A weekend off from racing couldn’t cool down Marvin Musquin, and neither could a deluge of rain.
Musquin won both 450 Class motos at Unadilla — motos that were both shortened because of weather — to take the overall win at Round 10 of the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.
The Red Bull KTM rider has now won three consecutive overalls and six straight motos. Combined with a down day from points leader Eli Tomac, it looks like Musquin’s name is once again back in the title picture, although time is running out for him.
Read on for a breakdown of what happened in each moto.
Unadilla 450 Moto 1
By the time the first moto got underway, the rain was pouring down, creating an extra challenge for the 40-rider field.
Matt Bisceglia earned the holeshot, with his RCH/Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Justin Bogle behind him, followed by top qualifier Christian Craig. Craig was soon shuffled back to fifth after losing spots to Marvin Musquin and Blake Baggett.
But these last few weeks have been dominated by Musquin. The Frenchman entered Unadilla with four straight moto wins, and he soon worked his way past Bogle and Bisceglia into the lead with about 25:30 left on the clock.
Shortly after, Bisceglia dropped back to fourth upon getting passed by Bogle and Baggett. Unable to take advantage of the great start, Bisceglia later went down and did not finish the race.
One rider who wasn’t seen up front was Eli Tomac. The current 450 Class points leader was in just eighth place at the midway point of the moto.
As the weather continued to worsen, turning the track into a muddy, sloppy mess, Baggett made his move past Bogle into second place and found himself just a few seconds behind Musquin.
But while Baggett did everything he could to reel in Musquin, the weather started bringing heavy winds and then lightning. That forced officials to bring out the red flag, and because much of the race had already been completed, they opted to conclude the moto then and there with Musquin still leading.
Baggett, Cole Seely, Bogle and Craig rounded out the rest of the top five at the time of the red flag. Tomac ended up in 10th.
Results
1. Marvin Musquin
2. Blake Baggett
3. Cole Seely
4. Justin Bogle
5. Christian Craig
6. Weston Peick
7. Cooper Webb
8. Martin Davalos
9. Dean Wilson
10. Eli Tomac
11. Fredrik Noren
12. Phil Nicoletti
13. Dakota Alix
14. Henry Miller
15. Benny Bloss
16. John Short
17. Ronnie Stewart
18. Josh Mosiman
19. Robert Piazza
20. Carson Tickle
Unadilla 450 Moto 2
Following the conclusion of the first 450 Class moto, there was a weather delay that ended up lasting more than two hours. Although recurring lightning was the impetus for the delay, there was also heavy rain throughout much of that time which turned the track into a mud pit. There was standing water all over the track, part of which had to be re-routed for safety reasons.
With second motos getting underway just after 5pm ET, the remaining races were shortened from 30 minutes plus two laps, down to 20 minutes plus one lap.
The second 450 Class moto didn’t start until about 5:50pm ET, but when it did, Musquin picked up where he left by taking the holeshot. Dean Wilson was next in line, though he briefly went off the track and had to re-join. Later on the first lap, Wilson’s teammate, Martin Davalos, charged past him to take over second.
Up front, Musquin and Davalos pulled away from the rest of the field. Musquin (1-1) ended up winning the shortened race by nearly 10 seconds to take the moto win and the overall win, while Davalos (8-2) set a new career-high for the second straight round by finishing second in the moto and second overall.
Wilson was unable to hold off a hard-charging Cooper Webb for third. Webb’s podium result matches the best 450MX moto result of his young career. Tomac landed behind them all in fifth.
A few hours after being officially named to the Motocross of Nations squad for Team USA, Seely (3-6) landed on the overall podium in third.
It was a disappointing day for Tomac (10-5), who finished ninth overall and lost championship points to both Baggett and Musquin. Tomac is now 27 points ahead of Baggett and 31 points up on Musquin with two rounds left, meaning that this title fight will likely come down to the final round of the season at Ironman Raceway.
This is all despite a poor outing in Moto 2 from Baggett, who went down at one point and ended up finishing 11th. It marked the first time this season that Baggett finished outside the top 10 in any moto. That leaves Wilson as the only rider who has scored a top-10 result in all 20 motos that have been run this year.
Results
1. Marvin Musquin
2. Martin Davalos
3. Cooper Webb
4. Dean Wilson
5. Eli Tomac
6. Cole Seely
7. Matt Bisceglia
8. Benny Bloss
9. Christian Craig
10. Justin Bogle
11. Blake Baggett
12. Dakota Alix
13. Fredrik Noren
14. Henry Miller
15. Josh Mosiman
16. Toshiki Tomita
17. Ronnie Stewart
18. Phil Nicoletti
19. Samuel Redman
20. Weston Peick
450 Class Overall Results
1. Marvin Musquin (1-1)
2. Martin Davalos (8-2)
3. Cole Seely (3-6)
4. Cooper Webb (7-3)
5. Blake Baggett (2-11)
6. Dean Wilson (9-4)
7. Justin Bogle (4-10)
8. Christian Craig (5-9)
9. Eli Tomac (10-5)
10. Benny Bloss (15-8)
11. Fredrik Noren (11-13)
12. Dakota Alix (13-12)
13. Weston Peick (6-20)
14. Matt Bisceglia (38-7)
15. Henry Miller (14-14)
16. Phil NIcoletti (12-18)
17. Josh Mosiman (18-15)
18. Ronnie Stewart (17-17)
19. Toshiki Tomita (21-16)
20. John Short (16-31)
450 MOTO 1: BISCEGLIA TAKES HOLESHOT
450 MOTO 1: MUSQUIN TAKES LEAD FROM BISCEGLIA
450 MOTO 1: RED FLAG ENDS THE MOTO
450 MOTO 2: MUSQUIN GETS HOLESHOT
It was a wild day of racing at Unadilla for Round 10 of the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship thanks to the weather. Torrential downpours of rain, coupled with flashes of lightning, resulted in a weather delay, a muddy track that had to be re-routed and a shortened moto to end the day.
