Yeah, Budds Creek! Good track, even though they didn’t get a national for a while compared to some other tracks on the circuit, I feel like there’s some good history at Budds. They hosted some USGP’s, of course they hosted a Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations, there was huge title fight for Jeff Emig’s 125 title one year, the great JMB was benched for a by Honda at Budds because he refused to help his teammate win the title, it was the sight of Stew’s 125cc last-to-first moto, and it was the sight of Tim Ferry’s epic first moto win in 2003 (no? just me?). There are a lot of memories of Budds, for sure.
Let’s dive into the results, shall we?
250 Class Overall Results
1st | #6 | Jeremy Martin | 3-1
I asked J-Mart after the race what percent he’s at from his injuries earlier this year and he told me his shoulder is still not great, his hand is all healed up, but he needs surgery on his wrist after the year, and as the day goes on, he loses strength in it. So knowing that, this was a great day for Jeremy. His second moto was vintage J-Mart in his aggression and desire to keep pushing and sort of demoralize the competition. If Jeremy keeps being out front and Justin Cooper needs some points at the end of the year, the politics of racing should be interesting for sure.
2nd | #18 | Jett Lawrence | 2-2
THE JETT showed wisdom beyond his years in moto one in moving up from seventh or so to second. He didn’t freak out, I’m sure he saw the #32 sprinting away, but he just methodically got by some of the best guys in the class to only lose three points in the title fight. We had Tallon Vohland on the PulpMX Show and he was saying that although Jett’s young, his experience is high because of all the racing he did in Europe in the EMX class. He’s been on a 250F for almost four years now and has seen a lot whether it’s sand, mud, full gates of dudes, etc. It shows out there for sure.
3rd | #32 | Justin Cooper | 1-4
As good as J-Mart’s second moto was, J-Coop’s first moto was the same thing. He even fell somewhere out there and still put a bunch of time on everyone else after he got up. His first few laps in moto one were a clinic. He said on the podium afterward that he was sick this week so he didn’t have much out there in the second moto. I also believe he’s dealing with, or was dealing with, a thumb injury from his crash at Washougal that might be limiting him a bit out there. This title fight is going to get good with six motos to go!
4th | #41 | Hunter Lawrence | 6-3
Hunter had some bike issues in moto one that held him back but second moto he was much happier with. He’s been pretty honest and open in his postrace interviews about the stuff that’s happened to him out on the track. He also told me he’s looking forward to the monkey that always comes out to Ironman Raceway, so there’s that. Shame that he and Jett can’t do the MXoN for Team Aussie this year, they would def be in the mix to win in my opinion.
5th | #38 | Austin Forkner | 4-5
The last three motos have been trending in a good direction for Forkner, which is a good thing. These 4-5 motos may as well be 1-1 for Austin as it’s such a step in the right direction for him and the team. He got good starts, he was in the mix, and he rode pretty well. Things you couldn’t say earlier this year.
6th | #30 | Jo Shimoda | 7-7
Shimoda passed a lot of guys in both motos to end up with these scores. It was a solid day for him but not as good as we’ve seen from him before. I’m sure his hand was still a bit sore from last week—maybe he didn’t ride all week?
7th | #24 | RJ Hampshire | 9-6
RJ did RJ things at Budds. He was very fast in working up through the pack in moto one before mistakes hit. If Team USA goes to the MXoN, they’ll send RJ and I worry about him trying too hard and making more mistakes than usual, which would spell doom for the team over there. There’s no lack of try with RJ.
8th | #75 | Ty Masterpool | 8 9
Ty’s been great the last two races, maybe the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas Factory Racing guys should take a look at him if Peirce Brown’s going to be out the last three races. These are good results for sure. I thought his fitness had let him down a bit at some races earlier, but he seems to be better now.
9th | #90 | Dilan Schwartz | 10-8
Great work for Schwartz in a continuing series of good rides for the kid. I’ve been impressed with him since Pala last year where he showed speed and fitness out there. I think “we” all need to stop the Suzuki jokes, his bike looks good, and Alex “Troll Train” Martin’s bike last year looked fine as well. Two different motor builders but good results from both bikes.
10th | #47 | Jalek Swoll | 5-15
Jalek was in the mix in the first moto and then went down right away in moto two with Levi Kitchen. He’s a fighter, you could see that he wasn’t on the pace of the top guys in moto one once he got that start but he starting to figure it out and fought like hell to keep those dudes behind him.
11th | #241 | Joshua Varize | 11-11
Varize has found a new level after the couple of weeks off after Washougal. He’s gotten almost half of his season points in the last four motos alone. Soooo, yeah not sure what’s happened but good job to him.
12th | #59 | Jarrett Frye | 14-10
Frye’s a hometown kid (who knew?) who scored his second best moto of the year at Budds. That’s coming off his best moto of the year at Unadilla so he’s getting hot at a good time. I don’t think he’s going back to Monster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing for 2022, so putting in some good results now counts.
