2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship
Round Four – High Point
450 Qualifying
After posting the fastest lap time in both practice sessions, Blake Baggett was the top qualifier for the 450 Class at High Point. A year ago, Baggett took the overall win at this track in convincing fashion. He’s also coming off his best round of the 2018 season (3-3 finishes at Thunder Valley).
Baggett was a full second faster than Eli Tomac, who enters with a six-moto win streak to start the season. Ken Roczen, who changed suspension since going 2-2 at Thunder Valley, was fifth quickest behind Baggett, Tomac, Marvin Musquin and Justin Barcia.
A new addition to the 450 Class field this week is Justin Hill. Autotrader/Yoshimura Suzuki is moving him up to the big bike for at least a few rounds, starting with High Point, and he’s already shown some speed by qualifying in sixth.
An interesting subplot after the first three rounds has been privateer Dylan Merriam sitting inside the top 10 of the 450MX point standings. But coming off a ninth-place finish at Thunder Valley, he won’t get the chance to build on that momentum. Merriam rode the first practice session but skipped the second session, and according to a tweet, he will not race High Point due to food poisoning.
450 Qualifying Times
1. Blake Baggett, 1:55.307
2. Eli Tomac, 1:56.393
3. Marvin Musquin, 1:56.570
4. Justin Barcia, 1:58.508
5. Ken Roczen, 1:59.248
6. Justin Hill, 1:59.266
7. Benny Bloss, 2:00.416
8. Weston Peick, 2:02.457
9. Cody Cooper, 2:02.649
10. Phil Nicoletti, 2:03.062
11. Kyle Cunningham, 2:03.113
12. Lorenzo Locurcio, 2:03.356
13. Alex Ray, 2:03.914
14. Jeremy Smith, 2:04.379
15. Cade Autenrieth, 2:04.861
16. Ben LaMay, 2:04.940
17. Jeremy Hand, 2:05.418
18. Heath Harrison, 2:05.667
19. Cody Williams, 2:05.933
20. Brandon Scharer, 2:06.016
450 Moto One
It was a bad start for a number of riders, as Ken Roczen, Blake Baggett, Phil Nicoletti and Weston Peick were all involved in a first-turn crash. Ahead of all that chaos, Eli Tomac—a rider not typically known for his starts—emerged with the lead ahead of Justin Bacia and Marvin Musquin after taking a rare holeshot.
As things settled down, there were a lot of interesting names behind that lead trio, including Justin Hill, who was making his outdoor debut on a 450. Hill worked his way up to fourth place after passing Cody Cooper on Lap 2. Cooper had been one of several privateers able to take advantage of good starts to run in the top 10 early.
Tomac had clear sailing out front early, but Barcia and Musquin locked horns in a good battle for second place, with the position eventually going to Musquin. Over time, Musquin was able to chip away at the lead as Tomac encountered lapped traffic.
With about 11 minutes to go on the countdown clock, Tomac had seen his lead cut from 5 seconds to under 2 seconds. A few minutes later, there was only a half second separating the two, and Musquin was all over Tomac’s rear fender. As the clock approached 6:30, Musquin found an outside line around Tomac to take away the lead.
After losing the lead, Tomac didn’t back down right away. He closed back in on Musquin to get the gap down to about two seconds, but he couldn’t mount a charge and settled into second place. Musquin finished the race more than five seconds clear of Tomac and finally brought the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider’s win streak to an end.
Behind Musquin and Tomac, Barcia rounded out the podium in third, and Hill held on for a fourth-place finish in his 450 debut.
Baggett was able recover from his early crash to battle his way up to fifth. Benny Bloss and Roczen ended up sixth and seventh, respectively, and were the only other riders to finish on the lead lap. In eighth place, Cody Cooper was the top privateer in the moto.
450 Moto 1 Results
1. Marvin Musquin
2. Eli Tomac
3. Justin Barcia
4. Justin Hill
5. Blake Baggett
6. Benny Bloss
7. Ken Roczen
8. Cody Cooper
9. Weston Peick
10. Kyle Cunningham
11. Alex Ray
12. Nick Gaines
13. Cade Autenrieth
14. Brandan Leith
15. Dare DeMartile
16. Phil Nicoletti
17. Lorenzo Locurcio
18. Robert Piazza
19. Brandon Scharer
20. Henry Miller
450 Moto Two
Eli Tomac got another strong start but was behind both Ken Roczen and Marvin Musquin as the riders rounded the first turn. Tomac briefly put his bike out front during the opening lap, then Roczen quickly got back around him. Less than three minutes into the race, Roczen made a mistake that sent him off the track, which handed the lead back to Tomac.
Tomac, Roczen and Musquin paced the field for about 10 minutes before Musquin made his away around Roczen for second place. While Musquin closed in on Tomac (just as he did in Moto 1), Roczen lost ground to both riders, making it a two-way battle for both the moto victory and the overall victory.
