BAGGETT SCORES BEST 2016 RESULT AT TORONTO SX

Courtesy of Team Suzuki Press Office

Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett continued his comeback from shoulder injury on Saturday night in front of 50,605 fans at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada for the return of the Monster Energy AMA/ FIM World Supercross for round 10.

Baggett survived a massive first-lap pile-up to finish 11th - his best result in three finishes so far this season - aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450.

While he continued to work his way back into racing shape in Toronto after his extended lay-off, his Yoshimura Suzuki team-mate James Stewart was sidelined, still recovering from a crash at the previous round at Daytona International Speedway that left him badly bruised. Stewart hopes to return to action soon, perhaps as early as this coming round in Detroit.

In the return to the Rogers Centre, at the base of the famous 1,815-foot-tall CN Tower in downtown Toronto, Baggett finished 13th in timed qualifying with a time of 55.81 seconds.

“Qualifying went pretty good,” Baggett said. “I was just trying to ease back into it.”

He then qualified for the Main Event via a second-place finish in Semi 2.

The 20-lap Main Event started out chaotically, with front-running Justin Bogle going down and setting-off a chain reaction that caught-up a big group of riders including Baggett. Fortunately, he somehow kept his Suzuki RM-Z450 on two wheels in the melee, but he was stuck waiting while riders around him tried to untangle from the pile. But he recovered to run a solid pace the rest of the way to finish 11th.

Said Baggett: “I was hoping to get a top-10 and I came up just short in 11th. It was near carnage in the first turn. I almost went down when I got into the back-end of (Chad) Reed. Then I got into the back-end of Bogle when he went down and got stuck. All in all, I’m just trying to get better each weekend. We’re doing some good testing now and hopefully we can keep improving and try to get into that top-five and maybe on the podium before Supercross is over; and then head into the outdoors.”

With his 11th in Toronto, his third finish of the year, Baggett moved up to 18th in the series standings. There are six rounds remaining in this year’s AMA/ FIM World Supercross Championship.

The series now moves to Detroit’s Ford Field next Saturday, March 19th. 

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