Tires are a big topic here. The sandy-terrain “scoop” tires work better for the start, but RedBud’s mix of some sand by a harder base and some clay means the regular knobby tire could be better out on the track. We hear Monster Energy Kawasaki will run the scoop in practice to test the starts for Tomac and Adam Cianciarulo. We’ll see if they stick with it into the motos.

Chase Sexton scored his first 450 overall podium on Friday. This is his home track, so much so that he went back to his native Illinois to hang out on the Saturday off-day (he hails from a little over two hours from the track). Sexton is back with some wind in his sails, and also some extra help in his corner, as none other than James Stewart is here today to lend Sexton some coaching and assistance.

Qualifying is set to begin shortly, so be sure to check back soon for a report on who's fast early here at RedBud.

Qualifying - Session One

In 450 action Joey Savatgy, who’s had a rough start to the season, got things going the right way by laying down the fastest lap in the session, a 2:04.166, with Marvin Musquin just under two tenths of a second behind. Everyone else? Well, they couldn’t quite match the pace, with third-fastest qualifier Justin Barcia over two seconds slower than Savatgy. Blake Baggett was fourth fastest, while Eli Tomac rounded out the top five with a 2:06.532.

In the 250 ranks it was Ty Masterpool setting the tone, and the pace, with a fast lap of 2:06.510. His teammate, Justin Cooper, was second-fastest with a 2:07.443. Dylan Ferrandis (2:07.837), Mitchell Harrison (2:07.846), and Brandon Hartranft (2:08.008) rounded out the top five. Series leader Jeremy Martin was back in eighth place with a fastest time of 2:08.572.

Qualifying - Session Two

The second 250 qualifier began almost like a moto, with Shane McElrath shooting out front and immediately putting down fast laps. Mitchell Harrison and RJ Hampshire gave chase, while Jeremy Martin opted to let the field go before dropping the hammer. Dylan Ferrandis who was fastest, initially setting a 2:08.806, before Justin Cooper displaced him with a 2:07.961. Not to be outdone, Ferrandis retaliated with a 2:07.047, which would hold as the fastest lap of the session. It wasn't faster than Ty Masterpool's lap from the first session though, which made Masterpool the day's fastest 250 qualifier. Who thinks he puts his finger in the air again if he nabs another holeshot? Jeremy Martin never really showed any flashes of speed and ended up.

When the 450s rolled out it was Marvin Musquin who fired the first shot with a 2:03.783, followed by Adam Cianciarulo, who posted a 2:04.309. Getting that lap in was especially important for Cianciarulo, who hadn’t recorded a lap in the first session due to hitting a downed bike and crashing out. Joey Savatgy, who was fastest in the first session, was rock solid in this one too, spending most of his time hovering in the top five. He ended up fifth-fastest with a 2:05.509. Eli Tomac never really seemed to find his rhythm out there and wasn’t jumping LaRocco’s Leap consistently. As a result he was seventh fastest, with a 2:05.907 representing his best attempt. Championship leader Zach Osborne also looked largely, well, average, although he did look like he was going to put in a hot lap at the very end. Unfortunately for Osborne something happened, possibly with his shifter, that slowed his pace and ruined his time. When the checkers flew it was Musquin’s 2:03.783 that had held up as the fastest lap of the day. Afterward Musquin remarked how nice the landings are today, comparing them to what he felt were harsh landings at Ironman, which were hard on his knees. Chase Sexton had a crash in this one, and while he was able to get going again, he looked a little sore.

The track is shaping up much differently than it did on Friday. Due to the threat of rain the track crew didn’t rip the track, instead opting to “seal” it in to protect against potential precipitation. The rain never fell, however, and as a result the track isn’t nearly as deep as it was for the first RedBud round. Stay tuned, the gates will start dropping soon and you don’t want to miss the action from what could be a pivotal round in the series.

250 - Moto One

Ty Masterpool and Shane McElrath shot out to the lead to get the action going. McElrath was credited with the holeshot, but it was Masterpool who assumed race leadership. Behind them RJ Hampshire was on the move, getting past Jett Lawrence and immediately going after McElrath. It looked like he was going to make quick work of McElrath, but McElrath responded and stretched out a gap on Hampshire, who seemed to settle into third.

