GEICO Motorcycle Budds Creek National - Report & Photos
Sunday 13 July: Round 7 of 12 at Budds Creek MX Park - Mechanicsville, Maryland. Dungey captures third straight Budds Creek triumph and Baggett also makes it three in-a-row.
Race report and photos courtesy of Jen Kenyon for MX Sports Pro Racing.
In
the shadow of the nation's capitol, the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross
Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, celebrated 25 years of
competition in Southern Maryland on Saturday with the annual GEICO
Motorcycle Budds Creek National from Budds Creek MX Park, the seventh
stop of 12 this summer. The budding 450 Class rivalry between the Red
Bull KTM duo of Ryan Dungey and Ken Roczen continued with Dungey gaining
the advantage for just the second time this season, winning for the
third straight year at Budds Creek. In the 250 Class, Monster Energy/Pro
Circuit/Kawasaki's Blake Baggett duplicated the achievement of his
premier class counterpart, winning for the third consecutive season at
the facility with his third victory of the summer.
The battle for victory once again came down to the Red Bull KTM duo of Dungey (5) and Roczen (94).
Photo: Simon Cudby / Racer X
In
his third race back from an injury that kept him out for the early
portion of the season, Toyota/Yamaha/JGRMX's Justin Brayton grabbed his
first Motosport.com Holeshot Award of the season in the opening 450
Class moto. Brayton was closely followed by a large contingent of
competitors, led by Team Honda Muscle Milk's Trey Canard and Dungey.
Brayton maintained the lead on the opening lap with a hard-charging
Dungey on his rear fender, but while that battle took shape Canard took
advantage of an opportunity to slip by Dungey and then set his sights on
Brayton.
Canard
soon made the pass to take over the lead on the opening lap and
proceeded to open a small gap over the field. As that happened, Dungey
lost another spot on the track while fighting to get around Brayton,
this time to his teammate Roczen. With no riders separating himself and
the leader, Roczen set his sights on Canard and chipped away at the
deficit, eventually taking control of the moto on Lap 4. Dungey,
meanwhile, made the pass on Brayton and was able to close the gap on
Canard to eventually take control of second.
With
the KTM duo asserting themselves out front and pulling away, Canard
fell into the clutches of GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac with the pair battling
throughout the remaining stages of the moto. Out front, Dungey was able
to close to within a second of his teammate as they approached lappers
near the end, but Roczen held him off for the win. Canard withstood the
challenge of Tomac for third, with Team Yoshimura Suzuki's James Stewart
coming on strong to finish fifth.
Dungey (5), Canard (41) and Roczen (94) all made their presence felt in the opening moto. Photo: Simon Cudby / Racer X
After
closing in on his teammate at the end of the first moto, Dungey aimed
to seize the opportunity in Moto 2 and did just that by racing to the
Motosport.com Holeshot Award. The clear track allowed Dungey to set a
torrid pace in the early stages and open a comfortable margin over the
field. With Dungey pulling away, Roczen needed to work his way into
second and after slotting himself in third on the opening lap, he passed
Toyota/Yamaha/JGRMX's Josh Grant for second and looked to try and close
the gap on his teammate.
Dungey
never looked back and went on to post his most dominant ride of the
season with a wire-to-wire victory. The former two-time series champion
had led just nine laps coming into Budds Creek, but nearly tripled his
season total by leading all 17 laps of Moto 2. Roczen followed in
second, but had to fend off a major threat from Tomac in the closing
laps.
The
Red Bull KTM duo posted identical moto scores once again but Dungey's
second-moto triumph awarded him the tiebreaker. Roczen's streak of
finishing on the podium in every moto this season continued.
The second moto holeshot proved to be the key to Dungey's (5) success. Photo: Simon Cudby / Racer X
"It
was tough after that first moto, but I got back, cooled down and was
feeling good," said Dungey, who moved into third on the all-time total
career wins list. "I thought this [the second moto] was my moment. I got
a good start, which that was way, way key and just allowed me to ride
my laps. It's good to get this win; it's been since round one. This is a
good step."
"We
all have our days. I'm just happy to finish second and keep the points
lead the same," said Roczen. "That's all I can ask for. I just wasn't
feeling it in that second moto and it's time to put that behind me. It's
all about preparation during the week, so I'm going to go back and get
stronger."
Tomac's
hard charge to close out the final moto helped him steal third overall
(4-3) from Canard, who posted identical 3-4 moto scores. Soaring
Eagle/RCH Racing Suzuki's Weston Peick finished fifth (6-5).
Roczen's
lead over Dungey in the 450 Class standings remains at 26 points.
Canard sits third, 63 points behind. With three consecutive overall
podiums in his first three career starts in the premier class, Tomac has
already moved into 11th.
450 Class (Moto Finish)
- Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., KTM (2-1)
- Ken Roczen, Germany, KTM (1-2)
- Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda (4-3)
- Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda (3-4)
- Weston Peick, Wildomar, Calif., Suzuki (6-5)
- Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha (9-6)
- Andrew Short, Colorado Springs, Colo., KTM (8-7)
- Brett Metcalfe, Australia, Kawasaki (7-11)
- Phil Nicoletti, Bethel, N.Y., Yamaha (12-8)
- Matt Goerke, Sun City, Calif., KTM (11-10)
450 Class Championship Standings
- Ken Roczen, Germany, KTM, 327
- Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., KTM, 301
- Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda, 264
- James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Suzuki, 212
- Brett Metcalfe, Australia, Kawasaki, 192
- Josh Grant, Riverside, Calif., Yamaha, 186
- Weston Peick, Wildomar, Calif., Suzuki, 162
- Andrew Short, Colorado Springs, Colo., KTM, 161
- Chad Reed, Australia, Kawasaki, 132
- Malcolm Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Suzuki, 128
250 Class:
Bogle (32) and Anderson (17) were two new faces at the front of 250 Class field in the opening moto.
