Eli Tomac takes 2 from 2 at Glen Helen MX

Eli Tomac continues his AMA Motocross win streak

Marvin Musquin retains second overall

Jason Anderson may have taken the top spot in qualifying, but it was Eli Tomac who once again dominated both Motos, taking wins in each and ending Round 2 with another perfect 50 points, bringing his total to 100.

Marvin Musquin took a second and third, to claim second overall and retains his position in the standings in the same position. Jason Anderson’s fourth and second was enough to take third overall, mirroring his champion standings.

Qualifying

Hoping for a better result than at Hangtown, Anderson (2:37.156) started the day off by very narrowly topping Eli Tomac (2:37.294) for the fastest lap time in qualifying. Tomac enters Glen Helen with the points lead, but Marvin Musquin is not far behind and could make a run at grabbing the red plate today. The Frenchman qualified No. 3 with a time of 2:37.643.

450 Qualifying Times

1. Jason Anderson, 2:37.156
2. Eli Tomac, 2:37.294
3. Marvin Musquin, 2:37.643
4. Blake Baggett, 2:38.269
5. Justin Barcia, 2:39.136
6. Christian Craig, 2:40.452
7. Weston Peick, 2:41.257
8. Ken Roczen, 2:42.445
9. Benny Bloss, 2:42.493
10. Kyle Cunningham, 2:42.559

Moto 1

For the second week in a row, Christian Craig took his Honda straight to the front of the field by grabbing the Moto 1 holeshot. His teammate Ken Roczen was just behind him in second, and Roczen ended up taking over the lead after Craig went down hard on a first-lap crash.

The incident started a mini-pile-up that also claimed Alex Ray, who was making his debut as a Factory Yamaha fill-in, and left Craig looking potentially injured.

Five minutes into the moto, it was Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson, Marvin Musquin and Benny Bloss holding down the second through fifth positions behind Roczen. The marquee battle on the track soon became Tomac vs. Roczen for the lead.

Tomac was stalking Roczen all throughout the middle portion of the race, frequently keeping the deficit to under a second. With under 12 minutes to go, Tomac closed in and pulled side-by-side with Roczen a few times, but Roczen was able to take his line away and hold onto the lead temporarily. Eventually Tomac found an opportunity to strike, as he was able to get inside of Roczen and blow past him into the top spot.

After taking the lead, Tomac was able to pull away from Roczen en route to the checkered flag. It’s the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider’s third straight moto win to start the season.

As for Roczen, he soon had another challenge on his hands in the form of Musquin. A battle formed, with Musquin pressing hard for several minutes before finally making the pass with under a minute left on the clock.

Roczen showed some fight but was unable to re-pass the Frenchman. That allowed Musquin to claim second place, though he finished 12 seconds behind Tomac. Meanwhile, Roczen’s third-place finish was a marked improvement from last week’s 6-16 scores.

Anderson and Blake Baggett rounded out the top five, while Justin Barcia—who was coming off a pair of third-place moto results at Hangtown—was knocking on the door of the top five late in the race but lost a position (and a lot of ground) after going down. He eventually re-passed Bloss to earn sixth in Moto 1.

As for Bloss, he was on track for another solid finish until crashing on one of the final laps. He was seen being looked at by a member of the medical team off to the side of the course.

Among the notable names in the top 10 was local privateer Dylan Merriam, who placed ninth.

450 Moto 1 Results

1. Eli Tomac
2. Marvin Musquin
3. Ken Roczen
4. Jason Anderson
5. Blake Baggett
6. Justin Barcia
7. Weston Peick
8. Kyle Cunningham
9. Dylan Merriam
10. Phil Nicoletti
11. Kyle Chisholm
12. Bradley Taft
13. Ben LaMay
14. Brandon Scharer
15. Toshiki Tomita
16. Cody Cooper
17. Bradley Lionnet
18. Chris Alldredge
19. Alex Ray
20. Cade Autenrieth

Moto 2

The race opened with Jason Anderson taking the holeshot, but just a few turns later, Blake Baggett fell while going up a hill, which triggered a bit of a pile-up behind him.

Among the riders who managed to avoid the incident was Justin Barcia, who made an incredible save by getting himself over Baggett’s downed bike. Meanwhile, because of where he was on the hill, Baggett struggled to get going again.

Things calmed down after the opening-lap carnage, but Anderson opened up a decent lead after several laps. As the race neared the midway point, second-place Marvin Musquin was more than six seconds back of Anderson, and third-place Eli Tomac was nearly three seconds back of Musquin.

Tomac kept the pressure on and was eventually able to pass Musquin, which left him with about 11 minutes plus two laps to make up a 9-second deficit behind Anderson. ET slowly chipped away at the lead, and with two laps to go, he finally got close enough to challenge Anderson. As the two riders went up a hill, Tomac was able to blow right by Anderson and cap off an incredible comeback.

And with that, Tomac was able to secure his fourth straight moto win and second straight overall victory to start the season. The defending champion also extended his points lead in the process.

As for Anderson, his 4-2 scores were enough to put him on the overall podium in third place. Musquin (2-3) nabbed second overall for the day.

One rider who missed out on the overall podium was Ken Roczen. After his superb effort in the first moto, he made a stop in the mechanics’ area early in Moto 2 and was only able to finish the moto in eighth place.

Marvin Musquin

“All the top guys were ahead of me off the start and it was really hard to pass. I settled a little bit behind Jason, then I got him and I fight hard to come back to Ken and Eli was gone by then, he was fast. It was a hard fight and it was pretty good considering the passes I had to make. It’s a good result but I always want better and to win. I finally got a decent start in the second moto – I was fighting for the lead and Jason was riding really well. I was right there, but missing a little bit of speed and after halfway I lost the momentum, the feeling; and on that track if you’re not on it, it will bite you. I had some sketchy moments and made some mistakes so I figured it was best to play it smart and safe toward the end. I’m a little disappointed finishing Moto 2 that way but I’m looking forward to the third round in the championship.”

Jason Anderson

“This weekend was definitely better than last weekend. I qualified first, which was pretty cool. I started up front in the first moto but I got a little tight so I ended up fourth. I pulled a big holeshot in the second moto and led all the way up until two laps to go until I got passed by Tomac. All-in-all it was progress so it was a good day.”

450 Moto 2 Results

1. Eli Tomac
2. Jason Anderson
3. Marvin Musquin
4. Justin Barcia
5. Weston Peick
6. Benny Bloss
7. Phil Nicoletti
8. Ken Roczen
9. Blake Baggett
10. Cody Cooper
11. Kyle Chisholm
12. Alex Ray
13. Brandon Scharer
14. Cade Autenrieth
15. Toshiki Tomita
16. Dare DeMartile
17. Ben LaMay
18. Bradley Taft
19. Felix Lopez
20. Dustin Pipes

450 Point Standings

1. Eli Tomac, 100
2. Marvin Musquin, 86
3. Jason Anderson, 73
4. Justin Barcia, 73
5. Blake Baggett, 60
6. Weston Peick, 60
7. Ken Roczen, 53
8. Phil Nicoletti, 49
9. Benny Bloss, 42
10. Kyle Chisholm, 39