Second 450 moto

It’s going to be tough for anyone to wrestle this championship away from Ken Roczen, who is clicking on all cylinders at the moment. Another moto win for Roczen—his seventh of eighth—came in the second 450 moto at High Point. After stealing away the early lead from Justin Barcia, Roczen built a more than five second lead early and stretched it to over eleven by race end.

Eli Tomac was able to run the pace of Roczen for much of the race, the problem was by the time he moved into second, Roczen was already 5.4 seconds clear. With a rider of Roczen’s ability, you just can’t give up that much time early in the race. Check out how it broke down.

Beginning of Lap 2: Anderson 3.3 seconds back; Barcia 4.7; Tomac 5.3

Lap 2: Tomac around Barcia for third.

Beginning of Lap 3: Anderson 4.2 back; Tomac 6.4; Barcia 8.5

Lap 3: Tomac around Anderson for second.

Beginning of Lap 4: Tomac 5.4 back; Anderson 7.0; Barcia 9.9

Beginning of Lap 5: Tomac 4.9 back; Anderson 8.5; Barcia 12.3

Beginning of Lap 6: Tomac 5.3 back; Anderson 10.3

Beginning of Lap 9: Tomac 7.2 back; Anderson 13.5

Tomac was able to cut the lead down from 7.2 to just over 4 seconds, but he wasn’t able to move it any further. At the end, Roczen built the lead back up by more than 11 seconds. Roczen now has three overall wins in four rounds.

Jason Anderson rode to a lonely third with Marvin Musquin and Barcia rounding out the top five. Cole Seely got around Justin Bogle for sixth on lap 8 but wasn’t able to close on Barcia. Bogle would finish seventh ahead of Weston Peick, Christophe Pourcel and Broc Tickle.

First 250 moto

Plenty of interesting storylines to talk about in the first 250 moto. Jeremy Martin grabbed the early lead, but was quickly passed by older brother Alex. When fastest qualifier Zach Osborne moved into to second, he began to chip away into Alex’s more than 4 second lead and leave Jeremy Martin behind. Check out the how the lead margin broke down.

Lap 5: Zach 2.3 sec behind Alex; Jeremy 5.8

Lap 6: Zach 1.8 sec behind; Jeremy 7.2

On the ninth lap, Alex made a huge mistake and went off the track allowing Osborne to take the lead. Alex then fell back to nearly three seconds behind on lap 11.

Lap 9: Alex 1.5 back; Jeremy 6.5

Lap 11: Alex 2.7; Jeremy 5.4

Alex picked the pace back up and cut the lead to 2 seconds late in the race. He was actually closing back in before his bike started smoking due to a mechanical issue. Jeremy quickly got by. Then Cooper Webb. Then Joey Savatgy. Then, with 2 laps to go, Alex’s bike finally let go. He did not finish the moto.

Although Jeremy closed the gap down the stretch, Osborne held on for a comfortable 4.1-second win. It is the first ever win for Zach in 250MX. Webb held on for the final podium spot.

Points leader Joey Savatgy finished fourth, with rookie Austin Forkner in fifth. Aaron Plessinger was running seventh early, before crashing, falling outside the top ten, and then coming all the way back to sixth. Mitchell Oldenburg was 19th after the first lap and came back to seventh. Arnaud Tonus, Martin Davalos and Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top 10.

Quick Notes
- Margin of victory: 4.15 seconds for Zach Osborne
- Fastest lap: Austin Forkner, 2:06.652
- Cianciarulo crashed late in the race while running 7th.
- Jordon Smith crashed out of the top five early in the race. He finished 14th.
- Star Racing and Pro Circuit Kawasaki had five riders inside the top six (Star 3; PC 2).
- Traders Racing Kawasaki’s Nick Gaines returned from a broken femur sustained this off-season. He did not finish the moto.

First 450 Moto

With Ryan Dungey out, most considered Eli Tomac the only rider able to keep Ken Roczen honest. It finally looked as if we would get a Roczen/Tomac showdown, as the two sat first and second early in the first moto. But Tomac made a huge mistake and lost the front end in a deep corner and fell back to sixth. This allowed Roczen a clear track and he quickly stretched his lead to just over 14 seconds with more than 21 minutes plus 2 remaining in the moto.

As Roczen ran away to his sixth moto win (of seven) on the season, Marvin Musquin, Cole Seely, Christophe Pourcel and fastest qualifier Jason Anderson battled for second. Anderson held second early, but fell back to fourth, and then fifth. Anderson said he tipped over at some point in the race. He then found his momentum and passed Pourcel back for fourth and then Cole Seely for third late in the moto. With under 5 minutes plus 2 in the moto, Anderson closed to within a second of Musquin. But with two laps to go Anderson made a mistake allowing Musquin to cruise to second—a career best finish in 450MX.  

Tomac moved into fifth late in the race after Seely crashed, but lost the spot to Justin Bogle, who was outside the top ten after lap one, with half a lap to go. Tomac would finish sixth.

