The first moto started off with high energy up front in the pack as the next closer rider in overall Points, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli tomac, finally had the start he was looking for and it was shaping to be the battle everyone was hoping for. Tomac came flying out of the gate with nearly too much speed and took the opening turn wide relinquishing the holeshot to Ken Roczen. Early into the moto Tomac was staying right on Roczen’s tail, but during the opening lap he dug his front tire in coming around the back side of a berm and ultimately dumped the bike on its side. Following the first lap mistake, Tomac dropped back into sixth place and would finish in that position.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson came into the first moto of the day with the fastest qualifying lap time-for the first time in his career-just ahead of his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna teammate Christophe Pourcel. Early on in the moto it was a four-way battle for second between Anderson, Pourcel, Seely and last year’s 250MX overall winner at High Point Marvin Musquin.

Musquin, in his 450 debut season, had only found as high as fifth place in previous rounds, but with his experience last year at High Point expectations were high for him to find his way onto the podium. With Dungey not racing Musquin was also the only member of the Red Bull KTM team on the track looking for a solid finish.

After a few laps the riders in the front of the pack began to settle into their positions. Roczen took a commanding lead that would not be threatened for the entirety of the moto following Tomac’s early dive. Prior to the two-lap mark Roczen had more than a 20-second lead. Then it was Musquin to slowly pull away from the next part of the pack, but not without a few attempts from Seely, Pourcel and Anderson. Near the middle of the moto, though, Seely had some trouble and put the bike down.

By the end of the moto Musquin had found his first 450 podium finish with second place, followed by Anderson in third.

Kicking off the second moto it was Justin Barcia blazing out of the start gate nearly wheelying and powersliding around the first corner en route to taking the holeshot. Barcia had about ten bike lengths between him and his closest competitor at the time of the holeshot, but by the end of the first lap he would be forced to let go of the lead when Roczen showcased his high speeds.

Next in line deeper in the pack was Anderson holding off Tomac for the third position, but it wouldn’t take more than five minutes from the start before he made his move toward Barcia and claimed second. Barcia continued to fade as Tomac passed him not even a minute after Anderson, but Tomac was finished with that.

Still looking to recover from his first moto fumble, Tomac continued his hunt for the front of the pack with Anderson in his sights. By way of a long outside line, Tomac opened up and managed to snag the following turn’s inside line from Anderson which would allow him to overtake the second place position. Tomac was still picking up speed on every lap.

Despite shaving time with each lap and finiding himself within five sconds of the leader Roczen, Tomac was not able to get any closer and finished his second moto showing in second after Roczen ended the day with 1-1 results and the overall.

Taking the third place position in the second moto was Anderson and that 3-3 finish on the day would be enough for second overall, and, despite taking fourth in the second moto, Musquin found his first 450 overall podium finish on the day with third overall.

High Point Results

1. Ken Roczen (1-1)
2. Jason Anderson (3-3)
3. Marvin Musquin (2-4)
4. Eli Tomac (6-2)
5. Justin Barcia (7-5)
6. Christophe Pourcel (4-9)
7. Justin Bogle (6-7)
8. Cole Seely (9-6)
9. Broc Tickle (8-10)
10. Weston Peick (13-8)
11. Phil Nicoletti (11-11)
12. Andrew Short (12-14)
13. Fredrik Noren (18-12)
14. Justin Brayton (17-13)
15. Noah McConahy (16-15)
16. Matt Bisceglia (10-36)
17. Cole Martinez (14-19)
18. Jesse Wentland (15-20)
19. Benny Bloss (40-16)
20. Kyle Chisholm (20-17)

450 CLASS POINT STANDINGS
1. Ken Roczen, 193
2. Eli Tomac, 152
3. Ryan Dungey, 131
4. Cole Seely, 116
5. Jason Anderson, 113
6. Marvin Musquin, 104
7. Trey Canard, 97
8. Justin Barcia, 92
9. Josh Grant, 88
10. Christophe Pourcel, 76

Photo: Ryan Swanberg