The big news from the Musquin camp came last week prior to High Point. On Thursday before the race, Musquin tore the meniscus in his left knee and struggled to 16-6 finishes that afternoon. Jason Weigandt spoke to Musquin on press day Thursday and he said the knee is feeling much better this week and he even rode in Florida and it felt good. Press day was cancelled due to rain on Thursday, but Musquin did get to test his knee on Friday for the rescheduled press day session. We’ll have to wait and see how Musquin holds up under two 30 minute plus motos.

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If Musquin is unable to get back to 100 percent, Baggett and Tomac may run away with this title. In the eight motos run this year, the two have combined for five moto wins (Tomac 3; Baggett 2) and were a step above the rest at High Point last weekend. Tomac was able to rebound last Saturday, picking up his first moto win since Hangtown in the second moto (he crashed in moto one and finished 12th) and trails Baggett by 11 entering the weekend.

In the 250 Class, 10 riders enter every moto with a legit chance of winning. But, whether through crashes or bike problems, the points chase has become a two-way race, as Jeremy Martin (18 back) is the only rider within 20 points of leader Zach Osborne. After dealing with a virus at Thunder Valley, Osborne was back to 100 percent last weekend and it showed. He followed a commanding win in the first moto with a come-from-behind second in moto two to split the overall in points with Jeremy Martin (Martin won the tie-breaker). Martin, the two-time 250MX champion, has been hot since a DNF in the opening moto of the year. He’s only finished outside the top three once (seventh in Glen Helen second moto) and captured his first overall last weekend since leaving Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha for GEICO. Muddy Creek is Osborne’s “home” race, as the Virginia native raced here throughout his amateur career, so Martin will have a challenge on his hands today.

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In injury news, Red Bull KTM’s Trey Canard is back a week earlier than anticipated. Canard’s first season with the team has been riddled with injuries, as he competed in just six rounds of Monster Energy Supercross and missed the first four rounds of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. Canard rode the rescheduled press day on Friday, and will make his debut today. We’ve been told that AutoTrader.com/JGR Suzuki’s Justin Barcia, who missed High Point after hitting his head in practice, will attempt to ride practice and see how he feels. For a full rundown on the injury front, check out our Injury Report.

All the motos are live today either on TV or the NBC Sports Gold app. First motos can be seen on MAVTV beginning at 1:00 p.m. EST with second motos switching over to NBC Sports Network at 3:00 p.m. EST. Practice is almost underway, check back later for a full report.  

First Qualifying Sessions

Less than one second is all that separated the top ten in the 250 Class in the first qualifying session of the day. Further, the top 15 were all in the 1:53 range with Jeremy Martin taking the top spot with a 1:52.311.

There was a lot of shuffling early in the session with Shane McElrath, Austin Forkner and Alex Martin all holding the top spot at points. In the end it was Martin snipping Adam Cianciarulo (1:52.330). Alex Martin was third, followed by Forkner, McElrath, Zach Osborne, Justin Hill, RJ Hampshire, Joey Savatgy and Mitchell Harrison.

The surprise of the first session: Aaron Plessinger (13th) and Dylan Ferrandis (16th) falling outside the top ten.

Justin Barcia was a question mark entering the weekend after hitting his head in qualifying at High Point and sitting out the motos. Yet, in the first session Barcia jumped to the top early with a 1:51.679. His time looked like it would stand up until Jason Anderson put in a heater late in the moto to just clip Barcia with a 1:51.030. Eli Tomac took third with a 1:52.381.

In his first Lucas Oil Pro Motocross race of the year, Trey Canard was fourth fastest with a 1:52.613. Dean Wilson finished fifth ahead of points leader Blake Baggett. Josh Grant, Broc Tickle, Justin Bogle and Cooper Webb rounded out the top ten.

Second Qualifying Sessions

Due to rain in between qualifying sessions, the top qualifying time in the second 250 session was just over four seconds slower. Joey Savatgy took over the top spot late, but his 1:56.505 would have ranked 19th in the first session. Alex Martin took second, followed by Zach Osborne, Dylan Ferrandis, and Shane McElrath.

With the first session times holding up, Jeremy Martin takes pole over Adam Cianciarulo, Alex Martin, Austin Forkner, and Shane McElrath. The rain is expected to clear by the start of the first motos, but it will be interesting to see just how much damage its already done.

As we saw in 250s, the 450 times in session two were slower—about two seconds in this case. The times shuffled around with Blake Baggett, Broc Tickle, Jason Anderson, Eli Tomac, and Trey Canard hovering inside the top five. Baggett looked to have the top time wrapped up until Tomac put in a 1:53.217 at the end to snag the top spot. Baggett took second over Tickle, Anderson, and Canard.

It won’t matter in the grand scheme of things, though, as Anderson’s first session time of 1:51.030 will stand as the top qualifying time. Justin Barcia was second overall, followed by Tomac, Canard, and Dean Wilson. Points leader Baggett qualified sixth overall.

Motos start at 1:00 p.m. EST on MAVTV and NBC Sports Gold app.

Injury Update

Monster Energy Kawasaki's Josh Grant is reportedly out of the motos today at Muddy Creek after hurting his shoulder in qualifying. We'll have more details as they are provided.

