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Suzuki Racing press release:

Broc Tickle made his Supercross racing return for the JGRMX Yoshimura Suzuki Racing team in the weekend’s Monster Energy AMA/ FIM World Supercross series at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

After limited time on the bike after a two-year lay-off, although familiar with the competitive Suzuki RM-Z450, Tickle was impressive all day and finished the 450 Main Event in a respectable 12th place. The event also marked the opening round of 250 East Coast racing where Jimmy Decotis soldiered through a practice crash injury to score top-10 points on his Suzuki RM-Z250.

There was a lot of excitement surrounding Tickle’s return to racing as a Supercross fill-in 450 rider for the JGR team, and Tickle did not disappoint: The Michigan native showed he hadn’t lost a tick of speed during time qualifying where he posted top-15 lap times on the first, second, and overall qualifying session time sheets. In his heat race, he avoided a first turn tangle and made his way to a solid fourth-place finish and direct transfer to the Main Event: He was eighth at the holeshot line and spent early laps running in the top-10, but some late battles netted him a 12th place finish, an extremely impressive first race back against competitors already seven rounds into their racing season.

Said Tickle: “My first race back in almost two years was filled with emotions. I’m very happy with how smooth and calm I stayed throughout the day. I felt like I haven’t missed a beat overall being away. I will improve each week as a racer and get more comfortable. I want to thank JGRMX/ Yoshimura/ Suzuki for all the hard work over the last three weeks preparing for Tampa. I’m looking forward to getting more quality riding and training in this week to show up to Dallas a step better than this round.”

“It was a good weekend,” said Team Manager Jeremy Albrecht. “We had a lot of excitement around Broc’s return to racing and he did great. It was impressive to see how fast he adapted to his RM-Z450 and he came out swinging. He had a great heat race, battling to finish fourth, and a strong Main Event ending in 12th. Broc had speed to be in the top-10 so that excites us for next week.”

Jimmy Decotis, who raced a JGR-tuned RM-Z450 in the opening three rounds of 2020 to warm up for 250 class racing, had a practice crash just five days prior to Tampa that resulted in a fractured pelvis. Decotis pushed through the pain to win the 250 LCQ. In the Main Event, Jimmy D got a great jump off the line and reached the first corner first, but his outside line pushed him back to only eighth at the holeshot stripe. Decotis got shuffled back a bit early in the Main but made some passes and finished in a solid ninth place.

Said Decotis: “The first round of 250 East Coast racing was a challenging task for me and the JGR team. We fought hard all day, pushing through an injury and we ended up with a ninth-place finish. I’m thankful for my crew and everyone who kept me positive through the adversity. I’m excited for a few days of rest so I can let the body heal and then head to Arlington, Texas healthy and ready to challenge upfront.”

Added Albrecht: “Jimmy has been riding better than ever but had a crash last Monday that made his weekend tough. I was proud of him for the effort he put in all week and weekend to get a top-10 finish. Jimmy was in a lot of pain and kept fighting to do his best. With another week of recovery, it will help him a ton. I hope you all can see what we have seen at the JGR track.”

The team is looking forward to greater track speed and even stronger results this weekend at round eight of the 2020 Monster Energy AMA/ FIM World Supercross in Arlington, Texas on February 22nd.