2022 Budds Creek Motocross Recap
Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton must have a backroom deal for the 50th anniversary of Motocross. It would certainly help soothe the wounds of the streaming debacle and get fans watching. Because...
Who wants this title?
Neither won the Round 10 overall of the 2022 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship season on Saturday at Budds Creek in Mechanicsville, MD but each won a Moto. Sexton, who took the Red Plate from Tomac the week prior after sweeping Unadilla handed it back. Now Tomac has a one-point lead heading into the next round (just as Sexton did heading into Budds Creek) but he could have had a whole lot more.
Tomac destroyed the field in Moto 1 taking just three laps to get by Ken Roczen cruising to victory. Meanwhile, Sexton went down twice and at one point was nearly out of the Top 30. Somehow, someway he worked his way to seventh minimizing the damage though Tomac suddenly looked ready to run off with the title thanks to a 10-point lead in the standings.
But Moto 2 awaited.
You can stand Sexton up against the gates of hell but he won't back down. Sexton worked his way past Ryan Dungey, Ken Roczen and Jason Anderson for the Moto 2 win as Tomac got hung up at the start and only managed to finish in fifth giving away all those points he earned from Moto 1. Neck and neck certainly describe the two and a long as neither makes like a lawn dart, tune in (if you can or haven't given up on the season) for memory making racing for the final two rounds.
Oh, by the way Anderson won the overall. His two second-place finishes easily surpassed Tomac's (1-5) day and even though he's technically still in Championship contention, he doesn't have a chance to catch the frontrunners. Of course, if Tomac and Sexton go down in a heap on the first turn of the first race at Ironman (or have a run-in with Justin Barcia) on Saturday with season ending injuries, though that would be kind of like how Anderson won the 2018 Supercross Championship. Sort of kind of, but not really.
Barcia, by the way, was disqualified for Moto 2 after a run-in with reigning Champion Dylan Ferrandis who only recently started racing after pre-season surgery left him unable to defend his title. Disqualified. Who gets disqualified from a race in the middle of a race? Hmmm, that must mean Barcia has a backroom deal with someone to get people to stop paying attention to the Loretta Lynn's debacle.
2022. The year of the Motocross debacle.
Hey! Roczen got on the podium. Been a while. Sexton (7-1) finished fourth overall and Dungey had his best outing of the season with two fourth-place finishes but only good for fifth overall. Dungey sits just three points back of Christian Craig for the Top 5 in points. Not bad for coming out of retirement after five years. A good chance he would have won that 2018 Supercross Championship had he decided to forego retirement after his nail-biting 2017 title clinching season.
2022 Motocross 450 Class Standings after Round 10
- Eli Tomac - 449
- Chase Sexton - 448
- Jason Anderson - 369
- Ken Roczen - 344
- Christian Craig - 303
In the 250 class, Jett Lawrence (2-3) may or may not be dialing it back and coasting to the title. He hasn't won a Moto since Spring Creek and what once looked like an insurmountable lead looks a tad shaky but he still managed a podium. RJ Hampshire (1-2) and Jo Shimoda (3-1) meanwhile tore up the track each taking wins and finishing first and second overall, respectively.
Hampshire battled early and often in Moto 1 with Michael Mosiman before pulling away. In Moto 2, Hampshire fought off a surging Lawrence to get the third-place spot and clinch the overall. In that race, Shimoda was relatively untouchable leading the final 12 laps after passing Justin Cooper.
Yikes, Hunter Lawrence (8-9) lost his lock on second-place in the standings with his worst outing of the season (eighth-overall) that included getting hung up in track side banners. He now sits six points back of Shimoda and 43 back of brother Jett. Shimoda needs 38 points in the remaining rounds to catch Jett Lawrence.
Elsewhere, Mosiman (4-7) who returned after a concussion sidelined him for the previous two rounds finished fourth overall and Cooper (9-4), who went down early in Moto 1 with Jalek Swoll, managed a top 5 on a (9-4) day. We'd be remiss not to mention some guy comes over from Spain and nails a Top 10. Guillem Farres went (6-13) for ninth overall in his first stint in the states.
2022 Supercross 250 Class Standings after Round 10
- Jett Lawrence - 433
- Jo Shimoda - 396
- Hunter Lawrence - 390
- Justin Cooper - 346
- RJ Hampshire - 274
The MotoSport Sponsored Muc-Off / FXR / ClubMX Team
Alex Martin finished 11th overall on a (14-12) day just in front of Garrett Marchbanks (13-14) who finished 12th overall. Shane McElrath took 16th on a (17-13) day.
Gates drop for the penultimate round of the 2022 Motocross series on Saturday at the Ironman National in Crawfordsville, IN.
2022 Budds Creek Motocross
