Image: Octopi Media.

Dylan Ferrandis and the Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha team are searching for answers as to what caused his bike to smoke during the early stages of moto two at Southwick.

As the second moto at round five of the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series got underway, Ferrandis’ began to smoke as he came under pressure from eventual moto winner Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki).

The Star team elected to signal to the Frenchman that there were issues with the bike, forcing him to ease his pace in an effort to collect valuable points for the championship.

Ferrandis addressed the issue following the race, stating the team were going to investigate the issue.

“I still don’t know [what the issue was],” Ferrandis explained. “I asked the team to tell me, because it’s going to be really important to know for the future.

“But no I think like I said, Eli [Tomac] was really on fire this moto and I tried stay in front of him for the first part of the moto.

“I was just pushing the bike too much and not being too smooth and just using too much of the clutch and revving the bike. So, the bike just gets too much heat.

“After that I don’t know, we still don’t know right now but for sure we’ll know in the next few days. it’s important for us to know in the future so if this happens again to know how long we can go with the bike that smokes.”

Ferrandis’ eventual third place finish in the moto secured a five-point advantage for him on the day over Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC), but he remained frustrated following the performance.

“I feel like I could have come back on Ken and try to challenge him in the last lap,” Ferrandis explained. “So for sure, I was pretty frustrated about that. Also I was a little frustrated because I had a small crash, so yeah without the small crash maybe I could have passed Ken, I don’t know.

“The team asked me four laps before the end to slow down and just secure the P3, and I was not really listening. I wanted to get back to the front and try to pass Ken, but yeah in the end they were pushing [so much] for me to slow down that I had no choice but to listen and to do it.

“For sure it was safer for the bike but we kind of don’t know with the 450 how far we can go in that condition. So yeah I was for sure frustrated because of me, because of not leaving everything out on the track.”

Ferrandis now leads the championship by 19 points over Roczen, as the series closes in on the halfway point next weekend at Spring Creek.