Aaron Plessinger was battling with the top group on Saturday at the RedBud National first moto of the day. He finished sixth but then did not start the second moto, with the TV broadcast crew reporting he was dealing with an illness. The KTM rider scored 12th overall, his first overall finish outside the top ten this summer.

The KTM post-race press release said the following on Plessinger:

450MX teammate Aaron Plessinger powered his KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION to the sixth-fastest qualifying time. A P6 finish in Moto 1 was another strong performance for ‘The Cowboy’, despite developing a fever that would ultimately end his weekend early. Together with the team, Plessinger elected to sit out Moto 2 for safety purposes and to prioritize his recovery, currently fifth overall in the point-standings.

This afternoon, Plessinger took to Instagram to provide an update. He said his energy levels were gone about 20 minutes into the first moto. “I’ve been dealing with a little bit of a sickness I kept telling myself wasn’t happening,” Plessinger said in the video. “Finally caught up to me”

He said he was not able to recover after the moto, saying, “My body was just kinda empty.”

Despite the issue, he said he will do what he can this week to figure it out and he will be racing this weekend’s Spring Creek National in Minnesota.

Plessinger sits fifth in the 450 Class AMA Pro Motocross Championship standings after six rounds.