Image: Octopi Media.

Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) came out swinging in his 450MX debut at Fox Raceway, winning his first moto and sealing the overall with a third-place finish.

After an up and down rookie season of Monster Energy Supercross, Ferrandis didn’t hold back when the gate dropped on his first start in the premier class of Pro Motocross.

At the start of the opening race, it looked to be all Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) with the speed to win as he jumped out to the lead after qualifying fastest in the morning sessions.

Webb grabbed the first 450 holeshot ahead of Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC), Ferrandis, Cianciarulo, and Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC). Cianciarulo went from fourth to first within two corners and set out to gap the field.

Cianciarulo then lost traction coming into a downhill section, hitting the ground and dropping to fourth allowing Webb to take the lead momentarily. He was passed and gapped pretty quickly by Ferrandis who never looked back going on to take the win.

Sexton took second by just 0.099s as he put in a late-race charge nearly passing Ferrandis at the line. Justin Barcia rounded out the podium after a hard-fought battle through the pack aboard his TLD Red Bull GasGas MC450.

Fourth went to Aaron Plessinger (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha), Cooper Webb (Team Honda HRC), Roczen, Cianciarulo, Marvin Musquin (Red Bull KTM), Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki), and Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) taking the final spots inside the top 10. Defending champion Zach Osborne (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) finished the first moto in 13th.

As the gate dropped on the second moto Plessinger grabbed the final holeshot of the day ahead of Roczen, Cianciarulo, Webb, and Musquin.

Roczen rocketed around the outside of Plessinger for the lead in the opening lap as Cianciarulo bobbled and dropped off the back of the duo. With a much better start, Osborne worked his way into fourth in the second lap with Barcia just behind him.

After a not-so-great start, Ferrandis worked his way around Webb into sixth as he charged toward the front. With 18-minutes to go, Ferrandis made a move to get around Osborne, a crucial move for the overall results.

Roczen managed the gap at the front despite pressure from Plessinger throughout the race, eventually winning the moto by nearly 12 seconds. Ferrandis brought it home in third place to take the overall, leaving Roczen to finish second overall and Plessinger in third.

Barcia’s 3-6 moto scores gave him fourth place overall in his outdoor debut on the GasGas, while Sexton’s salvaged 2-10 on the day for fifth after a first turn crash left him in dead last off the start.

Jason Anderson’s 10-4 moto scores left him in sixth on the day after an impressive run in the second moto, followed by Marvin Musquin’s 8-7 tally in eighth place.

The final two spots inside the top 10 went to the 9-8 score of Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki) and defending champion Zach Osborne who after a sluggish first moto took home 13-5 scores.

The series now heads to Colorado for the second round at Thunder Valley Raceway next Saturday, 5 June, where Ferrandis will look to keep the red-plate.

Detailed results