Motocross

Tomac take second Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship win at High Point

Posted:

Sunday, June 16th, 2019

1:01 PM

Eli Tomac made a late race charge to claim his second victory of the season (3-2). Photo: Jeff Kardas

The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship made its first east coast stop of the season on Saturday for Round 4 of the 2019 season.

The Circle K High Point National from High Point Raceway has become a Father‰Ûªs Day tradition, bringing out a strong family-oriented atmosphere for both racers and their fans at the famed facility. The 450 Class saw Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Eli Tomac come-from-behind in both motos to take his second victory of the season.

In the 250 Class, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki‰Ûªs Adam Cianciarulo kept his winning streak alive by capturing his fourth consecutive victory and Australia's Hunter Lawrence finished with his first ever moto win and highest overall finish of the championship.

HRC's Ken Roczen's 6-1 moto results gave him second overall on the day. Photo: Rich Shepherd

As the gate dropped for the opening 450 moto, it was Blake Baggett who emerged with the Motosport.com holeshot ahead of Cooper Webb and Joey Savatgy and Eli Tomac. With Baggett out front, the defending champion Tomac quickly went to work and managed to cross the opening lap second, followed by Webb in third.

Baggett set a blistering pace early in the race as he attempted to breakaway from the field, but Tomac matched his pace and started to inch his way up to the KTM riders rear fender. As Tomac looked to make a move on Lap 4, he made a costly mistake that shuffled him back into the fourth position, allowing Webb and Jason Anderson to slip by.

On Lap 6, Baggett continued upping his pace by breaking into the 2:02 lap times, which allowed him to build a comfortable lead over his championship rivals. Webb began to fall under heavy pressure from both Anderson and Tomac, losing second to Anderson on Lap 7 and third to a hard charging Tomac just one lap later.

Jason Anderson was in the mix both motos and finished third overall (2-5). Photo: Jeff Kardas

Baggett was dominant as he took his first moto victory since the 2017 High Point National, winning by 9.8 seconds. Anderson rode to an impressive runner-up finish, giving him his best moto result of the season. Tomac rebounded to finish third.

The deciding 450 Class moto saw Savatgy take his first Motosport.com Holeshot of the season ahead of Webb and Monster Energy/Yamaha Factory Racing‰Ûªs Justin Barcia. Webb immediately attacked Savatgy heading into turn two, taking over the race lead. At the completion of the opening lap it was Webb, Savatgy and Anderson out front, while first moto winner Baggett found himself buried deep in the pack.

Webb put his head down and went to work as he looked to rebound from a challenging first moto, however, Savatgy had other plans as he matched the leaders pace and kept the gap to within a couple of seconds. Championship point leader Ken Roczen began to find his stride and blitzed his HRC Honda around Anderson for third on Lap 6. Roczen was relentless in his push to the front, muscling his way by Savatgy and eventually around Webb with an inside pass for the lead on Lap 9.

As Roczen quickly opened a lead over Webb, both Savatgy and Anderson engaged in the battle for third, with Anderson getting the upper hand, followed by Tomac in hot pursuit. On Lap 13, Tomac moved himself into a podium position by overtaking Anderson. The final stages of the moto saw Tomac and Webb pull alongside each other several times before Tomac took control of second on Lap 15.

Roczen carried on to his third moto win of the season, by 4.9 seconds ahead of Tomac. Webb followed in third, matching a career-best moto finish.

Blake Baggett walked away with the first moto victory, but could only muster 15th in moto two. Photo: Jef Kardas

Tomac‰Ûªs 3-2 effort gave him his second overall victory of the season and the 19th of his career, which puts him into sixth on the all-time list. Roczen‰Ûªs second-moto win vaulted him into the runner-up spot (6-1), while Anderson finished third overall (2-5).

‰ÛÏToday was a unique situation by winning with 3-2 moto scores,‰Û

Adam Another second moto win carried Cianciarulo to his fourth straight overall victory. Photo: Rich Shepherd

The first 250 Class moto of the afternoon saw Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing‰Ûªs Justin Cooper emerge with the Motosport.com Holeshot followed closely by teammate Colt Nichols and GEICO Honda‰Ûªs Hunter Lawrence. The three riders led the 40-rider field across the line on the opening lap, while Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing‰Ûªs Dylan Ferrandis and Cianciarulo were credited in fourth and fifth, respectively. The first several laps witnessed the top-five riders going bar-to-bar as they aggressively challenged one another.

With Cooper riding at the front of the field, the battle behind him began to intensify as Lawrence moved within striking distance of Nichols for second, eventually making the pass stick on Lap 6. Lawrence would continue his march to the front and made the move just one lap later to overtake Cooper for the race lead. The third placed Nichols was using every inch of the racetrack as championship rivals Ferrandis and Cianciarulo battled for position and found their way past, sliding Nichols outside of a podium position.

Australian Hunter Lawrence took a dominant first moto win to finish runner-up (1-3). Photo: Rich Shephard

On Lap 9, Cooper had a rear view mirror full of his teammate Ferrandis, which led to Ferrandis aggressively pushing Cooper out of his way to take the second, costing Cooper several positions. Cianciarulo took advantage of Cooper‰Ûªs bobble to inherit third, and shortly after second, thanks to a mistake by Ferrandis.

