450 Overall

450 Point Standings

250 moto 2

As a slight drizzle turned to heavy downpour, the overall from Budds Creek began to slip from the grasps of Jeremy Martin and into the hands of Marvin Musquin. Jeremy was inline for the overall after his brother, Alex, the winner of moto 1, was buried at the start of the second moto. Jeremy had moved to within a second behind early leader Adam Cianciarulo and was pressuring him into mistakes. Then, Jeremy just disappeared. Quickly he went from one second behind to four—then to sixth place. Jeremy had lost his goggles and was dropping anchor in the adverse conditions.

The battle for the overall was left between Alex Martin and Marvin Musquin. All Alex needed was to pass his younger brother for fifth to capture his first career overall. In a twist, Alex was also sans goggles for the second straight moto. Alex drew to under a second of his younger brother on the final lap, but couldn’t make the all important pass. Musquin, who cruised to a just over eleven second moto win, won the overall.

Adam Cianciarulo, who led early before washing out at the bottom of Henry Hill, finished second in the moto. His Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammate Joey Savatgy would round out the podium. Jeremy Martin finished sixth with Alex one spot behind in seventh.

250 Overall

250 Point Standings

450 moto 1

The severe weather surrounding the nearby area continues to be held at bay. Early showers have been replaced by overcast, with more rain not expected until at least 4pm EST (as of now). While the track is holding up, added value has been placed on the start. Get one and take off. Don’t and be punished with roost over the next thirty-plus.

Ryan Dungey got the start and….basically took off from there. Dungey opened a three second lead after lap one that extended to nearly twenty seconds, at points, and just over ten by race end. Behind Dungey, Ken Roczen’s title chances exploded late in the moto. After passing Christophe Pourcel on the first lap, Roczen looked to have second sewn up, leading for more than twenty minutes. Late in the race, Roczen had problems as Pourcel, Justin Barcia and Blake Baggett all passed the defending champion. It’s unknown if Roczen had bike problems or his back was giving him trouble, but he dropped from second to fifth in a hurry late in the race. We will provide an update as we know more.

The podium is Pourcel’s second in the last three motos, while Barcia returned for the first time since a second in the first moto at Glen Helen.

250 Moto 1

Remember Southwick 2011? Alex Martin, then with the underdog, underfunded, Eleven10 Mods team, splashed his way through a soaked Southwick to his first career podium. Fast forward four years and Martin, in a similar situation, trudged through a muddy Budds Creek to build, at times, a more than five second lead… which evaporated when he lost his goggles late in the race. For a time, it was all Alex… or at least a Martin.

Late in the race Alex was forced to ditch his goggles and his lap time plummeted to a 2:20.248, while second place Zach Osborne ran a 2:17.522 and his brother, Jeremy, a 2:13.522. Jeremy eventually worked past Osborne and onto the tail of Alex. Brotherly love was thrown out the door, as Jeremy made a pass stick following the finish line rollers—stealing away the first career moto win from his brother.

[Update: Alex reportedly lost his rear brake around 15 minutes into the moto.]

Or at least that what EVERYONE thought was going to happen.

On the final lap Jeremy stalled his bike, leaving the door open for Alex to sneak past and cruise the final few corners to his first career moto win. Jeremy was able to get his bike started in time to hold off Osborne for second.

Joey Savatgy and Christian Craig would round out the top five. Series points leader Marvin Musquin tangled with Adam Cianciarulo early in the race and could only work back to seventh. Cianciarulo finished eighth. In his first race back since Hangtown, Cooper Webb finished sixth.

Surprise early leader Justin Starling, in his first race with Traders Racing Kawasaki after beginning the season with MotoSport.com/GPI Honda, finished just outside the top 10 in eleventh.

Practice

Mother Nature relented long enough for the first, and only, practice sessions to wrap up at Budds Creek. Although the rain subsided briefly, the early morning weather did enough damage. The slick hills challenged riders, with laps times well north of two minutes. The track dried out a tad for the 450 Groups, and it showed in the lap times.

Christophe Pourcel said it would take him around five races before he felt truly comfortable and up to speed. And he was on point. He set the fastest qualifying time at High Point, captured his first moto podium of the season and finished a season-high fourth overall. After a week off, Pourcel was doing Pourcel things in qualifying. Justin Barica came up swinging early in the session, jumping right to the top with a 2:14.226. The time held for nearly the entire session until around two minutes when Pourcel dropped just over a second on Barcia. Pourcel’s 2:13.181 would stand up over the remaining two minutes to top Barcia (2:14.226), Ryan Dungey (2:14.399), Jason Anderson (2:15.203) and Ken Roczen (2:15.435).

The biggest news from practice was Cole Seely failing to qualify. Seely's 2:31.640 in the Group A session was only good enough for thirty-second overall in Group A and forty-seventh overall. Seely is currently eleventh in points, two back of Phil Nicoletti, which means he doesn’t get a provisional. In short: Cole Seely will not be racing this afternoon.

Adam Cianciarulo snuck in near the end of the only 250 session to steal the top time from Jeremy Martin. Cianciarulo set a 2:18.801 to Martin’s 2:19.373 to claim his second Bud Light Fastest Qualifier award on the season. RJ Hampshire (2:19.840), Joey Savatgy (2:19.857) and points leader Marvin Musquin (2:19.865) would round out the top five.

The surprise of the day was Connecticut’s Chris Canning. The privateer, who grew up racing the famed NESC and NEMA series’ in the New England area, shook up the top ten, qualifying ninth. For more info on Chris, check out this Privateer Profile we did back in 2012.