Image: Octopi Media.

Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha 450SX rookie Dylan Ferrandis bounced back in the main event in Salt Lake City to grab a top-five finish following a day-long struggle with bike settings in the penultimate round of the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross championship.

The Frenchman’s rookie season has seen a myriad of highs and lows, with everything from a podium to DNF’s. As he begins to find comfort in the premier class, Ferrandis and the team are also still working to dial in the YZ450F to his liking.

While those setup struggles continued over the weekend at round 16 of the championship, they found something ahead of the main event that propelled him to his third top-five finish of the season.

“It was a tough day,” Ferrandis explained. “We made some changes this week to improve the bike, and it didn’t really work in the first practice, so we had to keep working on more changes, which made it hard to get comfortable. In the heat, we went the wrong way, but we made another big change and the bike was really awesome in the main.”

His solid finish didn’t come without challenge, an incident with Jason Anderson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) knocking him down the order early in the race.

“I had a good start,” he continued. “Then Anderson pushed me off the track, and I lost a couple of positions. It took me a few laps to learn the bike and to feel comfortable on it because it was a new setting that I had never tried before. Then when I felt comfortable, I pushed and gave everything that I had.

“I made some good passes on some strong riders and I came back to fourth. It’s a good result overall, and we look to come back next weekend and do better at the finale.”

Ferrandis will look to grab another solid finish in the final round of the 2021 Supercross season this Saturday, 1 May, at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.