This year will be no different, as the Southwick faithful will be hanging over the fences cheering on locals, like Robby Marshall, who is racing a two-stroke in the 450 Class, and Ryan Dowd, son of John.

In one of the most dominating seasons we’ve seen in recent memory, Ken Roczen lost just four motos last year en route to the 450MX championship. Two of those came at Southwick, where Eli Tomac was flawless, leading 19 laps on the day en route to his only 1-1 performance a year ago. Heading into today, Tomac is once again the favorite, and due to Blake Baggett’s second moto at RedBud, holds a 13-point advantage in the standings—his first lead since Glen Helen.

Speaking of Baggett, after the race we heard that he suffered a sprained thumb in the first lap collision with Jason Anderson last weekend. Aaron Hansel texted his mechanic Nate Alexander earlier this week, and Nate said that Baggett was alright, that “he’s a hardass,” and that pain doesn’t really affect him. Baggett rode press day on Thursday, and those that were in attendance said he looked great. We’ll see today, as press day and two 30-minute plus two motos are entirely different things.

In other injury news, Trey Canard’s first season with Red Bull KTM continues to be thwarted by injuries. After making his Lucas Oil Pro Motocross debut at Muddy Creek, and racing RedBud, Canard crashed practicing this week and while the team says he didn’t sustain any bodily injuries, the impact was enough to sideline him for the weekend. Yesterday, RCH/Yoshimura Suzuki announced that Broc Tickle will miss the rest of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross after an MRI reveled his shoulder injury sustained in practice at RedBud was much worse than expected. The injury won't require surgery, but Tickle is expected to miss six-to-eight weeks.

There doesn’t appear to be much that is going to slow Zach Osborne down this year, as the 250SX East Region Champion brings a 38-point lead in the 250 Class with him into Southwick. The Martin brothers, Alex and Jeremy, tossed away chances at an overall last weekend, and an opportunity to make up some points on Osborne. With his past GP experience, Osborne could extend his points lead by even more after today.

Qualifying starts shortly, make sure to check back throughout the day.

First Practice Session

Newsflash: Eli Tomac is fast at Southwick. Like, really, really fast. The 450 points leader set the tone early at The Wick 338, setting the quickest time in the first qualifying session—by more than two seconds! Tomac set a 2:04.471 to capture the top time.

Blake Baggett, who reportedly sustained a sprained thumb in a second moto incident with Jason Anderson in the second moto at RedBud, was second quickest with a 2:06.636. Cooper Webb was third fastest, nearly a full second off Baggett and three full seconds off Tomac. Marvin Musquin, Christian Craig, Justin Barcia, Josh Grant, Cole Seely, Dakota Alix, and Martin Davalos rounded out the top 10.

Ryan Dowd, son of the legendary John Dowd, took advantage of a nice track in the first 450 B session (the first practice of the day) to set a 2:08.910, which was the seventh fastest time overall.

The 450 field, already without Broc Tickle and Trey Canard this weekend, was dealt another blow today. According to Racer X’s Steve Matthes Jason Anderson crashed on Thursday and while he reportedly checked out, he is sore. In the first session, he ran just two laps and was last in qualifying (43rd). After practice, Anderson announced on Twitter that he has decided to sit the race out today. Anderson told Racer X's Jason Weigandt that he tried a scrub and it went too far and he high-sided and hurt his back "really bad."

We mentioned a few times this week to keep an eye out for Dylan Ferrandis at Southwick. The ex-GP championship contender is great in the sand, and it showed in the first 250 qualifying session. The Frenchmen set the fastest time, just edging out points leader Zach Osborne. Ferrandis’ 2:10.613 was a few tenths of a second faster than Osborne’s 2:10.847. They were the only two riders in the 2:10s.

Colt Nichols’ 2:11.359 was third fastest ahead Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammates Adam Cianciarulo and Joey Savaty. Aaron Plessinger, Shane McElrath, Austin Forkner, Jeremy Martin, and RJ Hampshire rounded out the top 10.

Second Practice Session

According to NBC Sports’ Georgia Albertson, due to the Fourth of July holiday and an early arrival to Southwick for press day, Blake Baggett was unable to get an MRI on his thumb injury from last week. The results likely wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as Baggett was going to race this weekend no matter what.

