As far as the weather is concerned, the report is calling for a chance of thunderstorms, although right now the sky is clear and as of eight in the morning, the temperature had already breached 80 degrees. It’s expected to peak at roughly 90 degrees, so it’s not going to be a picnic out there for the guys. The track is mostly similar to what it’s always been, featuring an uphill start into a right-hander, with plenty of ups and downs, taking full advantage of the hill it’s built on. There are some routing differences in the final quarter of the track, basically a little more up-and-down and a few more turns, but nothing major. The track looked like it was ripped pretty deep yesterday, but we’ll see how the first round of practices unfold to see how today’s racing surface might shape up.

In other news the series is continuing without Cameron McAdoo and Jason Anderson. McAdoo injured his knee at Fox Raceway last week, while Anderson broke his hand earlier this week. For a full report on who’s in and who’s out for Thunder Valley, go here.

Practice Report - Session One

The first 250 qualifying session is in the books here at Thunder Valley, and if you were expecting Jeremy Martin to come out hot, exhaust pipe blazing, you weren’t wrong. The Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha rider looked like he was charging hard the entire session, which is no surprise when it comes to Martin. He looked fast too, also no surprise, and at one point Jett Lawrence was roughly a straightaway behind him and wasn’t closing the gap, although who knows how hard Lawrence was actually pushing. Martin’s speed was reflected in the times too, although he ended up second-fastest in this session behind his teammate Justin Cooper, who was insanely fast. Cooper's fastest lap, a 2:05.899, was nearly a second-and-a-half quicker than Martin’s 2:07.292, and was even fast enough to be second-fastest in the first 450 Class session. That's crazy, especially at a high-altitude track like Thunder Valley!

The varying attitudes of the 250 guys during practice are always fun to watch, and there were plenty on display in the first session. For some guys it was all business, others were just cruising and learning the track, while others seemed like the only reason they were out there was to throw big whips over the jumps for the morning crowd that's already starting to build. Another entertaining aspect is brought on by the elevation. The 250s are especially affected by the loss in power, and you can hear it as they demand every ounce of energy from their machines as they approach, and launch off, the jump faces. It’s pretty cool to take in, and if you haven’t been at a National for a while, it’s bound to give you goose bumps, despite the already simmering heat.

In 450 action the most entertaining thing was whatever was going on between Zach Osborne and Adam Cianciarulo for almost the entire session. Osborne glued himself to the back of Cianciarulo, and no matter what Cianciarulo did, Osborne did the same. Cianciarulo would sprint, Osborne would lay it down too. Cianciarulo would cruise, or even roll in some sections, Osborne would do the same. At one point Cianciarulo even looked back at Osborne and pumped his fist in the air a couple of times, to which Osborne immediately responded by doing the same back at him. The two finally separated on the final lap when Cianciarulo tapped into some speed and took off. Osborne stuck with him for about half a lap before backing off and cruising again. It’s a mystery as to what was going on with them, but it sure was interesting to watch.

In terms of actual speed, Ken Roczen had the most of it in this session, topping the field with a 2:05.667. Cianciarulo was second fastest, thanks to his final-lap dash that separated him from Osborne, but he was still more than a second off Roczen’s pace. So far so good for Roczen, who surprised even himself last week by dominating the second moto to take second overall.

Practice Report – Session Two

Whether it’s the approaching gate drops, or the practice starts that kick off the second set of qualifiers, or something completely different, the second 250 qualifier seemed to have a higher level of intensity than the first, with a bunch of guys dropping the hammer immediately and laying to down fast times right away. Jeremy Martin, just like in the first session, was one of them, and he and Jett Lawrence even found each other again out there. But aside from a few sprints through a few sections here and there, neither of them looked like they were giving it everything for a whole lap whenever the other was around. When the roost settled it was once again Cooper who was fastest, this time with a 2:08.684.

Alex Martin unfortunately had a painful looking crash in the second 250 qualifer and pulled out. We stopped by the Rock River Manluck truck and were told Martin was taken to the hospital. Early reports indicate a broken arm for Martin.

When the 450s took to the track it was Roczen who was fastest yet again. The Honda HRC rider picked up where he left off in the first session, posting a 2:09.195 in his second-to-last lap that would hold strong as the fastest lap of the final 450 A qualifier. Cianciarulo was about three tenths off Roczen’s pace, posting a 2:09.510.

With qualifying in the books here in Colorado, there’s an air of seriousness that’s taken over the pits as mechanics scramble to return bikes to flawless condition and appearance, and riders speak with trainers and coaches, analyze video, and weigh possible changes in setup. This early in the season, everyone wants to crush every moto, but only a few will. Stay tuned, right now we're in the midst of the calm before the storm, but things are about to get serious here at Thunder Valley!

250 – Moto One

The first moto of the day got started better than anyone could have hoped, with both the red plates of Jeremy Martin and Jett Lawrence getting the jump on the pack and shooting out to the early lead. To make matters even more interesting the day’s fastest qualifier, Justin Cooper, was right behind them. Unfortunately a crash on the first lap prompted a red flag and the gate was re-racked. Jerry Robin was taken off on a stretcher, but gave the thumbs up on his way out. We’ll have more on that when we learn more.

