Known as the rowdiest crowd in motocross, the Rockford Fosgate RedBud National saw what may have been the largest crowd ever on hand for Round 6.
Marking the halfway point in the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, only four points separated the leaders (Blake Baggett over Eli Tomac) coming into the race with the next racer (Jason Anderson) only an additional 15 points out. Hard to imagine a more exciting circumstance and a more exciting track, unless, of course, you add in a few surprise elements
New for this year’s national, the infamous outdoors jump, LaRocco’s Leap received a light makeover to its 125-plus foot face. Not only did the legendary leap received a lift on its 25th anniversary, the track looked noticeably sandier than previous years.
Moto 1
Carnage plagued the start of 450 moto 1, but Christian Craig found his out in front of the mess for the holeshot and clear path to lead. Just behind Craig was Blake Baggett showing his practice starts earlier in the week paid off. Marvin Musquin also showed he was feeling much healthier and following his second place qualifying time behind Baggett, Musquin came out of the first turn in third with Cole Seely (Craig’s teammate) close behind in fourth.
Looking at the opening crash, Cooper Webb, Wesont Peick and Broc Tickle were some of the riders tangled up, but unfortunately for Webb he was not able to ride out the moto.
Musquin and Baggett wasted no time getting into a battle. Within the opening laps Musquin and Baggett made a bit of contact before exchanging positions. Ultimately Musquin made gains and passed Baggett, however, their battle allowed Craig to stretch his lead.
Still inside the opening five minutes Seely slipped up and dumped his bike. He managed to scramble back on quickly but he lost position to a few riders, with Eli Tomac taking over fourth place slot. Tomac charged forward and found Musquin and Baggett quickly.
One right after the other, Musquin closed the gap and passed Craig, and shortly after Tomac takes a similar move on Baggett to take over third. Just behind the movement in the top four, Justin Bogle and Justin Barcia were working their way into the mix out front of the recovered Seely.
Craig began to fade from second into fifth behind Bogle, which left Tomac on the tail of Musquin for the lead. It wouldn’t last more than just a few minutes before Tomac would wait no longer to take over the front of the pack, but Musquin and Baggett were still within reach. Though, by the halfway mark in the moto, Tomac would extend his lead to more than three seconds.
With less than four minutes and two laps to go, Musquin made a minor mistake and Baggett bounced straight to his front for second. Baggett kept his momentum moving forward and began to close the gap on Tomac, but would end the moto still 1.4 seconds behind.
Still trailing in the series points, Tomac closed the gap to only 1 point.
Moto 2
Baggett gets the hole shot, Jason Anderson right behind in second with Bogle close to the front, but Justin Barcia showed his Bam Bam style to literally force his bike through the traffic to take over the lead. Before the first lap was finished, Baggett and Anderson were battling and making contact. Coming out of a turn and trying to face up the next hill, Baggett’s front tire found the same line as Anderson which tipped Baggett off his bike entirely.
Coming off a quiet but effective fourth place finish in the first moto, Anderson was racing for a win in the second moto as he put continued pressure on Barcia for nearly 10 minutes straight. As Anderson seemed to have closed in, Barcia took a line away and took off. The battle shifted to Tomac looking to overtake Anderson for the next three minutes. Tomac made a move around the bottom of a hill in a corner to line up for an uphill pass on Anderson in tactical fashion.
Pressing on, Tomac put Barcia in his sights and closed the gap to battle within a bike’s length for almost an entire lap. Barcia continued to take the lines away, though, this time from Tomac. Another lap went by with Barcia making distance before making mistakes, still, for the time being, recovered to remain out front.
However, going up and around a corner with very little rut to work with, Barcia washed his back out from under him to dump his bike and drop to fifth before finding his feet on the pegs again. Behind Tomac and Anderson were Peick and Musquin to benefit from the battles and move forward from the mistakes.
In the waning minutes, with only three laps left to go, Tomac continued to lead Anderson, Musquin Peick and Barcia for the top five. Josh Grant, Bogle, Wilson, Seely and Canard (on his second race, returning from injury) rounded out the top 10, which just excluded Craig and Baggett. Yet another moto for Baggett spent almost entirely on recovering lost ground.
A position change came for Grant to bump Barcia out of the top five. Then, after Tomac finished his day going 1-1, Baggett was still putting in work trying to crack the top 10 makes a move on Craig that left only Canard in his way. Baggett overtook Canard with only two turns left to go.
Living up to the weekend’s expectations, Tomac won the day and reclaimed the series points lead.
Moto 1 Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Blake Baggett
3. Marvin Musquin
4. Jason Anderson
5. Christian Craig
6. Cole Seely
7. Justin Barcia
8. Dean Wilson
9. Justin Bogle
10. Joshua Grant
11. Frederik Noren
12. Henry Miller
13. Trey Canard
14. Weston Peick
15. Martin Davalos
16. Dakota Alix
17. John Short
18. Broc Tickle
19. Brandon Scharer
20. Jeremy Smith
Moto 2 Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Jason Anderson
3. Marvin Musquin
4. Weston Peick
5. Josh Grant
6. Justin Barcia
7. Justin Bogle
8. Dean Wilson
9. Cole Seely
10. Blake Baggett
11. Trey Canard
12. Christian Craig
13. Martin Davalos
14. Fredrik Noren
15. John Short
16. Henry Miller
17. Broc Tickle
18. Dakota Tedder
19. Toshiki Tomitia
20. Nicholas Wey
450 Overall Results
1. Eli Tomac (1-1)
2. Jason Anderson (4-2)
3. Marvin Musquin (3-3)
4. Blake Baggett (2-10)
5. Justin Barcia (7-6)
6. Josh Grant (10-5)
7. Cole Seely (6-9)
8. Justin Bogle (9-7)
9. Dean Wilson (8-8)
10. Weston Peick (14-4)
11. Christian Craig (5-12)
12. Trey Canard (13-11)
13. Fredreik Noren (11-14)
14. Martin Davalos (15-13)
15. Henry Miller (12-16)
16. John Short (17-15)
17. Broc Tickle (18-17)
18. Dakota Alix (16-40)
19. Dakota Tedder (31-18)
20. Toshiki Tomita (26-19)
