The championship chases in the respective classes went in opposite directions at Muddy Creek. While Eli Tomac closed to within four of Blake Baggett in the 450 Class, Jeremy Martin’s 13-6 day in the 250 Class cost him 18 points on the day (he’s 36 back in the championship) and slid him behind his older brother Alex to third in the championship. Zach Osborne holds a 31-point lead over Alex heading into round six this weekend at RedBud.
How did the race unfold? Let’s dive into the lap charts and look at a couple key moments from last Saturday. First, our traditional lap charts.
450 Class Moto 1
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | On Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 2 | 1:51.834 | 8 | 1:54.589 | Eli Tomac |
2 | 3 | 1:52.055 | 13 | 1:55.266 | Blake Baggett |
3 | 1 | 1:52.133 | 5 | 1:54.451 | Jason Anderson |
4 | 6 | 1:53.434 | 8 | 1:56.112 | Broc Tickle |
5 | 4 | 1:53.988 | 6 | 1:53.988 | Weston Peick |
6 | 5 | 1:54.097 | 3 | 1:56.217 | Justin Barcia |
7 | 7 | 1:54.156 | 8 | 1:56.124 | Marvin Musquin |
8 | 11 | 1:54.400 | 10 | 1:56.348 | Martin Davalos |
9 | 12 | 1:54.481 | 3 | 1:57.994 | Justin Bogle |
10 | 9 | 1:54.448 | 8 | 1:56.452 | Cooper Webb |
450 Class Moto 2
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | On Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 1 | 1:51.479 | 6 | 1:53.901 | Eli Tomac |
2 | 2 | 1:52.056 | 5 | 1:55.723 | Jason Anderson |
3 | 3 | 1:52.092 | 7 | 1:55.112 | Blake Baggett |
4 | 5 | 1:54.156 | 6 | 1:56.604 | Justin Bogle |
5 | 12 | 1:54.212 | 9 | 1:57.013 | Broc Tickle |
6 | 9 | 1:54.226 | 5 | 1:56.689 | Cooper Webb |
7 | 4 | 1:54.384 | 6 | 1:56.377 | Weston Peick |
8 | 7 | 1:55.043 | 8 | 1:57.015 | Dean Wilson |
9 | 6 | 1:55.094 | 17 | 1:56.571 | Martin Davalos |
10 | 8 | 1:55.212 | 5 | 1:57.288 | Fredrik Noren |
250 Class Moto 1
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | On Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 1 | 1:52.259 | 4 | 1:54.563 | Aaron Plessinger |
2 | 2 | 1:52.655 | 2 | 1:54.806 | Adam Cianciarulo |
3 | 3 | 1:53.058 | 5 | 1:55.136 | Austin Forkner |
4 | 4 | 1:53.704 | 3 | 1:55.171 | Alex Martin |
5 | 6 | 1:53.716 | 3 | 1:56.535 | Shane McElrath |
6 | 5 | 1:53.719 | 7 | 1:55.931 | Zach Osborne |
7 | 38 | 1:53.910 | 4 | 1:56.562 | RJ Hampshire |
8 | 7 | 1:54.513 | 4 | 1:57.237 | Sean Cantrell |
9 | 10 | 1:54.579 | 7 | 1:58.061 | Jeremy Martin |
10 | 8 | 1:54.852 | 5 | 1:57.294 | Colt Nichols |
250 Class Moto 2
Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | On Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
1 | 2 | 1:52.532 | 3 | 1:54.817 | Aaron Plessinger |
2 | 1 | 1:52.633 | 8 | 1:54.509 | Zach Osborne |
3 | 3 | 1:53.272 | 4 | 1:54.919 | Austin Forkner |
4 | 4 | 1:53.384 | 2 | 1:54.885 | Alex Martin |
5 | 5 | 1:53.445 | 3 | 1:55.119 | Adam Cianciarulo |
6 | 6 | 1:53.665 | 3 | 1:55.266 | Jeremy Martin |
7 | 7 | 1:53.715 | 3 | 1:55.724 | Joey Savatgy |
8 | 8 | 1:53.821 | 3 | 1:56.334 | Colt Nichols |
9 | 9 | 1:53.908 | 3 | 1:56.323 | Chase Sexton |
10 | 14 | 1:54.376 | 4 | 1:57.548 | Luke Renzland |
Tomac vs Anderson
While Jason Anderson was trying to make his way around Trey Canard and Justin Bogle, Eli Tomac was taking off with the second moto win. Tomac’s opening laps of 1:53.845 and 1:52.667 were nearly three seconds and a full four seconds faster than Anderson’s 1:56.305 and 1:56.686. Once Anderson moved into second on lap three, Anderson attempted to reel Tomac in and dropped down into the 1:52s on three consecutive laps. Well, Tomac responded and put in two 1:51s and was never challenged en route to the second moto win. The chart below shows the chase—Anderson bringing the heat on lap five, and Tomac responding.
