Eli Tomac scooted around an accommodating Ken Roczen to win Moto 2 and take the overall while a bit of chaos ensued in the 250 class helping rookie Austin Forkner get his first career Moto win on Saturday for Round 9 of the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Champion ship series at Washougal MX Park.
In the 450 class, Moto 1 resembled pretty much most other Motos this year as Roczen blitzed through the Supercross whoops at the end of the first lap, cruising past Phil Nicoletti then checking out for his third straight Moto win and 14th of the season. Tomac recovered from a bad start to get into third from just inside the Top 10 in five minutes and then eventually grabbed second-place finishing less than four seconds behind Roczen. Musquin took third and Nicoletti settled for fourth, his best finish of the season.
Roczen appeared ready for the sweep as he quickly passed Musquin, who grabbed the holeshot in Moto 2, but about seven minutes in Tomac finally caught Roczen, who appeared to slow up on a turn taking the inside as Tomac went outside, opened the throttle and never looked back. Tomac got his second overall of the season on the tie-breaker but at the end of the day he remains 55 points behind Roczen for the Championship with three rounds remaining.
Eli Tomac got his second Overall on the season at Washougal
"I brought the last 10 minutes of the first Moto to this one," Tomac said. "Felt good the entire time. It was really good from the get-go. Just felt awesome the whole time. That was a fun race."
Tomac said it did seem strange Roczen let up but once he made the pass he just focused and tried to pin it.
Roczen said he heard Tomac coming fast and knew he was riding well so he let him by to study his lines. Whatever his intentions were didn't seem to help much, at least on Saturday, as he finished 16 seconds back from Tomac.
"I didn't really feel too comfortable out there. The track got really sketchy," Roczen said. "It got super choppy. I'm still happy. Overall though it was a beautiful day today."
Ken Roczen didn't lose any points taking second-place to Eli Tomac on the tie-breaker
Musquin took third-place again to finish third overall. Weston Peick went (7-5) for fourth overall and Justin Barcia went (10-4) for fifth overall taking the tie-breaker over Andrew Short who went (6-7) on the day. Christophe Pourcel had a brutal get-off in Moto 1 while running in third but returned to take sixth-place in Moto 2. James Stewart, who returned for the first time last week after a Round 1 injury, took ninth but like he did at Spring Creek he pulled off midway through Moto 2 for what appeared to be blisters.
In the 250 class Alex Martin finally got his Moto win. But it was a bit overshadowed by the winner and the pile-up in Moto 2. Nonetheless, Martin grabbed the holeshot, fought off a pesky Joey Savatgy a few times and led the entire way taking his first win of the season and second overall to pull within two points of Savatgy in the points standings.
Alex Martin celebrates his Moto 1 win, his first of the season
"I am absolutely ecstatic right now, I've been dreaming about that for a long, long time," Martin said after Moto 1.
Cooper Webb, who finished third in Moto 1, grabbed the holeshot in Moto 2 and was quickly challenged by Savatgy who pulled alongside and blocked him on a turn enabling Forkner to grab the lead. As the three riders headed for an S curve, Webb repaid the favor and brake-checked Savatgy. With Webb and Savatgy stopped, the rest of the field caught up and Webb crashed while trying to throttle out of a rut which took out Jeremy Martin and a few others but mostly resulting in a traffic jam as Savatgy couldn't get his dirt bike started.
Austin Forkner took advantage of a pile-up and stayed out front for his first career Moto win
Forkner emerged unscathed and led the entire Moto occasionally looking back to check on the competition as Alex Martin, who escaped the pile-up in fifth-place, finally got into second-place with about two minutes on the clock to easily take the overall. Despite a 10th place Moto 1, Forkner took second overall, also a career best, edging out Webb who battled back from 20th place to finish sixth and take third overall.
"I'm so pumped right now," Forkner said. "I got a pretty good start. The guys all hit or something, I went in and passed into the lead and they ended up all falling in that S turn. I broke away."
Despite a (3-6) day, Webb managed to add significant points to his lead as Jeremy Martin finished 17th in Moto 2 for 11th overall and Savatgy went (2-11) for fourth-overall. Webb tacked on 13 points and now leads Martin by 51 points, Savatgy by 53 points and Alex Martin by 55 points.
"It was definitely tough, it was a wild race to say the least," Webb said. "At the end of the day it was actually pretty fun. I never thought that would have happened. It's bar-banging and I ain't gonna take it."
Riders get a long break before the stretch run to close the season as Motocross returns with Round 10 August 13 at Unadilla in New Berlin, NY. Buy tickets online or at the racetrack.
2016 Washougal Motocross Results
Washougal 450 Class Results
- Eli Tomac (2-1)
- Ken Roczen (1-2)
- Marvin Musquin (3-3)
- Weston Peick (7-5)
- Justin Barcia (10-4)
- Andrew Short (6-7)
- Benny Bloss (5-9)
- Phil Nicoletti (4-11)
- Dean Wilson (8-10)
- Frederick Noren (15-8)
Washougal 250 Class Results
- Alex Martin (1-2)
- Austin Forkner (10-1)
- Cooper Webb (3-6)
- Joey Savatgy (2-11)
- Justin Hill (8-4)
- Adam Cianciarulo (6-7)
- Aaron Plessinger (9-5)
- Arnaud Tonus (7-8)
- Jessy Nelson (16-3)
- Mitchell Oldenburg (11-9)
2016 Motocross Season Standings
450 Class Standings
- Ken Roczen (434)
- Eli Tomac (379)
- Marvin Musquin (283)
- Justin Barcia (244)
- Christophe Pourcel (217)
- Broc Tickle (171)
- Andrew Short(155)
- Justin Brayton (152)
- Cole Seely (151)
- Benny Bloss (151)
250 Class Standings
- Cooper Webb (372)
- Jeremy Martin(321)
- Joey Savatgy (319)
- Alex Martin (317)
- Austin Forkner (257)
- Zach Osborne (253)
- Aaron Plesseniger (245)
- Arnaud Tonus (190)
- Adam Cianciarulo (179)
- Mitchell Oldenburg (169)