As is typical of Southwick, the first practice times will hold up, as the track is getting rougher and rougher. Still, Eli Tomac was the quickest again in the second session, by more than a second over second place Marvin Musquin.

Of the top 10 in overall qualifying, only Marvin Musquin and Justin Bogle set their fastest time in the second session.

450 qualifying times are below:

Unlike the 450 Class, the second 250 session proved to be quickest at Southwick. Of the top 10 in qualifying, seven riders set their fastest time in the second session.

Dylan Ferrandis, who was fastest in the first session, held the top spot again in practice two before Zach Osborne swooped in to take the top time. It didn’t last long, as Adam Cianciarulo quickly jumped to the top, with Ferrandis jumping past Osborne as well, pushing the points leader down to third.

RJ Hampshire, who has dealt with mechanicals in three of the last four motos, was fourth fastest ahead of Aaron Plessinger. Colt Nichols, Jeremy Martin, Joey Savatgy, Austin Forkner, and Shane McElrath rounded out the top 10.

450 Moto One

Remember what we said about Eli Tomac going really, really, ridiculously, fast at Southwick? Yeah, that carried over into the first 450 moto where he dominated. His fastest time in the first moto was nearly three full seconds faster than second place Blake Baggett.

The moto started with some carnage, as Baggett and his Rocky Mountain ATV/MC-WPS-KTM teammate Dakota Alix battled for the holeshot. Baggett came flying around the corner right when Alix appeared to tuck the front a little and the two collided, with Alix ending up on the ground. Shortly after another pileup was started that collected Marvin Musquin, Justin Bogle, Christian Craig, and Henry Miller, among others.

With Weston Peick and privateer Isaac Teasdale between he and Tomac, Baggett was hoping to get some breathing room. It didn’t happened. Tomac was quickly around Teasdale and Peick, and was quickly going after Baggett, railing the outside of the turns, carrying a ton of momentum. On the second lap, Tomac moved into the lead and never looked back. Check out a look at how quickly his lead increased:

Lap 3: Tomac up 1.8

Lap 4: Tomac up 4.8

Lap 5: Tomac up 6.1

Lap 7: Tomac up 7.7

Lap 8: Tomac up 9.1

Lap 10: Tomac up 11.7

Lap 13: Tomac 14.7

End of race: Tomac up 15.9

With Tomac taking off, and Baggett having established a comfortable lead on third place Cooper Webb, the action shifted toward Musquin’s charge through the field. By the midway point, Musquin had already worked into the top 10 and was approaching the back on the Cole Seely-Weston Peick battle for fourth, when he was gifted a spot after Peick suffered a mechanical. He also moved around Seely shortly after and began to close on Justin Barcia for fourth. The battle came down to the final lap with Barcia holding off Musquin’s charge until he suffered a bike problem (or ran out of gas. We're not sure yet) as well. Musquin finished fourth ahead of Seely.

According to NBC Sports’ Georgia Lindsey, privateer Fredrik Noren blew his motor in practice. A fellow privateer let Noren borrow a motor for the day and the Swedish rider went out and finished eighth in the first moto.

To recap: Tomac won by an impressive 15.9 seconds over Baggett. Webb captured his first career 450 moto podium in third, followed by Musquin, Seely, Dean Wilson, Martin Davalos, Noren, Justin Bogle, and Christian Craig. Barcia was credited with 12th.

250 Moto One

So many storylines emerged from the first 250 moto. The day started off terribly for Pro Circuit teammates Austin Forkner and Adam Cianciarulo. Forkner was down off the start and later had to stop in the pits due to a reported rear brake problem. He eventually pulled out of the moto and finished 37th. Cianciarulo, who qualified fastest earlier in the day, crashed twice on the opening lap and finished 15th.

The battle up front shifted directions some many times it was hard to keep track. Alex Martin led early with Aaron Plessinger, RJ Hampshire, Joey Savatgy and Dylan Ferrandis rounding out the top five. Hampshire was the early surprise of the moto, as he quickly worked around Plessinger and then Alex Martin to take the lead. His time up front was brief, though, as he lost the front end and was shifted back to fourth. This gave Alex Martin the lead again, but he had company in Plessinger and Ferrandis.

