Shane McElrath has been on fire as of late. He captured his first career overall win at Muddy Creek and followed it up with a third at Southwick. He was fastest in the first 250 session with a 2:05.135. Chase Sexton was second, but nearly a second off the pace. He put down a 2:06.012. 

Austin Forkner, Joey Savatgy, and Michael Mosiman rounded out the top five.

Second Qualifying Sessions

Marvin Musquin was fastest in the second 450 qualifying session, but his 2:04.731 was more than two seconds off Blake Baggett’s time for the first qualifying session. Baggett’s 2:02.411 from the first session will hold us as the fastest time. 

Justin Barcia and Eli Tomac were also in the 2:04s in the second session. They were second and third fastest respectively. Baggett was fourth fastest followed by Ken Roczen.

In regard to combined qualifying, Baggett was fastest, followed by Tomac, Musquin, Barcia, and Benny Bloss. 

As with 450s, the first qualifying sessions will hold up as fastest in the 250 Class. Justin Cooper was quickest in the second timed session, but his 2:06.035 was just under a second slower than Shane McElrath’s 2:05.135.

Joey Savatgy was also in the 2:06s and was second fastest in qualifying two. Alex Martin, Austin Forkner and Dylan Ferrandis rounded out the top five. 

McElrath is your fastest qualifier today over Chase Sexton, Cooper, Forkner, and Savatgy. Points leader Aaron Plessinger was just 11th fastest overall.

450 Moto One

Before the first lap ended in the first 450 moto, contenders Marvin Musquin, Justin Barcia, and Blake Baggett had already tasted the RedBud soil and points leader Eli Tomac took full advantage to cruise to the moto win, his tenth on the year.

Yeah, scratch all that. Eli Tomac had the first moto win on lock. Until he didn’t. With a more than ten second lead with three laps to go when he suffered a mechanical and was unable to finish the moto. His rear wheel locked up and Tomac had to drag his bike off the track.

WOW! 

And in a race where Marvin Musquin was down in the first turn and looking at a huge deficit in points, he picked up 22 and is now just ten points back of Tomac in the championship.

The track is already super rough and challenged the 450 field in the first moto of the day. Marvin Musquin was in position for a good start but tucked the front and went down. In a separate incident, Justin Barcia also went down off the start.

Fastest qualifier Blake Baggett grabbed the holeshot over privateer Lorenzo Locurcio and Phil Nicoletti. Tomac wasted little time on the opening lap and quickly jumped into second. Before a battle for the lead ever developed, Baggett knifed the front going into a corner and crashed. He would have to stop in the mechanics’ area later, but was able to come all the way back to fifth.

After Baggett went down, Tomac was on cruise control until his mechanical late in the moto. Roczen inherited the lead when Tomac went down and cruised to his first moto win since Ironman in 2016.  

What a race by Musquin. After going down on the start he was basically dead last. By lap 3 he had already charged back to 12th and three laps later was in fifth. He eventually worked around Benny Bloss to take third and inherited second when Tomac went out.

Great ride by Barcia as well, as he basically followed Musquin through the pack early. He finished fourth behind Bloss, who rode to his first career moto podium.

Baggett took fifth ahead of Nicoletti and Cooper Webb. Weston Peick, Jake Nicholls and Justin Hill rounded out the top ten.

250 Moto One

When it rains it pours. And no team knows that better than Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki, who appear to have a black cloud hanging over their tent this year. Just when something appears to be going in the right direction, it turns—sharply. Today was no different.

Austin Forkner took the first 250 holeshot of the day over Shane McElrath, Alex Martin, Aaron Plessinger, and Joey Savatgy. McElrath quickly jumped into the lead, but the rider making the most waves early was points leader Aaron Plessinger. By the end of the opening lap he made moved into third—even second briefly—and used LaRocco’s Leap to his advantage to jump into the lead by lap two. On the following lap, Forkner moved into second and began to chase down Plessinger.

By lap eight, Plessinger’s lead had dwindled to just 2.2 and the following lap Forkner took over the lead for the first time. It lasted about two corners. After the rollers, Forkner went wide and Plessinger took the inside and hit Forkner’s front wheel. Forkner went down hard and was slow to get up and was favoring his knee when he did remount. He later went to the mechanics’ area and pulled out of the moto.

“I took an inside line and I guess he didn’t let off,” Plessinger said to MAVTV.

With Forkner out, Plessinger had a huge gap on Joey Savatgy. Savatgy was a clear favorite for second, but late in the race went down hard in the rollers. He finished the moto 17th.

RJ Hampshire inherited second and finished 10.2 second behind Plessinger.

What a moto from Dylan Ferrandis. He was buried around 15th early but charged the entire moto and passed Alex Martin late in the race to grab the final podium spot. Martin finished fourth ahead of McElrath.

In his first race back since High Point, Garrett Marchbanks had a good run, but went down late and finished sixth. Colt Nichols, Justin Cooper, Michael Mosiman, and Jordon Smith rounded out the top ten.

450 Moto Two

Wow. Just wow. Who would have thought we’d be leaving RedBud with a new points leader in the 450 Class? Yet, here we are. With a win in the second moto and a terrible moto from Eli Tomac, Marvin Musquin now holds a three-point lead in the championship. 

Due to a mechanical in the first moto and subsequent 36th place finish, Tomac had a terrible gate pick for the second moto. He got off to a bad start but had worked to sixth early in the moto. Then the wheels came off. He crashed, had to pull into the mechanics’ area for a quick repair, and had to work to get back inside the top ten. Then he made another mistake and dropped back to 11th. He would only salvage ninth, and with Musquin’s win, he’s lost control of the points for the first time in 2018.

Justin Bogle grabbed the holeshot in the second moto but lost the lead on the opening lap to Musquin. Then he lost second to Ken Roczen. Then he had a small crash and dropped way back. He finished the moto 18th.

Roczen challenged Musquin early in the race and even briefly took the lead, but Musquin slowly stretched it out from there. Roczen ran second the entire moto until a huge late charge from Justin Barcia. On the final lap, Barcia got Roczen for second. He finished 3.9 seconds behind Musquin. 

Impressive ride from Justin Hill in the second moto, who finished fourth. Blake Baggett, Phil Nicoletti, Cooper Webb, Kyle Cunningham, Tomac, and Henry Miller rounded out the top ten.

After a podium in the first moto, Benny Bloss crashed while running inside the top ten and finished 23rd.

250 Moto Two

This one was drama free for points leader Aaron Plessinger. He went relatively unchallenged to take his second moto win on the day and the overall. He also extended his points lead over Alex Martin. 

Michigan native Mitchell Harrison grabbed the holeshot over Plessinger, Joey Savatgy, Alex Martin, and more. A huge first turn pileup claimed the likes of Shane McElrath, RJ Hampshire, Colt Nichols, Jordon Smith, Garrett Marchbanks, and more. 

Plessinger was on the move early and grabbed the lead. As he slowly stretched it out, Austin Forkner was working through the pack and caught Alex Martin and Joey Savatgy. The trio battled for a few laps before Martin moved into second on lap six. Savatgy would also lose third to Forkner on that lap. The next lap Forkner made his move to take over second from Martin. By that point Plessinger had built a six second lead and was never challenged down the stretch.

Forkner took second over Martin. Another late charge from Dylan Ferrandis. He was stuck around 12th early and made a late push to get Savatgy for fourth. Chase Sexton, Justin Cooper, Mitchell Harrison, Shane McElrath, and Jordan Bailey rounded out the top ten.