MOTO 1
Another moto, another win for Eli Tomac. He would have to earn it by working his way around a pair of former champions though.
Ryan Dungey grabbed the MotoSport.com Holeshot to start the race, but had Ken Roczen all over him. The two former teammates battled, with Roczen taking away the top spot early. Jason Anderson got a great start inside the top three but dropped a position to Tomac, setting up a great three-way showdown between Roczen, Dungey and Tomac.
The points leader started his assault by picking off Dungey. Soon after, Dungey went off the track after getting cross-rutted and lost a couple spots. He would spend the rest of the moto working his way back towards the front and would eventually become a factor once more in the final laps of the race.
With Dungey behind him, Tomac set his sights on Roczen, passing the RCH Suzuki rider on the inside about seven minutes into the moto. From there, Tomac checked out with the victory, although his 14-second win was his smallest margin of victory so far this season.
Roczen was able to run comfortably in second place for awhile, but Dungey steadily made up ground on him, getting within about two seconds of Roczen until lapped traffic cost him some time. Dungey eventually got around the lappers and once again tracked down Roczen, setting up a battle over the final two laps of the race.
As they battled to the white flag, Roczen nearly came up short and went over the handlebars on a jump, and although he saved it, the bobble was enough to allow Dungey to take the spot. Dungey earned his fourth runner-up finish in five motos, and Roczen grabbed his second consecutive third-place finish.
“Pain-wise, I’m 100%,” Roczen, who has been dealing with a back injury this season, said after the race. “I just couldn’t do my training for the last three weeks really well.”
Rookie rivals Blake Baggett and Jason Anderson found each other once again. After his great start, Anderson was hanging inside the top four until Baggett caught and passed him on Lap 8. Baggett – who is the only rider aside from Tomac and Dungey to finish top-seven in every moto this season – held on for fourth, while Anderson later lost fifth place to Broc Tickle on the final lap of the race.
MOTO 2
In a shocking turn of events at Thunder Valley, the 450 Class championship was dealt a huge shake-up thanks to a crash from Eli Tomac.
Just when it looked like Tomac was minutes away from cruising to his sixth straight moto win, disaster struck. As a result, Ryan Dungey won the race and took over the points lead, and Tomac may now be dealing with a serious injury.
After dominating the first two rounds of the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, the undefeated Eli Tomac carried a 19-point championship lead into today’s races and was considered the heavy favorite. After all, he was on fire, he was the fastest qualifier this morning, he was coming to his home state of Colorado, and he’s one of the only riders used to training in the altitude.
Things were going according to plan through the first moto and a half – Tomac won the day’s first moto, then grabbed the lead and opened up a large gap in the second moto. In a position to just cruise to the checkered flag, the unthinkable happened, and Tomac lost control and crashed hard in Moto 2. He looked to be in serious pain and made no effort to reenter the race, instead heading straight to the medical center to get checked out.
With Tomac out of the running, Ken Roczen – last year’s 450 Class champion – assumed the race lead and was in a position to earn the overall victory as well. At the time, Ryan Dungey, after inheriting second place, had moved into a tie with Tomac for the points lead.
Then fortunes shifted once more, as Roczen also crashed while out in the lead with just two laps to go – something he said was the result of a flat tire – and that allowed Dungey to catch up to him. The former teammates battled for the top spot, with Dungey making the pass and Roczen then going down for a second time.
Dungey was then able to check out with the lead en route to the checkered flag, and his 2-1 moto finishes earned him the overall victory, his first of the season.
“The track is rough. When we’re pushing the envelope that fast, I hate to see [Tomac] go down like that,” Dungey said after the race. “I hope he’s okay, I don’t know the aftermath. He’s going at a good pace right now, and the faster you go, the more that stuff sneaks up on you.”
Roczen’s crash cost him a shot at the overall win, but he still finished second overall with 3-2 moto finishes. Blake Baggett (4-3) rounded out the overall podium – his first career podium finish in the 450 Class.
There is no official word yet on the nature of Tomac’s injury, although there is early speculation that it could be a dislocated shoulder. More info is likely to come sometime this week.
The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship will resume next Saturday, June 6th at Muddy Creek Raceway in Tennessee, and the big question will be around the status of Tomac after today’s crash. Will the GEICO Honda rider be healthy enough to return to racing and keep himself in title contention?
THUNDER VALLEY 450 MOTO 1 RESULTS
1. Eli Tomac
2. Ryan Dungey
3. Ken Roczen
4. Blake Baggett
5. Broc Tickle
6. Jason Anderson
7. Justin Barcia
8. Cole Seely
9. Justin Brayton
10. Phil Nicoletti
11. Christophe Pourcel
12. Wil Hahn
13. Josh Grant
14. Fredrik Noren
15. Kyle Chisholm
16. Jesse Wentland
17. Kyle Cunningham
18. Chad Reed
19. Weston Peick
20. Matt Lemoine
THUNDER VALLEY 450 CLASS OVERALL RESULTS
1. Ryan Dungey (2-1)
2. Ken Roczen (3-2)
3. Blake Baggett (4-3)
4. Broc Tickle (5-5)
5. Cole Seely (8-4)
6. Justin Barcia (7-6)
7. Eli Tomac (1-33)
8. Christophe Pourcel (11-7)
9. Phil Nicoletti (10-9)
10. Justin Brayton (9-10)
11. Jason Anderson (6-14)
12. Kyle Chisholm (15-11)
13. Weston Peick (19-8)
14. Fredrik Noren (14-13)
15. Chad Reed (18-12)
16. Kyle Cunningham (17-15)
17. Jesse Wentland (16-16)
18. Wil Hahn (12-20)
19. Josh Grant (13-35)
20. Evgeny Mikhaylov (23-17)