450MX – Moto 1
In the first round since Eli Tomac announced that he was out for the season because of an injury, Ryan Dungey held serve with a victory in the first moto of the day at Muddy Creek.
The start of the race was all about the JGR Yamaha riders. Justin Barcia was fast out of the gate, holding off his teammate Phil Nicoletti to claim the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award. Barcia wouldn’t spend much time in the lead though, as he ended up crashing on the first lap, handing the lead over to Nicoletti.
Nicoletti – who was wearing the FRAM onboard helmet camera during the broadcast – held his own for awhile, leading the first two laps of the race, but had Jason Anderson and Dungey behind him. Nicoletti was able to open up a bit of a lead while those two battled, but once Dungey made the pass on Anderson for second place, he caught Nicoletti about a minute later, sent it on a jump, and took over the lead. The Red Bull KTM rider went on to win the moto by about 14 seconds.
Over the next few laps, Nicoletti would also drop spots to Anderson and Ken Roczen, to place him just outside of podium position. Nicoletti was able to hold off Blake Baggett though on the final lap of the race to secure fourth place.
In front of Nicoletti, Anderson and Roczen were left to battle for second place. Roczen applied the pressure for awhile, but Anderson was eventually able to put some distance between them to earn himself a new career-best 450 Class moto finish of second place. Roczen finished six seconds behind the Rockstar Husqvarna rider in third.
For Roczen, not being able to get past Anderson allowed Dungey to pick up an extra couple points on him. Dungey now leads the RCH Suzuki rider by 40 points in the championship standings.
As for Barcia, after his first-lap crash, he charged through the field, going from last place to inside the top ten over the course of the moto.
450MX – Moto 2
In his first week running the red plate, Ryan Dungey locked up his second straight overall victory in the 450 Class and increased his points lead over his remaining challengers.
In the first moto of the day, Justin Barcia grabbed the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award but crashed on the opening lap of the race, handing the lead over to his JGR Yamaha teammate Phil Nicoletti. Nicoletti led the first two laps of the race, but behind him Dungey had worked his way around Jason Anderson for second and was on the attack. Dungey aired it out over one of the track’s biggest jumps, using the momentum to move past Nicoletti into the lead, and from there he would open up a comfortable gap and win the moto.
Nicoletti lost two more spots to Anderson and Ken Roczen and would finish fourth. In front of him, Roczen challenged Anderson for second, but Anderson eventually pulled away from the defending champion to earn a career-best moto finish. Roczen would settle for third in the moto, a result which would prove costly later in the day.
The second moto was all about Roczen though – he edged out Cole Seely for the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award and from there went unchallenged for the rest of the moto, even as rain began to fall midway through the race, and won by nearly nine seconds.
The moto win was Roczen’s first of the season, however it would not be enough to get him the overall victory, as Dungey bounced back from a poor start in the second moto to work his way up to second place. Although Dungey was unable to catch Roczen, his 1-2 results put him on top of the leaderboard for the overall standings on the day. Roczen (3-1) ended up second overall.
Behind Roczen and Dungey, a trio of rookies battled for positions in Moto 2, with Blake Baggett, Jason Anderson and Cole Seely rounding out the top five. Anderson’s 2-4 moto finishes landed him on the podium in third overall for the second time this season.
After winning the 450 Class championship last year, Roczen struggled early this season after being crippled by a back injury right before the first round. The young German has improved each week since then and is returning to form, however he is currently 37 points behind Dungey in the championship standings thanks to his slow start. With Eli Tomac out for the rest of the season after a dominant start, it looks like Dungey vs. Roczen will be a recurring theme for the next eight rounds.
MUDDY CREEK 450 MOTO 1 RESULTS
1. Ryan Dungey
2. Jason Anderson
3. Ken Roczen
4. Phil Nicoletti
5. Blake Baggett
6. Cole Seely
7. Weston Peick
8. Broc Tickle
9. Fredrik Noren
10. Justin Barcia
11. Justin Brayton
12. Wil Hahn
13. Matt Lemoine
14. Kyle Cunningham
15. Ryan Sipes
16. Kyle Chisholm
17. Gannon Audette
18. Jason Brooks
19. Tony Archer
20. Chad Reed
MUDDY CREEK 450 CLASS OVERALL RESULTS
1. Ryan Dungey (1-2)
2. Ken Roczen (3-1)
3. Jason Anderson (2-4)
4. Blake Baggett (5-3)
5. Phil Nicoletti (4-9)
6. Cole Seely (8-5)
7. Broc Tickle (7-7)
8. Justin Barcia (9-6)
9. Weston Peick (6-11)
10. Justin Brayton (11-8)
11. Ryan Sipes (12-10)
12. Fredrik Noren (10-12)
13. Kyle Chisholm (15-13)
14. Wil Hahn (13-16)
15. Matt Lemoine (14-17)
16. Christophe Pourcel (22-14)
17. Kyle Cunningham (14-40)
18. Killy Rusk (29-15)
19. Tony Archer (16-25)
20. Gannon Audette (17-21)