Dylan Ferrandis, meanwhile, got gotten another lousy start and was way outside the top ten on the first lap. Series leader Jeremy Martin hadn’t gotten out of the gate well either and ran ninth initially. It didn’t take long for him to start making up spots, but soon he found Ferrandis, who was flying, looming in his rearview. The table was set for a terrific battle, and with roughly ten minutes into the moto things started heating up. Martin and Ferrandis, amidst their battle, caught up to Mitchell Harrison and Jett Lawrence, who were having a tremendous battle of their own for fourth. Then, right before the turn leading into LaRocco’s Leap, Ferrandis tried to force his way inside but bobbled, got into Martin, and they both went down. Martin, obviously unhappy, threw his hands up in the air at Ferrandis, who was able to remount quickly in about seventh place. Martin lost several spots and found himself in eleventh.

Back up front Masterpool continued to lead, with McElrath about two seconds back. Hampshire, who’d been running third pretty much by himself, had managed to close on McElrath once again and was all over the Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider. After stalking McElrath for a few laps Hampshire finally pulled the trigger just before the finish line. A few turns later he found himself leading when Masterpool lost the front wheel and crashed.

Back in seventh Ferrandis wasn’t having the race he’d hoped for. At one point he was challenging Harrison for fifth, but crashed all by himself when his rear wheel got kicked and he swapped hard. He remounted quickly, but lost time and one spot to Justin Cooper. Ferrandis’ title rival, Martin, was still circulating in eleventh with five minutes left in the moto.2

With two laps to go the fight for the lead was gaining in intensity. Hampshire made a small mistake in a turn, which allowed McElrath and Lawrence to close, but then Hampshire was able to stretch it back out. Just when it looked like Hampshire had the moto under control he made a big mistake and went off the track briefly and almost smacked a tree. He was able to recover without crashing, but lost a spot to McElrath, then a few turns later Lawrence went by Hampshire. Refusing to give up, Hampshire stretched his throttle cable as far as it would go, took second place back, and went after McElrath. All three riders were giving it everything they had, and it was extremely entertaining to watch. McElrath was able to withstand the pressure and held on for the moto win, followed by Hampshire and Lawrence. Ferrandis took fifth, while Martin crossed the line in disappointing eleventh.

“It was tough to keep pushing forward," McElrath said afterward. "Some of the lines you have to follow, and connecting the whole track is really tough right now. It was pretty muddy this morning and the ruts were just kind of all over the place. We’re getting better. It’s a little late, but we’re really picking up our stride. I’m excited, and I’ll be ready for the second moto.”

“That was super frustrating," Hampshire said of his second place result. "I made the same mistake like three laps in a row. I had that moto. I’ll just go back, regroup, and not make the same mistake again. Super frustrating, I can’t be doing that. “

"I tried to make a last little run on RJ," Lawrence said after the moto. "I took a different line to see if I could capitalize, but buried it. I was surprised I stayed up, halfway through I hit a bump and thought I was going to go over the bars. I’m happy I’m still here, I can't believe nobody passed me and that I saved that. It’s good to get this podium out of the way and hopefully I can do it in the second moto. I’m a little annoyed, it could have been a win, but I’m looking forward to the next moto and I'll try to execute my best.”

450 - Moto One

Marvin Musquin came into the first turn ahead of everyone, but it was Adam Cianciarulo who held the lead as the race got going. Musquin found himself getting shuffled back a bit, and soon Zach Osborne held second with Eli Tomac right on him. Tomac was keen to make a move on Osborne, but Osborne wasn’t very open to the idea and maintained position over Tomac, and eventually stretched out a small gap.

Back in fifth Justin Barcia, who’s been fantastic lately, was on the move. It looked like he was going to take the inside right before LaRocco’s Leap, but he went wide and bounced Musquin off the track to take over fourth.

“I went outside before LaRocco’s Leap and Barcia came out of nowhere and took me out," Musquin said afterward. "I was very surprised, but I tried my best to come back. The track was really fast and the pace those guys up front were able to do was very intense. You were trying to pass the guy in front of you, and someone was behind you trying to pass you.”

Several laps later Barcia was closing on Tomac, but wasn’t close enough to show Tomac a wheel. Tomac must’ve felt the pressure because he responded, getting away from Barcia and closing back slightly on Osborne. Things started getting interesting just before the halfway mark. Tomac had all but closed the distance on Osborne, and the two were steadily creeping up on Cianciaurlo in the lead. Barcia, who looked like he was going to challenge Tomac earlier, had fallen back from the lead trio somewhat. The battle continued to rage between Tomac and Osborne, with the two yo-yoing somewhat, but Cianciarulo showed remarkable poise under pressure and was able to sneak away a little bit, establishing about two seconds over Osborne. Things continued like this for a while, with the guys closing on each other, then accordion’ing back out and finding themselves separated by a second or two.