On the restart it was Cooper taking full advantage, with his teammate, Martin, a few bike lengths behind. RJ Hampshire was a little farther back in third, with J. Lawrence a couple seconds back. For a while that’s how it stayed, but as the laps wore on Martin started to slowly close on Cooper. At roughly the halfway point he made the move and went by Cooper for the lead. Martin kept pushing and was able to slowly build a gap on Cooper, who still had Hampshire a couple seconds back, stubbornly refusing to allow Cooper to clock out on him. Finally Cooper was able to get a little breathing room, but Hampshire cranked it back up and was almost within striking distance on the final lap. It looked like he made a few mistakes, however, because Cooper was well ahead of him when he crossed the line. J. Lawrence finished all by himself in fourth, with his brother, Hunter, rounding out the top five.

Bummer for Michael Mosiman, who was running in fourth before the restart, and held sixth for much of the race following the restart. Something happened and he took a trip into the mechanic’s area. It looked like he got back in the race, but ultimately ended up pulling out. Great ride for Jo Shimoda, who came all the way up to sixth after rounding the first turn in thirteenth.

450 – Moto One

Whoever came up with the expression, “save the best for last,” is an idiot—we just saw what’s sure to be one of the best 450 motos of the year, and it was awesome! Ken Roczen got things going with a holeshot but had Adam Cianciarulo all over him, who had Dylan Ferrandis on his tail. Zach Osborne, Cooper Webb, and a little later Chase Sexton, weren’t far behind, but the top three were on another level in this one and as the laps progressed, they completely dropped the field. But it wasn’t until the halfway point that things started to really heat up in the lead trio, who'd been close to each other the entire time. First Cianciarulo was able to knife to the inside of Roczen to take over the lead, but Roczen didn’t let him get away. Just when it looked like he was about to go back on the attack, Ferrandis would displace Roczen for second, bumping Roczen back yet another spot. It seemed as though Roczen’s window of opportunity had closed, but he kept charging and took second from Cianciarulo, who’d surrendered the lead to Ferrandis.

As the laps ticked away it became clear Roczen wasn’t going to let Ferrandis get away, and right before the two-lap card came out Roczen was all over Ferrandis’ rear wheel. Ferrandis made it easy on Roczen though when he made a mistake and jumped off the track right before the finish line. Roczen took the lead back and took off in an extremely strong show of closing strength.

Afterward Ferrandis admitted he was disappointed, but also said it was one of the greatest motos of his entire career. He also said he’d lost his rear brake two laps after he took the lead. Crazy!

Eli Tomac was visibly riding super hard in the opening stages of this one and was having a tremendous battle with Aaron Plessinger for sixth but must have pumped up or had some sort of issue because he faded way back to eleventh, just ahead of Osborne, who’d also bled spots after running near the front early.

250 – Moto Two

Fastest 250 qualifier Justin Cooper was the fastest to the first turn in this one but Jett Lawrence was keen to make a move early, and wasted no time in applying heavy pressure. Cooper hung tough, however, and as the two battled they started distancing themselves from the pack. Lawrence wouldn’t give up, and when getting around Cooper proved difficult, Lawrence seized an opportunity to put an aggressive pass on Cooper for the lead, sliding his rear wheel into Cooper’s front end in a fast left-hander. The crowd loved it and roared their approval, but you can bet Cooper, who barely avoided crashing, wasn’t pleased. As the race wore on Cooper wasn’t able to retaliate and Lawrence raced to the uncontested win, followed by Cooper. Hunter Lawrence, who rode in a lonely third for most of the moto, rounded out the moto podium.

Moto one winner Jeremy Martin had a disastrous second outing. After a horrible start the Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha rider would later go down, prompting him to pull out of the race completely. It looked like he was holding his wrist as he struggled to pick his bike up.

Michael Mosiman had an excellent charge going after finishing the first lap in 18^th. In the twilight of the moto he’d worked his way up all the way to fourth. He either had a problem or ran out of gas though because he really threw out the anchor at the very end, finishing eleventh.

450 – Moto Two

Cooper Webb narrowly ripped a holeshot over his teammate, Marvin Musquin, but Ken Roczen, after winning the first moto, had no patience for being anywhere but first. He quickly knifed his way around Webb, and after a brief moment of resistance from the Red Bull KTM rider, ducked out in a hurry. From there, it was a boring race for anyone who was hoping for a battle for the lead. Roczen seemed to channel his 2016-self and served up a demoralizing beat down of epic proportions. Even after putting it in cruise control the final few laps he still crossed the line nine seconds ahead of Ferrandis. Clearly, last week wasn’t a fluke for the Honda HRC rider.

“What a perfect day, I can’t believe it,” Roczen said afterward. “It seems like I’m really starting to be my old self. We had a new bike setup and you have to go race it to see if it’s better. It really was, it seems like it was perfect. It was a perfect day, I can’t complain.”

Elsewhere in the race Justin Barcia and Aaron Plessinger were battling hard for second place for a bunch of laps. Plessinger was literally right on Barcia for multiple laps, and at times they were even nearly side-by-side. Plessinger wasn’t able to get it done, however, and soon Barcia stretched it out and found himself all by himself in second.

Adam Cianciarulo tucked the front early and lost some time in this one, but was still able to get going somewhat quickly. He ran fourth for much of the moto, but lost some steam late and gave up a few spots.

The man on the move was Dylan Ferrandis. The Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha rider didn’t get the best start, but he stayed strong the entire moto and he only got stronger as the race wore on. He picked his way through Cianciarulo, Plessinger, and with just a few laps remaining, Barcia, to minimize the number of points he’d lose to Roczen for the day.