Aaron Plessinger is a 27 year old pro dirt bike rider from Hamilton, OH. In 2014 Aaron achieved multiple amateur championships and in 2015, he moved on to become a professional AMA racer. His rookie season in the pros, he ended the season in 5th place for points in the 250SX and 6th place in the 250MX. He made the transition onto a 450 Yamaha in 2019 and remained with that team until 2022 where he signed a 2 year deal with the RedBull KTM Factory Team.
Plessinger has always been at the top of the radar with the rest of the pros such as Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Justin Barcia, Jason Anderson, etc. He has come close to winning a 450 main event many times but he just wasn’t able to fully clutch onto the win. During the 2023 SX season, at a race in Indianapolis, Aaron pulled away from the rest of the riders and never slowed down. His first ever 450 career win was locked insight, until he caught his foot in a rut and flew over the next jump crashing off his bike and losing the win. Not only was Plessinger heartbroken at losing this victory so close to the end, but he is the fan favorite and all of his fans in the crowd felt just as heartbroken for him. He has done nothing but work as hard as he can to prove that he deserves a win.
Finally, all of his hard work paid off in the San Diego race on January 20th, 2024. When the gate dropped for the Main Event, Ken Roczen took off with the hole shot and held it for a few laps with Plessinger close behind in 2nd place. Roczen crashed a few laps later and had to try kickstarting his bike to get it running. By the time his bike got going, he had dropped down to 12th place, allowing Plessinger to take the 1st place position. The RedBull KTM racer pulled away and held a 7 second lead for the remainder of the race. The crowd was going crazy for Plessinger as he made it to the finish jump, securing his first ever 450 Main Event race. That is amazing on its own, but what made it even better for him was that he was so close in the points race that he was also able to take over the red number plate for becoming points leader.
During his podium speech, Plessinger said, “It feels really, really good. I guess it feels like it should. I got off to a good start and just rode a good race.” Aaron is a very respectful rider and he appreciates a good challenge from his fellow riders. He continued his speech with, “Kenny was out front, I ended up just applying a little pressure and he ended up going down. Coop was right there behind me; he was keeping me on my toes. It was a really good race. I just got a good lead and just rode my own race.” He then went on to thank his mechanics, and all of his sponsors for believing in him and helping him get to this place. The crowd continued their excitement for the new points leader. Fellow racers congratulated him on his very, very deserved and long-awaited victory.