As the end of the race approached Marvin Musquin and Blake Baggett started entering the picture as well. It’s not often you find so many guys up front and all within ten seconds, but that’s exactly how this moto was unfolding. The potential for a tremendous battle to ignite was there, and it finally happened when Tomac lit the burners and blasted by Osborne. In what seemed like a blink of an eye Tomac was all over Cianciarulo. He tried to make a move by taking the inside before LaRocco’s Leap, but lost a bit of time when he had to double-single the triple. Seconds later the duo flashed over the finish line mere moments before the race clock expired, setting things up for a fantastic three-lap fight. Tomac lost some time when he got held up by a lapper, but had closed back up within a lap. The two had dropped Osborne and were absolutely flying, and when the white flag waved Cianciarulo held a very small amount of breathing room. Try as he might, Tomac simply wasn’t able to get the job done, and Cianciarulo refused to crack under the pressure. Cianciarulo took his first career 450 moto win with Tomac, Musquin, Osborne, and Barcia rounding out the top five.

“Any ground breaking thing like this, like winning a 450 moto, it seems like it always starts out not the way you think," Cianciarulo explained. "Today, earlier I landed on a bike and smashed my finger, I think I broke the tip of my finger—I can barely feel it out there. Just one of those deals where today, I woke up with an attitude that I was going to put my best foot forward like I have been. When I got out front like that I felt comfortable and I didn’t care who was behind me—Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart, or Eli Tomac. I was focused forward and doing my best and it was enough to get the win. It’s really exciting to get a win, I haven’t won since the Monster Energy Cup in October and I miss that feeling.”

“I think we have the motorcycle in a really good spot today, I felt really good,” Tomac said. “The first half of the race I was basically just managing my vision, I was getting roosted the whole time. I had to back off and stay out of roost range. I made a push and got Zach and was doing what I could, but that main line is so fast right now and Adam was riding really well. I couldn’t really do anything different and second is what we had.”

250 - Moto Two

When the last 250 gate dropped it was Ty Masterpool yet again up front. Jeremy Martin held second, with RJ Hampshire in third. Dylan Ferrandis had gotten yet another terrible start and was running around fifteenth. Martin, after finishing eleventh place in the first moto, knew he had to score as many points as possible and went to work. Soon he’d put about four seconds on Hampshire, but was having difficulty running down Masterpool. He kept hammering though, and about ten minutes into the moto Masterpool’s rear end stepped out in a berm. He didn’t crash, but it was all Martin needed to pounce and check out with the lead. Credit to Masterpool for regrouping and fending off Hampshire, who looked like he smelled blood in the water.

At roughly the halfway point Ferrandis had worked up to eighth and was working on running down Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda. When he got close enough he wasted no time in railing around Shimoda, but Lawrence was still out of reach. Lawrence, feeling the heat, had caught up to Justin Cooper and set himself up to knife inside Cooper in the next turn to take over fifth. Ferrandis immediately followed suit and was able to maneuver around Lawrence a few laps later.

Up front Martin continued to lead, but Masterpool crashed, gave up second, and got going again in fourth. Unfortunately for Masterpool he crashed again several laps later and looked to be experiencing a fair amount of pain. He was able to get up but his brilliant moto run had been ruined. Behind Martin the running order was Hampshire, Ferrandis, Mitchell Harrison, and Cooper. The battle for second between Ferrandis and Hampshire was really raging too. On the final lap Ferrandis finally motored by Hampshire to take the spot, but Hampshire was all smiles afterward because his 2-3 moto scores were good enough to win the overall.

“I wasn’t sure until I saw Zacho and he was like, ‘Yeah you did it!’ I didn’t know how far back Shane [McElrath] was. Man that was special,” Hampshire said. “I was trying to hang onto second there at the end, but Dylan was coming fast. It was either go outside and he goes inside, or I go inside and hopefully get the drive out and he got me. But man, this is special. I’m going to celebrate with my family tonight. There have been a lot of ups and downs but I’m stoked to be here on top.”

