The Triumph TF 250-X has made its competitive debut, both in motocross and supercross, and found some success with it.
There is no arguing that the biggest dirt bike market in the world belongs to the US. The reason for both Triumph and Ducati getting into the off-road world is to try to benefit from the size of the market over there, and so the AMA Supercross series - the world’s largest motorcycle championship outside of MotoGP - is the place in which success is most desired.
For Triumph, the journey to that success started last Saturday night in Detroit, when its TF 250-X made its debut in the 250SX East class’ season-opening race.
It wasn’t a straightforward night for the British manufacturer, as its rookie recruit Evan Ferry (son of 1997 AMA Supercross 125cc East Coast Champion Tim Ferry) failed to qualify directly for the Main Event from his Heat Race.
Ferry won the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ), though, meaning he joined his Triumph teammate, Jalek Swoll, in the Main.
Both Swoll and Ferry went down in a major first-turn pile-up, and Ferry went into boarding around the outside of the track pretty hard. Fortunately, he seems to be okay, as he said himself in a video posted to his Instagram after the race, but his debut professional supercross race was over on the spot.
Swoll, on the other hand, recovered his way through the pack to finish a creditable sixth, behind the factory GasGas of Pierce Brown in fifth and the impressive satellite ClubMX Yamaha rider, Coty Schock, in fourth.
At the front, Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner (whose teammate, Cameron McAdoo rode to 15th despite spending most of the race in a non-family-friendly state after his pants were ripped open in the aforementioned first-turn incident) took his first 250SX win since 2021, ahead of Britain’s Max Anstie for the satellite Firepower Honda team, and Daxton Bennick who took the bottom step of the podium in his professional supercross debut for the factory Star Racing Yamaha team.
The 450SX class saw Honda’s Jett Lawrence become the first rider of 2024 to win two AMA Supercross races (he also won the first round in Anaheim last month) this year. The podium was completed by Red Bull KTM’s Chase Sexton and HEP Suzuki’s Ken Roczen.
Spanish Motocross Championship
Back across on the other side of the Atlantic, Triumph got its first taste of motocross action in the opening round of the Spanish Motocross Championship at the famous Cerro Negro (Black Hill) circuit in Talavera de la Reina.
Competing in the MX2 class, Triumph scored a double podium finish on its motocross debut, with Mikkel Haarup taking 2-2 results, and Camden McLellan going 4-3 for third overall. It was Husqvarna’s 17-year-old Belgian prodigy Lucas Coenen who dominated, though, winning the first race by over 30 seconds from Haarup, and the second race by 18 seconds over the Dane.
Britain’s Josh Gilbert, for the Shaun Simpson-owned Gabriel SS24 KTM team, won the MX1 class ahead of factory Husqvarna rider Mattia Guadagnini, and former MXGP rider Jose Butron on a private KTM.
The Spanish Championship race is a part of the annual preseason preparations for European riders ahead of the start of the MXGP World Championship, which is still set to begin on 9-10 March at Villa la Angostura in Argentina despite the economic turbulence in the country which caused the MotoGP race to be cancelled.
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