Winning a championship in any sport is always great, but winning one early has to be even better. That is the case for Dylan Ferrandis, who wrapped up this year’s AMA 450 Class early in Pala. All the rookie Frenchmen needed to do was gain a singular point over Ken Roczen today. The Frenchmen went on to do more than the bare minimum. His 1-2 day for second overall was more than enough to seal the deal. A huge day for himself, and his Star Yamaha team, who take home a title in their first year running BluCru’s 450 operation.
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Le Terminateur
From the jump this season at the track he clinched the title at, Ferrandis showed that he could be a legit contender. Winning four of the first five Nationals of the year. Even after surrendering the points lead at round two in Thunder Valley to Roczen, he just kept putting up stellar results. In fact, he never once finished off the overall podium the entire season. Mind-numbing considering how deep this 450 class is this season. Another mind-numbing statistic is that the most amount of points Ferrandis was ever out of the lead the entire season, was just a singular point.
Despite a partial late charge by Roczen in the points, Ferrandis still was able to consistently put up great results to mitigate any losses. He also never did anything to put his title hopes in serious jeopardy either, which speaks to his prowess as a rider. This all leads up to Saturday, where he picked up his first 450 Motocross Championship as a rookie. Doing so one round early while never finishing off the overall podium.
This championship puts him with the likes of Roczen, Ryan Dungey, and Ricky Carmicheal. All of which won premier class AMA Motocross titles as rookies. Additionally, this was the first premier class title for Yamaha since Grant Langston did so back in 2007. Also, Ferrandis is now just the second Frenchman to win the American national title. As he joins Honda phenom Jean-Michel Bayle who did so back in 1991.
Celebration Time
As you could imagine, Ferrandis was extremely excited about his championship. The Frenchman was quick to thank those around him. From his longtime trainer David Vuillemin to his Star Yamaha team, his wife Nastasia, and even Roczen. Here was a part of what the new National Champion had to say in his post-race interview.
I dreamed when I was young to be a 250 champion, but I never would have dreamed to be a 450 Champion. This is not even a dream come true, it’s just [feels] like the best thing I will ever do in my life, and now it’s done. I just put my head down and followed the coaching of DV, and just trust the people at Star Yamaha to make the best bike, and that’s what they did. We proved that this bike is awesome and this team is awesome. All the people that helped me are the best in the industry, and all of that combined makes this number one plate.”
The one part here that is for sure wrong is that this is the best thing he will ever do. We have almost certainly not even come close to seeing the best from Ferrandis yet. Congratulations to him and the whole Star Yamaha squad.
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