“I was just trying to get maximum points,” Ferrandis said of his second moto. “The incident in moto one with Jeremy was unfortunate, I can’t explain what happened. We both want the championship and I went inside and we came together. It was unfortunate. But a good day today. I had some pain in my shoulder again, but I dealt with that. I only had two days to recover and on the gate I wasn’t really present in the moment. I missed both starts and had to come back from behind, I’m used to that now, I’m doing it every weekend. I gave it everything I had to try to save this championship. We cannot give up. I hope to recover for the next round and rebound with some wins.”

“As soon as we took off the gate I spun and I knew right away, I was a wheel behind,” McElrath said. “I knew it was going to be a long race. It’s so hard to pass out there, there’s really just two lines—all the way inside and all the way outside. The outside is twice the distance and it’s hard to take a different line to pass someone. I tried that, then someone would go by me and it was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ To end up on the podium, I can’t believe it. It was pretty disappointing—I don’t know what place I got in that second moto, I just knew I was far back. It was hard trying to pick people off, everyone was going the same speed in front of me and I couldn’t change lies. To end up on the podium , that’s a miracle. Two podiums in a row. Third place isn’t what we want, but we’ve come a long ways too. We’re going to keep going and we’re getting better. The top two guys in points are out there, but we just need to keep clicking off race wins and that will give us a good shot.”

450 – Moto Two

Adam Cianciarulo nabbed the holeshot to kick off the second moto, while his teammate, Eli Tomac found himself down and on the dirt in the first turn. He was able to get going again, but he was way, way back. Up front the running order was Cianciaurlo, Zach Osborne, Joey Savatgy,, Marvin Muquin, Blake Baggett, and Max Anstie, although the guys got somewhat spread out and there wasn’t a ton of battling going on. About ten minutes into the moto Savatgy went down. He was able to rejoin the race and get going again in seventh place.

Just before the halfway point Tomac had worked up to tenth and was working on Fredrick Noren, but the battle to watch was up front between Cianciarulo and Osborne.  Cianciarulo had just under two seconds on Osborne, but Osborne was riding hard and slowly inching up on Cianciarulo. But then all of a sudden Cianciarulo stretched his gap out to nearly four seconds! He was riding brilliantly, and just when it seemed like he could do no wrong, he got into a lapper and went down, losing a pair of spots to Osborne and Baggett in the process. Speaking of Baggett, he was on fire in the second moto and with six minutes left was applying heavy pressure to Osborne for the lead. He was throwing everything he could at Osborne, but nothing held until a Baggett tried a sneaky line by braking early, cutting over to the inside behind Osborne, and jumping out of the corner to take the line away from Osborne. The unorthodox move worked and as soon as he had the lead Baggett dropped the hammer and started sprinting away. In what seemed like no time at all, he’d put three seconds on Osborne, and when the checkers flew he’d stretched that lead to over twelve seconds. Cianciarulo took third, which handed him the overall, while Musquin and Broc Tickle rounded out the top five. Tomac, who was down in the first turn, took seventh.

“It’s hard to put this into words. I felt a lot more comfortable out front after leading wire to wire in the first moto, but unfortunately I had a little mishap with a lapper. To be honest, I wanted to go 1-1,” Cianciarulo said. “That didn’t happen but I was happy I was able to get up and regroup. I felt great even at the end there. I’ve been really grinding and putting in a lot of time. I couldn’t be prouder of the whole team, my trainer Nick Wey, my mom, dad and sister, my whole family is behind me always. I’m so, so happy that I’ve been able to repay such a great team with a win. And for myself, I’m proud. You’re always going through ups and downs in this sport. Just a few weeks ago, after the first Loretta’s, I got back to the rig and I was throwing my helmet, I was mad, and wondering what the heck was going on. Here we are three weeks later, we kept grinding, and we’re on top. I love this sport.”

“It seems like the days you try so hard you’re in the back of the pack and are lucky to get a top ten,” Baggett said. “It was just coming to me, and I’m going to take it for sure. It feels good to get a moto win. I’ve been around for a long time, I’m getting older, and I’ll take every one I can get toward the end for sure. Things were just connecting, I have to give it up to the whole team. I was starting to doubt myself a little bit, I haven’t been up front in a long time. I have speed and I’ve qualified good, but I haven’t been able to put it together. I had a little devil on my shoulder that was doubting me, but once I got there things were happening and they started to happen slower and slower. I knew when I got that feeling, when things start happening slow, you start going fast. I was like, ‘All right, maybe we can get this done and get back up there.’ It feels good to get a moto win, and wherever I finished overall. I’m just glad to be up here. I’ll take this one, and we’ll keep racing.”