Moto News Wrap for June 2, 2015 by Darren Smart
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Australasian News
Ok, this is big!! Youthstream announced during the week that the 2018 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship will take place in Horsham, Australia.
Aussie Meghan Rutledge is out for the remainder of the WMX World Motoctoss Championships. “I was involved in a photo shoot for a film, RIDEUNITED, two days after returning from Thailand. At the shoot site I had the opportunity to do a training moto before they started filming. Unfortunately this moto didn’t go as planned I came off the bike and fractured my thumb.”
American News
News is just filtering through that Brett Metcalfe and Jimmy Decotis have won the MX1 and MX2 class respectively at the opening round of Canadian Motocross Championships held at Whispering Pines on Sunday, Canada time.
Metty went 1-1 to take the overall ahead of Matt Goerke and local hot-shots Tyler Medaglia and Colton Facciotti while Decotis had to battle a gaggle of locals to take the win ahead of Jeremy Medaglia and Kaven Benoit.
KTM and Husqvarna will send all of their US-based riders to the USGP at Glen Helen over the weekend of September 18 to 20. So we will now get to see Dungey, Musquin, Hill, Short, Brayton, Durham, Nelson, McElrath, Anderson, Davalos, Osborne, Bell and Pourcel take on the stars of the MXGP and MX2 classes. Osborne and Musquin will race the MXGP class because they are too old to race the MX2 class – um, like…yeeehaaaa!!!!.
Davi Millsaps will contest the final six rounds of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross on a Suzuki RM-Z450 with help from Mountain Motorsports and other sponsors.
Bugga!! Troy Bayliss crashed heavily during his first outing at the infamous Sacramento Mile Flat Track and fractured his ankle. On social media Bayliss posted a photo of his lower limbs with this comment, “Well this was not in the plan , not sure what it is but foot was pointing wrong way, grabbed in air fence.” More here.
Euro News
During the MXGP of France at Villars-sous-Ecot, president of Youthstream, Mr. Giuseppe Luongo and president of the French Motorcycling Federation (FFM), Mr. Jacque Bolle, signed a contract which unites the two entities for the organization of the FIM Motocross World Championships, MXGP of France, and for the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations in France.
The renewal of the contract ensures the organization of an MXGP event every year until 2020, which also include 2020. It has also been agreed that another Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations event will also be held on the French territory before the end of 2020.
Rockstar Energy Suzuki MXGP rider Kevin Strijbos missed last weekend’s eighth round of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship at Villars sous Ecot in France thanks to an on-going problem with his thumb. Strijbos is seeing specialist as we speak to try and rectify the problem in time for the next GP.
Strijbos’ teammate and championship contender Clement Desalle had two big crashes on Saturday which injured his shoulder and knee. The Belgian tried to ride on Sunday but was unable to complete a lap and is now out of the championship hunt.
Mike Alessi did race in France but didn’t bother the top ten at any stage, he won’t be back. 13-23 over the two motos was his result.
Kiwi Josiah Natzke is making a name for himself in the highly competitive EMX125 class. In a full field of 40 world class riders and young Kiwi blitzed both motos in France and is now just 15 points behind championship leader Jorge Prado Garcia and just 10 points behind 15 year old up-start Maxime Renaux. We will keep an eye on Natzke from here on.
France also hosted the fourth round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship and young Aussie rider Madison Brown scored 3-3 results for third outright on the day.
“Oh my god, I never expected this so soon,” Brown said. “I thought last week in France was pretty amazing but to actually achieve third overall at a race like this is overwhelming.
“The track was like nothing I had seen before and I have to keep reminding myself that I’m here to race as half the time I’m just an awe of the event and watching the world best riders.
“I can’t thank everyone enough. My family and friends have been amazing and the support of the Tip Top Racing Team is unbelievable. Getting on the podium is now the highlight of my career and something I will never forget,” explained the Yamaha rider.
Defending World Trails Champion Toni Bou was the dominant force last weekend in the Czech Republic Grand Prix with the Honda rider winning both days of competition held in Sokolov. Bou now sites on 80 points in the championships, 18 ahead of Gas Gas rider Adam Raga.
Smarty’s Race Reports and Official Results from last Weekend
World Motocross Championships – Round 8 – Villars Sous Ecot, France
Ok, it is time to accept that there are riders on the World Motocross Championship circuit that truly believe that they can beat Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings in a toe-to-toe battle. Cairoli and Herlings have been the two riders that have had the mental edge on all-comers for quite a while now but when you watch what is going down in 2015 there are a handful of riders who actually WANT to take it to Cairoli and Herlings to prove they are ready to be champion.
