Ryan Dungey wins Washougal
By Shawn Smith
Ryan Dungey capitalized on a late mistake from Justin Barcia to steal the 450 Class overall victory at the Peterson CAT Washougal National, the ninth round of the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. The win was Dungey’s fourth of the season and made him the all-time winngest rider at Washougal.
The first moto was a muddy affair, and not surprisingly, Justin Barcia excelled. The AutoTrader/Toyota/Yamaha rider grabbed his sixth consecutive MotoSport.com Holeshot Award, beating out teammate Phil Nicoletti by mere inches, which gave Barcia a clear track to work with. He pulled away on his way to a dominating win, as he recorded a 29-second margin of victory.
Christophe Pourcel and Ryan Dungey both got around Nicoletti to move into the top three, setting up a battle for second place between those two. On Lap 9, Dungey was able to cut underneath the Frenchman to take away the position. Dungey went on to finish second, with Pourcel in third. Nicoletti held on for fourth, and Blake Baggett rounded out the top five.
For the third consecutive week, the battle for the overall win in the 450 Class came down to Ryan Dungey vs. Justin Barcia in the second moto. The moto started off in a familiar way, with Barcia extending his holeshot streak to seven straight motos. Ryan Dungey and Vince Friese positioned themselves just behind Barcia’s Yamaha.
Within a few minutes, Barcia, Dungey and Ken Roczen had separated themselves from the rest of the pack and found themselves in a three-way battle. Dungey pressured Barcia for the lead but also had to be careful of Roczen closing in just behind him. The trio found themselves in close proximity for several laps until some separation finally began to emerge.
Barcia had about a two-second gap on Dungey late in the race when he made a huge mistake, going down as he rounded a turn. Dungey cruised around him and assumed the lead, but a determined Barcia went on the attack, going all-out in an attempt to track down the Red Bull KTM rider. Pushing the bike as hard as he could, Barcia nearly washed out again, causing him to dial it back. Dungey captured the moto victory, with Barcia second and Roczen third. Weston Peick and Pourcel made up the rest of the top five in Moto 2.
“We got off to a good start, and Barcia’s riding good, so it makes it tough,” Dungey said of the win. “He’s not gonna be easy to pass or anything like that, he’s gonna be there til the end. I lost a little time with those lappers, but was able to start inching back up and trying to keep the pressure on him. He did make a mistake, so we capitalized on that and tried to sprint away at the end.”
Dungey (2-1) edged out Barcia (1-2) for his second straight overall victory. Both riders have finished together in the top two in six consecutive motos now, which of course coincides with Barcia’s holeshot streak.
Pourcel (3-5) finished third overall, with Roczen (7-3) fourth and Nicoletti (4-6) fifth.
Today marked the return to racing for Team Honda HRC’s Trey Canard, who was sidelined for four months by a broken arm. Although he started the day off by qualifying second in practice, Canard couldn’t quite carry that same success over into the motos. He crashed while running inside the top five in Moto 1, then went down again in Moto 2. He recorded 8-9 moto finishes on the day but should continue to improve over the course of the final rounds of the season, especially with a week off on the horizon before Unadilla.
While Canard was out with injury, Fredrik Noren did an admirable job filling in for him at factory Honda. Back with the MotoSport.com/GPI/Honda team this week, Noren (9-7) finished seventh overall for the second week in a row, continuing a string of strong results.
With his victory at Washougal, Dungey extended his 450 Class championship lead to 69 points over Roczen and Barcia, who have now entered a tie for second place. While it would take a lot of misfortune for Dungey to falter with such a large lead, the battle for second should heat up over the final three rounds.
Lucas Oil Pro Motocross resumes on Saturday, August 8th with the Red Bull Unadilla National.
AMA Motocross 2015 – Washougal – Results 450cc
1. Ryan Dungey (2-1)
2. Justin Barcia (1-2)
3. Christophe Pourcel (3-5)
4. Ken Roczen (7-3)
5. Phil Nicoletti (4-6)
6. Weston Peick (12-4)
7. Fredrik Noren (9-7)
8. Trey Canard (8-9)
9. Blake Baggett (5-12)
10. Josh Grant (11-8)
11. Vince Friese (10-10)
12. Kyle Chisholm (13-11)
13. Jason Anderson (6-37)
14. Tommy Hahn (15-14)
15. Justin Brayton (14-15)
16. Andrew Short (19-13)
17. Killy Rusk (18-16)
18. Broc Tickle (16-20)
19. Ben LaMay (23-17)
20. Jesse Wentland (17-38)
AMA Motocross 2015 – Washougal – Championship Standings –Â 450cc
- Ryan Dungey 400
- Justin Barcia 331
- Ken Roczen 331
- Blake Baggett 275
- Christophe Pourcel 247
- Jason Anderson 242
- Broc Tickle 26
- Phil Nicoletti 209
- Weston Peick 198
- Fredrik Noren 187
- Justin Brayton 145
- Eli Tomac 125
- Kyle Chisholm 121
- Cole Seely 104
- Wil Hahn 99
- Tommy Hahn 85
- Kyle Cunningham 70
- Josh Grant 63
- Jesse Wentland 62
- Chad Reed 61
Cooper Webb takes 250cc Washougal win
With an early-season ankle injury in the rearview mirror, Cooper Webb grabbed his second straight Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 250 Class victory, winning the Peterson CAT Washougal National thanks to a strong performance in the second moto.
