off, but RJ would not be denied. And man, what a battle this is turning out to be. No surprise at this time in the season for both guys 1-2 in the championship to be leading their heat races.
00:36Now earlier today, there was no free practice because of the delayed schedule due to rain, overnight rain. It was just the two qualifying practice sessions. Max Voland looked good in both.
00:46Yeah, he has. And he's been sneaky the last couple weeks. Sneaky good in a way and having some really strong rides. You can see that the confidence is starting to build. Even looks really comfortable on that motorcycle as well.
01:03Another good look at those option lanes. Where you choose to go. Here comes Max Voland. Look at that Club MX Yamaha fly into the lead. Oh, that was a great pass.
01:14And it just shows you one little miss. Not being able to execute that rhythm section. You can see how much time can be lost.
01:24And I think that RJ will rebound from this. What a ride by Max, though. Great. And that's what happens, Lee. When you're able to get numerous good rides in those main events,
01:38you kind of are able to get into a groove, right? And that confidence start building. So you get six and then those eventually those six become top fives and then those top fives become podiums.
01:50That's what you're seeing here. Max Voland. Good battle here going on between Hardy Munoz and Austin Faulkner aboard the triumph.
01:59Here comes Austin. Last weekend in New Jersey and Heath Rosenthal was a season best. Both his hit result and his main event result. Fourth and seventh respectively.
02:11It's taken a while to get that confidence back, but it is now quite evident that we're seeing signs of the old Austin Faulkner.
02:19We sure are. And I go back to what had been 2019. I remember is leading every single race at the East Division.
02:27And he tore his ACL back in Nashville. And the guy that was behind him in the points was Chase Sexton, ironically, but Austin has had a pretty tough couple of years.
02:39But you can never count the guy out.
02:41Henry Miller goes to that inside option.
02:51And this is the fight for the transfer position, the ninth and final transfer position with just over three minutes plus a lap to go on the clock.
02:59For those of you that don't know, you want to hear something that's pretty gnarly.
03:04The guy in the lead doesn't have a rear brake on his right side foot peg. He has an actual hand brake because of an injury.
03:12He's not able to move his foot properly to use that rear brake.
03:16That's absolutely incredible how he's able to ride at these speeds with that kind of talent, JT.
03:22Yeah, you're so right, though, Ricky. And I really think it's just all starting to come together.
03:27Because if you think about Max Voland in 2024, this is the guy that was on the 250 West, and he came out battling RJ Hampshire, winning heat races.
03:35And it really looked like he was ready to take the next step.
03:37He has that big injury, and it's really taken him until now not only to get back up to speed, but also learn how to deal with that injury.
03:46A handbrake is something we've literally never seen in Monster to Supercross.
03:50You look at everything he's had to overcome, and here he is right back at the front of the 250 East.
03:56How about Henry Miller in that top box aboard the 55, the Storm Lake Honda, Buddy Brooks Racing.
04:02Last week he had a terrible crash in the heat, was forced to go to the last chance qualifier, got flung under the net on one of the berms.
04:11He came back for his season best result. That's a determined rider. Look at the bottom box. Fights on for the lead. Here comes RJ Hampshire.
04:19See how this split lane is working out. That works real good. Yeah, pretty evenly.
04:24I think it's going to continue to stay that way throughout the night.
04:28Yeah, Miller, that was rough last weekend. Good to see him having a good run here early in this second heat race, 250 heat race.
04:38I think he'll be able to stay in that transfer position, take it to the main event.
04:42Here's the pass for the main top of the screen.
04:45Max just makes a little mistake to the whoops, probably got a little bit of wheel spin.
04:50RJ jumping through there, bit more consistent, able to make the pass.
04:55No surprise from the reigning 250 West champion.
05:01Nate Ramsey, former championship racer and the leader of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team, told me this afternoon he's so impressed with RJ Hampshire's grid determination to go beyond not being 100% healthy and just say, I can't complain about it now.
05:23We got two rounds to go and I'm in championship contention. And he said, it's seriously impressive what this guy did last week.
05:29Will did this afternoon to be the fastest qualifier and continues to do.
05:34You said earlier at the top of the show, you talked about how important this round was for these guys here tonight.
05:41And I got to tell you, talking to RJ earlier today, he was in a different mode today than I have seen him any other round.
05:47It was just all business. The wrist is fine. I'm good. There's work to do. Just different. You can tell the importance of this round is clearly there for him.
05:55Look at Voland. You're going to like his determination as well. Max isn't giving up.
05:59And he's racing this like it's a main event. Looks for the inside line on Hampshire. Couldn't quite get there.
06:04Voland got an epic run through the whoops. RJ missed through the whoops and that helped Voland close the gap.
06:11But, man, when I'm watching Voland right now, Lee, I'm just thinking of the confidence that he's getting.
06:17We talked about it at the beginning of this race, but I think that it's growing even more.
06:21Because what you're able to do, if you're able to hang with a guy like RJ, it gives you that belief.
06:27And you're able to see what RJ is doing, what lines he's taking.
06:32Okay, where is he getting on the gas? Where is he getting off the gas?
06:35And if you're able to replicate that, then you're able to run his speed.
06:39That's kind of what we're seeing here. So long as Max doesn't make too many mistakes and is able to stay on that rear wheel, he'll continue to learn.
06:47Voland equaled his best qualifying effort this afternoon with P3.
06:51Right.
06:52So that shows you what kind of .