In the MX1 class we have current championship leader Max Nagle, the ever consistent Clement Desalle and young gun Romain Febvre have proven that they can catch and pass Cairoli while Valentin Guillod, Jordi Tixier and Tim Gajser have no fear of mixing it with Herlings.
MX1 Race Report: The opening MXGP moto saw the Cairoli of old back in action. The Italian pulled the holeshot and despite some serious attention from Febvre mid moto the factory KTM rider got the win ahead of Febvre, a revised Evgeny Bobryshev, Dean Ferris, Jeremy Van Horebeek and championship leader Max Nagl.
Much to the local spectator’s disgust, French star Gautier Paulin’s factory Honda stopped early in the moto.
In the second moto Nagl grabbed the holeshot from Febvre, Waters, Bobryshev with Ferris in seventh and Cairoli back in 15th place. For the first 12 laps Nagl was able to hold Febvre off but with the vocal French crowd egging him on Febvre made the move on lap 13 and took off for a comfortable win over Nagle, Bobryshev, Ferris, Glen Coldenhoff, Gautier Paulin and Cairoli.
With Desalle scoring no points Nagl now holds a 19 point lead over Cairoli while Waters has moved up to 8th in the championship and Ferris’ sensational weekend has moved him from 19th to 15th in the points.
Romain Febvre: “It is so crazy to win a Grand Prix at home in France. I will enjoy this moment for sure. Last week I won my first heat. It has also been good for the championship. I’m sorry for Clement and his injury; it is not so nice but it is part of racing. It has been good for me and I’m close to third place now. A big thanks to the team for all their work; we’ve done this together.”
Evgeny Bobryshev: “For me this podium is like the first ever podium again because it’s been a journey back from injury. My goal was to be consistent in the race and grow my race confidence and my physical confidence race-by-race so I’m really happy about this. I was struggling on this track a little and with my pace. Ok I’m still on the podium, but anyway I was still quite stiff on the bike. I want to dedicate this podium to our guys after the situation on Thursday and I hope they get better soon.”
Tony Cairoli: “It was a difficult weekend for us. I have to say it’s positive because we gained two points on Max (Nagl). But I am not happy riding on a track that is so difficult to pass. Lately it is always the starts that are the key. Everything was good in the first moto and my plan was also to have a good start also in the second moto. Unfortunately I had a mistake and I was back at around fifteenth. After the first lap I was already in the top 10 or 12 but after that it was difficult to make up time on the riders in front. There were also a lot of ruts and kickers in the track”.
Max Nagl: “It’s been a good GP for me. Although I missed a top three overall result I still have the championship red plate and I feel like I rode well. The first moto was tough. I had a small problem off the start and was down in 18th, which meant I spend a lot of the race getting roosted with rocks. I got up to 10th easily enough, then it started to get hard. I kept pushing and sixth was a good result. I put a lot of effort into my start for the second moto and it really paid off. I lead for half the moto but Romain Febvre was just too strong. Second was a good result and gave me good championship points.”
Ferris obviously got a decent feed of Vita-Brits in France coz he managed a pair of very well earned 4th places in both motos while on the back of a Vegemite on toast breaky Waters was at the pointy end of the pack in each moto but small crashes cost the Queenslander a better result.
“In the qualifying race (on Saturday) it took until the final 10 minutes to get into a good rhythm. I set some strong lap times then, so I was pretty confident going into Sunday. My first moto was pretty uneventful, in a good way. I gated pretty well, got overtaken by one rider and pretty much rode my own race. I was lucky not to go down in the first turn in moto two. That put me down in eighth or something and I just pushed as hard as I could. I got up to fourth and tried all I could to get ahead of Bobryshev for third but just couldn’t make it happen.” Ferris concluded.
“I got two good starts – a great start in the second moto – but also crashed in both races.” Waters explained. “It’s frustrating, it is so hard to get up and get back into a good rhythm once you’ve been off. In the first race I was around seventh off the start and I was pushing hard. Once I crashed I found it really hard to get into my groove again. I was second behind Max off the start in moto two and felt good. I dropped a spot to Bobryshev but was still right up there, then I came together with Ferris and like the first moto couldn’t get into it after that.” Waters added.