250 Moto One

We didn’t even make it past the first turn before we got a huge shakeup in the championship points. While Aaron Plessinger was lumbering toward the holeshot, Jeremy Martin, Joey Savatgy and Dylan Ferrandis were all down in a first turn pileup. It opened the door for points leader Zach Osborne to make up even more ground in the championship, as he was around seventh entering the second turn.

Adam Cianciarulo slotted into second, with his teammate Austin Forkner, and GEICO Honda’s RJ Hampshire following behind. Later in the race, Hampshire would pull out of the moto while running seventh due to a bike problem.

Up front, Cianciarulo kept Plessinger within striking distance for much of the first half of the moto, staying within three seconds of the leader. But as the laps wound down, Plessinger began to find his groove and opened a comfortable gap. He would go on to win the moto by 4.9 seconds.

Meanwhile, Ferrandis and Jeremy Martin were experiencing their own problems coming through the pack. Ferrandis went down with Justin Hill coming into the first turn. A lap later, Jeremy Martin slid out while chasing Kyle Cunningham and Savatgy. While he would only lose one spot to his teammate Chase Sexton but it seemed to stymie his charge through the pack. He finished the moto in thirteenth.

With three laps remaining, Alex Martin, who had to fight off a hard charge from Osborne, closed on Forkner for third. He cut Forkner’s gap down to one second with two laps remaining. Forkner upped the pace, and the two distanced themselves from Osborne. Martin tried to find a line on the tight track and even closed to the rear wheel of Forkner on the final lap, but couldn’t make anything stick.

Plessinger took the first moto over Cianciarulo, Forkner, Alex Martin, Osborne, McElrath, Cantrell, Nichols, Ferrandis, and Harrison. Savatgy rebounded to finish eleventh.

450 Moto One

A week after missing the High Point National, Justin Barcia was up front at the beginning of the first 450 moto, grabbing the holeshot over Jason Anderson, Justin Bogle and Weston Peick.

Anderson quickly pounced on the lead, taking it briefly, before Barcia fought back, and then taking it for good a few corners later. Meanwhile, Eli Tomac and Blake Baggett were at the tail end of the top ten.

On this day, there was no catching Anderson. He shot out to a quick six second lead by lap four and was never challenged en route to the first moto win.

The real action was coming from the Suzuki wall of Barcia, Bogle and Peick as first Tomac had to crack it, then Baggett. After a very aggressive, clean pass on Peick, Tomac went after Bogle and finally got him at the 18-minute mark. By the time he moved into second, Anderson had stretched his lead to 15 seconds and Tomac never made a charge.

Baggett had his own problems with the Suzuki trio. After nearly going down on the back portion of the track, he finally made his way around Bogle. On lap 11, he finally got around Peick and Barcia as well, but wasn’t within striking distance of either Tomac or Anderson.

Anderson cruised to the first moto win over Tomac. Baggett took third. Peick got Barcia lap to finish fourth. Tickle, Musquin, Wilson, Webb and Canard rounded out the top ten.

250 Moto Two

Another moto, another shakeup in 250 points. In a carbon copy to moto one, it was Aaron Plessinger taking the holeshot in the second 250 moto. This time he had points leader Zach Osborne all over him.

Plessinger and Osborne set the pace early and distanced themselves from Austin Forkner, Alex Martin and Adam Cianciarulo. Plessinger was riding well, keeping Osborne at a comfortable distance. Just when it seemed like the battle would run the distance, Plessinger made a crucial mistake that allowed Osborne an easy route into the lead. Osborne then opened around a five second gap and maintained that pace throughout the rest of the 30 minute plus two laps. Plessinger finished a comfortable second.

Another tough moto for Jeremy Martin. Entering the round second in points, Martin couldn’t make a charge in the second moto and finished sixth. Coupled with a crash in the first moto, Martin lost a ton of points on this day.

For a second straight moto Alex Martin hounded Austin Forkner throughout, but could never made anything stick. He tried once again late in the moto, but the second year pro was up for the challenge. Adam Cianciarulo took fifth.

Joey Savatgy, Colt Nichols, Chase Sexton and Mitchell Harrison rounded out the top 10.

450 Moto Two

The first turn had major implications on the championship in both classes.

The first turn COULD have had major implications on the championship in both classes.

It was Justin Bogle grabbing the holeshot over Trey Canard, Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson and Weston Peick. But the major storyline was playing out behind the leaders as Blake Baggett, Cooper Webb and Broc Tickle were all down in the first turn.

Tomac didn’t wait long to charge to the lead. And then it was over. He was flawless en route to a 33.9 second win. Anderson moved into second early but wasn’t able to challenge for the lead.

The other story developing was Baggett’s incredible charge through the field. He quickly made his way into the top twenty, but then he really began to make a charge, putting three to four seconds a lap on those in front of him. By lap 14, he had caught fourth place Justin Bogle and third place Weston Peick. In one swoop, he passed both and finished the moto in third.

Peick and Bogle held off a hard charge from Martin Davalos to finish inside the top five. Dean Wilson, who went down midway through the moto, rebounded to finished seventh. Fredrik Noren, Cooper Webb, and Justin Barcia rounded out the top ten. Canard finished 11th after a great start. Tickle came back to 12th.

Marvin Musquin pulled out of the moto early due to a bike problem. NBC Sports Network’s Georgia Albertson reported that a rock hit his front brake caliper.