While it was Austin Forkner and Jett Lawrence who walked away from Foxborough with the major silverware in the 250SX East class - Forkner winning the race, and Lawrence the championship - the ride of Pierce Brown was also a career milestone for the #44 GasGas rider.
Brown came into 2022 as a third-year Supercross rider, with a single podium to his name, which came last year when he finished third in Daytona.
Brown had been faster in 2021 than he was in his debut year, 2020, but he missed three races through injury. In 2022, the speed has increased arguably further, and the injuries have stopped. The crashing has remained relatively frequent, though, and that almost cost him a few Main Events earlier in the year. And, of course, he was unable to start the second Main Event in St. Louis after going down in the chaotic first Main.
But, Foxborough was somewhat monumental in Brown’s career, because he led his first laps of a 250SX race. It was actually quite shocking at the time to realise that Brown, until that point, had not led a lap in Supercross - partly because this is his third year, but also because his speed has been good in 2022, and he has been regularly running near the front.
Importantly, Brown did not just lead one or two laps, but he led 14 after passing Cullin Park who led the opening tour.
They were not straightforward laps, either, with tricky dirt, lappers and constant pressure either from RJ Hampshire - who ended up crashing while challenging Brown - or Austin Forkner - who ended up the winner for the first time in almost two years - behind.
“It’s a bummer that I couldn’t hold onto it, but all-in-all, I’m stoked on the ride and I'm just hungry for more,” Brown said after the race. He continued, “I wish I could have held onto it, but I'm not too bummed because I learned a lot out there and hopefully next time I can hold onto it all the way. I led a lot of laps tonight and hopefully this could jump-start me into a win here soon.”
Wins are definitely now on the cards for Brown, and surely it will be his target to get it done in the season finale at Salt Lake City. But, at the same time, that could prove to be a gnarly race itself, as the 250SX West title is far from guaranteed to be wrapped up this weekend, and both Hunter Lawrence and Christian Craig could be heading to Salt Lake with everything to play for.