MX2 Race Report: Sure, Herlings won both motos but it wasn’t without Tixier, Guillod and Gasner all giving the two-time champ plenty of stick. Guillod in particular was able to pass Herlings in their first moto battle while Gajser was right behind Herlings throughout moto two AND scored the fastest lap of the race. Even though he leaves France with a 112 point lead Herlings days of MX2 dominance are numbered.
Jeffrey Herlings: “I am very satisfied, especially after I ran such a tough Saturday. But we sometimes say a bad Saturday makes a good Sunday and that’s what we did. We took two good starts and that was really key at this track and we made the best of it. I made it a little bit tougher than it had to be in the first moto. I fell down and gave the competition some hope again. But I fought my way past those guys and up to the front again and I won that moto. The second one was the same with a good start. The track here is not the best for me but you just have to make the best of it. That’s what I did and obviously the starts helped a lot. So it was 1-1 for the overall, some good points for the championship and now we are off to Italy.”
Jordi Tixier: “I felt really good all weekend until the second moto when I couldn’t find a good rhythm to follow Jeffrey (Herlings) and Tim (Gajser). Racing in front of my home crowd made this GP very different from the others; the crowd pushed us and being on the podium at this event is always great. When I took the lead in the first race it was just amazing ! It’s my fifth podium in a row and my goal is always to be consistent but also to improve my speed to be higher on the podiums.”
Valentin Guillod: “For sure I am a bit frustrated because I had the speed to fight at the front but with that big crash I was lucky I could get back on the bike. I made some laps but then crashed again. I then said to myself “come on try and get one point”. I rode and rode but I was making mistakes because the bike was so bent. I lost a lot of time on that first lap because my front brake was blocked. I then rode as I could. I’m a bit worried about my foot so will have an x-ray now.”
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 34:07.793; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:03.893; 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:25.131; 4. Dean Ferris (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:30.105; 5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:32.380; 6. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:37.604; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:42.512; 8. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:43.953; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Suzuki), +0:52.376; 10. Gregory Aranda (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:57.131. 12. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS).
MXGP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 34:41.009; 2. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:03.574; 3. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:25.199; 4. Dean Ferris (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:27.686; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Suzuki), +0:31.461; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:38.026; 7. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:43.190; 8. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), +0:47.747; 9. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:52.688; 10. Tyla Rattray (RSA, Kawasaki), +0:54.542. 12. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS).
MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 47 points; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 40 p.; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 39 p.; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 37 p.; 5. Dean Ferris (AUS, HUS), 36 p.; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 28 p.; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 28 p.; 8. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 26 p.; 9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 24 p.; 10. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 17 p.
MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 332 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 313 p.; 3. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 291 p.; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 282 p.; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 252 p.; 6. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 247 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 169 p.; 8. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 138 p.; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 134 p.; 10. Ken de Dycker (BEL, KTM), 133 p. 15. Dean Ferris (AUS, HUS), 101 p.
MX2 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 33:57.744; 2. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:01.656; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:11.411; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:39.499; 5. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +0:51.998; 6. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), +0:55.459; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +1:00.416; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +1:10.927; 9. Roberts Justs (LAT, KTM), +1:14.420; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +1:15.450.
MX2 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 35:02.442; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:05.221; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:26.294; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:32.167; 5. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:33.357; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:41.292; 7. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, Husqvarna), +0:46.956; 8. Petar Petrov (BUL, Kawasaki), +0:52.817; 9. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +1:02.015; 10. Jorge Zaragoza (ESP, Honda), +1:05.226.
MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 50 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 40 p.; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 40 p.; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 32 p.; 5. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 30 p.; 6. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 29 p.; 7. Petar Petrov (BUL, KAW), 29 p.; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 26 p.; 9. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 25 p.; 10. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, HON), 20 p.
MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 358 points; 2. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 246 p.; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 245 p.; 4. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 229 p.; 5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 218 p.; 6. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 209 p.; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 208 p.; 8. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 205 p.; 9. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 184 p.; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 183 p.
Australian Motocross Championships – Round 5 – Coolum, Qld
MX1 Race Report: Lawson Bopping had a cracker of a weekend at Coolum. The DPR Yamaha riders started with a surprise Superpole win then went on to put in two hard fought moto to take the MX1 overall with 2-2 finishes on a track that took no prisoners.
