It started in practice, and progressively went downhill from there for the Yoshimura Suzuki team at Southwick. Still without the services of James Stewart, who spent the weekend awaiting the arrival of his first child, the team lost both team members early at Round 7 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship on Saturday. Blake Baggett went down hard in qualifying, tweaking his surgically repaired shoulder originally hurt at the season opener. He went down again in the first turn of the first moto and worked back to 24th but decided his shoulder was too weak to continue in moto two.
“I had the big crash in practice number two and dodged a bullet,” said Baggett in a statement. “It was one of the biggest ones I’ve had. I just made a little mistake and over-jumped the tabletop and had a big get-off at the bottom. I got 24th in the first moto. I went down in the first turn and the shoulder was just too weak and I decided to call it quits for today. It’s definitely not what I’d hoped for. I hated pulling out and not fighting to the end, but I think it was our best option.”
We will continue to monitor Baggett’s status for this weekend at Round 8 of the championship from Millville.
Fill-in rider Matt Bisceglia’s status for this weekend is also uncertain after a huge crash while leading the 450 Consolation Race. According to the team, Bisceglia sustained fractured ribs and a partially collapsed lung.
“Matt worked his way to the front and had about a five-second lead,” said Yoshimura Suzuki team manager Mike Webb. “He scrubbed a roller and his foot dragged across the top of the jump and kind of pulled him off the bike. Unfortunately, he went down pretty hard.”
Banner day for the BTOSports.com-WPS-KTM squad. The team had all three members—Justin Brayton, Benny Bloss and Andrew Short—finish inside the top ten overall. It was the first time in 2016 that any member of the team had two top ten moto performances on the same day, as both Bloss (8-6) and Brayton (9-9) achieved the feat. (Andrew Short went 11-11 for tenth overall.) It was the second consecutive week that Bloss has finished top ten overall. The 2015 Horizon Award winner now has three consecutive top ten moto finishes after scoring zero through the first eleven motos.
Looking at the results, one could assume that Broc Tickle regressed substantially from his back-to-back podium performance at Muddy Creek and RedBud. Tickle, in fact, was much better than his 10-8 results indicate. In both motos, he worked from outside the top twenty (after lap 1) to claim a strong eighth overall. In a team statement, Tickle admitted that his starts caused him problems. “My starts were terrible and unfortunately, that set the tone for the motos. I felt really awesome in the second moto once I got a flow going. It was kind of hard to pass out there. It felt like the track funneled into one berm. There were some positives, for sure, so I’m not bummed by the weekend. It was still solid with a 10-8 and eighth overall.”
Fantastic starts have often seen Justin Bogle at the front early in motos. The problem: he hasn’t been able to sustain the pace. Saturday was a step in the right direction for the GEICO Honda rider. For the first time this season Bogle led laps (five), putting in a valiant effort to hold back the titans of the class—Ken Roczen and Eli Tomac. He would hold on for fourth—a season-high. His fourth-straight holeshot (most in the 450 class) of the season in moto two put Bogle in position for the overall, but an aggressive move from Christophe Pourcel early in the moto put Bogle on the ground and nearly dead last (36th of 38th) after the first lap. He charged back to 17th by lap six (of sixteen) but had a big crash and did not finish the race. In a team statement Bogle said he went to the hospital for precautionary measures, but everything checked out ok.
“Second moto, got another holeshot and that amped me up,” he said. “Then I got taken out pretty unnecessarily by some guy. Came from around last to 12th or 13th and then had a big crash. Got up and tried to finish but ended up pulling off and heading to the hospital for awhile but everything checked out good, just banged up. Regardless, I had a blast in the sand!”
As for Pourcel, he went 5-5 on the day for sixth overall. It was the first time this year he’s had two top five moto finishes on the same day. “I finally got two top-five finishes, which has been the goal for a long time,” he said in a statement. “I got great starts and felt really good on the bike. I’m just going to keep pushing and hopefully I’ll get on the box soon."
Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Honda’s Kyle Chisholm started the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship less than 100 percent and with little prep time due to injuries sustained in Monster Energy Supercross. He’s been improving after a slow start, though, and had his best finish of the season at Southwick with 14-16 moto scores for thirteenth overall. After the race he wrote on Instagram that although Saturday was step in the right direction, the injury has been tough to return from. “Still not anywhere near my capabilities or where I want to be but steps in the right direction every day is all I can ask for. This injury has been tough coming back from along with no prep/testing time but just going to keep working to be back to 100%.”
