Sign of the Lap Times: Unadilla - Motocross

New Berlin, NY Unadilla AMA Pro Motocross Championship

A day that began with a thick layer of fog covering historic Unadilla Valley Sports Center in New Berlin, New York, ended with one Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship National title in the clear, and another on the brink.

Thanks in part to a mechanical DNF from MotoConcepts’ Mike Alessi in moto one, Ryan Dungey wrapped up the first 450 National title in KTM's history. Dungey wasn’t the only orange rider stealing the show at ‘Dilla, either. Ken Roczen was finally able to overcome his late-race demons to win his first career moto in America. Joining Roczen in the KTM spotlight was his teammate, Marvin Musquin, who clawed his way to his first 250 overall win in the U.S. by way of unlikely 2-3 scores.

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Blake Baggett took another step closer to capturing his first career 250 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross title after GEICO Honda's Justin Barcia, for the second consecutive week, was unable to take advantage of familiar settings and now sits twenty-four points back of Baggett with two rounds remaining.

Let’s take a look at the lap charts to see how it all broke down.

450 Class
Moto 1

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	9	2:14.847	2	2:23.749	James Stewart
2	35	2:16.530	5	2:18.170	Michael Byrne
3	1	2:16.631	7	2:18.486	Ryan Dungey
4	2	2:16.789	6	2:18.504	Broc Tickle
5	40	2:17.106	3	2:17.912	Jake Weimer
6	6	2:17.621	8	2:21.614	Nico Izzi
7	5	2:18.084	10	2:21.336	Josh Grant
8	3	2:18.301	9	2:20.189	Davi Millsaps
9	4	2:18.685	9	2:20.499	Andrew Short
10	37	2:18.793	5	2:23.068	Christian Craig

Moto 2

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	1	2:14.019	6	2:16.650	Ryan Dungey
2	2	2:14.388	4	2:16.738	Mike Alessi
3	35	2:14.525	5	2:16.793	James Stewart
4	4	2:16.378	16	2:19.004	Broc Tickle
5	3	2:16.774	16	2:19.082	Andrew Short
6	5	2:17.895	3	2:20.527	Davi Millsaps
7	8	2:18.606	9	2:21.593	Nico Izzi
8	6	2:18.798	9	2:21.077	Josh Grant
9	18	2:18.988	14	2:26.665	Jake Weimer
10	7	2:19.556	6	2:21.465	Kyle Chisholm

Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart had a bumpy return to action at Unadilla—one that was plagued with crashes, and ultimately spelled the end of his season after he dislocated his finger in a second moto crash. But when Stewart was on the bike, he was on fire, setting a fast lap that was nearly two seconds clear of the field in the first moto.

After heavy rains pounded Unadilla on Friday, the track pushed the best riders in the world to their limits on Saturday. The first moto produced five different leaders (Stewart, Dungey, Jake Weimer, Michael Byrne and Broc Tickle), with three of the five losing the lead due to crashes (Weimer, Byrne, Stewart), two unable to finish the moto (Weimer, Byrne) and one rider that would lose his season to a broken leg (Byrne).

With the Asterisk Medical crew working overtime, Tickle and Dungey were locked in a clash of their own. Dungey, who seems to only get stronger late in the race, was pushing the limits, while Tickle was trying to withstand the assault. Let’s dig deeper and size up the lap charts of Dungey and Tickle late in moto one.

Lap	Ryan Dungey	Broc Tickle
10	2.17.487	2.17.056
11	2.17.932	2.17.588
12	2.18.508	2.17.468
13	2.17.307	2.18.125
14	2.17.139	2.18.132
15	2.16.710	2.19.400
16	2.18.925	2.18.502

There were two laps that spelled the demise for Tickle at the end of the moto. The first came on lap eight (not pictured in the table), when Dungey gained nearly four seconds on Tickle when he threw down a 2:18.6 compared to Tickle’s 2:23.5. The other came on lap fifteen when Dungey carved out a 2:16.7 (his second fastest of the moto) and Tickle, desperately trying to fend off Dungey, dropped down to a 2:19.4. Those two laps would ultimately decide the fate of the moto for Tickle as he finished just .9 seconds behind Dungey.

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Dungey (right) and Tickle (left) battled to the end in the first moto at Unadilla.
Simon Cudby photo

250 Class
Moto 1

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	2	2:14.204	6	2:17.272	Marvin Musquin
2	3	2:14.388	7	2:18.786	Blake Baggett
3	1	2:14.490	4	2:16.948	Ken Roczen
4	6	2:15.733	6	2:20.647	Eli Tomac
5	8	2:17.185	2	2:21.481	Zach Bell
6	7	2:17.418	11	2:20.885	Justin Barcia
7	4	2:17.593	5	2:20.128	Blake Wharton
8	11	2:17.754	4	2:22.561	Justin Bogle
9	5	2:18.007	6	2:20.547	Jason Anderson
10	18	2:18.121	7	2:28.610	Jeremy Martin

Moto 2

Lap Rank	Finish	Best Lap	In Lap	Avg Lap Time	Rider
1	1	2:13.949	4	2:17.301	Eli Tomac
2	2	2:14.016	3	2:18.778	Justin Barcia
3	31	2:15.183	4	2:21.286	Zach Bell
4	3	2:16.103	4	2:19.265	Marvin Musquin
5	5	2:16.427	8	2:19.739	Blake Baggett
6	4	2:16.894	5	2:19.296	Justin Bogle
7	6	2:17.794	7	2:20.728	Ken Roczen
8	33	2:18.602	8	2:22.472	Blake Wharton
9	8	2:18.676	5	2:20.940	Wil Hahn
10	7	2:18.699	6	2:20.822	Martin Davalos

Red Bull KTM stole the show and the headlines at Unadilla. Overshadowed by the Orange Brigade was the clinic Eli Tomac put on in the second moto. At times, Tomac was gaining four seconds a lap on the leader, and his teammate, Justin Barcia. Let’s examine the full lap charts of Tomac and Barcia for a better understanding of how fast Tomac was actually going.

Lap	Eli Tomac	Justin Barcia
2	2.20.503	2.15.548
3	2.15.113	2.14.016
4	2.13.949	2.14.106
5	2.14.976	2.15.315
6	2.14.399	2.16.657
7	2.15.311	2.17.737
8	2.14.957	2.16.074
9	2.15.627	2.19.274
10	2.14.236	2.19.222
11	2.16.937	2.19.401
12	2.15.867	2.18.433
13	2.18.860	2.22.054
14	2.20.175	2.23.669
15	2.22.081	2.21.570
16	2.26.525	2.28.601

After limping his way to a 2:20.5 in the first lap, Tomac rattled off eight straight laps that were under the 2:16 mark. To put that in perspective, thirty-five riders' fastest laps were over 2:16—including overall winner Marvin Musquin. Tomac wasn’t just on another level in the second moto, he was on another planet.

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Eli Tomac stole the show in the second moto at Unadilla.
Simon Cudby photo