Plessinger was making a few small mistakes, but was able to stay in front of Ferrandis. On lap five, Plessinger made a big mistake and crashed shoulder first. He was attended to by the Alpinestars Medical Unit trackside and was unable to continue the moto.

Shortly after, Ferrandis mounted his own charge toward the lead. On lap seven, he found his way around Alex Martin. On the same lap, Zach Osborne, after a slow start, had moved into third around Hampshire. He’d make more noise up front later.

Up front, Ferrandis lost the front end and the lead back to Alex Martin. He was able to keep the bike running and two laps later was back in the lead. Meanwhile, Osborne was making a huge charge late and passed Alex Martin for second on lap 10 of 16. He began to mount a charge for the lead, but Ferrandis was able to respond and eventually stretched his lead to 7.9 seconds, capturing his second career 250MX moto win.

Jeremy Martin, who also got off to a slow start, challenged his brother at the end of the moto for third, but fell short and finished fourth. Hampshire finished fifth ahead of Mitchell Harrison, Savatgy, Colt Nichols, Chase Sexton and Luke Renzland.

450 Moto Two

It was slightly tougher this time around, but the end result was the same: Eli Tomac in a runaway.

Once again it was a pair of KTMs up front early, with Marvin Musquin and Blake Baggett slugging it out. Martin Davalos, Dakota Alix, and Justin Barcia followed. Eli Tomac was around 10th.

Tomac quickly began to slice his way through the pack, using any line that was available. He swiftly changed from inside to outside, and was soon on the back of Barcia for third. Barcia, who reportedly ran out of gas at the end of the first moto, was trying to hold off Tomac when he began to lose the rear and eventually fell off the side of the bike. He eventually finished the moto in 12th.

Up front, Tomac had made his way around Baggett rather easily, but Musquin impeded his charge to the front. The former points leader did well to hold Tomac at bay for a few laps, until lap six when Tomac was just too much. Shortly after losing the lead, Musquin got cross-rutted up the face of a jump and was launched off the track. He did get back on the bike but pulled into the mechanics area and did not finish the moto.

From there, Tomac ran away with another moto win, going unchallenged en route to a 21.2 second win. Baggett finished second and went 2-2 on the day.

Cooper Webb held third for much of the moto and was inline for the overall podium, but he went down late and finished sixth. This allowed Dean Wilson to take third and claim his first moto and overall podium in 450MX. Martin Davalos was a strong fourth, followed by Cole Seely, Webb, Christian Craig, Weston Peick, Henry Miller (the top privateer in the moto), and Fredrik Noren, who was in 32nd place after lap one.

Other Notes:
- Justin Bogle was down in the first turn. He came back to finish 13th.
- Josh Grant did not start the moto after reportedly twisting his knee in moto one.

250 Moto Two

Under a torrential downpour for much of the moto, Zach Osborne captured the second moto victory, and the overall, to extend his points lead at Southwick.

Osborne snagged the holeshot in the second moto but was under heavy pressure early from Dylan Ferrandis. The first moto winner made an early charge at Osborne, but wasn’t able to make anything stick. As the heavy began to increase, Ferrandis started to loss grip on the lead. He was still in contention until a late moto tip-over allowed Osborne to stretch his lead to 10 seconds. He went on to win the moto by 8.6 seconds.

The rain played a huge factor late in the moto, as Alex Martin had to ditch his goggles, which allowed RJ Hampshire to close in on the final podium spot. But Hampshire was dealing with his own vision issues, wiping his goggles every chance he had. This allowed Joey Savatgy to close in with two laps remaining, but Hampshire dug deep and held on for fourth. Savatgy took fifth over Jeremy Martin, Mitchell Harrison, Chase Sexton, Adam Cianciarulo, and Colt Nichols, who came from way back after falling off the start.

Other Notes:
- Austin Forkner, Justin Hill, and Aaron Plessinger did not start the moto. While try and get an update on all three later.
- Luke Renzland came from dead last (37th) to finish 14th in the moto.