Matthew Bisceglia continued his strong comeback from injury on Saturday at the Budds Creek Pro Motocross National aboard the Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing RM-Z450. The 450 class rookie qualified sixth, a career high, then garnered the power of the Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 to take the holeshot in the second moto. In the end blistered hands kept Bisceglia from reaching his full potential at Budds Creek and he finished the day 11th overall with 9-12 moto results.
Bisceglia was in just his second week on his comeback trail from rib injuries sustained at Southwick and his gathering of experience on the 450 began to pay dividends with a strong sixth-place qualifying run. He hustled the Yoshimura factory machine around the hilly Budds Creek track in a time of 2:05.851.
All the hard work put in by Bisceglia and the Yoshimura team to earn a great gate pick went for naught when Bisceglia crashed in the first turn of the opening moto. Undaunted, he picked-up his bike and proceeded to turn in one of the most outstanding charges of the season, riding from last to ninth by the chequered flag.
Perhaps inspired by his brilliant rally in moto one, Bisceglia launched perfectly out of the gate at the start of the second moto and let the power of his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 do the rest as he scored the coveted holeshot.
Unfortunately, the downside of only being back on the bike for a little over a week meant that his hands hadn’t yet built-up calluses from hours of riding and they blistered badly by the second moto, making it tough for him to hold on and he was forced to reduce his pace, but still managed 12th that moto to earn him the 11th overall.
“It was a bit of a tough day,” said Bisceglia after the national. “I qualified sixth, which is the best I’ve qualified so far this year. I got a good start in the first moto, but crashed in the first corner. I went from last to ninth. Then I got the holeshot in the second moto and was still riding good up until maybe the halfway point. Then I struggled with my hands. They’re just super raw and I couldn’t even hold on, but there were positives from the day.
“I’m looking forward to next weekend. My Suzuki is working so great and hopefully I can get these hands a little bit tougher before the race and just be able to go and finish the motos strong. It’s the last race of the year and hopefully we can go out with a strong result.”
The Pro Motocross Championship concludes this coming Saturday at the Ironman National, in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
