2021 Thunder Valley Motocross Photo Gallery

2021 Thunder Valley Motocross Recap

Ken Roczen swept Round 2 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship series on Saturday at Thunder Valley Motocross Park in Lakewood, CO taking his first 1-1 day since Round 10 of the 2019 season.

Roczen, with two 450 class Championships on his resume, looked like his old self after battling the last few years with injuries and late season fades as he went bar-to-bar with Adam Cianciarulo and Dylan Ferrandis in Moto 1 and simply checked out in Moto 2.

In Moto 1, Cianciarulo grabbed the holeshot but quickly lost the lead to Roczen as the two went back and forth for a time before Cianciarulo pushed Roczen slightly off the track for the lead. Meanwhile, Ferrandis, overall winner of Round 1 a week earlier, showed why he’s a title contender as a rookie by overtaking them both. But as Ferrandis and Roczen battled up front for bragging rights, Ferrandis rolled the throttle on a jump a bit too much just before a right hand turn which sent him off the track and opened the door for Roczen. Ferrandis (2-2) settled for second in that Moto, finishing second overall, and Cianciarulo’s (3-6) day put him in third. Justin Barcia (7-3) took fourth on the tie-breaker over Aaron Plessinger (5-4).

Cooper Webb (8-8) grabbed the holeshot in Moto 2 but the 2021 Supercross Champion continues to show his forte resides indoors or he suffers from a post-championship hangover as he is a two-time 250 class Motocross Champion. He finished eighth overall just as he did to open the season. Three-time Motocross Champion Eli Tomac (11-10), in the final year of his contract with Kawasaki, showed little fight on his home track taking 10th overall and Zach Osborne, the 2020 Motocross Champion, is also MIA on the podium this year finishing 16th overall after bowing out of Moto 2.

Roczen grabs the Red Plate with his win and holds a one point edge over Ferrandis as the two already look ready to leave the field behind.

In the 250 class, Justin Cooper took the overall without a Moto win as his (2-2) day bested Jett Lawrence, who finished fourth in Moto 1 but grabbed the checkers in Moto 2 for second overall. Two-time Champion Jeremy Martin, who won the first Moto in Round 1 did the same at Thunder Valley but a crash in the second race left him unable to finish, dropping him to eighth overall. Martin attempted to get back into the race but did not appear to have much strength in his left arm to continue. Things were even worse for his brother Alex Martin, who broke his arm in a practice crash.

Hunter Lawrence, brother of Jett, took third with a (5-3) day while Jo Shimoda (6-4) finished fourth and Colt Nichols, the 250SX East Champion, rebounded from a paltry ninth-place showing in the first round to take fifth overall on a (9-5) day.

Jett Lawrence holds on to first-place in the standings, Jeremy Martin drops from tied-for first to third, now 18 points back of Lawrence, and Cooper takes over second.

Riders get a weekend off as Motocross heads to the High Point National for Round 3 on July 19 in Mt. Morris, PA. Gates drop for Moto 1 of the 250 class at 1 p.m. (PST) until then live Round 2 all again.