For a second straight year, Unadilla was hammered with rain, leading to some unpredictable moments. But at the end of the day, aside from maybe Phil Nicoletti and Mitchell Harrison's podiums, we saw familiar faces on the top steps.

Marvin Musquin charged to a second-moto victory to capture the overall over first-moto winner Eli Tomac (Musquin won the tie-breaker). The title chase didn't change, though, as the two tied in points and Tomac will remain 15 up heading into this weekend.

In the 250 Class, Dylan Ferrandis scored his first 1-1 of the season and second overall after dueling with teammate Aaron Plessinger. As for the title, Plessinger gained more points on Alex Martin and looks to clinch this weekend.

Let’s dive into the lap data to figure out how these races were won and lost and how the final three rounds of the season are shaping up with this week’s Sign of the (Lap) Times. First, our traditional lap time charts. 

450 MOTO 1

LAP RANK	FINISH	BEST LAP	ON LAP	AVG LAP TIME	RIDER
1	1st	2:34.183	2	2:43.168	Eli Tomac
2	2nd	2:36.311	2	2:45.850	Marvin Musquin
3	3rd	2:36.698	1	2:47.595	Phil Nicoletti
4	5th	2:38.589	1	2:50.511	Blake Baggett
5	15th	2:39.542	1	3:00.320	Dylan Merriam
6	4th	2:39.567	2	2:50.679	Benny Bloss
7	32nd	2:39.966	1	2:55.574	Brandon Scharer
8	6th	2:40.223	2	2:50.999	Kailub Russell
9	7th	2:41.449	3	2:55.390	Ken Roczen
10	16th	2:41.457	2	2:50.969	Cooper Webb

450 MOTO 2

LAP RANK	FINISH	BEST LAP	ON LAP	AVG LAP TIME	RIDER
1	1st	2:39.180	3	2:44.319	Marvin Musquin
2	2nd	2:40.545	4	2:46.948	Eli Tomac
3	3rd	2:41.338	4	2:49.159	Justin Barcia
4	7th	2:42.676	10	2:51.422	Ken Roczen
5	4th	2:43.211	8	2:50.040	Cooper Webb
6	5th	2:44.952	2	2:50.836	Phil Nicoletti
7	6th	2:45.180	13	2:50.692	Blake Baggett
8	8th	2:51.334	2	2:57.514	Weston Peick
9	10th	2:52.479	7	2:57.443	Benny Bloss
10	30th	2:52.700	5	3:00.580	Kailub Russell

250 MOTO 1

LAP RANK	FINISH	BEST LAP	ON LAP	AVG LAP TIME	RIDER
1	2nd	2:44.682	3	2:58.000	Aaron Plessinger
2	1st	2:47.958	2	2:55.743	Dylan Ferrandis
3	4th	2:48.535	3	3:00.563	Mitchell Harrison
4	6th	2:49.195	1	2:59.703	Michael Mosiman
5	7th	2:49.976	3	2:59.670	Colt Nichols
6	3rd	2:53.727	5	2:58.553	Shane McElrath
7	5th	2:54.614	3	3:02.637	Chase Sexton
8	8th	2:55.134	3	3:05.692	Joey Savatgy
9	10th	2:56.553	3	3:04.981	Alex Martin
10	9th	2:57.253	4	3:06.164	RJ Hampshire

250 MOTO 2

LAP RANK	FINISH	BEST LAP	ON LAP	AVG LAP TIME	RIDER
1	8th	2:32.979	7	2:38.709	Chase Sexton
2	1st	2:33.796	11	2:38.174	Dylan Ferrandis
3	2nd	2:34.450	12	2:38.215	Aaron Plessinger
4	6th	2:34.604	14	2:40.593	Justin Cooper
5	7th	2:35.061	14	2:41.182	Alex Martin
6	10th	2:35.146	7	2:43.091	Colt Nichols
7	3rd	2:35.594	9	2:39.839	Joey Savatgy
8	9th	2:35.928	9	2:42.876	Austin Forkner
9	14th	2:36.063	5	2:46.614	Shane McElrath
10	4th	2:36.149	9	2:40.650	Mitchell Harrison

You'll want to note the comparison between the times in each moto. 450 moto one was way faster than 450 moto two, but 250 moto one was was slower than 250 moto two. That's how quickly things change in a mud race—the track goes from sloppy and wide open to sticky and technical, then to somewhat dry (on the main race line) in just four hours. This is so interesting that we will expand on it below.

First and Last

Rain and mud can introduce a variety of variables into racing. For example, pretty much the entire field stopped for goggles in the first moto. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. What is this, NASCAR?

The track was a sloppy mess in the first moto, so we wanted to see how it affected lap times—mainly, the first lap and the last lap. Of course, this is not an exact science. Riders could have crashed on the first lap or last lap, they could have been cruising the final lap, etc, etc. But, it is still interesting to see the difference between first lap and the last lap.

Justin Barcia, who went down on the first lap and had to charge through the field during the first timed lap, was the only rider under a ten-second difference. He was just 1.4 seconds off his first and final lap.

[Note: We used the top ten finishing order from each moto.]

450 Moto 1

Rider	First Lap	Last Lap	Diff
Eli Tomac	2:40.2	2:54.4	14.2
Marvin Musquin	2:36.5	2:58.9	22.4
Phil Nicoletti	2:36.6	2:59.9	23.3
Benny Bloss	2:39.9	3:05.6	25.7
Blake Baggett	2:38.5	2:56.8	18.3
Kailub Russell	2:40.2	3:05.4	25.2
Ken Roczen	2:41.4	3:12.5	31.1
Justin Barcia	2:59.4	3:00.688	1.4
Weston Peick	2:47.1	3:17.5	30.4
Toshiki Tomita	2:51.1	3:15.3	21.2

The track changed a ton between the first and second motos. It was very one-lined and sticky in moto two, so it's easy to see the differences between first and last laps. In moto two, six of the top ten had faster last laps than first laps. Again, a lot of variables are in play, but it does show you how much a track can change in just a few hours.

450 Moto 2

Rider	First Lap	Last Lap	Diff
Marvin Musquin	2:49.2	2:48.4	-.8
Eli Tomac	2:49.1	2:52.3	3.2
Justin Barcia	3:01.4	2:54.4	-7
Cooper Webb	2:51.3	2:51.0	-.3
Phil Nicoletti	2:45.1	2:59.6	14.5
Blake Baggett	3:07.4	2:45.1	-22.3
Ken Roczen	3:13.2	2:55.7	-17.5
Weston Peick	2:55.5	3:04.3	8.8
Toshiki Tomita	3:04.2	3:03.7	-.5
Benny Bloss	3:07.2	3:04.0	-3.2