Still, no one has any answers for Ken Roczen who extended his win streak to nine and his points lead to 53 after another riding clinic performance on Saturday at the RedBud National in Buchanan, MI.
Roczen led every lap in Moto 1 and all but one in Moto 2 passing Justin Bogle, who grabbed the holeshot in both races and checked out from there. Eli Tomac is the only rider putting up much of a fight to Roczen's domination and he kept it reasonably close in Moto 1 trailing by 13 seconds as the leader crossed the checkers. But a promising fight in Moto 2 turned into cakewalk for Roczen once he got past Tomac on Lap 2.
Tomac grabbed the lead in Moto 2 after a swift pass on Bogle with Roczen quickly following pushing Bogle back to third. The two points leaders proceeded with a brief cat-and-mouse show reminiscent of the past few rounds but this time it was Roczen in chase mode. He made the pass after tripling LaRocco's leap with just four minutes off the clock and never looked back. He stretched his lead to 16 seconds with 11 minutes remaining and nearly doubled the gap when he completed the sweep.
Ken Roczen always crossing the finish line first
"We've been doing work over the whole year. Actually I feel like in the first Moto it went from the worst bike I've ridden this year, because we made a couple of changes, to the best bike I've ridden all year," said Roczen, who also mentioned his mechanics completed a motor swap between Motos. "We crushed it in the second Moto. I can't be happier right now."
Roczen enters the second half of the season with a lead equating to more than a one round's worth of points. Even prior to the departure of podium contenders like defending Champion Ryan Dungey, Jason Anderson, Trey Canard, Cole Seely and Josh Grant - all out because of injury - Roczen proved he was riding on a different level this year and could be riding an undefeated season if not for a mechanical failure in Round 2 that dropped him to fourth-place in Moto 1 from what appeared to be a definite win.
Eli Tomac rode well but not enough to catch Ken Roczen
Tomac, who has five straight second-place finishes, looked close last week to figuring out how to beat Roczen as just seconds separated the two in both races and Moto 2 offered edge-of-the-seat excitement in the waning moments, but Redbud showed Roczen back in early season form, or a regressing Tomac.
"I was struggling going up that ramp with that accelerator shot," Tomac said of LaRocco's Leap. "That's where Kenny got me. Gave it my all today but we were second best. It's a tough defeat."
Definitely taking advantage of other rider's absences is Broc Tickle who took third for the second straight week after not touching the box in four years. He took the points tie-breaker over Justin Barcia after a solid move for the pass with about 22 minutes remaining. Despite the holeshot and early leads, Bogle was unable to hold on to podium finishes settling for ninth overall after a (10-9) day. Marvin Musquin officially took over third-place in the points standings after taking fifth overall with a (5-6) day.
In the 250 class, Cooper Webb swept for the first time this season, taking his second straight overall and is now the new points leader thanks to a wicked crash by Joey Savatgy in Moto 2.
Cooper Webb got his third straight win and second straight overall at RedBud
Webb started his day with a battle against rookie Austin Forkner, who grabbed the holeshot, but the two-time Supercross 250 West Champion needed just one lap to get into the lead and checked out from there. Savatgy, riding the red plate, passed Forkner shortly after Webb did and managed to put some pressure on the leader near the end but couldn't get around for the pass. Alex Martin took third.
In Moto 2, Savatgy got around Shane McElrath on Lap 3 and appeared headed for his sixth Moto win and the overall but flipped over his bike at the bottom of a hill in the breaking bumps. He was slow to get up and eventually pulled into the pits to get his handlebars straightened and fell out of the Top 20 as a result but managed to salvage some points with a 16th place finish.
Savatgy's crash put McElrath into the lead but he went off the track a few laps later and dropped to fourth place putting Martin in the lead who was battling his brother Jeremy for position. With about 12 minutes remaining, Jeremy Martin went down in the sand rollers which put Webb and Zach Osborne in the Top 3.
No bike problems this round as Alex Martin took second overall
Webb finally got behind Alex Martin with less than five minutes left and grabbed the lead at about the three minute mark and pulled away. Osborne passed Martin and tried to reel in Webb as Martin attempted to get second-place back. Ultimately it was Webb hanging on for the win, Osborne in second and Martin taking third with just a 1.6 gap between them.
"I just have a purpose and that's to win. It's what I love to do, I don't like to lose," said Webb who trailed Savatgy by 12 points entering RedBud and left with an 11 point advantage. "This is all I know so I'm going to give it hell every time I'm out there. I'm finally getting healthy and I think that's part of it. I'm back in shape, I'm not scared of these guys anymore.
Savatgy's crash also helped the Martin brothers as Jeremy, the defending Champion remains in third trailing Savatgy by 23 points instead of 32 but is 34 points back of Webb. Alex added two points to his lead over Osborne for fourth place but is 45 points from the lead.
Alex Martin took second overall with his (3-3) day and Osborne took third overall with a (5-2) day besting Jeremy Martin by two points for the podium. McElrath finished fifth overall after a (9-5) day.
Motocross returns to Southwick in Saturday in Massachusetts. By tickets online or at the racetrack.
2016 RedBud Motocross Results
RedBud 450 Class Results
- Ken Roczen (1-1)
- Eli Tomac (2-2)
- Broc Tickle (4-3)
- Justin Barcia (3-4)
- Marvin Musquin (5-6)
- Blake Baggett (7-5)
- Christophe Pourcel (6-7)
- Matt Bisceglia (8-8)
- Justin Bogle (10-9)
- Benny Bloss (11-10)
RedBud 250 Class Results
- Cooper Webb (1-1)
- Alex Martin (3-3)
- Zach Osborne (5-2)
- Jeremy Martin (4-4)
- Shane McElrath (9-5)
- Adam Cianciarulo (7-8)
- Joey Savatgy (2-16)
- Austin Forkner (6-10)
- Arnaud Tonus (11-6)
- Mitchell Oldenburg (8-9)
2016 Motocross Season Standings
450 Class Standings
- Ken Roczen (293)
- Eli Tomac (240)
- Marvin Musquin (167)
- Cole Seely (151)
- Broc Tickle (147)
- Justin Barcia (146)
- Christophe Pourcel (136)
- Ryan Dungey (131)
- Justin Bogle (118)
- Jason Anderson (113)
250 Class Standings
- Cooper Webb (243)
- Joey Savatgy (232)
- Jeremy Martin (209)
- Alex Martin (198)
- Zach Osborne (190)
- Austin Forkner (164)
- Aaron Plessinger (152)
- Shane McElrath (124)
- Mitchell Oldenburg (117)
- RJ Hampshire (113)