Pourcel held on for fourth—a season’s best—with Justin Barcia, Broc Tickle, Seely and Matt Bisceglia rounding out the top ten.

Quick Notes:
- Margin of victory for Roczen: 14.613 seconds.
- Fastest lap: Eli Tomac, 2:01.932
- BTOSports.com-WPS-KTM rookie Benny Bloss did not start the moto. We will have more information as it’s known.
- Josh Grant had a hard crash in practice and pull out of the moto early.

Second practice

Although his time from the first session would have been enough for the fastest of the day, Jason Anderson bettered his time on a much drier High Point track. Following a fairly muddy first session, the track dried out for session two and started to develop deep ruts. A number of soft, slick spots also developed, which caused some riders to lose the front end in certain sections. The sun is out and it’s quite humid, so conditions could change by the start of the first moto at 1:00 pm.

Conditions suited the Europeans, as three of the top five times were set by riders from the other side of the Atlantic. Christophe Pourcel, who captured three moto wins in a two-year span (2009-‘10) and the overall in 2009 at High Point, is finding his form after injuries delayed the start of his season. The Frenchman was second fastest; his 2:02.963 serving as only the second on the day in the 2:02 range. Marvin Musquin, who went 1-1 here in 2015 in the 250 class, was third fastest with a 2:03.291.

Points leader Ken Roczen was fifth with a 2:03.595, sandwiched between Cole Seely (2:03.291) and Eli Tomac (2:03.627). They are all chasing Anderson, who after the session said the track was getting really “deep and rutted.”

Bad starts and crashes have keep Zach Osborne off the podium thus far, but High Point may serve as a turning point. The veteran finished second overall here in 2015 and set the fastest time today in qualifying. A 2:04.077 from Osborne just clipped points leader Joey Savatgy’s time of 2:04.171. They were the only two in the 2:04 range. Alex Martin was third with a 2:05.400, more than a second off the times of Osborne and Savatgy.

Yamalube/Star Racing took four of the top seven spots with Cooper Webb (fourth), Jeremy Martin (fifth) and Aaron Plessinger (seventh) all sitting behind Alex Martin. Jordon Smith (sixth), Adam Cianciarulo (eighth), Mitchell Oldenburg (ninth) and Arnaud Tonus (tenth) would round out the top ten.

Motos start at 1:00 p.m. ET on Promotocross.com and MAVTV. View the full TV schedule here.

First Practice

The first set of practices have been completed at High Point Raceway and we have a few surprises. After missing the second moto at Thunder Valley due to altitude sickness, Jason Anderson is back in form at High Point, setting the fastest lap by nearly two seconds! Anderson’s 2:02.639 on lap 5 was the best time of the morning. It’s was Ken Roczen’s RCH teammate Broc Tickle in second with a 2:04.074. Christophe Pourcel was third with a 2:04.397. Justin Barcia, Ken Roczen and Eli Tomac would round out the top 5.

In 250MX, points leader Joey Savatgy was quickest with a 2:04.171 ahead of Alex Martin (2:05.400), Jeremy Martin (2:05.512) and Jordon Smith (2:05.576).

Second practices are about to get underway. Check back for more details.

Morning Report

If things feel a little different in pits at Round 4 of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross at High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, it’s because for the first time since Steel City 2007, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey is not present. The defending 450MX champion sustained a cracked vertebrae in his crash at Round 3 of the championship at Thunder Valley and is scheduled to miss multiple rounds—if not the remainder of the championship.

We spoke with Dungey’s trainer Aldon Baker a few days after the announcement and he told us that after the Thunder Valley race on Saturday, Dungey told him his neck felt a little stiff on one side, but nothing too bad.

“On Sunday he felt even more stiff and he said maybe he should get a checkup,” Baker said. “I got him an appointment on Monday morning. There’s a chiropractor here and what I like about him is the guy always runs X-rays first. So the guy ran X-rays and said, ‘Hey there’s something not quite right here. So before I do anything I want you to get a CT scan.’ That came back that he has a fracture and also a herniated disc. You know, those [herniated discs] can be bad, but the fracture was the one where you say, ‘Oh my gosh we have a problem here.’”

Ryan Dungey Lucas Oil Pro Motocross 450 Stats

Career Starts: 75
Races Missed: 0
Career Wins: 39; second all-time
Career Podiums: 69; second all-time

In other injury news, Honda HRC’s Trey Canard crashed at his home in Oklahoma on Monday and is suffering from a bulging disk in his back. He will be evaluated weekly, but there is currently no timetable on his return. Yoshimura Suzuki is hoping to get James Stewart and Blake Baggett back next week from shoulder injuries next weekend in Tennessee; Matt Bisceglia will continue his fill-in for the team this weekend.

In actual racing news, Ken Roczen enters Round 4 winning five of the first six motos (only a mechanical keep him from being perfect) and holds a twenty-nine point lead over Eli Tomac. In the 250 class, Joey Savatgy carries the red plate for the second time this year, leading two-time 250MX champion Jeremy Martin by three points.