Heath Harrison continues to run the gauntlet of factory riders and come out on top. The privateer, who credits a switch to KTM for his recent success, matched a season-high with a twelfth in the first moto. He finished sixteenth overall after a nineteenth in moto two. Harrison has now scored points in six consecutive motos and sits twenty-second in points despite racing just four rounds.
Southwick is known for serving mixed up results in favor of privateers and local heroes, as the track surface is unique, and also gives a huge advantage to riders in the unseeded B 450 practice, which goes onto the track first each weekend. On a normal weekend, that means there aren’t a ton of lines on the track so even though it’s smoother, it doesn’t help. But at Southwick, it means the track is glass smooth and the privateers can pin it immediately. That resulted in surprises like Tim Tremblay, Robby Marshall and Dakota Tedder taking fourth, fifth and sixth overall, respectively in 450 qualifying, and factory riders like Bisceglia and Tyler Bowers going to the LCQ.
As for the race results, the locals acquitted themselves well, as Connecticut’s Jason Brooks collected nineteenth overall. “Unreal day at the Wick!” he wrote on Instagram. “Surprised myself on the start first moto and ended a solid 15th! Ended up with 19th overall…getting stronger every week and I can’t wait till the next!”
Marshall, of Stowe, Massachusetts, took twenty-first overall, and Ryan Dowd, son of Southwick legend John Dowd, was a solid twenty-fifth. Other names with New England addresses in the results include Austin Phelps, Travis Marsh, Shane Kelleher, Shawn McDonald, Justin Rando, Alex Higley, Richie Tolman-Moschett, and Bobby Tiso. The locals are pumped to have their race back!
Lap Times
450 Class Moto 1
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 1 | 2:05.750 | 4 | 2:09.951 | Eli Tomac |
| 2 | 2 | 2:07.078 | 4 | 2:11.710 | Ken Roczen |
| 3 | 4 | 2:08.205 | 2 | 2:12.503 | Justin Bogle |
| 4 | 8 | 2:09.723 | 2 | 2:13.551 | Benny Bloss |
| 5 | 3 | 2:09.868 | 6 | 2:11.955 | Marvin Musquin |
| 6 | 5 | 2:09.963 | 4 | 2:12.436 | Christophe Pourcel |
| 7 | 6 | 2:10.071 | 12 | 2:11.953 | Justin Barcia |
| 8 | 39 | 2:11.199 | 2 | 2:12.064 | Phil Nicoletti |
| 9 | 7 | 2:11.519 | 2 | 2:13.331 | Weston Peick |
| 10 | 12 | 2:12.428 | 4 | 2:15.688 | Heath Harrison |
This one was a dominant performance for Eli Tomac; you'll see Ken Roczen was much closer on speed in moto two. Also note Heath Harrison with top-ten speed, and Benny Bloss as fourth-quickest!
450 Class Moto 2
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 1 | 2:07.221 | 2 | 2:10.359 | Eli Tomac |
| 2 | 2 | 2:07.579 | 2 | 2:10.674 | Ken Roczen |
| 3 | 3 | 2:12.355 | 2 | 2:14.873 | Justin Barcia |
| 4 | 6 | 2:12.538 | 2 | 2:15.553 | Benny Bloss |
| 5 | 10 | 2:12.459 | 2 | 2:17.917 | Phil Nicoletti |
| 6 | 4 | 2:12.540 | 2 | 2:15.188 | Weston Peick |
| 7 | 5 | 2:12.979 | 5 | 2:15.975 | Christophe Pourcel |
| 8 | 8 | 2:13.564 | 9 | 2:16.258 | Broc Tickle |
| 9 | 7 | 2:13.958 | 3 | 2:16.896 | Marvin Musquin |
| 10 | 9 | 2:13.981 | 2 | 2:17.219 | Justin Brayton |
Much tighter between Tomac and Roczen here. Look at Bloss doing it again!
250 Class Moto 1
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 2 | 2:11.515 | 15 | 2:15.609 | Cooper Webb |
| 2 | 13 | 2:11.609 | 2 | 2:20.097 | Shane McElrath |
| 3 | 4 | 2:11.892 | 3 | 2:15.698 | Aaron Plessinger |
| 4 | 1 | 2:12.019 | 2 | 2:13.954 | Jeremy Martin |
| 5 | 3 | 2:12.411 | 5 | 2:15.400 | Arnaud Tonus |
| 6 | 6 | 2:13.429 | 2 | 2:16.618 | Mitchell Oldenburg |
| 7 | 5 | 2:13.556 | 4 | 2:16.282 | Austin Forkner |
| 8 | 9 | 2:13.752 | 3 | 2:16.986 | Adam Cianciarulo |
| 9 | 7 | 2:14.033 | 5 | 2:16.222 | Alex Martin |
| 10 | 8 | 2:14.433 | 4 | 2:16.722 | Zach Osborne |
Cooper Webb keeps doing it! For the third week in a row it's not his overall speed that stands out as much as when he's unleashing it—lap 15 on a gnarly sand track!
