MOTO 1: With three motos left in the season, Jeremy Martin has officially secured the 250 Class championship with a second-place finish in the opening moto in Indiana.
The moto victory went to Jessy Nelson, who earned his first career win.
Nelson grabbed the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award for the second time this year, with Jeremy Martin and Zach Bell in tow. Nelson has surprisingly struggled with his starts this year, but the last time he grabbed a holeshot, he went on to finish in second place. This time he was able to hold off Martin to score the win.
Martin kept pace with Nelson throughout the first half of the moto and was very close at times, but he never got in position to make the pass. As the countdown clock got under ten minutes, Martin finally settled into the second-place position and allowed Nelson to open up a slight gap.
Although he didn’t grab the win, a second-place finish was more than enough for Martin to officially clinch the 2014 championship. With their title hopes hanging by a thread entering the day, Cooper Webb finished sixth, while Blake Baggett – who was forced to make a stop in the FRAM Mechanic’s Row at one point – finished way back in 14th and was lapped by Martin.
Martin – who will receive the #1 championship plate after the conclusion of the second moto today – was excited by all the fan support he received today.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” he said, “I heard the fans cheering me on the whole time out there, and that was the motivation I needed. You guys [the fans] have been cheering me on all year, and you don’t know how much that means to me.”
“[The team] pushed me hard all year. I can’t believe I’m the champion – it’s kind of like ‘pinch me.'”
While Martin is in the spotlight thanks to his championship, Nelson’s first-ever moto win is quite an accomplishment as well.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve been on the podium, and it’s been a long road getting to this win, so I can’t thank the team enough,” Nelson said afterwards.
Watch the second 250 Class moto live on ProMotocross.com at 4:00 p.m. ET.
MOTO 2: With a victory in the second 250 Class moto at Indiana, Marvin Musquin has earned his second overall victory in the last three rounds.
For awhile, it looked like Jessy Nelson might truly make it a breakout day with a potential moto sweep. The Troy Lee/Lucas Oil/Honda rider grabbed his second MotoSport.com Holeshot of the day and proceeded to set the pace out front with Joey Savatgy in second.
Nelson had built up a decent lead, but before the midway point of the race, he tipped over and lost that advantage. He remounted in time to retain the lead but suddenly had Savatgy hot on his tail. Savatgy was able to take the lead away, and he would spend some time out front.
Musquin was on the attack though. Soon after Nelson had yielded the lead to Savatgy, Musquin made the pass on Nelson for second and turned his attention to Savatgy. It was only a matter of time before Musquin ran down the young rider and proceeded to take his turn leading the field.
After giving up the lead, Nelson would continue to fade. He fell all the way back to eigth place, but his 1-8 moto scores were good enough to land him on the overall podium for the day in third place. Savatgy (4-3) ended the day in a tie with Nelson but won the tiebreaker for second overall thanks to a better finish in Moto 2.
Pourcel was a late charger in the moto, working his way up to second and then turning some extremely fast laps at the very end of the race to nearly catch Musquin. He crossed the finish line just 0.6 seconds behind Musquin.
With the 250 Class championship already secured, Jeremy Martin rode the race without any pressure on him. He was involved in a battle with his brother Alex early in the moto but eventually had to pull into the FRAM Mechanic’s Row and fell out of the top ten. He ended the moto in 15th.
Indiana 250 Moto 1 Results
1. Jessy Nelson
2. Jeremy Martin
3. Marvin Musquin
4. Joey Savatgy
5. Jason Anderson
6. Cooper Webb
7. Alex Martin
8. Dean Wilson
9. Christophe Pourcel
10. Cole Seely
11. Nick Gaines
12. Justin Bogle
13. Cole Martinez
14. Blake Baggett
15. Shane McElrath
16. Chris Alldredge
17. Mike Stender
18. Dakota Alix
19. Jimmy Decotis
20. Dakota Kessler
Indiana 250 Moto 2 Results
1. Marvin Musquin
2. Christophe Pourcel
3. Joey Savatgy
4. Blake Baggett
5. Cooper Webb
6. Dean Wilson
7. Alex Martin
8. Jessy Nelson
9. Justin Bogle
10. Jason Anderson
11. Shane McElrath
12. Chris Alldredge
13. Cole Seely
14. Zach Bell
15. Jeremy Martin
16. Jace Owen
17. Kody Kamm
18. Zack Williams
19. Mike Stender
20. Dakota Kessler
Indiana 250 Class Overall Results
1. Marvin Musquin (3-1)
2. Joey Savatgy (4-3)
3. Jessy Nelson (1-8)
4. Christophe Pourcel (9-2)
5. Cooper Webb (6-5)
6. Dean Wilson (8-6)
7. Alex Martin (7-7)
8. Jeremy Martin (2-15)
9. Jason Anderson (5-10)
10. Blake Baggett (14-4)