Roczen and Tomac share Washougal wins

Ken Roczen and Eli Tomac share Washougal wins

AMA Pro Motocross Season 2016 Coverage brought to you by M2R Helmets

Images by Hoppenworld

Riders battled on the hard clay at the Peterson CAT Washougal National and fought against unpredictable conditions on the water-logged track. With heavy rains falling the day prior, Round 9 of the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship proved to be fickle from start to finish.

Phil Nicoletti found the holeshot with Andrew Short on his tail for the first opening turns, but before the first lap was over Ken Roczen would do what he does best and make an early moto dash for the front.

Coming into the Washougal whoops Roczen rode wide and blasted through to take the lead by the end of them. Then Christophe Pourcel came into the mix to overtake Short and find his groove riding well in second.

Slightly deeper was a battle between Eli Tomac and Benny Bloss. Bloss made an impressive pass as a rookie to Tomac, but Tomac would be quick to take the position back. Then, coming into the whoop section Tomac took an outside line to move beyond Bloss and move on toward Short.

All the while Marvin Musquin found his path to pass Bloss and Short by following along in Tomac’s tracks.

Back near the front, Pourcel was putting the moves on Nicoletti to take over second place, which seemed to cause Nicoletti to lose momentum as Tomac passed him for third and sure enough Musquin followed suit.

A few laps later Musquin looked to be setting up to put pressure on Tomac for a pass, but instead caught his front tire and slid his back out until he hit the ground. While Musquin dumped his bike in an attempt to make a move on Tomac, Pourcel found another gear and grew his gap from Tomac.

After riding most of the moto seemingly uncontested for second, Tomac found his way into the mix with only two minutes left before the 2 lap marker. Following a few closed doors to Tomac, Pourcel lost his lead to the relentless Tomac.

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Then, with Tomac out ahead, Pourcel got bucked leaving the lip of a jump and held onto the bars to superman into the flats before suffering an ugly crash that removed him from the remainder of the race.

With only two laps left to go, the top three was devoid of Pourcel but the order would not be shaken further. Roczen would finish first with Tomac and Musquin rounding out the podium behind him.

Firing out of the gates in moto 2, Musquin came into and out of the first corner in the lead to grab the holeshot with his teammate Dean Wilson as well as Tomac right behind him.

However, as we have seen all season, Roczen wasted no time to take a fair start and push through the pack and take the lead within the first few turns.

Tomac quickly found his way around Wilson and furthered his pursuit to put the pressure onto Musquin. Musquin was working to keep an eye on Tomac and nearly lost control a number of times, and ultimately gave way as Tomac took over second.

Tomac was looking solid as he pushed past Musquin, and the track showed signs of firm clay and bumpy lines as the weather had changed dramatically from the morning’s practice. These new track conditions showed promise for Tomac and his aggressive style.

Coming up on his tail, Roczen looked over his should to see Tomac closing in and appeared to let off of the throttle while Tomac took the lead. Not hesitating, Tomac opened up the throttle and accepted the lead and took off.

Wilson was back in fourth position at this point, but Justin Barcia, a.k.a. Bam Bam, was quickly coming up on him. Bam Bam closed in on Wilson and stayed true to his nickname as he came up hard and fast on Wilson to take away his fourth place position. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Weston Peick entered the frame and came flying up on Wilson to take fifth place for himself.

Wilson continued to fade into the pack while Short and Pourcel (recovered from his moto 1 crash) pushed their way into the fifth and sixth positions. Pourcel worked as he passed Wilson to find a line that would lead him around Short, as well. Pourcel continued to push and passed Short. Wilson, on the other hand, continued to fade all the way back to 10th, which gave way to Frederick Noren to take eighth and Bloss to earn ninth.

Looking back to the front, Tomac grew his lead over Roczen to more than a eight second lead. Speculating on what Roczen was dealing with, it was discovered in the pits that Tomac had switch to tinted goggles for the second moto while Roczen remained riding in clear goggles, but it was unclear how much that was truly affecting him.

Without any change in the front of the race, Tomac rode well to the finish for a 16-second lead, moto win and the overall on the day. Roczen claimed second on the moto and the day while Musquin cleaned up the podium with third on the moto and day.

AMA Pro Motocross heads next to Unadilla before moving on to Budds Creek and then the championship finale at Ironman on August 27th.

