News 25 Apr 2014

Series leader Davalos out of 250SX East Coast title chase

Injuries deny veteran of title chances with two rounds remaining.

Image: Simon Cudby.

Image: Simon Cudby.

Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki officially confirmed Martin Davalos has been ruled out of contention for the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross 250SX East Coast Championship after undergoing surgery this week.

Davalos currently leads the title from Justin Bogle (GEICO Honda) entering New Jersey this weekend, however he crashed while testing earlier this week and suffered a broken foot/ankle and a shattered scaphoid bone in his wrist.

“I’m just so heartbroken right now, it’s hard to really put it into words,” said Davalos. “This season was going exactly the way I had hoped and all the time and effort we’ve put in to making the Kawasaki KX250F fast was paying off.

“I’m trying to be positive because we were doing the right things, but this is a tough one to swallow for everyone. We won’t get the chance to finish what we started and that stings.

“This is the brutal reality of our sport at times and it’s not going to be easy to watch everyone line up on the gate Saturday night without me.”

With Adam Cianciarulo already out injured and teammate Blake Baggett unable to compete due to an eye injury suffered while outdoor testing, the Pro Circuit team will be absent this Saturday evening.

“It is a shame that we had all of our guys get injured on the East Coast,” said team owner Mitch Payton. “We were in a great position to win another title and I feel for Martin right now. He has already had surgery and is going to push to get back as soon as he can.

“With Blake we didn’t want to risk anything, so we are going to make sure he can ride with the contact lens and hopefully he can come back and get a win in Las Vegas.”

The East Region effort for Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki was enjoying one of its most dominant seasons to date. Collectively Davalos, Cianciarulo, and Baggett helped the team top the charts in every practice through the first seven rounds, win all but one heat race the team was entered in, and score podiums at each stop.

Additionally, the team boasted a pair of podium sweeps at AT&T Stadium in Dallas and at the legendary Daytona Supercross.

While Davalos focuses on recovery and returning to action as soon as possible, Baggett will hope to join his West Coast counterparts Justin Hill and Dean Wilson in the annual East/West Shootout at Las Vegas next weekend.

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