The rolling green hills of Unadilla Valley Sports Center have held some of the most historic battles in the sport’s history and Round 10 of the Pro Motocross Championship saw a special curve ball was thrown into the race.
Rain.
The heavens opened up towards the end of the 1st 450 moto, soaking the track and, with the accompanying storm producing lightning, the moto was cut short. From there, torrential rains pounded the track. The ruts, holes and grooves that had been cut into the track in the opening motos were turned into standing water and the going proved to be treacherous for the overall deciding second motos.
That said, let’s go back to the action that took place on dry land that lead into the storm.
Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy continued his recent hot streak by taking the 250 moto 1 victory, but had to get past his teammate, Adam Cianciarulo first. Cianciarulo had yanked the holeshot and was producing perfect laps in the lead when he lost the front end of his KX250F around a corner and went down. Adam would remount 3rd, but finish the moto in 5th spot. GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin finished the moto in 2nd spot, while series point leader Zach Osborne came home 3rd.
In 450 moto 1, it was all Marvin Musquin. The Frenchman has been unstoppable and little stood in his way of making it five moto wins in a row. Team RMATV/MC KTM-mounted Blake Baggett finished runner-up in the moto and was applying serious pressure to Musquin when the storm hit. However, the big story was class point leader Eli Tomac finishing, by his standards, a dismal 10th. With the margin between Eli and Baggett closing exponentially, the pressure was on the Monster Energy Kawasaki racer to rebound in 450 moto 2.
As stated, the conditions for the second round of motos were extremely wet. The second 250 moto saw Jeremy Martin blast into the lead, scoring an all important “mud race holeshot.” But, all eyes were on the #191 of Justin Cooper, who was making his Pro Motocross debut a week after claiming two titles at the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National Championships. Martin sprinted away, but Cooper literally stayed in his wake and brought his Yamaha home in second place in the moto, which was good enough to land him 5th overall for the day. It was an outstanding effort by the rookie. The overall podium for the 250 class was Martin, Savatgy and Osborne.
450 moto two saw Musquin grab the holeshot and never look back. Tomac fared a little better this time around, finishing 5th. Meanwhile, it was a bad moto for Baggett as he could only muster an 11th place finish. While Blake remains 2nd in the 450 point standings, he and Tomac had better keep an eye on Musquin, who has now won six motos and three 450 overalls consecutively. As it stands now, Tomac retains a 27-point lead over Baggett with Musquin now only 31 markers behind with 4 motos left to race.
The Pro Motocross Championship continues this Saturday in Budd’s Creek, Maryland.