Barcia and Martin take Red Bud spoils
By Shawn Smith
One week after earning the first moto win and the first overall victory of his 450 Class career in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross, Justin Barcia repeated the feat at the Red Bull RedBud National.
And this time, mud wasn’t a factor.
Barcia continued his string of quick starts, grabbing the Holeshot Award in the first moto of the day, with Ryan Dungey sandwiched between Barcia and his JGR Yamaha teammates Phil Nicoletti and Weston Peick.
Unable to gain any separation from Dungey, Barcia led the first 15 minutes of the race until he was faced with a fierce challenge from the Red Bull KTM rider. The two raced side-by-side until Dungey was able to make a move for the lead on the inside of Barcia.
Although Barcia wouldn’t allow Dungey to open up a large gap on him, he was unable to mount a challenge. At one point, it looked like Barcia might have an opportunity to make a move as the two riders approached LaRocco’s Leap, but lapped riders came into play and forced Barcia to check up.
Dungey went on to win the moto by 3.2 seconds, while Barcia held off a charge from Roczen to secure second. Roczen finished third, ahead of his teammate Broc Tickle and Peick.
Once again in the second moto, Barcia was by far the fastest off the gate, giving him his second MotoSport.com Holeshot Award of the day and his series-leading sixth of the season. Right behind him, though, was Dungey once more.
Dungey pressed Barcia hard, never allowing the lead to exceed more than a few seconds. It forced Barcia to keep the hammer down, but the JGR Yamaha rider – whose confidence was sky-high after last week’s breakthrough – did not make any mistakes for Dungey to take advantage of. The battle went all the way down to the final lap of the race, but for the second week in a row, Barcia won the second moto to secure an overall victory.
“That was the hardest-earned win I’ve ever had because Ryan [Dungey] was there and it was within a second pretty much every single lap,” Barcia said after the race. “He closed in on me in the back sections, I pulled away on the front sections, so it all evened out. I don’t know how I kept a straight head that whole race.
“It was gnarly. He kept me honest the whole time. I just had to stay on it.”
With each passing week, Barcia has continued to improve as he gets his bike dialed in. Last week’s mudder at Budds Creek played right into Barcia’s hands because he was so comfortable riding a muddy track, but he was eager to prove that his victory wasn’t just some mud-induced fluke.
“I talked to Jeff Stanton this week, and I told him ‘everyone said I won this one because I’m good in the mud,’ and I wanted to back it up this week in dry conditions.”
Behind Barcia and Dungey, Ken Roczen finished third in the moto after a lengthy battle with Christophe Pourcel for the position. Roczen passed the Frenchman on Lap 8 to record his second podium finish of the afternoon. Pourcel would settle for fourth, while his Rockstar Husqvarna teammate Jason Anderson rounded out the top five.
Dungey (2-1) finished second overall behind Barcia, gaining seven points in the 450 Class championship standings over Roczen, who finished third overall thanks to his 3-3 moto results. Roczen now sits 44 points behind his former Red Bull KTM teammate with five rounds left in the series.
RCH Suzuki’s Broc Tickle (4-7) finished fourth overall, matching his best result of the season, and Weston Peick (5-6) also finished inside the top five for the third time this summer.
AMA MX 2015 – Round Seven – Red Bud – 450 Race Results
1. Justin Barcia (2-1)
2. Ryan Dungey (1-2)
3. Ken Roczen (3-3)
4. Broc Tickle (4-7)
5. Weston Peick (5-6)
6. Christophe Pourcel (10-4)
7. Fredrik Noren (7-8)
8. Blake Baggett (6-9)
9. Justin Brayton (9-10)
10. Tommy Hahn (8-12)
11. Jason Anderson (18-5)
12. Phil Nicoletti (12-11)
13. Wil Hahn (11-15)
14. Kyle Chisholm (14-13)
15. Jesse Wentland (13-16)
16. Ben LaMay (16-14)
17. Killy Rusk (19-17)
18. Kyle Cunningham (15-38)
19. Heath Harrison (20-18)
20. Jason Brooks (17-29)
AMA MX 2015 – Round Seven – Red Bud – 450 Championship Standings
- Ryan Dungey 303
- Ken Roczen 259
- Justin Barcia 240
- Blake Baggett 212
- Jason Anderson 197
- Broc Tickle 190
- Christophe Pourcel 186
- Weston Peick 171
- Phil Nicoletti 151
- Fredrik Noren 132
- Justin Brayton 132
- Eli Tomac 125
- Cole Seely 104
- Wil Hahn 99
- Kyle Chisholm 83
- Tommy Hahn 72
- Chad Reed 61
- Kyle Cunningham 59
- Jesse Wentland 40
- Brett Metcalfe 36
250MX: JEREMY MARTIN SWEEPS REDBUD, RETAKES POINTS LEAD
Thanks to consistent riding and a stroke of good luck in the second moto, Jeremy Martin reassumed the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship points lead in the 250 Class after sweeping both of the day’s motos.
This win could have just as easily gone to Martin’s Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha teammate, Cooper Webb, who had an opportunity to win each moto as well as the overall. Webb missed several rounds after reaggravating an ankle injury at Hangtown but finally returned to the series last weekend at Budds Creek, and in his second race back, he looked sharp for stretches of time.
