Zach Bell was back to holeshot form for the start of the second 250 moto at Hangtown. The GEICO Honda rider pulled the lead over the rest of the field on the start, but after the pack disappeared over the hill, Bell was nowhere to be seen when they roared back into sight. It was Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Blake Baggett that inherited the lead.
Baggett was only able to enjoy the lead for half of a lap until the Red Bull KTM machine of Ken Roczen’s started to show its front wheel. Roczen went back and forth with Baggett for the remainder of the lap until Roczen secured the lead before the finish line.
GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac wasn’t initially in the mix; he was hovering right outside of the top ten in the beginning. Tomac was able to gain some easy positions after Marvin Musquin and Zach Osborne came together and went down before the finish line. Tomac moved up to battle with Rockstar Energy Racing’s Jason Anderson and eventually overtook the third position from him.
Tomac may have moved into third, but Roczen and Baggett were already running their own race. As the two riders moved into the second half of the 30 minutes, they kicked up the intensity a notch and moved further into lapped traffic. Roczen found the smooth lines with good flow while Baggett chose the quickest line from point A to B—regardless of track condition. Baggett hammered down and latched onto Roczen’s pace, but a slight mistake from Baggett cost him valuable time in the close race.
Roczen held strong until the finish to earn perfect marks in the season thus far. Baggett and Tomac rode the race out for second and third, while Musquin and Anderson rounded out the top five.