In the end, it was Jeremy Martin winning his second overall race of the season thanks to 2-1 moto finishes.
Read on for a breakdown of what happened in each moto.
Unadilla 250 Moto 1
Adam Cianciarulo, who came close to his first overall win at the last round, took the holeshot in Moto 1. Joey Savatgy, who has won the last two overalls, was right behind him, followed by privateer Steven Clarke. By the end of the first lap, the top five was as follows: Cianciarulo, Savatgy, Aaron Plessinger, Jeremy Martin, Dylan Ferrandis. Zach Osborne worked his way up to sixth after passing several riders early.
The two Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki riders eventually began to break away from the field a bit. Savatgy kept himself within striking distance of Cianciarulo and started closing in at various times throughout the first half of the race, but he couldn’t get close enough to attempt a pass. That’s because Savatgy and Cianciarulo each had certain sections of the track that they were stronger in.
That all changed 16 minutes into the race when Cianciarulo shockingly went down with a clear track in front of him. That mistake handed the lead over to Savatgy, while Cianciarulo remounted in third behind Savatgy and Martin.
Savatgy and Martin held on for the top two spots, with Savatgy taking the checkered flag by three seconds. It’s Savatgy’s third win in the last five motos.
Behind them, Osborne went on a charge in the closing laps. He passed Plessinger and then Cianciarulo to move up to third. The final lap then saw Cianciarulo drop a spot to Plessinger, putting Plessinger into fourth and Cianciarulo into fifth.
In his pro debut, Justin Cooper raced to a 12th place finish, just one week after earning the AMA Horizon Award and winning two more amateur titles at Loretta Lynn’s.
Results
1. Joey Savatgy
2. Jeremy Martin
3. Zach Osborne
4. Aaron Plessinger
5. Adam Cianciarulo
6. Dylan Ferrandis
7. Chase Sexton
8. RJ Hampshire
9. Mitchell harrison
10. Shane McElrath
11. Colt Nichols
12. Justin Cooper
13. Kyle Cunningham
14. Sean Cantrell
15. Bradley Taft
16. Nick Gaines
17. Lorenzo Locurcio
18. Joey Crown
19. Luke Renzland
20. Jon Ames
Unadilla 250 Moto 2
Following the conclusion of the first 450 Class moto, there was a weather delay that ended up lasting more than two hours. Although recurring lightning was the impetus for the delay, there was also heavy rain throughout much of that time which turned the track into a mud pit. There was standing water all over the track, part of which had to be re-routed for safety reasons.
With the second 250 Class moto getting underway just after 5pm ET, the remaining races were shortened from 30 minutes plus two laps, down to 20 minutes plus one lap.
When the gate finally dropped, Jeremy Martin came through the mud to get the holeshot, with Justin Cooper behind him. Within the first few turns, most riders’ front number plates were quickly obscured by mud.
Near the midpoint of the shortened moto, Plessinger started closing in on the rookie Cooper for second place, but Plessinger went down as he attempted to round a corner, enabling Cooper to escape. In the aftermath, RJ Hampshire moved up to third and Ferrandis moved up to fourth, while Plessinger found himself back in fifth.
While the rest of the top five continued to shuffle, Martin and Cooper held steady out front. Martin went on to win the condensed 20-minute moto by nearly five seconds over Cooper, who turned in an impressive result in his pro debut.
Ferrandis, Savatgy and Osborne rounded out the top five in Moto 2.
With 2-1 moto results, Martin finally returned to the top of the overall podium for the first time since Round 4 at High Point. He was also able to pick up 11 championship points on Osborne in the process but still faces a tough task, as he trails the Rockstar Husqvarna rider by 63 points with just two rounds left.
Savatgy (1-4) finished second overall, and Team USA’s new MXonN captain, Osborne (3-5), joined him on the podium in third.
Results
1. Jeremy Martin
2. Justin Cooper
3. Dylan Ferrandis
4. Joey Savatgy
5. Zach Osborne
6. Adam Cianciarulo
7. RJ Hampshire
8. Kyle Cunningham
9. Colt Nichols
10. Aaron Plessinger
11. Steven Clarke
12. Chase Sexton
13. Bradley Taft
14. Shane McElrath
15. Joey Crown
16. Mitchell Harrison
17. Jayce Pennington
18. Lorenzo Locurcio
19. Austin Root
20. Cody Williams
250 Class Overall Results
1. Jeremy Martin (2-1)
2. Joey Savatgy (1-4)
3. Zach Osborne (3-5)
4. Dylan Ferrandis (6-3)
5. Justin Cooper (12-2)
6. Adam Cianciarulo (5-8)
7. Aaron Plessinger (4-10)
8. RJ Hampshire (8-6)
9. Chase Sexton (7-12)
10. Kyle Cunningham (13-7)
11. Colt Nichols (11-9)
12. Shane McElrath (10-14)
13. Mitchell Harrison (9-16)
14. Bradley Taft (15-13)
15. Steven Clarke (39-11)
16. Joey Crown (18-15)
17. Lorenzo Locurcio (17-18)
18. Sean Cantrell (14-40)
19. Nick Gaines (16-22)
20. Jayce Pennington (21-17)
250 MOTO 1: CIANCIARULO GETS HOLESHOT
250 MOTO 1: CIANCIARULO CRASHES, HANDS LEAD TO SAVATGY
250 MOTO 1: OSBORNE’S LATE CHARGE
250 MOTO 2: J. MARTIN GETS HOLESHOT
250 MOTO 2: RACE RECAP