Lap | Eli Tomac | Jason Anderson |
1 | 1:53.845 | 1:56.305 |
2 | 1:52.667 | 1:56.686 |
3 | 1:52.079 | 1:53.332 |
4 | 1:51.938 | 1:52.703 |
5 | 1:52.374 | 1:52.056 |
6 | 1:51.479 | 1:52.707 |
7 | 1:52.675 | 1:53.384 |
8 | 1:53.198 | 1:53.751 |
Baggett Down the Stretch
The other major storyline from the second 450 moto was another incredible charge from Blake Baggett. The points leader was down in the first turn with Cooper Webb and Broc Tickle and charged back from nearly dead last to third in the moto. If you were paying attention to live timing late in the moto, you could see Baggett was, at times, going two to three seconds faster than those riders in front of him. Check out a side-by-side chart of the last 10 laps and the times Baggett and the riders in front of him were running.
Lap | Blake Baggett | Weston Peick | Justin Bogle | Martin Davalos | Dean Wilson |
9 | 1:54.436 | 1:54.793 | 1:57.163 | 1:55.334 | 1:55.129 |
10 | 1:53.519 | 1:55.631 | 1:56.173 | 1:55.887 | 2:07.342* |
11 | 1:54.880 | 1:55.801 | 1:55.815 | 1:55.715 | 1:56.774 |
12 | 1:56.412 | 1:57.925 | 1:57.595 | 1:56.026 | 1:56.792 |
13 | 1:54.931 | 1:57.306 | 1:56.907 | 1:58.039 | 1:57.112 |
14 | 1:56.661 | 1:58.581 | 1:57.841 | 1:56.364 | 1:56.332 |
15 | 1:55.125 | 1:57.963 | 1:58.064 | 1:56.916 | 1:55.766 |
16 | 1:55.462 | 1:56.292 | 1:56.871 | 1:57.217 | 1:55.925 |
17 | 1:55.260 | 1:57.005 | 1:57.159 | 1:55.094 | 1:56.862 |
18 | 1:57.210 | 1:56.493 | 1:57.777 | 2:00.943 | 2:00.152 |
Bold = Fastest lap between the five riders
*Wilson crashed on lap 10.
Forkner vs Martin
For 35 of 36 laps on Saturday, Alex Martin had nice view of Austin Forkner’s rear end. The two were separated by just a second or two for the entirety of both 250 motos on Saturday. On the first lap of the first moto, the two ran third and fourth. They finished third and fourth—with no passes.
In the second 250 moto, they ran third and fourth beginning on the second lap. They finished third and fourth—with no passes. Alex had this to say on Instagram after the race: “4-4 for 5th O/A in Tennessee... That's what happens when you sit behind the competition for 70 mins straight...”
Check out a side-by-side look at their times at the end of both motos.
Moto 1
Lap | Austin Forkner | Alex Martin |
13 | 1:56.446 | 1:57.941 |
14 | 1:55.951 | 1:54.193 |
15 | 1:55.796 | 1:55.448 |
16 | 1:55.382 | 1:54.557 |
17 | 1:55.513 | 1:55.464 |
18 | 1:55.815 | 1:56.238 |
Moto 2
Lap | `Austin Forkner | Alex Martin |
13 | 1:55.285 | 1:55.095 |
14 | 1:55.169 | 1:54.980 |
15 | 1:56.025 | 1:55.732 |
16 | 1:55.260 | 1:55.630 |
17 | 1:55.668 | 1:56.873 |
18 | 1:57.344 | 1:56.007 |