That’s a wrap. A long, grueling season of racing in the U.S.—save for the Motocross of Nations, Monster Energy Cup, and Red Bull Straight Rhythm—is over. On Saturday, at a muddy season finale at Ironman, Monster Energy Kawasaki's Eli Tomac clinched a second straight 450 title. It was a dominant season for Tomac, yet it came down to the final moto, just like in 2017. Justin Barcia won his first moto and overall since 2015, and Ken Roczen ended the season on the podium and third in points—what a comeback for the two-time 450 champ.

Aaron Plessinger wrapped up a successful 250 career—save for the Motocross of Nations—with a 1-1 performance in the mud. GEICO Honda teammates RJ Hampshire and Chase Sexton rounded out the podium.

Let’s dive into the lap data to figure out how these races were won and lost 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	2:44.751	2	2:53.853	Justin Barcia
2	6th	2:47.738	2	2:59.173	Phil Nicoletti
3	2nd	2:48.775	3	2:55.091	Eli Tomac
4	19th	2:48.944	3	2:58.600	Jason Anderson
5	5th	2:49.430	2	3:00.377	Chad Reed
6	3rd	2:49.503	8	2:56.181	Ken Roczen
7	4th	2:50.822	13	2:56.474	Marvin Musquin
8	16th	2:51.761	5	2:56.021	Blake Baggett
9	11th	2:54.897	12	3:02.723	Benny Bloss
10	7th	2:57.655	11	3:02.431	Tyler Medaglia

450 MOTO 2

LAP RANK	FINISH	BEST LAP	ON LAP	AVG LAP TIME	RIDER
1	2nd	2:34.156	2	2:38.984	Ken Roczen
2	1st	2:35.198	4	2:38.034	Justin Barcia
3	3rd	2:35.566	4	2:40.493	Marvin Musquin
4	4th	2:35.970	2	2:42.400	Cooper Webb
5	5th	2:38.559	5	2:42.612	Blake Baggett
6	7th	2:40.466	2	2:48.008	Phil Nicoletti
7	6th	2:42.354	5	2:47.282	Tyler Medaglia
8	11th	2:42.957	5	2:50.233	Benny Bloss
9	9th	2:43.003	2	2:47.740	Eli Tomac
10	10th	2:44.831	6	2:44.831	Valentin Teillet

250 MOTO 1

LAP RANK	FINISH	BEST LAP	ON LAP	AVG LAP TIME	RIDER
1	3rd	2:46.039	2	3:03.805	Justin Cooper
2	2nd	2:39.644	2	2:47.506	Chase Sexton
3	1st	2:37.672	2	2:43.589	Aaron Plessinger
4	10th	2:42.597	11	2:46.145	Dylan Ferrandis
5	4th	2:38.828	2	2:45.622	RJ Hampshire
6	26th	2:47.718	12	2:50.921	Joey Savatgy
7	31st	2:44.941	2	2:55.387	Cameron McAdoo
8	5th	2:49.611	2	2:53.137	Shane McElrath
9	6th	2:45.236	3	2:55.588	Michael Mosiman
10	7th	2:44.208	2	2:47.748	Austin Forkner

250 MOTO 2

LAP RANK	FINISH	BEST LAP	ON LAP	AVG LAP TIME	RIDER
1	1st	2:37.672	2	2:43.589	Aaron Plessinger
2	3rd	2:38.828	2	2:45.622	RJ Hampshire
3	6th	2:39.644	2	2:47.506	Chase Sexton
4	2nd	2:40.887	4	2:44.067	Colt Nichols
5	7th	2:42.466	8	2:50.387	Justin Cooper
6	4th	2:42.597	11	2:46.145	Dylan Ferrandis
7	5th	2:44.208	2	2:47.748	Austin Forkner
8	35th	2:44.941	2	2:55.387	Cameron McAdoo
9	11th	2:45.236	3	2:55.588	Michael Mosiman
10	8th	2:47.718	12	2:50.921	Joey Savatgy

First and Last

This should look familiar: We did the same thing after the last mud race at Unadilla. Similar to Unadilla, the track was a mess for the first moto, but the sun did come out at points and made for a manageable track for moto two.

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. 

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

450 Moto 1

Rider	First Lap	Last Lap	Diff (in seconds)
Justin Barcia	2:44.7	3:01.2	16.5
Eli Tomac	2:49.4	3:01.3	11.9
Ken Roczen	2:53.2	2:57.2	4
Marvin Musquin	3:00.9	2:50.8	-10.1
Chad Reed	2:49.4	3:08.8	19.4
Phil Nicoletti	2:47.7	3:11.2	23.5
Tyler Medaglia	3:00.4	3:00.1	-.3
Valentin Teillet	3:00.3	2:57.9	-2.4
Cooper Webb	2:58.7	2:55.8	-2.9
Justin Hill	3:01.7	3:07.5	5.8

As we noted above, the track did change a lot between motos. That’s easy to see just by looking at the lap times. Justin Barcia, who won both motos on Saturday, shaved nine seconds off his first lap in moto two and ten seconds off his last lap. 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 (in seconds)
Justin Barcia	2:35.3	2:41.3	6
Ken Roczen	2:34.1	2:50.2	16.1
Marvin Musquin	2:38.7	2:48.1	9.4
Cooper Webb	2:35.9	2:50.7	14.8
Blake Baggett	2:46.3	2:43.9	-2.4
Tyler Medaglia	2:44.8	2:48.1	3.3
Phil Nicoletti	2:40.4	2:49.8	9.4
Chad Reed	2:47.1	2:52.8	5.7
Eli Tomac	2:43.0	2:50.5	7.5
Valentin Teillet	2:47.2	2:55.3	8.1

125 All Star Race

Hey, we have All Star times! Due to weather, the race was pushed from its scheduled time just before the first 250 moto until after 450 moto two. Unfortunately, that meant a lot of riders decided to pack up early and hit the road.

The 125s probably got the best track of the day, though, as you can probably tell by the lap times. Race winner Jesse Flock had a best lap time of 2:46.051, which would have put him second in the first 450 and 250 motos!

LAP RANK	FINISH	BEST LAP	ON LAP	AVG LAP TIME	RIDER
1	1st	2:46.051	2	2:49.233	Jesse Flock
2	2nd	2:51.240	3	2:52.260	Jace Kessler
3	3rd	2:53.281	4	2:53.807	Noah Willbrandt
4	4th	2:56.710	2	3:05.861	Justin Cokinos
5	8th	3:00.097	2	3:04.019	Jack Rogers
6	6th	3:02.753	4	3:03.710	Chris Bach
7	5th	3:03.256	2	3:06.361	Jordan Jarvis
8	7th	3:08.687	2	3:10.960	Jacob Ingram
9	9th	3:15.385	2	3:24.783	Chris Johnson
10	10th	3:30.207	2	3:48.527	Matt Buyten