Bopping dodged the carnage and claimed the first holeshot of the day then went on to lead for the first 25 minutes when the semi-retired Ben Townley showed his experience in the deep sand to take the lead and eventual win from Bopping, and the KTM duo Luke Styke and Kirk Gibbs. Gibbs had crashed all by himself on the opening lap so to come up to fourth was pretty cool.
In race two Gibbs took the holeshot then stretched out an early lead on the field which by the time the chequered flag was out had grown to more than ten seconds. The action behind Gibbs was full-on. Townley was in second before Bopping made his way by the Kiwi who then regrouped to regain second but in the dying laps he dropped his Honda and struggled to get it started handing second place to Bopping who was followed over the line by Kade Mosig, Adam Monea then Townley.
This is worth noting from Coolum:
- – Matt Moss returned to racing and is obviously still getting his fitness back because he was way off the pace with a 12th place in qualifying backed up with 17-DNF over the two motos. With a six week break before round six at Raymond Terrace I think you can expect the Moss of old to return for the second half of the season.
- – Ford Dale grew up on the sands of Coolum and was once the ‘King of Coolum’ but he just doesn’t look comfortable on the soft stuff anymore. Dale qualified back in 11th place then went 9-13 over the two motos. All good things must come to an end I suppose.
- – I have no idea what happens to Cody Cooper when he comes across ‘the pond’. Coops is the dominant force when racing in NZ and can beat Kirk Gibbs standing on his head but the flight across to Australia seemingly costs the Honda rider several second per lap…a mystery Honda would love to sort out for the second half of the series.
- – Local rider Jesse Dobson put his Husqvarna right in the mix all weekend with a sensational 4th place in qualifying, backed up with 5-6 moto finishes. This kid has raw talent and bravery is not an issue either. Dobson is a rider to watch.
- – Pirelli is usually the tyre of choice for Coolum thanks to their ‘paddle’ design but Gibbs put the Dunlop sand tyre to good use to be the fastest on track on both motos and Caleb Ward smoked the MX2 field using Dunlops.
MX1 Round 5 Overall Points: 1. Lawson Bopping 64. 2. Kirk Gibbs 63. 3. Ben Townley 61. 4. Kade Mosig 54. 5. Luke Styke 54. 6. Adam Monea 53. 7. Jesse Dobson 51. 8. Daniel Reardon 46. 9. Cody Cooper 42. 10. Dylan Long.
MX1 Riders Quotes:
Lawson Bopping: “This is a great feeling taking this overall and it’s just great to be able to give back to Dale and the whole DPH team, today was an awesome day – To get the win in SuperPole and holeshot the first moto was really good, and then in the second race I just did what I had to do. It was just a really fun day really. The guys are a lot of fun to race against and Townley hasn’t lost anything that’s for sure (laughs), but i’m just pumped – this is a big achievement for me.”
Kirk Gibbs – “That first moto was a little bit tough – I had a great start and just went down. It was hard to know where people wanted to be on the track, so it was hard to pass, but I finally got up to fourth so I was reasonably happy, but at the same time disappointed. I knew with a good start I could do well in the second moto, and I did that, and led every lap. We’ve got a big points lead now. Coming off a strong year last year and a great off-season, I knew that I’d be right there, and obviously going 1-1 in the first round just further boosted my confidence. Now when I go to the line I believe I’m going to win every race. It’s a good feeling.”
Ben Townley: “The Soft 410 was the perfect choice for the conditions at Coolum, the sand was quite heavy out there – in a straight line I was able to make up a lot of ground on Bopping and Gibbs in both motos respectively. It was definitely an advantage being able to run the paddle over the weekend, and it’s what I would recommend to anyone racing at Coolum.”
MX2 Race Report: Ok, here are the facts, there is a lot of talent in our MX2 series but right now the fastest MX2 rider in Australia is Caleb Ward. The FNQ (Far North Queensland) rider blitzed the opening moto and won by a country mile then came through the pack for a solid second in moto two for his second overall in a row.
But here’s the thing, Caleb wasn’t the big news over the weekend, here is where the news was at:
– Nathan Crawford qualified the fastest by over a second before coming from dead-last to 6th in the opening moto and was leading the second moto only to crash back to third then blitz his way back to the lead…all in a 20 minute moto!
– A less than 100% Luke Clout hanging tough in the opening moto for a distant second place but then succumbing to a soon to rectified injury to finish back in 20th in the second moto. Coolum was brutal and far from favourable for any rider carrying an injury.
