250 Moto Two

Colt Nichols got things rolling with a holeshot  in the second moto, but just barely over Dylan Ferrandis, who wasted no time in taking over the lead. Not long after Adam Cianciarulo moved into second and started closing on Ferrandis. He wasn’t able to close quickly though, and as the race reached the halfway point it looked like perhaps Cianciarulo might have settled in for second. Then, with about eight minutes left, it became evident that Cianciarulo was indeed charging and soon he was all over Ferrandis. A pass seemed just moments away several times, but Ferrandis refused to get rattled and weathered the initial storm. Undaunted, Cianciarulo regrouped and got right back up to Ferrandis, only to see the Frenchman stretch it back out again. With about minute left, Ferrandis had roughly three seconds on Cianciarulo and it didn't look like Cianciarulo had anything left for Ferrandis. Then, with two laps left, Cianciarulo turned it back up and closed on Ferrandis, getting within about a bike length. But just like he'd been doing the whole moto, Ferrandis responded and gave himself a bit of breathing room yet again! It was a tremendous display from both riders, and with a little over half a lap remaining, Cianciarulo gave it one final push. In one of the most thrilling moments of the moto, Cianciarulo sent it hard over a jump most guys were scrubbing as a single and soared through the air into some rollers. He made up ground, but somehow Ferrandis was able to hold him off. Several turns later, Ferrandis took the checkers about half a second in front of Ciancirulo. In third Michael Mosiman put in a great, albeit lonely, ride to round out the podium.

450 Moto One

Joey Savatgy kicked off the first 450 race of the day with a holeshot, with Cooper Webb close behind. Ken Roczen made quick work of both riders on the first lap though. Back on the gate, meanwhile, was Aaron Plessinger, who had some sort of bike problem moments before the gate dropped and wasn’t ever able to rejoin the race. 

Up front Roczen continued to lead, with Savatgy holding down second despite immense pressure from Webb, Musquin, Anderson, and Tomac, who’d started in about eighth. As the race wore on Tomac made his way through and eventually took second away from Savatgy, who ended up giving up some spots in the second half and ended up sixth. By the time Tomac had made his way into second it didn’t seem likely he’d be able to catch Roczen. But of course, this is Tomac, and as the race started to wind down, sure enough, he’d cut into Roczen’s once massive lead. With three laps remaining the pair hit some lappers, which slowed Roczen just enough to allow Tomac to get right on his rear wheel. A few turns later Tomac tried a move on the inside of Roczen but leaned so far over he caught his clutch lever on the rut. That’s right, Tomac leans so far over he drags his levers. The contact cut the drive to Tomac’s rear wheel, which caused him tip over. That signaled the end of Tomac’s run to the front, or so it seemed. Had it been anyone else, it probably would have been over. But Somehow Tomac got going almost immediately, and within a lap was right next to Roczen again. The crowd was going absolutely nuts, and they positively erupted when Tomac put a move on Roczen to go around and take the lead. There was contact in the pass too, which sent Roczen off the track. Roczen kept it on two wheels and was able to bring it in for second.

Webb and Anderson had a crazy battle going for third until Webb crashed and gave Anderson the spot. Then Anderson crashed on the final lap and handed third back to Webb.

250 Moto One

If you ever forget just how cool this sport is, all you have to do is attend a live race. The greatness of this sport was on full display the moment the gate dropped when the pack rocketed toward the first turn, resembling a singular, seething object with each rider maneuvering to break free and seize the holeshot. Justin Cooper was the man who made it happen, sliding, floating, and roosting his way to the first turn first. Dylan Ferrandis and Adam Cianciarulo were close behind, and it wasn’t long before the three started to separate themselves from the field. Ferrandis would eventually get by Cooper, and for a moment it looked like Cianciarulo would do the same thing. Then Cianciarulo bobbled, giving Cooper some breathing room, and would later lay it over in a left-hander. Up front Ferrandis stretched out a lead, but by the end of the moto Cooper had nearly erased the entire gap. Cianciarulo had also come back and was close to Cooper, but they both ran out of time to get the rider in front of them. Ferrandis took the win, with Cooper and Cianciarulo rounding out the podium.

Behind the lead trio there was some pretty good action. Cameron McAdoo held down fourth for quite a while, despite immense pressure from Chase Sexton and Colt Nichols. Sexton eventually took over the spot, but Nichols had some sort of problem somewhere on the track we couldn’t see. Nichols ended up all the way back in about tenth but refused to give up and streaked his way back to fifth, just ahead of McAdoo.

