Image: Octopi Media.

Title-favorite Austin Forkner rebounded for a controlled 250SX West victory in the second round of 2020 Monster Energy Supercross at St. Louis.

It was a chaotic main event that saw defending champion Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Star Yamaha) crash heavily on the opening lap, as Forkner jumped out front early.

While Forkner had his hands full with newcomer Jett Lawrence (Geico Honda), Ferrandis was forced to pit and Michael Mosiman (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) was forced to recover from that same incident. They wound up 12th and 20th respectively.

Drama struck Geico Honda teammates Lawrence and Christian Craig with three minutes remaining as they had been positioned third and fourth at the time – Craig crashing out of the race and Lawrence pitting for bike repairs. The latter eventually made it home for fifth.

Leading the way, however, there was no denying Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Forkner for victory in his home race, taking the checkered flag 1.639s ahead of red plate-holder Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Star Yamaha), with Brandon Hartranft (TLD Red Bull KTM) third.

Hartranft was narrowly ahead of Alex Martin (JGRMX Yoshimura Suzuki), followed by Lawrence in P5, who in turn led Jacob Hayes (Gas Monkey AJE Motorsports Husqvarna), Luke Clout (Penrite Honda Racing), his teammate Mitchell Oldenburg, Carson Brown (JMC Motorsports Racing Husqvarna) and Derek Drake (TLD Red Bull KTM).

The 250SX West championship now returns to Anaheim next Saturday night on 18 January, where Cooper will take a five-point advantage over Forkner in the standings two rounds into the season.