Image: Octopi Media.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna press release:

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Jason Anderson had a big night in Texas, coming away with his first podium finish of the season with a hard-fought third at Round 10 of the 2021 AMA Supercross World Championship in Arlington. Teammate Dean Wilson also had a breakthrough ride, claiming two holeshots and battling up front throughout the night to earn a season-best finish of ninth in the stacked field of 450SX riders.

450SX
Anderson came into Saturday’s race with success on his mind, starting things off with a second-place qualifying position and earning first gate pick in 450SX Heat 1. In the heat, Anderson put himself into second early on and battled his teammate for the early lead. On lap two, he made his move into the lead where he went on to lead the remaining nine laps to secure his second heat-race victory of the season. In the Main Event, he got caught up in some first-turn chaos, giving him an eighth-place start, but he charged into a top-five position by the end of lap five. A man on a mission, Anderson continued to charge his way up to third just after the halfway point and from there he maintained a steady pace to lock in his best finish of the 2021 season.

“I’ve been following those guys all year and I want to be on the podium and want to start doing good, so I’m going for it and that’s all there is to it,” Anderson said. “We’re going to be firing every time we come out of that gate for the rest of the year. Let’s go!”

Wilson lined up alongside Anderson in 450SX Heat 1, where he captured the holeshot and led the first lap of the race. He was quickly joined up front by Anderson and the teammates battled together for the lead before Wilson finally got passed on lap two. He continued to assert himself up front to secure a season-best second-place finish and a direct transfer into the Main Event. Wilson shot off the line in the main to once again capture the holeshot and battle up front in the opening laps. He remained within the top-five battle for the first half of the race but arm pump settled in as the race wore on and he hung on for a season-best ninth for the night.

“Overall, the night was a step forward for me,” Wilson said. “My starts were awesome and that’s definitely something to be proud of. I put in a fairly good ride for the first half of the Main Event but unfortunately after that, I got really bad arm pump. It was pretty uncomfortable and I had to fight through it but I just tried to be smart. I just want to keep this momentum with starts and hold it up there.”

250SX West
Jalek Swoll came out on rails in 250SX Heat 2 as he grabbed the holeshot and early lead in the race. Leading the first seven laps of the heat race, Swoll eventually got passed with three laps to go and with a change in momentum he finished fourth in the heat. In the Main Event, Swoll got off to a fourth-place start but he dropped back to sixth early on. He battled around sixth and seventh for most of the race, ultimately securing sixth on the final lap of racing.

“I started off pretty good, led a bunch of laps in the heat race, which were the first led laps for me in Supercross, so that was fun,” Swoll said. “I got through the Main Event, I slapped my hand pretty hard in practice so it was little bit tough to hang on but it is what it is, no excuses, we’ll gather up and be ready to go for Tuesday.”

Coming off his first-career podium at the last round, Stilez Robertson lined up in 250SX Heat 2 where he started off back in ninth. He climbed a couple positions into seventh, maintaining a clean transfer into the Main Event. Robertson got off to a sixth-place start in the Main Event and he got shuffled back to 12th early on. He stepped into his stride around the halfway point and from there he put his head down to charge up to a seventh-place finish.

“My night was okay, I don’t feel like I was riding like myself but we’ll go back and work harder,” Robertson said. “I feel like the first eight minutes of the Main Event were not so good but the last eight were okay. I have a lot of little things I can improve on and we’ll try to get back up there on the box.”