The Australian Lawrence managed the race out front and rode brilliantly to take his first-ever Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship moto win with 8.2 seconds to spare on Cianciarulo. A hard-fought third went to Ferrandis.

As the 250 Class field exited the first turn to start Moto 2 it was Nichols who succeeded in taking the Motosport.com Holeshot, with Cianciarulo and GEICO Honda‰Ûªs Chase Sexton giving pursuit. Lawrence, who won the opening moto, started the race in fourth, while Ferrandis had his work cut out by completing the opening lap in 10th.

Nichols used his holeshot to log fast laps out front as he navigated the challenging track conditions and kept championship point leader Cianciarulo at bay during the opening laps. Just behind the top two were GEICO Honda teammates Sexton and Lawrence who pushed one another to help keep the leaders within sight. Cianciarulo grabbed a handful of throttle by over jumping one of the obstacles to force his way to the inside and around Nichols for the race lead on Lap 5. Moments later, a mistake by Nichols in the roller section allowed for Sexton to overtake second.

Out front, Cianciarulo and Sexton pushed the pace turning fast laps, which allowed them to build a comfortable lead over the riders behind them. Lawrence closed in on Nichols and briefly made the pass until a mistake allowed Nichols to retake the position. On Lap 11, Lawrence once again clawed his way to the rear fender of Nichols and made the pass for third.

Cianciarulo charged the entire 30-minute-plus-two-lap moto to take his fourth moto win of the season by 6.2 seconds over Sexton. Lawrence followed in third.

The second moto win helped Cianciarulo prevail for his fourth consecutive victory (2-1) of the season. Lawrence‰Ûªs consistent (1-3) moto scores carried him to a career-best second overall, while Sexton also had the best finish of his career with third (4-2).

‰ÛÏI‰Ûªm so grateful for these wins, they‰Ûªre hard to do and I‰Ûªm just stoked,‰Û

Chase Sexton challenged for the moto two win and completed the overall podium (4-2). Photo: Jeff Kardas

Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship - Circle K High Point National
High Point Raceway ‰ÛÒ Mt. Morris, PA - June 15, 2019

450 Class Overall Results (Moto Finish)
1 Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Kawasaki (3-2)
2 Ken Roczen, Germany, Honda (6-1)
3 Jason Anderson, Edgewood, N.M., Husqvarna (2-5)
4 Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., KTM (7-3)
5 Zach Osborne, Abingdon, Va., Husqvarna (5-4)
6 Marvin Musquin, France, KTM (4-7)
7 Blake Baggett, Grand Terrace, Calif., KTM (1-15)
8 Joey Savatgy, Tallahassee, Fla., Kawasaki (8-6)
9 Justin Bogle, Cushing, Okla., KTM (9-8)
10 Justin Barcia, Monroe, N.Y., Yamaha (10-10)

450 Class Championship Standings
1 Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Kawasaki ‰ÛÒ 176 points
2 Ken Roczen, Germany, Honda ‰ÛÒ 176 points
3 Jason Anderson, Edgewood, N.M., Husqvarna ‰ÛÒ 144 points
4 Zach Osborne, Abingdon, Va., Husqvarna ‰ÛÒ 144 points
5 Marvin Musquin, France, KTM ‰ÛÒ 139 points
6 Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., KTM ‰ÛÒ 132 points
7 Justin Barcia, Monroe, N.Y., Yamaha ‰ÛÒ 99 points
8 Blake Baggett, Grand Terrace, Calif., KTM ‰ÛÒ 92 points
9 Dean Ferris, Australia, Yamaha ‰ÛÒ 89 points
10 Justin Bogle, Cushing, Okla., KTM ‰ÛÒ 88 points

250 Class Overall Results (Moto Finish)
1 Adam Cianciarulo, Port Orange, Fla., Kawasaki (2-1)
2 Hunter Lawrence, Australia, Honda (1-3)
3 Chase Sexton, La Moille, Ill., Honda (4-2)
4 Dylan Ferrandis, France, Yamaha (3-4)
5 Colt Nichols, Muskogee, Okla., Yamaha (5-5)
6 RJ Hampshire, Hudson, Fla., Honda (9-6)
7 Cameron McAdoo, Sioux City, Iowa, KTM (8-7)
8 Michael Mosiman, Sebastopol, Calif., Husqvarna (7-8)
9 Justin Cooper, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., Yamaha (6-9)
10 Wilson Todd, Australia, KTM (12-10)

250 Class Championship Standings
1 Adam Cianciarulo, Port Orange, Fla., Kawasaki ‰ÛÒ 186 points
2 Justin Cooper, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., Yamaha ‰ÛÒ 160 points
3 Dylan Ferrandis, France, Yamaha ‰ÛÒ 144 points
4 Chase Sexton, La Moille, Ill., Honda ‰ÛÒ 134 points
5 Colt Nichols, Muskogee, Okla., Yamaha ‰ÛÒ 126 points
6 Michael Mosiman, Sebastopol, Calif., Husqvarna ‰ÛÒ 112 points
7 Hunter Lawrence, Australia, Honda ‰ÛÒ 111 points
8 RJ Hampshire, Hudson, Fla., Honda ‰ÛÒ 104 points
9 Alex Martin, Millville, Minn., Suzuki ‰ÛÒ 87 points
10 Garrett Marchbanks, Coalville, Utah, Kawasaki ‰ÛÒ 63 points