With seven minutes remaining on the countdown clock, the gap between Tomac and Musquin was little more than a second. After Musquin stalked Tomac for several laps, the two delivered an insanely dramatic finish. Considering how hot the temperature was at High Point, both riders had to be nearly exhausted by the time the countdown clock expired, but they continued to push on. Musquin and Tomac got side-by-side several times—including on the final lap of the race— but Tomac continually found ways to hold off the Frenchman’s pass attempts and take the checkered flag.
Tomac (2-1) and Musquin (1-2) ended up in tied atop the overall standings, but Tomac’s Moto 2 finish gave him the tiebreaker. That means that although his moto win streak came to an end, his overall win streak will continue on. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider has now earned the overall victory at each of the first four rounds to start the season.
Justin Barcia (3-5) finished third overall, and Roczen (7-3) and Justin Hill (4-6) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
With 8-10 moto finishes, New Zealand’s Cody Cooper was the top privateer (ninth place overall) and moved himself into the top 10 of the 450MX point standings.
450 Moto 2 Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Marvin Musquin
3. Ken Roczen
4. Weston Peick
5. Justin Barcia
6. Justin Hill
7. Blake Baggett
8. Benny Bloss
9. Phil Nicoletti
10. Cody Cooper
11. Toshiki Tomita
12. Kyle Cunningham
13. Ben LaMay
14. Brandon Scharer
15. Alex Ray
16. Lorenzo Locurcio
17. Henry Miller
18. Dare DeMartile
19. Nick Gaines
20. Brandan Leith
1. Eli Tomac (2-1)
2. Marvin Musquin (1-2)
3. Justin Barcia (3-5)
450 OVERALL RESULTS
1. Eli Tomac (2-1)
2. Marvin Musquin (1-2)
3. Justin Barcia (3-5)
4. Ken Roczen (7-3)
5. Justin Hill (4-6)
6. Weston Peick (9-4)
7. Blake Baggett (5-7)
8. Benny Bloss (6-8)
9. Cody Cooper (8-10)
10. Kyle Cunningham (10-12)
11. Phil Nicoletti (16-9)
12. Alex Ray (11-15)
13. Nick Gaines (12-19)
14. Toshiki Tomita (29-11)
15. Brandon Scharer (19-14)
16. Lorenzo Locurcio (17-16)
17. Dare DeMartile (15-18)
18. Ben LaMay (21-13)
19. Brandan Leith (14-20)
20. Cade Autenrieth (13-24)
Full Results
450 POINT STANDINGS
1. Eli Tomac, 197
2. Marvin Musquin, 169
3. Justin Barcia, 140
4. Ken Roczen, 131
5. Blake Baggett, 130
6. Weston Peick, 118
7. Benny Bloss, 101
8. Phil Nicoletti, 92
9. Jason Anderson, 73
10. Cody Cooper, 69
250 Qualifying
With Zach Osborne lost for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury, Jeremy Martin has taken over as the title favorite in the 250 Class. Two weeks after winning at Thunder Valley and gaining possession of the red plate, J-Mart set the fastest lap time at High Point with a 1:58.370 in the second session. That was enough to beat out RJ Hampshire, who had set the best time in the first session with a 1:58.463.
Several notable riders are making their return to the series today after missing the first three rounds due to injury: Dylan Ferrandis (7th), Mitchell Harrison (18th) and Cameron McAdoo (19th).
250 Qualifying Times
1. Jeremy Martin, 1:58.370
2. RJ Hampshire, 1:58.463
3. Justin Cooper, 1:58.679
4. Joey Savatgy, 1:58.751
5. Aaron Plessinger, 1:59.193
6. Garrett Marchbanks, 1:59.656
7. Dylan Ferrandis, 1:59.905
8. Austin Forkner, 2:00.077
9. Chase Sexton, 2:00.504
10. Alex Martin, 2:00.914
11. Enzo Lopes, 2:01.585
12. Shane McElrath, 2:01.748
13. Michael Mosiman, 2:01.748
14. Jordon Smith, 2:02.021
15. Brandon Hartranft, 2:02.059
16. Jordan Bailey, 2:03.790
17. Sean Cantrell, 2:04.109
18. Mitchell Harrison, 2:04.289
19. Cameron McAdoo, 2:04.518
20. Luke Renzland, 2:06.319
250 Moto One
A pair of Yamahas raced to the front of the field, with Justin Cooper beating Aaron Plessinger for the holeshot but quickly getting passed by his teammate. Jeremy Martin soon got past Enzo Lopes to move into third behind that duo, while another title contender—Alex Martin—had a crash on the opening lap that shuffled him toward the back of the field.