13th | #39 | Carson Mumford | 13-12
Mumfy was pretty depressed after the race at his results and I get it. He probably sees Varize and figures he should be beating him, right? I don’t think 13-12 scores on a privateer bike are that bad in this class but hey, what do I know? Poor Mumfy, hopefully Millsaps can get him going in a more positive direction for this weekend.
14th | #115 | Maximus Vohland | 12-13
Vohland is out in Florida at Baker’s Factory, which I’m sure KTM would be happy about, but I’m not sure his results so far have gotten any better since he’s been out there. It will be interesting to see if he stays there or if his dad, Tallon, continues to run his program. One thing about the Baker’s Factory thing is that the 250 side of things hasn’t seen great success.
15th | #380 | Preston Kilroy | 15-14
RM ARMY! Kilroy had a good day at Budds and don’t look now, but is Bar X/Chaparral/Ecstar Suzuki beginning to develop some kids here? There are also rumors they are going to try and sign Mumford.
16th | #147 | Levi Kitchen | 16-16
Major passing points for Kitchen at this race, as he fell early in both motos and had his work cut out for him. The total riders passed for Levi on this day was 30, which is great, but unfortunately for Kitchen, Star owner Bobby Regan probably doesn’t all that much care about that fact. I thought he still showed good speed and fitness in both motos.
17th| #432 | Kaeden Amerine | 19-17
Amerine is an amateur graduate I guess. He raced Thunder Valley earlier this year and came close to scoring points there but at Budds, he made it happen in both motos. He’s from Kansas so this was NOT a BUDDS NATION thing for him. Nope, he was just good.
18th | #150 | Seth Hammaker | 17-DNS
Hammaker had a big crash in practice and as he moved backwards in moto one, it was clear something was bothering him. Then the decision was made for him to sit out moto two. After a bit of an up and down day last week in his return to racing, this was more of the same for Seth.
19th | #242 | Garrett Hoffman | 27-18
I’m sorry, I don’t know anything at all about Garrett Hoffman but this is cool for him. He’s a member of BUDDS NATION so his friends and family were there, which is also cool.
20th | #77 | Jerry Robin | 18-28
I feel like Jerry’s “we can work with speed” days aren’t there anymore. He’s still good, don’t get me wrong, but there were times when Jerry was right up in there at times. Now he’s a little more consistent (key word: little) and he also doesn’t crash his balls off anymore.
450 Class Overall Results
1st | #14 | Dylan Ferrandis | 2-1
Dylan needed this. Well he didn’t need this because he’s got a big points lead, but he hadn’t won in a while and Roczen had overtaken him for more moto wins in the series and you could see the appearance of people with torches coming to town with signs saying “But Roczen won more!!” after Dylan clinches the title. I’m not saying it’s fair, I’m just saying there are “those” people out there. Budds was a statement for Dylan, he showed a lot working through the pack in moto one to get close to the #94, and then in moto two, he again was the (French) Terminator out there in getting to the front. He even busted out this huge quad for no real reason. Great day for Ferrandis.
2nd | #94 | Ken Roczen | 1-2
I thought Roczen rode great—sometimes you just have to tip your visor to another rider that had a great day, right? Roczen was close to going four motos in a row but Ferrandis really shone late in the moto, which he’s done a few times. Weege said that Kenny was saying he wasn’t comfortable with his bike out there and he did say that to me afterwards, but he, in my opinion, didn’t put it on his bike on why he got beat in the second moto. He was great at Budds, Ferrandis was a tad greater though.
3rd | #3 | Eli Tomac Cortez | 4-3
I can’t believe Tomac doesn’t have an overall win this summer. He’s put plenty of fast laps in at the races and at times, he’s been the “old” ET out there but not quite there. It’s like watching Scrappy Doo when you want to watch Scooby Doo—it’s really close but not quite like the real thing. Full disclosure, I thought ET was going to get Roczen in moto two. Good job for Roczen to pick it up.
4th | #23 | Chase Sexton | 3-4
Sexton’s whole second moto changed when he almost did what Christian Craig did in moto one. He saved it, but that was a bit much for him and he told me afterward that once that happened, he started not trusting his bike as much and it affected him as he lost the draft of the leaders.
5th | #2 | Cooper Webb | 5-6
Well, he’s sure trying hard. Coop’s been doing that all summer but the podiums aren’t there for him. He’s been off the top group of dudes all summer long but there’s still a lot of fight in him. I don’t know if the out of nowhere 1-1 Millville 2019 is going to happen, folks. I had one top guy tell me that Coop needs to have better lines, there’s too much bulldogging straight through the roughest part of the track.
