Image: Octopi Media.

Club MX Yamaha rider Garrett Marchbanks has responded after making aggressive contact with Cameron McAdoo in the 250SX West main event, taking ‘full responsibility’ for the incident.

With five top-five finishes including a podium so far this season, Marchbanks has had a solid season aboard his ClubMX Yamaha. After taking 14th and fifth, in the first two rounds of the Monster Energy Supercross residency at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Marchbanks lined up Saturday looking to grab his second podium of the season.

After a tough start to the race, he found himself deep in the pack on the opening lap. On lap two, Marchbanks crossed paths with Cameron McAdoo, already battered and bruised from multiple crashes, making an aggressive move up the inside, taking both of them to the ground.

Eventually finishing the race in 18th, Marchbanks later took to Instagram to address the incident after receiving threats across his social media platforms, apologizing to the Club MX team and sponsors.

“I’m not going to sit here and lie to everyone,” Marchbanks explained, “and say that I didn’t mean to make an aggressive move on Cameron [McAdoo], I did. It’s obvious that I did. I fully intended on making an aggressive move, solely because I was cross-jumped multiple times.

“I let me emotions get the best of me because of red flags, and I honestly felt like he was a hazard at the time. I realize now that is absolutely no excuse to go and clean someone out the way I did by any means, and that I was actually being the hazardous one in that moment.”

There was speculation around the incident that it may have had something to do with Marchbanks’ feelings toward the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team, after the two parted ways at the end of last season, which he also addressed in the statement.

“This has nothing to do with Cameron being on a Pro Circuit bike, only how I felt about him as a racer during these last couple of rounds at the time.

“Pro Circuit is a great race team and I’m very honored to have gotten the chance to ride for them for the years that I did. I am equally as happy to be a part of the ClubMX race team as well.

“I understand the frustration that I caused the fans, Pro Circuit and Cameron. I am not a perfect racer by any means and I’ve made my mistakes. All I can do now is learn from this incident so I don’t make the same mistakes again in the future.”

Marchbanks and the rest of the 250SX West field will now have a weekend off between the final round of their season, as the 250SX East class resumes this Saturday in Salt Lake City.