250 Class Moto 2
| Lap Rank | Finish | Best Lap | In Lap | Avg Lap Time | Rider |
| 1 | 2 | 2:13.997 | 3 | 2:17.752 | Austin Forkner |
| 2 | 1 | 2:14.390 | 3 | 2:16.526 | Cooper Webb |
| 3 | 4 | 2:14.898 | 4 | 2:18.157 | Jeremy Martin |
| 4 | 21 | 2:15.121 | 4 | 2:17.917 | Shane McElrath |
| 5 | 11 | 2:15.122 | 3 | 2:19.866 | Joey Savatgy |
| 6 | 8 | 2:15.565 | 4 | 2:17.709 | Arnaud Tonus |
| 7 | 7 | 2:15.631 | 7 | 2:18.955 | Zach Osborne |
| 8 | 6 | 2:15.664 | 8 | 2:18.475 | Martin Davalos |
| 9 | 5 | 2:15.823 | 8 | 2:17.891 | Aaron Plessinger |
| 10 | 3 | 2:16.094 | 3 | 2:17.917 | Alex Martin |
Austin Forkner has proven to be a bad dude. The odd thing is Jeremy Martin's time was actually closer to the top of the charts here than it was when he won in moto one.
More news and notes
“I don’t think any points lead is safe, especially with the class that we have and the amount of people that are there.” At the time of that quote, Joey Savatgy held a twenty-point lead over Cooper Webb, was coming off his third overall of the season at High Point, and was showing no signs of loosening his grip on the top spot. Things have changed since then—and in a hurry. A crash in the second moto at RedBud, which cost him a ton of points, seemed to have taken the wind out of Savatgy’s sails this past weekend. He looked good in qualifying (second overall behind teammate Austin Forkner), but couldn’t make any progress after a bad start in the first moto—he rounded the first lap in eleventh and finished tenth. It was going much better in moto two as Savatgy held down fifth with just a few laps to go. A crash would take him out of contention and the top ten. After a ninth overall finish, Savatgy trails Webb by thirty-seven entering Millville this weekend.
“The day started off well after qualifying second,” he said in a statement. “Ran up front in the second moto for a bit and made a few strong passes and felt I had the pace to win before going down. I was able to salvage points today and am still in the championship hunt. It’s a long series and anything can happen.”
Alex Martin dug out third in the second moto after a torrid battle with Shane McElrath that went down to the last lap, and admitted in his post-race TV interview that he was happy to just score points after a big practice crash on Thursday. “I was actually really nervous coming into today and didn’t know how it would go,” said Martin, who took fourth overall.
Zach Osborne lost more ground to Alex Martin for fourth in points after a day he called a “disappointment”. Osborne’s starts were better than last week, which he referred to as “terrible”, but he wasn’t able to progress through the pack and finished 8-7 for seventh overall.
“Today was kind of a disappointment,” he said in a team statement. “I had a little issue in the first practice and messed up my gate pick for the first moto. I still got a decent start, but I didn’t ride that great. I got off to a better start in the second moto but had a run in with another rider about halfway through the moto. That dropped me down pretty far, but I still came back to seventh. It was a tough day but I’ll regroup for next week."
Luke Renzland grew up in nearby New Jersey, and rode Southwick a lot as an amateur. He used the home knowledge to lock down his first career top ten overall. Renzland is now working with Gary Bailey and credits him for his results improving this year. “Spun a lot of laps around that track growing up, and even though all the laps I did were going the opposite direction, it still had the same legendary feeling riding around that track,” he wrote on Instagram. “Got pretty terrible starts but clawed through the pack both Motos and felt strong. I Finally felt comfortable during the motos which is something I've struggled with since I turned pro, and I feel like some more good rides like that will make it all click for me.”
Martin Davalos has been a pleasant surprise for the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. Davalos finished sixth in the second 250 moto at Southwick en route to tenth overall. “I didn’t grow up riding in the sand so it was definitely challenging,” he said in a statement. “I think living in Florida has opened my mind a bit to how to ride in the sand. The track was really gnarly, especially in the second moto. It’s a weird kind of sand, and if you try and hug the insides you don’t get any traction. I ran into someone in the first moto and bent up my bike. I was able to come back to 16th. I almost got the holeshot in the second moto and was able to finish sixth. I’m definitely moving in the right direction. The goal is to put in two solid motos. I just need to minimize the mistakes."