– After a less than perfect start to the championship Luke Arbon has found that old flare and posted 8-5 moto finishes and like most of the field will be looking to climb up the points in the second half of the series.
– Leading into ‘the break’ we now have Clout leading the series on 286 points, just five ahead of Jay Wilson and Takeshi Katsuya. The second half of the MX Nationals is going to be interesting in the MX2 class.
MX2 Round 5 Overall Points: 1. Caleb Ward 67, 2. Nathan Crawford 60. 3. Jay Wilson 54. 4. Takeshi Katsuya 54. 5. Luke Arbon 49. 6. Jed Beaton 48. 7. Wade Hunter 48. 8. Jack Simpson 46. 9. Geran Stapleton 45. 10. Luke Clout 43.
MX2 Rider Quotes:
Caleb Ward: “It was a pretty good day. The first moto was awesome, the second one I wasn’t really happy with, but I still got the overall so I’m pretty happy with that. Once I got into the lead in the first one I sort of just rode smart and did my own thing and won by about 15 seconds or so. In the second I got caught up with a big pack of riders but I kept pushing the whole way and managed to pass Jay Wilson on maybe the last lap and got up to second. It’s going to be good to have time to get my knees a lot stronger and get my fitness back up to 100%, and come out swinging in the second half.”
Nathan Crawford: “First moto I got a pretty mediocre start, I crashed in a third corner and went from dead last back to sixth, and it was by far the toughest moto I’ve ever raced. The track was rough, they prepped up real well and it had heaps of moisture in it – it was a motocross track – and I just went for 30 minutes going as fast as I could, trying to get back to the front. I had to dig deep, and if I hadn’t done that I probably wouldn’t be on the podium. I won the last moto which was a good way to go into the break. That was my first win for the year, so that definitely helps with my confidence.”
Takeshi Katsuya: “A podium would have been nice leading up to the break but we struggled with our sand setting. Only 5 points behind Clout so not far behind from becoming series leader, I am going to train hard in the break. I am going back to Japan for a week so I am going to do a little training program there. We will be back stronger for the second half for sure!
2015 MX Nationals Standings after Round 5:
MX1: 1. Kirk Gibbs 341, 2. Luke Styke 289, 3. Adam Monea 283, 4. Lawson Bopping 282, 5. Kade Mosig 281, 6. Jesse Dobson 240, 7. Dylan Long 234, 8. Daniel Reardon 230, 9. Cody Cooper 219, 10. Kale Makeham 180.
MX2: 1. Luke Clout 286, 2. Jay Wilson 281, 3. Takeshi Katsuya 281, 4. Jed Beaton 250, 5. Wade Hunter 246, 6. Luke Arbon 228, 7. Nathan Crawford 213, 8. Geran Stapleton 202, 9. Hamish Harwood 194, 10. Riley Graham 190, 11. Jack Simpson 187, 12. Caleb Ward 182.
MXD: 1. Wilson Todd 262, 2. Connor Tierney 256, 3. Jesse Madden 241, 4. Jayden Rykers 233, 5. Bailey Coxon 218, 6. Wayde Carter 213, 7. Jonte Reynders 187, 8. Lachlan Davis 170, 9. Kaleb Barham 169, 10. Zak Small 162.
AMA Motocross Championships – Round 3 – Thunder Valley MX Park, Lakewood, CO
450 Race Report: There is no doubt that Eli Tomac is the fastest rider on the circuit right now but as per usual Ryan Dungey is the most consistent and the hard packed, bump and rut infested Thunder Valley circuit can bite a rider on the bum quicker than they can yell, ‘tank slapper’.
While Tomac dominated the opening moto ahead of Dungey and Ken Roczen but it was the huge break-in bumps that saw the demise of Tomac in the second moto which handed the lead to Roczen who could well have taken the overall if he could hang on for the win but Kenny dropped his Suzuki twice in the dying laps to hand the win and championship lead to his ex-teammate Dungey. We found out later that Kenny had a front flat tyre.
Tomac’s crash saw the Honda rider taken back to the Asterix Medical Mobile Unit and it was there that they put Tomac’s dislocated shoulder back into place. Time will tell how this affects Tomac in the rounds to come. “These type of crashes always leave me scratching my head on how or why it happened,” Tomac said. “It is the unexpected ones that get you. I have dislocated my right shoulder, no broken bones. Feeling pretty beat up. I don’t know the severity of the injury yet because I’ve never had a dislocation issue in my career. Hoping to have a answer by the end of today. I will come back as soon, but also as safely as I can. Just a waiting game on how fast these sore/smashed muscles agree to heal up.”
