AMA MX 2015 Highpoint Image Gallery A
AMA MX 2015 Highpoint Image Gallery A Images by Hoppenworld
450MX: KEN ROCZEN EARNS FIRST OVERALL WIN OF SEASON AT HIGH POINT
With each passing week in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, Ken Roczen has gotten better and better. His resurgence continued at the UPMC High Point National, as he finally earned his first 450 Class overall win of the season thanks to a Moto 2 victory.
The day opened with an impressive assault from Rockstar Husqvarna’s Christophe Pourcel. The Frenchman turned the fastest lap in practice – doing it on the final lap on the final session – then almost came out and grabbed the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award in the first moto of the day. He was edged out for the distinction by Justin Barcia, but the two riders went back and forth for the lead over the opening lap of the race. Pourcel officially led the first lap before giving way once more to Barcia, who then led the next two laps of the race.
While all that was going on, Ryan Dungey was tearing his way through the top five. Sitting sixth after the opening lap, Dungey was up to second place just two laps later and hot on Barcia’s tail. Dungey made the pass for the lead on Lap 4 and would not relinquish it for the rest of the race, earning his third moto win of the season.
After losing the lead to Dungey, Barcia fell and remounted in sixth. Christophe Pourcel and Ken Roczen each inherited a a position and were left to battle for second place. A lengthy duel ended with Roczen making the pass midway through the moto. The young German finished second, and Pourcel recorded the best moto finish of his 450 Class career in third.
The second moto featured another great start from Pourcel and Barcia. This time, Pourcel got the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award, with Barcia and Roczen close behind. Pourcel led the first lap of the race, while Roczen and Dungey both successfully made moves to get around Barcia and put themselves inside the top three. On the second lap, Roczen took the lead away from Pourcel, who then got cross-rutted and lost two more spots shortly after.
With Roczen and Dungey running in the top two spots, it set up a battle between the two title contenders for both the moto win and the overall win. Dungey kept the gap close and looked like he might be able to make a run at Roczen in the closing laps, but it never materialized. Roczen took the checkered flag, and his 2-1 moto results gave him his first overall victory in 2015, as the slow start caused by a back injury looks like a distant memory.
Although Dungey (1-2) finished second overall behind Roczen, the two tied in points for the day, which keeps the championship lead flat at 37 points entering Budds Creek.
Jason Anderson continued his strong rookie season, passing Pourcel and Barcia early in Moto 2 to settle into third place, where he would finish the moto. His 4-3 finishes put him third overall, giving him his second straight podium finish and his third of the season. The result also moved him up to third in 450MX points, 72 behind Dungey and 35 back of Roczen.
After his best day of the season, Pourcel (3-5) finished just off the podium in fourth overall. Barcia (5-4) rounded out the top five and moved up one spot in the 450MX point standings into fourth place.
It was a rough day for Blake Baggett. The Yoshimura Suzuki rookie was one of only two riders (Dungey being the other) who finished inside the top ten in every moto at each of the first four rounds. Today, he didn’t record a single top ten moto finish. His 34-11 results put him 16th overall and moved him back from third to fifth in the point standings.
450 CLASS OVERALL RESULTS
1. Ken Roczen (2-1)
2. Ryan Dungey (1-2)
3. Jason Anderson (4-3)
4. Christophe Pourcel (3-5)
5. Justin Barcia (5-4)
6. Broc Tickle (6-8)
7. Weston Peick (11-6)
8. Cole Seely (7-10)
9. Wil Hahn (10-9)
10. Fredrik Noren (8-12)
11. Justin Brayton (9-14)
12. Ryan Sipes (13-13)
13. Phil Nicoletti (40-7)
14. Kyle Chisholm (14-15)
15. Kyle Cunningham (12-17)
16. Blake Baggett (34-11)
17. Matt Lemoine (17-16)
18. Jesse Wentland (15-19)
19. Gannon Audette (16-20)
20. John Short (21-18)
250MX: MARVIN MUSQUIN TAKES POINTS LEAD AFTER HIGH POINT SWEEP
The points lead in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 250 Class has already gone back and forth several times throughout the season, and once again, the red plate has changed hands. Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin earned his second overall win of the season by sweeping both motos at the UPMC Sports Medicine High Point National.
While Musquin was dominant, his rival in the championship battle had an off day. A pair of bad starts left Jeremy Martin scrambling to pass riders and salvage points in both motos.
Musquin started the day off as the Bud Light Fastest Qualifier in practice and carried that speed over into the motos, as he was in total control of the day’s first race. The Frenchman earned the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award, beating out a trio of GEICO Honda riders, and led every lap of the race to take the checkered flag.
Martin, meanwhile, found himself in 10th place after the opening lap. He made a number of passes over the course of the race and was closing in on his older brother, Alex Martin, for third place on the final lap but ran out of time. Alex Martin bounced backed from the bad luck he experienced the last two weeks to finish third, Jeremy settled for fourth.
Ahead of them, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo recorded a new career high with a second-place finish in the moto.
The second moto featured another dominant display from Musquin, although Zach Osborne was able to prevent him from winning a second moto in wire-to-wire fashion. Osborne grabbed the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award and led the first lap of the race before committing a mistake that Musquin was able to capitalize on to take over the top spot.
Musquin went on to lead the final 16 laps of the moto, and Osborne would hang on to second place. Joey Savatgy rounded out the top three in the moto.
Once again, Jeremy Martin was forced to work his way through the field. He was 19th after the first lap of Moto 2, putting him firmly in the middle of the pack. As he’s done before though, Martin was strong in picking off riders, eventually working his way into the top five. With about eight minutes left in the moto, that set up a showdown with his brother Alex for fourth place. Jeremy Martin would make the pass, giving him not just the position and two extra points, but also knocking Alex off the overall podium and putting himself on it.
Musquin’s 1-1 sweep gave him his second overall victory of the season. Zach Osborne (5-2) finished second overall, matching the career high he set just two weeks ago at Thunder Valley. Jeremy Martin (4-4) was able to sneak onto the podium in third overall thanks to his late pass of his brother.
As the series heads into an off week before resuming at Budds Creek, Musquin now has an eight point lead over Martin in the championship standings after trailing by six points entering the day.
250 CLASS OVERALL RESULTS
1. Marvin Musquin (1-1)
2. Zach Osborne (5-2)
3. Jeremy Martin (4-4)
4. Alex Martin (3-5)
5. Joey Savatgy (6-3)
6. Adam Cianciarulo (2-12)
7. Christian Craig (8-7)
8. Jessy Nelson (10-8)
9. Aaron Plessinger (9-10)
10. Shane McElrath (11-9)
11. Jordon Smith (16-6)
12. Matt Bisceglia (12-11)
13. Kyle Peters (14-13)
14. Mitchell Oldenburg (13-14)
15. RJ Hampshire (7-37)
16. Chris Alldredge (15-15)
17. Luke Renzland (17-16)
18. Dakota Alix (19-17)
19. Jackson Richardson (18-18)
20. Zack Williams (21-19)
