Photography by Larry Lawrence
Marvin Musquin didn’t gain any ground in the points on his Red Bull KTM teammate, Ken Roczen, in the standings, but the 23-year-old Frenchman secured the honor of being the first two-time national winner in the 250 class this season. He also scored his first career moto win in AMA Motocross competition.
Musquin did it the hard way, he earned it. After scoring second to Roczen in the first moto, Musquin came back, took the early lead in the second moto and then held off a concerted charge by Roczen, sometimes by putting lapped traffic between him and his pursuer in the closing laps to hang on to the victory. His margin of victory was 2.721 seconds.
Last year’s High Point 250 winner Eli Tomac was beaten by his GEICO Honda teammate Zach Osborne in the second moto, but Tomac’s 3-4 was good enough to earn him third overall. Osborne, who struggled with arm pump in the first moto, got fifth.
Defending series champ Blake Baggett battled hard to round out the top five. He crashed his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki in the first moto and then lost out in a five-way battle for fifth in the second moto to earn a 4-8.
Roczen added nine points to his series lead on Tomac, while Musquin drew nine points closer to Tomac in the series standings in the battle among the top three.
Musquin admitted that he was tense in the closing laps being pressure by Roczen.
“For sure at one point I was getting nervous,” Musquin said. “Everyone knows that everybody is going fast right now and in the end I was thinking about last year when Ken got passed on the last lap a few times and I was like “I don’t want to do the same thing.’ That’s why I gave all my best and it worked.”
High Point 250 National – June 8, 2013
1 25 Marvin Musquin France KTM 250 SX-F 2-1
2 94 Ken Roczen Germany KTM 250 SX-F 1-2
3 17 Eli Tomac Cortez, CO Honda CRF250R 3-4
4 338 Zach Osborne Chesterfield, SC Honda CRF250R 10-3
5 1 Blake Baggett Grand Terrace, CA Kawasaki KX 250F 4-8
6 34 Justin Bogle Cushing, OK Honda CRF250R 5-9
7 77 Jeremy Martin Millville, MN Yamaha YZ 250F 9-6
8 175 Cooper Webb Newport, NC Yamaha YZ 250F 6-11
9 176 Joseph Savatgy Thomasville, GA KTM 250 SX-F 13-5
10 21 Jason Anderson Edgewood, NM Suzuki RMZ 250 12-7
Standings (after four of 12 rounds):
1. Roczen 185
2. Tomac 170
3. Musquin 163
4. Baggett 141
5. Osborne 127