While Plessinger pulled away out front, the biggest battle on the track was between Cooper and Jeremy Martin. The rookie held off the two-time champion for the first half of the moto but eventually a mistake from Cooper allowed Martin to get inside and take away second place. The pass came with a little over 10 minutes (plus two laps) left in the race, but by that point, Plessinger had amassed a 10-second lead.
Plessinger went on to lead all 18 laps and win the race, with Jeremy Martin in second and Cooper in third. Austin Forkner and Jordon Smith rounded out the top five.
After his first lap crash, Alex Martin was able to salvage a few points with a 12th-place finish.
Of the riders making their return from injury, Dylan Ferrandis (8th place) had the best result in Moto 1. Mitchell Harrison took 14th, while Cameron McAdoo did not complete a lap.
Unfortunately one rider may have picked up a new injury. Garrett Marchbanks had been working on another top-10, but a hard crash with two laps to go left him grabbing his leg in pain and unable to finish the race.
250 Moto 1 Results
1. Aaron Plessinger
2. Jeremy Martin
3. Justin Cooper
4. Austin Forkner
5. Jordon Smith
6. Joey Savatgy
7. RJ Hampshire
8. Dylan Ferrandis
9. Shane McElrath
10. Chase Sexton
11. Brandon Hartranft
12. Alex Martin
13. Michael Mosiman
14. Mitchell Harrison
15. Sean Cantrell
16. Jordan Bailey
17. Luke Renzland
18. Austin Root
19. Ramyller Alves
20. Enzo Lopes
250 Moto Two
Justin Cooper grabbed his second holeshot of the day, but once again, he was unable to hold the lead for a full lap. This time it was Jeremy Martin—his nemesis throughout Moto 1—that capitalized on a mistake to take the top spot away. Cooper soon dropped second place to Austin Forkner, then nearly came under pressure from Moto 1 winner Aaron Plessinger for third place.
Cooper wasn’t done battling with Forkner though. The two riders went back and forth several times until Plessinger and Alex Martin joined the battle around the midway point of the race. After some shuffling, Plessinger moved into second place, Forkner slotted into third, Cooper moved into fourth, and Alex Martin crashed and fell back to sixth.
A few minutes later, all those riders would pick up an extra position when race leader Jeremy Martin had a mechanical issue with his bike and found himself stranded on the track. As he pushed the bike into the pits, Plessinger assumed the lead while Forkner, Cooper, Dylan Ferrandis and Alex Martin took over positions No. 2-5.
Ferrandis spent the rest of the moto mounting on a charge—first passing Cooper for third, then challenging Forkner for second. The two nearly went by side-by-side across the finish line after an intense final lap, but Forkner ultimately survived to secure second place.
Neither one was able to catch Plessinger though. The Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha rider finished off a 1-1 sweep to grab his second overall win of the season and retake the points lead.
Because of Jeremy Martin’s DNF in Moto 2, Plessinger now holds a substantial 20-point lead over him in the championship standings. Alex Martin and Cooper are both within 35 points of Plessinger as well.
Forkner (4-2) and Cooper (3-4) secured spots on the overal podium in second and third, respectively, and Dylan Ferrandis (8-3) was fourth in his first race of the season.
Jeremy Martin wasn’t the only big name not to finish Moto 2. Joey Savatgy, Chase Sexton and Enzo Lopes all failed to score points in the moto after issues of their own.
250 Moto 2 Results
1. Aaron Plessinger
2. Austin Forkner
3. Dylan Ferrandis
4. Justin Cooper
5. Alex Martin
6. Shane McElrath
7. RJ Hampshire
8. Brandon Hartranft
9. Michael Mosiman
10. Jordon Smith
11. Luke Renzland
12. Sean Cantrell
13. Cameron McAdoo
14. Mitchell Harrison
15. Ramyller Alves
16. Challen Tennant
17. Austin Root
18. Vann Martin
19. Carson Brown
20. Kevin Moranz
250 OVERALL RESULTS
1. Aaron Plessinger (1-1)
2. Austin Forkner (4-2)
3. Justin Cooper (3-4)
4. Dylan Ferrandis
5. RJ Hampshire
6. Shane McElrath
7. Jordon Smith
8. Alex Martin
9. Brandon Hartranft
10. Jeremy Martin
11. Michael Mosiman
12. Sean Cantrell
13. Joey Savatgy
14. Luke Renzland
15. Mitchell Harrison
16. Chase Sexton
17. Cameron McAdoo
18. Ramyller Alves
19. Austin Root
20. Challen Tennant
250 POINT STANDINGS
1. Aaron Plessinger, 171
2. Jeremy Martin, 151
3. Alex Martin, 141
4. Justin Cooper, 136
5. Austin Forkner, 115
6. Zach Osborne, 105
7. Jordon Smith, 104
8. RJ Hampshire, 100
9. Shane McElrath, 91
10. Chase Sexton, 87
Images by Hoppenworld