Lucas Oils AMA Pro Motocross 2016 – Round Nine – Washougal – 450 Results

Eli Tomac (2-1)
Ken Roczen (1-2)
Marvin Musquin (3-3)
Weston Peick (7-5)
Justin Barcia (10-4)
Andrew Short (6-7)
Benny Bloss (5-9)
Phil Nicoletti (4-11)
Dean Wilson (8-10)
Frederick Noren (15-8)

Lucas Oils AMA Pro Motocross 2016 – Round Nine – Washougal – 450 Championship Standings

Ken Roczen, 434
Eli Tomac, -55
Marvin Musquin, -151
Justin Barcia, -190
Christophe Pourcel, -217
Broc Tickle, -263
Andrew Short, -279
Justin Brayton, -282
Cole Seely, -283
Benny Bloss, -283

Alex Martin and Austin Forkner take 250 moto wins at Washougal

Racing the Peterson CAT Washougal National meant riding with precision and technical prowess, but that didn’t stop the stop the racers from getting wild on the slickest track of the season. Coming into Round 9 and the final four races of the 2016 Pro Motocross Championship Series, racers were prepared to give their all for the final stretch.

Alex Martin came out firing for his third consecutive holeshot with Mitchell Harrison directly behind him and Joey Savatgy puling around the first corner in third. Within another two turns Savatgy overtook Harrison for second, while Jeremy Martin came up on the rear of Harrison.

Cooper Webb suffered through some wet roost as he started off the race in the 12th position, but that didn’t last long as he found his way into eighth before the end of the second lap.

After eight minutes of chasing down Harrison, J. Martin managed to get within a bike length but was shut down on back-to-back corners before out foxing Harrison coming into an inside line on the next corner. The rookie, Harrison slipped back into fourth and had to keep an eye over his shoulder to keep tabs on Zach Osborne in fifth.

Then after a mistake from Harrison he fell back to 10th, which allowed Osborne into fourth. From deeper into the pack Webb found his way into fifth after multiple passes, but once he had Osborne in his sights it would be a matter of a lap before he overtook him for fourth.

Looking forward to the front of the pack, A. Martin was maintaining his lead over Savatgy, but with his brother J. Martin and Webb closing in he would be defending the lead from all three of the racers ahead of him in the overall points race.

Webb was on a warpath and kept his momentum going making a move of Osborne, but by the time he took third the front two would be far ahead.

Savatgy rode hard on A. Martin’s back tire for nearly four laps and lost out on multiple opportunities as A. Martin continue to ride aggressively and close the door every time it opened. After 30 minutes and 2 laps for moto 1, A. Martin finally earned his first moto win of the series at Washougal.

Rounding out the moto 1 podium was Savatgy in second and Webb in third with J. Martin close behind in fourth.

Moto 2 started off with Webb earning the holeshot with Savatgy right on his tail. Coming into the second corner, though, Savatgy pinched Webb in the turn essentially running him off the track, which left the door wide open for Austin Forkner to take over the lead.

However, the holdup in the corner wasn’t over as Savatgy and Webb carried their aggression into the next set of turns. Webb found his way in front of Savatgy but then seemed to hit the breaks which caused a serious pile up in the Washougal S turn.

With mayhem unfolding early in the moto, Forkner, A. Martin, Davalos, Jessy Nelson, Mitchell Oldenburg and A. Martin rode out and away from the pileup in the top five positions. At the same time, the rest of the riders recovered and began to ride out. J. Martin was the last to get going, Savatgy was in 22nd and Webb only a few spots ahead of him.

A few laps later A. Martin passed up Oldenburg as did Cianciarulo to push Oldenburg back to sixth. Shortly after, though, Cianciarulo made a minor mistake which not only allowed Osborne the opportunity to hop into the top-5 but also sent him back to eighth behind Justin Hill and Aaron Plessinger.

A. Martin made another push to pass Hill, Oldenburg, Nelson and Davalos to find himself in second behind Forkner running away with it.

Deeper in the pack, Webb worked his way through the pack to find sixth position by the two lap mark while Savatgy was worked his way into 11th and J. Martin was in 19th.

The crazy moto came to a close with rookie Forkner earning his first career moto win, A. Martin earning second on the moto and his second career overall and Davalos in third.