250 RACE 1 Recap:
Ken Roczen managed to narrowly out-duel Eli Tomac to win the first moto at Thunder Valley. Zach Osborne took the Motorcycle Superstore Holeshot, but the lead didn’t last long as Roczen pulled back into the first place spot where he has made himself at home this season. Blake Baggett dug himself into an early hole falling way behind the leaders, but managed to crawl out of it and finish in the top 10.
Tomac, the hometown hero, continues to have a strong season and has been flying all over the tracks. Tomac managed to win the Oakley Bomb award for a second week in a row by being the fastest qualifier and managed to be the only rider to remain close to Roczen, coming within 0.7 seconds of the leader to create a dramatic final lap of the race before taking a fall that let Roczen pull away.
Marvin Musquin ran in 3rd for much of the race but was passed by Cooper Webb with under 10 minutes to go. The rookie has had a tremendous start to the season, finishing 5th in the first moto at Hangtown and beginning the day at Thunder Valley with a 3rd place finish and his first career trip to the podium. Webb leads a stellar rookie class that saw Jeremy Martin finish 8th and Justin Hill finish 12th, while Adam Cianciarulo and Zach Bell missed the race.
Jason Anderson finished in 5th, Osborne finished sixth after winning the holeshot, Martin Davalos, Jeremy Martin, Baggett, and Cole Seely came in 7-10.
Roczen continues to keep his stranglehold on the 250 class, but Tomac is coming on strong and should be able to put up a fight at the top of the leaderboard in Moto 2 and throughout the rest of the season.
250 Moto 1 Results
1. Ken Roczen
2. Eli Tomac (-7.0 seconds)
3. Cooper Webb
4. Marvin Musquin
5. Jason Anderson
6. Zach Osborne
7. Martin Davalos
8. Jeremy Martin
9. Blake Baggett
10. Cole Seely
11. Nico Izzi
12. Justin Hill
13. Justin Bogle
14. Blake Wharton
15. Dillan Epstein
16. Joey Savatgy
17. Lance Vincent
18. Jackson Richardson
19. Jacob Baumert
20. Brady Kiesel
250 RACE 2 Recap:
Eli Tomac has finally dethroned Ken Roczen to become only the 3rd winner in either class this season and take the overall win for the day. Tomac came out strong and built an early lead that grew to 10 seconds on Roczen in the first 4 laps. That lead ended up expanding to a 20 second victory over 2nd place. Although Roczen hadn’t lost all season, Tomac had a lot of momentum going into the race and you could almost feel that a victory was eminent.
Roczen has been unstoppable this season, but in Moto 2 at Thunder Valley, he was more concerned with holding off Zach Osborne for 2nd place than overtaking Tomac, who managed to build a huge lead. Osborne put up a fight with Roczen and managed to get by in the final lap to squeak out a 2nd place finish and push Roczen to 3rd.
Roczen’s Red Bull KTM teammate, Marvin Musquin, finished the race in 4th. Blake Baggett ,still recovering from a wrist injury, came in 5th to finish his day 9-5. Rookie Jeremy Martin won the Motorcycle Superstore Holeshot to become the 4th holeshot winner in as many races and ended up with a 6th place finish. Justin Bogle, Blake Wharton, Kyle Cunningham, and Martin Davalos finished 7-10.
The overall results for the day ended with Tomac in 1st, Roczen 2nd, and Osborne in 3rd. Roczen remains at the top of the season standings but has company now with Tomac taking Thunder Valley. Cooper Webb, who has looked great so far this season, fell behind after making a few mistakes in the race and finished 17th to go 3-17 on the day and grab a top-ten overall result.
Roczen seemed to concede after the race that he wasn’t as well-prepared for the altitude as Tomac was. It will be interesting to see if Tomac can take this momentum into the upcoming races and keep Roczen at bay, or if this was simply a product of home-field-advantage for the young GEICO Honda rider.
250 Moto 2 Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Zach Osborne (-20.1 seconds)
3. Ken Roczen
4. Marvin Musquin
5. Blake Baggett
6. Jeremy Martin
7. Justin Bogle
8. Blake Wharton
9. Kyle Cunningham
10. Martin Davalos
11. Justin Hill
12. Jason Anderson
13. Nico Izzi
14. Cole Seely
15. Dillan Epstein
16. Jackson Richardson
17. Cooper Webb
18. Lance Vincent
19. Jacob Baumert
20. Ryan Zimmer
Overall Results
1. Eli Tomac (2-1)
2. Ken Roczen (1-3)
3. Zach Osborne (6-2)
4. Marvin Musquin (4-4)
5. Blake Baggett (9-5)
6. Jeremy Martin (8-6)
7. Martin Davalos (7-10)
8. Jason Anderson (5-12)
9. Cooper Webb (3-17)
10. Justin Bogle (13-7)
11. Blake Wharton (14-8)
12. Justin Hill (12-11)
13. Nico Izzi (11-13)
14. Cole Seely (10-14)
15. Dillan Epstein (15-15)
16. Kyle Cunningham (38-9)
17. Jackson Richardson (18-16)
18. Lance Vincent (17-18)
19. Joey Savatgy (16-35)
20. Jacob Baumert (19-19)
250 Class Point Standings
1. Ken Roczen, 95
2. Eli Tomac, -6
3. Marvin Musquin, -23
4. Blake Baggett, -25
5. Zach Osborne, -30
6. Jeremy Martin, -45
7. Jason Anderson, -46
8. Cooper Webb, -52
9. Kyle Cunningham, -56
10. Justin Hill, -56