Photo: Simon Cudby / Racer X
New
faces emerged in the battle for victory in the opening 250 Class moto
with GEICO Honda's Justin Bogle securing the Motosport.com Holeshot
Award, edging out Valli Motorsports Yamaha's Christophe Pourcel. As this
pair jockeyed up front, Rockstar Energy Racing's Jason Anderson emerged
as a player in the fight for the lead, passing Pourcel and setting his
sights on Bogle out front. Neither of the lead pair had ever won a moto
in their career, setting the stage for a thrilling battle. After going
bar-to-bar in the opening laps, Anderson slipped passed Bogle on Lap 2
and began to open a gap over the field.
With
Anderson out front, the battle for the podium intensified with points
leader and Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha rider Jeremy Martin joining Bogle
and Pourcel in their fight. Martin made the pass on Pourcel for third
on Lap 6 and proceeded to challenge Bogle for three laps before assuming
control of the runner-up spot on Lap 9. Throughout this fight, Baggett
fought his way forward from a seventh-place start to jump into podium
contention. Baggett moved into fourth on Lap 9 and then made the pass on
Bogle for third just two laps later.
As
Baggett pressured Martin for second, the pair started to close in one
the eight-second lead that Anderson held out front with all three
eventually running mere bike lengths from one another. As the white flag
flew to signify the final lap, about one second separated all three
riders. Anderson maintained his lines to hold off Martin and capture his
first career moto win while Baggett settled for third. Bogle finished
fourth with Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha's Cooper Webb coming from an
11th-place start to finish fifth.
Anderson's first career moto win put him in control in the pursuit for the overall. Photo: Simon Cudby / Racer X
Martin
gained the upper hand to start the second moto by securing the
Motosport.com Holeshot Award with Pourcel in second and Anderson third.
The lead duo were able to pull away from the field but Baggett, who
started fourth, began his march to the front, which started with a pass
on Anderson for third. As Martin slowly pulled away out front, Pourcel
and Baggett engaged in a hotly contested battle for second that lasted
six laps before Baggett finally made the pass on Lap 7.
Once
in second, Baggett faced a deficit of over five seconds to Martin and
methodically closed it down to just a matter of bike lengths. With their
second and third-place finishes in the opening moto, the overall win
would be decided between Martin and Baggett, in which the better
finisher would emerge victorious. On Lap 11 Baggett made his move on the
points leader and immediately pulled away, taking the moto win to
secure the overall in convincing fashion.
It was once again Baggett (4) versus Martin (19) in a fight for victory. Photo: Simon Cudby / Racer X
"I
definitely hope we can keep chipping away towards this championship,"
said Baggett, whose third straight win at Budds Creek was also the ninth
consecutive for Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki at the track. "All
that matters is that I have the points lead at the end of the season,
even If we have to wait all the way to the last moto then that's what
we're going to do. We're not going to stop fighting until then."
Baggett's
3-1 finishes edged out Martin (2-2) by one point when the final totals
were tallied. Anderson's first moto win helped him land third (1-7),
with Pourcel fourth (6-3) and Webb fifth (5-4).
"I
got off to a great start [in the second moto] and tried to put on a
charge there for a little while and got away a bit," said Martin. "But
then we hit some lappers and I could see Baggett was right there closing
in on me. He was riding really good and congrats to him today. I'm just
having fun and trying to win as many races as I can. I'm getting to do
what I've always dreamed of doing."
Martin
lost just one point to his lead in the 250 Class standings with Baggett
moving into second, 27 points out. Webb sits third, 33 points behind.
The
2014 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship continues next weekend with
the eighth round of the 2014 season with the Spring Creek National.
Spring Creek MX Park in Millville, Minnesota, will host the world's best
riders on Saturday, July 19. Action begins at 2 p.m. ET.
Roczen (left) and Tomac (right) have been on the overall podium in each start of their 450 Class careers.
Photo: Simon Cudby / Racer X
250 Class (Moto Finish)
- Blake Baggett, Grand Terrace, Calif., Kawasaki (3-1)
- Jeremy Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha (2-2)
- Jason Anderson, Edgewood, N.M., KTM (1-7)
- Christophe Pourcel, France, Yamaha (6-3)
- Cooper Webb, Morehead City, N.C., Yamaha (5-4)
- Justin Bogle, Cushing, Okla., Honda (4-5)
- Justin Hill, Yoncalla, Ore., Kawasaki (13-6)
- Cole Seely, Newbury Park, Calif., Honda (10-9)
- Anthony Rodriguez, Venezuela, Yamaha (9-10)
- Marvin Musquin, France, KTM (8-14)
250 Class Championship Standings
- Jeremy Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha, 294
- Blake Baggett, Grand Terrace, Calif., Kawasaki, 267
- Cooper Webb, Morehead City, N.C., Yamaha, 261
- Justin Bogle, Cushing, Okla., Honda, 225
- Christophe Pourcel, France, Yamaha, 211
- Jason Anderson, Edgewood, N.M., KTM, 206
- Marvin Musquin, France, KTM, 201
- Cole Seely, Newbury Park, Calif., Honda, 166
- Justin Hill, Yoncalla, Ore., Kawasaki, 150
- Jessy Nelson, Paso Robles, Calif., Honda, 144
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