Dungey took the overall win over Roczen and Blake Baggett who managed 4-3 results for his first 450 podium, Dungey now has a three point lead over Tomac in the series and bugga-me-dead if Baggett doesn’t sit in third place.
Chad Reed struggled all weekend to finish with 18-12 moto finishes while I must give a mention to the two most over-rated riders on the AMA circuit, the Hahn brothers. Despite always seeming to turn up with good paying rides these sibling rarely trouble the top ten these days and Thunder Valley was no different, Will, on a factory Kawasaki KXF450 scored 18th outright while Thomas was second last both motos.
Riders quotes from RacerX:
Ryan Dungey: “Well, it’s no mystery that Eli [Tomac] has been going really fast. He’s strong and fit, and always has been. His bike is dialed in, and in the beginning of the year we had some things to work on and we still do. We’ve made progress with the bike, but there’s still room for improvement. With him going so fast so early on, it makes us have to play catchup quicker. You can’t wait until halfway through the season then try to dig yourself out of that points hole like I did last year. I try to be consistent and put the pressure on as much as I can, but I’ve been a little bit off Eli’s pace. But we we’ve been making progress every weekend. We were close to matching his times in that second moto, I believe, but he went down so early that I didn’t really have time to gauge him.”
Ken Roczen: “We’ve been doing a lot of things with suspension and trying to figure things out. It didn’t work too great in the first moto. I kind of struggled a little bit, but it got much better in the second moto and I flowed a lot better—I could ride much more like myself. I felt good in the second one, and I was trying to push to stay ahead of Ryan, but I got a flat and went down in that turn. I got up, jumped that triple, and crashed again, and I was like, “What’s wrong?” I didn’t know what was going on. It started turning really weird, then I realized I had a flat. So I took it easy those last few laps.”
Blake Baggett: “It’s a learning curve, and these first three tracks have just been brutal. It’s a big adjustment going to the 450, and I’m just learning and hope to keep working forward. I hope to be battling with those guys up front, but I need a bit more speed. Hopefully feeling a bit more comfortable, the speed will come. As soon as you start feeling more comfy, you go faster, and then you feel comfortable at that speed, and then you try to do it again and get even faster and get comfortable at that speed. We’ve been working on the bike and I’m working on things myself with RJ [Coach, Rick Johnson]. You can’t literally manhandle a 450, but you can just force it a little bit more, I guess.”
250 Race Report: After a shocker at Glen Helen Jeremy Martin came out hot at Thunder Valley and smashed all competitors with 1-1 moto results. Sure, he was helped by a big crash from championship leader Marvin Musquin during the opening moto but there was no denying Martin at Thunder Valley.
Despite the crash in the opening moto Musquin scored 14th place then bounced back for a second in the second moto and is now just two points shy of Martin in the points – this is going down to the wire folks….
Zach Osborne found form for second on the day with 2-3 moto results while the much hyped Adam Cianciarulo found a brain and scored his first podium for the year with 5-4 finishes. This is cool, Christian Craig made the most of replacing the injured Justin Bogle for the Geico Honda team to finish fifth overall with 4-6 finishes.
Aussie Jackson Richardson score a credible 16th overall with 16-14 finishes and is now 21st in the points while Hayden Mellross managed 20-22 finishes for 24th outright and sits 25th in the points.
Mellross had this to say on FB: “Well this weekend was brutal, I felt like I struggled all weekend with bike setup and just couldn’t stay off the ground. Although my result wasn’t where I wanted it to be i still learnt a lot this weekend and still have so many positives to take away from it. I’ll keep working hard and keep making improvement and I’ll be where I want to be soon. Thank you to everyone for your support.”
Riders quotes from RacerX:
Jeremy Martin: “Usually for me I start to figure the track out, and I can get better and better. Today was an awesome day. During the week, when you train and everything like that and you go into the weekend thinking about it, you dream to get two holeshots and you dream to lead every lap. And that was like today; it was a perfect day, aside from practice. I’ve got some things I need to work on with the bike to get it handling better. It was pretty gnarly out there today. I think it was biting a lot of guys. I’m going to be honest and say it wasn’t my favorite track. It was so weird. Some spots were rock-hard, and you’d get the chop and the ruts and then there’d be a big hole. If you weren’t on your game today it was going to bite you. I think I rode smart.”