Morning Report

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Blake Baggett won’t be racing today due to an illness he’s been battling for quite some time. His condition worsened after the heat of the Florida National, and was finally advised by doctors to sit the weekend out.  You can read more about it here.

Hunter Lawrence will also miss today’s action. The GEICO Honda rider crashed hard during the week and went in for surgery on his collarbone. For more on that go here.

The good news is this week’s Injury Report is one of the shortest ever. There are only five 450 riders on it, and eight 250 riders. It’s a bummer for the guys on the list, but it’s always good when the it's relatively short. To take a look go here.

With Eli Tomac and Adam Cianciarulo both leading their respective classes (Tomac leads the 450 Class by 38 points, Cianciarulo leads the 250 Class by 36 points), whatever happens today has the potential to be absolutely pivotal in the championship battle. If Marvin Musquin gives up big points to Tomac today it'll be another decisive smack on the nail Tomac’s been driving into the coffin of everyone else’s championship hopes this season. Same goes in the 250 Class. If Dylan Ferrandis has a bad day and allows Cianciarulo to pad his lead even more, it’s going to be extremely tough to make meaningful moves with just three rounds remaining following today’s action.

The area received some light rain at night and it’s continued to sprinkle very lightly here in the morning, but it shouldn’t be much of an issue in today’s motos. In fact, plenty of fans are in shorts and T-shirts and there are places in the parking lots that even remained a little dusty. The track itself still had plenty of moisture in it, leaving plenty of guys covered in mud after a few practice laps, but that’s due to mainly to track prep. Dean Wilson told us the track was extremely slick, but said it’s not that much different than usual. The base here is hard with loose dirt on top, making traction a rare commodity. The light mist isn’t allowing the dirt to dry as it normally would either, but again, that's expected to clear up.

Qualifying

The first qualifying sessions of the day took place under a light sprinkle, but that didn’t stop Adam Cianciarulo from throwing it down. The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider quickly went to work and it wasn’t long before he was sitting on top of qualifying.  Mitch Oldenburg briefly bested Cianciarulo late in the session, but Cianciarulo responded by lowering his time to edge out Oldenburg.

In the second 250 qualifier times were significantly faster. Justin Cooper was looking good with a 2:21.447, but a few laps into it guys started throwing down heaters like crazy. Cianciarulo edged out Cooper, only to have Ferrandis immediately take over. Then Chase Sexton moved everyone out of the way to take over the top spot! With one lap remaining, Cooper, Cianciarulo, and Ferrandis all went for it, with each of them recording their fastest laps of the session. But when Cianciarulo got held up slightly by a slower rider it looked like Ferrandis would end the day fastest. Cianciarulo himself looked frustrated when he crossed the finish line, but even with the holdup his lap was about half a second better than Ferrandis’, making Cianciarulo today's fastest 250 qualifier.

In 450 action there were plenty of riders who were fast early on. Ken Roczen, Cooper Webb, Jason Anderson, Eli Tomac, and Joey Savatgy all posted times in the 2:20 range, but as the first 450 qualifier wound down, Roczen somehow, seemingly out of nowhere, found nearly three seconds and dropped his fastest time down to 2:17.567! Anderson responded with a 2:19.771, but nobody was able to come close to Roczen’s ridiculous time.

Webb, who went 1-1 last week to score his first 450 National win, looked good and ended up fourth fastest. He had a cool line going up Horsepower Hill too. There’s a jump at the bottom of the hill that most riders scrub, but Webb opted to sky it, which launched him into the rollers that start right where the hill gets steep. He didn’t do it a lot, and it was tough to tell whether or not it was faster, but it sure looked cool! We’ll keep an eye on Webb today. He’s one of those riders who feeds on confidence, and after his win last week, he’s brimming with it!

The final 450 qualifier was just as exciting as the 250’s last outing. Tomac kicked things off by setting fast laps right away, with his teammate, Joey Savatgy, not far behind in second place. Webb was steadily dropping his times too. Tomac then dropped into the 2:17 range, with Roczen joining him shortly after. At that point things really started getting exciting. Anderson, who was extremely fast in the first session, busted out a 2:17.791. There wasn’t time left in the session and it looked like maybe it would stand, but then Musquin casually ripped off a 2:17.068, the fastest lap of the day. With about ten seconds left on the clock, Tomac crossed the finish line with time for one more lap. He took advantage too, nailing his marks and slicing his way to an incredible 2:15.420! Afterward he said that since the mist let up the track dried slightly, which allowed him to get a bit more traction. Savatgy put in a fast one on his final attempt too, registering third fastest in the session.