Martin inherited the early lead in the first moto after MotoSport.com Holeshot Award winner Joey Savatgy crashed on the opening lap. Webb was hot in pursuit though, closing the gap over the course of the first few laps and making a pass for the lead on Lap 6 as they came out of LaRocco’s Leap.
After getting passed by Marvin Musquin for second, Martin battled back and not only retook the position from Musquin, he kept charging and caught back up to Webb with about three laps to go in the race. After a failed attempt to use LaRocco’s Leap make a pass with two laps to go, Martin faced a two-second deficit on the final lap. Closing the gap once more, Martin found an opportunity to overtake Webb in the roller section to steal the win from his teammate with a last-lap pass.
Zach Osborne finished third after passing Musquin on Lap 12. Musquin ended up fourth, losing seven points to Martin in the process but still maintaining his championship lead by three points heading into the second moto.
In the second moto, GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig grabbed the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award and went on to lead the first 18 minutes of the race before finally getting passed by Webb after a lengthy battle between the two. In the early stages of the race, Webb had engaged in a fight for second with Musquin, losing the spot on the opening lap, then getting it back about three minutes later. Once he caught and passed Craig, Webb looked primed for both his first moto win and his first overall win of the season.
Despite going back-and-forth for the championship lead all season long, we had yet to really see Musquin and Martin battle head-to-head. The chance finally came a few laps into this race as the two competed for third place, and with them separated by just three points, it was a meaningful fight. Martin made the pass on his championship rival on Lap 7, then as the race continued, Musquin also lost positions to Osborne and Alex Martin, costing him valuable points.
“Marvin and I, we just battled today,” Martin said after the race. “I remember going to bed last night and talking to Johnny [O’Mara], and I was like, tomorrow’s gonna be the day that I’m gonna battle with the #25. And sure enough we were battling. We’ve kinda been dodging each other all season, but today was the day.”
With Musquin out of the way, Jeremy Martin closed the gap on Craig, and the two battled for second place. As they battled, Webb rode alone out front – until he went down at the entrance of the roller section. Craig and Martin both rode past the downed Webb, and Martin used the opportunity to make a move on Craig and take away the lead. Webb remounted in fourth but would lose another spot to Alex Martin before the end of the moto.
“We came over that little tabletop before the rollers, and I saw that the flag was out and thought maybe that’s Cooper,” Martin recalled. “We were going pretty slow because [Christian] Craig saw it too, and I was like dude, that’s a blue machine, that’s Cooper! Craig didn’t know what to do because the ruts were really deep out of there, so I made a move and was able to get in the lead. I got lucky in that second moto.”
After assuming the lead, Martin was able to cruise to victory, winning his second moto of the day and also earning the overall.
The win was a credit to Martin’s perseverance, as he fought through some tough situations in both motos and emerged on top. He credits his training regmiment with enabling him to avoid mistakes late in races and keep fighting.
“The more fit you are, you’re gonna make smarter decisions because you’re not tired,” he said. “You’re not going to fumble. And even if you do hit the ground, you have a better chance of walking away. That’s very motivating to me.”
Osborne passed Craig for second place in the closing laps of Moto 2 and secured second overall with 3-2 moto finishes. He has now finished inside the top three in four of the last five motos, and his slow start at the first two rounds is a distant memory. By virtue of his result today, the Rockstar Husqvarna rider jumped up two spots in the points and now sits third, 91 points back of Martin.
Although he lost out on a chance to win the overall, Cooper Webb (2-5) still landed third overall. Christian Craig (6-3) and Alex Martin (5-4) rounded out the top five.
Marvin Musquin (4-6) ended up sixth overall and lost 17 points to Jeremy Martin over the course of the day. After Musquin entered the day with a 10-point lead, the red plate will swap hands once again, as Martin will enter Spring Creek – his home track – with a seven-point advantage.
AMA MX 2015 – Round Seven – Red Bud –Â 250 Race Results
1. Jeremy Martin (1-1)
2. Zach Osborne (3-2)
3. Cooper Webb (2-5)
4. Christian Craig (6-3)
5. Alex Martin (5-4)
6. Marvin Musquin (4-6)
7. Aaron Plessinger (9-9)
8. Chris Alldredge (8-10)
9. Jessy Nelson (7-11)
10. RJ Hampshire (14-8)
11. Matt Bisceglia (17-7)
12. Joey Savatgy (12-12)
13. Jordon Smith (10-14)
14. Justin Hill (11-15)
15. Mitchell Oldenburg (15-16)
16. Shane McElrath (19-13)
17. Kyle Peters (16-18)
18. Anthony Rodriguez (13-37)
19. Luke Renzland (20-17)
20. Dakota Alix (18-38)
AMA MX 2015 – Round Seven – Red Bud – 250 Championship Standings
- Jeremy Martin 298
- Marvin Musquin 291
- Zach Osborne 207
- Joey Savatgy 191
- Alex Martin 188
- Jessy Nelson 188
- Adam Cianciarulo 178
- Matt Bisceglia 142
- Aaron Plessinger 142
- Chris Alldredge 137
- Jordon Smith 132
- Shane McElrath 131
- RJ Hampshire 127
- Christian Craig 122
- Kyle Peters 92
- Mitchell Oldenburg 84
- Cooper Webb 80
- Justin Hill 68
- Luke Renzland 67
- Anthony Rodriguez 42