Adam Cianciarulo: “First moto I almost went down on the start again and just made a few moves in the beginning. It’s so important to get by some guys when everybody’s bunched up. I actually got passed by Christian Craig with two laps to go. It hurt my pride a little bit, [the guy is] just coming out of retirement and kicking my ass really. But it’s cool to see him. He’s a good dude. Second moto I saw the results sheet and obviously Jeremy [Martin] had won, but there was a few guys [far back] like Marvin [Musquin] was fourteenth. So going in I said to myself, if I get top five there’s a good chance I’ll be on the podium. I caught up to Jessy [Nelson] and was able to get around him. I was super stoked on how I rode, super conservative. My technique is a lot better. Then Jordon Smith passed me with two to go and I had nothing left. I made it to about thirty minutes until I ran out of energy, and then my mechanic put on the pit board that I needed to pass him to get the podium. I just told myself that I was only going to hit the deck or get on the podium. I could have rested for a lap, but after he said that I followed his lines and just went for it before the finish line on the last lap. I was stoked with the day. It’s a good step in the right direction.”
Christian Craig: “The day started out great. I qualified fastest in practice. Couldn’t ask for anything better than that. Was feeling good going into the first moto, got a decent start, mid-pack, then just worked my way up and got up to seventh or eighth. Got behind a group of guys, like [Chris] Alldredge, Cianciarulo, and couple other guys, and ended up making the pass on them with like three laps to go and ended up fourth. I’m pretty stoked on that, especially for my first outdoor race on a 250 ever. Second moto had a better start and worked my way up to seventh, stayed there for about twenty minutes, hit a wall and got fatigued, and pretty much just put it on cruise control. Ended up passing one more guy for sixth and rode it out to sixth and fifth overall. It was a great day for me.”
450 Class (Moto Finish)
Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., KTM (2-1)
Ken Roczen, Germany, Suzuki (3-2)
Blake Baggett, Grand Terrace, Calif., Suzuki (4-3)
Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Suzuki (5-5)
Cole Seely, Newbury Park, Calif., Honda (8-4)
Justin Barcia, Monroe, N.Y., Yamaha (7-6)
Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda (1-33)
Christophe Pourcel, France, Husqvarna (11-7)
Phil Nicoletti, Cohocton, N.Y., Yamaha (10-9)
Justin Brayton, Fort Dodge, Iowa, KTM (9-10)
450 Class Championship Standings
Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., KTM, 128
Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda, 125
Blake Baggett, Grand Terrace, Calif., Suzuki, 99
Ken Roczen, Germany, Suzuki, 93
Justin Barcia, Monroe, N.Y., Yamaha, 87
Weston Peick, Wildomar, Calif., Yamaha, 79
Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Suzuki, 75
Jason Anderson, Edgewood, N.M., Husqvarna, 72
Christophe Pourcel, France, Husqvarna, 72
Phil Nicoletti, Cohocton, N.Y., Yamaha, 62
250 Class (Moto Finish)
Jeremy Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha (1-1)
Zach Osborne, Abingdon, Va., Husqvarna (2-3)
Adam Cianciarulo, Port Orange, Fla., Kawasaki (5-4)
Jessy Nelson, Paso Robles, Calif., KTM (3-7)
Christian Craig, Plymouth, Minn., Honda (4-6)
Jordon Smith, Belmont, N.C., Honda (6-5)
Marvin Musquin, France, KTM (14-2)
RJ Hampshire, Hudson, Fla., Honda (9-10)
Aaron Plessinger, Hamilton, Ohio, Yamaha (13-8)
Shane McElrath, Canton, N.C., KTM (12-9)
250 Class Championship Standings
Jeremy Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha, 128
Marvin Musquin, France, KTM, 126
Jessy Nelson, Paso Robles, Calif., KTM, 80
Adam Cianciarulo, Port Orange, Fla., Kawasaki, 76
Joey Savatgy, Thomasville, Georgia, Kawasaki, 72
Alex Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha, 68
Zach Osborne, Abingdon, Va., Husqvarna, 67
Shane McElrath, Canton, N.C., KTM, 65
Matt Bisceglia, Tualatin, Ore., Honda, 64
Chris Alldredge, Powell Butte, Ore., Kawasaki, 62
That’s it for this week, next weekend there is plenty on so stay tuned.