6th | #17 | Joseph Savatgy | 6-7
Funny that after the race Joey told me Budds wasn’t one of his favorite tracks but he just got his best ride of the season there. He stayed out of making mistakes and had a good day. Afterward, he like many others, told me the lappers were bad. I suppose some of it was because the track was shorter and some of it was because in the off-cambers there often is only one good line.
7th | #25 | Marvin Musquin | 10-5
Marv was SO far back in moto one after a first-lap crash he really did pretty well to come up to tenth. Budds isn’t easy to pass on, after all. He also did well to move up to fifth in moto two from a ways back. His teammate was second after one lap, he was seventh, and he made the pass late in the moto to get fifth. Look for Marv to stay at Red Bull KTM next year.
8 | #15 | Dean Wilson | 8-9
Best race of the year for Deano! Very solid for both motos and he’s benefitting from some dudes missing this weekend (Aaron Plessinger couldn’t race and Justin Barcia wasn’t there), but hey man, you can only race who’s there right? Got something cool coming up for Racer X Online with Deano—stay tuned.
9th | #72 | Coty Schock | 7-11
I mean at this point, Cody’s over being impressive. He’s just a solid top ten dude. He even fell in the first turn in moto two! Ripped through the pack to an 11th and yes, he’s part of BUDDS NATION (the new NESC?) so he knows the place well but still, this is awesome for him. If he hadn’t had bike issues that held him back in four motos, he’d be right outside the top ten in points.
10th | #34 | Max Anstie | 9-10
I heard the Twisted Tea/HEP Motorsports Suzuki guys had some new parts for the motors and some new suspension settings that both Max and Brandon Hartranft were stoked on. Hard to do that in mid-season and overhaul your bikes but sounds like they did it and it worked also.
11th | #11 | Kyle Chisholm | 11-13
Chiz showed up and was great because that’s what Chiz does. His YZ450F is shockingly stock, which makes the whole thing about Kyle showing up and doing well even better. He’s not going to wow you with sprint speed but he’ll be there for 30 minutes plus two laps. Also, his dad Gary had some medical issues that made his life hard at the race and Chiz had to go pick him up from the airport and all that stuff.
12th | #57 | Justin Rodbell | 12-14
The summer of Rodbell is here! It started a bit later than usual but it’s here. I think Justin has gotten better since he went back to his HVAC job, which is weird but hey, whatever. He was upset though afterward that Chiz chizzed by him late in the motos but hey, that’s happened to a lot of guys.
13th | #28 | Brandon Hartranft | 15-12
Hartranft had a good day. Last week he was bummed for sure, as he had a top ten until his cam chain tensioner let go. This was a good day for him, and he came from a ways back in moto one also. Sounds like he’ll be back at HEP for 2022, by the way.
14th | #29 Christian Craig | 40-8
Oh man, huge crash for CC in moto one and he’s lucky to walk away from that one. BTW, his dad Mike crashed about 50 feet further than Christian did back in 1998 and broke his femur. I’m impressed that Christian came back for moto two, he definitely got a little lucky there. I heard his bike had so much damage, his mechanic Derek “Jericho” Rankin was still tightening things down on the line for moto two.
15th | #270 | Jacob Runkles | 13-16
RUNKLES NATION! Hey seriously, not that long ago Runkles wasn’t making all the motos. Then he got to make the races but he wasn’t really near scoring any points. Then he got some points at Southwick and RedBud and now he’s been getting better and better. Yes, he’s a member of BUDDS NATION but this was still way awesome for him. He was top ten for a while in moto one! Runkles was top ten!!! This was great. Good job to him and all the Runkles believers, like Kris Keefer, for this ride.
16th | #19 | Justin Bogle | 14-17
Bogle crashed in the first turn in both motos and this is another reminder by me that the start at Budds Creek sucks and is horribly unfair. Thank you, carry on.
17th | #376 | Chris Canning | 23-15
A couple of years ago I interviewed Canning and he told he would love to race all the nationals but just couldn’t make enough money and had to stick to NESC stuff to make a living. Not sure what’s but he’s been good all year on all the tracks changed [Editor’s note: Canning said on Instagram he picked up more sponsors that are backing his program and making it possible]. Schock is stealing all the thunder for privateers this year, but Canning is 19th O/A in the points and that’s awesome.
18th | #441 | Scott Meshey | 16-35
Meshy has maybe been the fastest guy this summer that no one really knows much about, right?
19th | #280 | Cade Clason | 17-26
I didn’t even know William was racing Budds. He’s been doing more nationals this year and has been showing some better speed outdoors than he did up in Canada the last couple of years, I feel. Look for more and more of the A-Ray/Cade battles in 2022.
20th | #314 | Tyler Stepek | 35 18
Locals only bro! Stepek is another fast MD rider and he was top 20 in the first moto before crashing out. BUDDS NATION!
Thanks for reading everyone, email me at matthes@racerxonline.com if you want to chat about Budds Creek or anything else. See ya’ next week!