In the first moto, GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig grabbed the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award and held onto the lead until muddy conditions got the better of him on Lap 3 and he went down after building a lead of nearly seven seconds. That allowed Webb to inherit the lead, with Musquin running behind him in second, setting up an epic showdown between the two for the remainder of the moto.
Webb led the next eight laps, but with about three minutes left on the countdown clock, Musquin went on a hard charge and closed in on him. Musquin was able to make a pass on the inside, but Webb was still right there with him, so Musquin moved over and forced Webb off the track. Webb got back onto the track behind Musquin, but as Webb was tossing his goggles, Musquin was able to pull away a bit.
Goggles were a huge factor, as Musquin also ended up needing to toss his, and in doing so, it allowed Webb to close back in on him. Webb came close and was all over Musquin on the final lap, but as Webb landed a jump, his bike started smoking. He completed the rest of the lap with a trail of smoke behind his Yamaha to hold on for second, but he watched as Musquin took the checkered flag to win the first moto.
After being sidelined several months by an illness, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Arnaud Tonus finished third in the moto in his first career motocross race in the United States. Christian Craig held on for fourth after his crash, and rookie Aaron Plessinger rounded out the top five. Current 250 Class points leader Jeremy Martin failed to get a good start and finished back in ninth, allowing Musquin to close the points gap.
The fireworks didn’t end when the checkered flag came out though, as a frustrated Webb had some choice words about his competitor.
“[Musquin] was cross-jumping, which in my opinion is bullcrap,” Webb told NBC Sports’ Georgia Lindsay after the race. “He about clipped my front wheel three or four times, so if I get a chance, I’m gonna put him on the ground this next [moto] and teach him his lesson.”
The second moto featured a much better start for Martin, as he secured the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award with his teammate Webb and rookie Daniel Baker close behind. Webb came out of the gate fired up, as he closed right in on Martin on the opening lap. The two battled side-by-side but Webb emerged with the top spot and then temporarily checked out. Musquin also moved into the mix after passing Baker for third place.
About ten minutes into the moto, Martin began to reel Webb back in. Both of the Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha riders were highly motivated for the top spot – Martin needed the position in order to pick up three extra championship points over Musquin, Webb needed first place because he would lose out on the overall to Musquin otherwise. Martin spent several laps close behind his teammate but was taking on a lot of roost in the process. He made his move on Lap 11, taking over the lead, and with that, it looked like Musquin would wind up with the overall.
Then two laps later, Martin went down, which allowed Webb and Musquin to get around him. Martin remounted in fourth and was left to fight with another teammate, Plessinger, for third.
It was smooth sailing for Webb after that, as he secured his second moto win of the season. Musquin, Martin, Plessinger and Craig rounded out the top five in Moto 2.
Afterwards, Webb admitted that he had been frustrated by losing the first moto and had apologized to Musquin for his comments.
“First moto, I was a little angry. When you lead like that and let it slip away, it’s tough. I apologized to Marvin. I was being an idiot, I was just mad and frustrated. He beat me fair and square, and aggressive or not, it’s racing, and this is what we live for.”
Webb (2-1) and Musquin (1-2) finished in a tie for overall points on the day, but Webb’s better finish in Moto 2 gave him the tiebreaker and the overall victory, with Musquin finishing second. Plessinger (5-4) finished on the overall podium as well for the first time in his career.
Craig (4-5) and Martin (9-3) made up the rest of the overall top five.
While Webb may have been the overall winner for the day, Marvin Musquin was a winner as well as far as the points battle is concerned. The Red Bull KTM rider trailed Martin by 19 points entering the day, but thanks for Martin’s misfortunes at Washougal, the deficit is now down to just four points.
Musquin will try to continue his momentum and retake the red plate when the series resumes with Round 10 of 12 two weeks from now at Unadilla.
AMA Motocross 2015 – Washougal – Results 250cc
1. Cooper Webb (2-1)
2. Marvin Musquin (1-2)
3. Aaron Plessinger (5-4)
4. Christian Craig (4-5)
5. Jeremy Martin (9-3)
6. Jessy Nelson (6-8)
7. Shane McElrath (11-6)
8. Mitchell Oldenburg (8-9)
9. Zach Osborne (7-11)
10. Arnaud Tonus (3-20)
11. Alex Martin (15-7)
12. RJ Hampshire (10-15)
13. Justin Hill (13-13)
14. Toshiki Tomita (17-12)
15. Matt Bisceglia (35-10)
16. Kyle Peters (16-16)
17. Joey Savatgy (12-21)
18. Jordon Smith (28-14)
19.Conner Elliott (14-28)
20. Luke Renzland (18-18)
AMA Motocross 2015 – Washougal – Championship Standings – 250cc
- Jeremy Martin 375
- Marvin Musquin 71
- Zach Osborne 259
- Joey Savatgy 240
- Alex Martin 233
- Jessy Nelson 233
- Aaron Plessinger 203
- Shane McElrath 181
- Adam Cianciarulo 178
- Cooper Webb 174
- Matt Bisceglia 174
- RJ Hampshire 169
- Jordon Smith 164
- Christian Craig 156
- Chris Alldredge 150
- Mitchell Oldenburg 124
- Kyle Peters 118
- Justin Hill 93
- Luke Renzland 87
- Anthony Rodriguez 42
