The Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing rider will mark his first outdoor appearance of the 2023 season. Justin Barcia’s return will add a little more pressure to Honda rider Jett Lawrence’s winning streak.
Barcia, who was recently on location at the GASGAS Spice It Up Festival in Italy to help introduce the 2024 range, will be back on track riding his MC 450F Factory Edition across the final three rounds of the outdoor season and is excited to build momentum over the course of the next three weeks.
Justin was initially injured toward the end of April in Nashville’s AMA Supercross Championship round, with complications delaying his return. Despite sitting out the final stages of the 450SX season and missing the majority of Pro Motocross, the 31-year-old currently sits 10th in the combined SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) standings.
“It’s been a process, for sure, a lot to think about” Barcia said. “We’re past the injury now after two surgeries, lots of training and a lot of recovery, so I’m definitely excited to come back at my home race in New York for the fans and myself, just to get out there. There are no expectations set because I’ve been off for a lot of months, so I just want to go out there and have fun and build. Obviously, as a racer, you always want to be competitive, but I just need to get back to the races and enjoy being around the team, as well as my family and friends there. Unadilla’s going to be a cool race!”
With Barcia lining up alongside 250MX team regular Pierce Brown this Saturday at Unadilla, Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing would like to thank fill-in rider Caden Braswell for his efforts throughout the opening eight rounds of the series.
Max Lee the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing Team Manager said “We are very excited to have Justin Barcia back racing with us at Unadilla. It’s been longer than we all expected for him to be returning to the races, but we are as excited as ever to have him alongside Pierce Brown this weekend. Without a ton of time that Justin has had on the bike, it looks like he hasn’t skipped a beat. I’m excited to bring him back to his home MX race of the season and hopefully bring some more excitement as well! Caden will no longer be joining us at the races this season. The team is very thankful for the opportunity to work with him and for keeping us racing, since for the first six rounds, he was our only rider. We wish him the best in the next step of his career and hope he can keep improving. See you at the races!”