| June 25, 2016
After the previous round of the 2016 Lucas Oil AMA 250cc Pro Motocross Championships at High Point Raceway in Pennsylvania, third-place finisher Cooper Webb (Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha) made it clear that he was looking forward to today’s race at Muddy Creek Raceway in Blountville, Tennessee.
Muddy Creek 250MX
The reason for this is that Webb, hailing from next door in North Carolina, spent a lot of years racing at Muddy Creek when he was an amateur. The same can be said for fellow North Carolinian Shane McElrath (Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM).
But it was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo, from Florida, who managed to put in the fastest qualifying time during the day. He followed that up with a solid holeshot in the opening moto, and was challenged immediately by teammate and points leader Joey Savatgy, but it was actually GEICO Honda’s Jordon Smith who took over the lead from Cianciarulo on lap two. Savatgy followed Smith by Cianciarulo a lap later, then managed to put a move on Smith for the lead only a handful of laps into the race.
Savatgy – who had won three of the four previous AMA 250cc National overalls – set sail at that point while Cianciarulo and Smith battled it out over second. Just after Cianciarulo had managed to put Smith behind him for second place, he went down, and the incident allowed Webb to snatch second place.
Webb’s teammates Alex and Jeremy Martin found themselves in sixth and seventh in the late part of the moto when Alex went down on his own. Fears of a repeat of High Point – where each of the Martin brothers had suffered a mechanical failure (head-gasket failures) – lingered as he was unable to start his YZ250F for almost a full minute and lost 13 positions. He did get it fired back up, though, and ended up 19th at the line, while his brother and defending champ Jeremy finished sixth.
Savatgy took the moto win – his fifth of the season – over Webb (nine seconds behind), and then came another North Carolinian in Zach Osborne (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), Smith, and McElrath.
In moto two, McElrath, Savatgy and Cianciarulo battled over the holeshot off the start, but it was Alex Martin who snatched the lead, passing all three racers in the track’s third turn to take the lead.
Having none of it, McElrath took advantage of an Alex Martin bobble later on the opening lap to take the lead back. Behind them, Savatgy made a costly error and fell while running third, remounting in eighth place, which was just a couple of spots behind first-moto runner-up Webb, who was moving forward through the pack yet again.
On lap four, as Webb tried to find his way by Cianciarulo for fourth, the two collided. The two went down, but Webb only lost three spots, while Cianciarulo remounted much farther back.
With Webb then in line behind Savatgy and Savatgy’s rookie teammate Austin Forkner, Webb tried to just stick to Savatgy’s rear wheel, but Savatgy was able to get around Forkner for fourth on lap six and began making up time on Smith in third while Webb struggled to find a way by the Kawasaki rookie.
Then Webb got a gift. Savatgy went down a second time, but this time remounted with a slightly twisted Kawasaki back in ninth place. Around the halfway point, Webb caught fire. First, he passed Forkner for fourth, then got Smith only a lap later for third. From lap 10 to the finish on lap 18, Webb never left the 1:58 laptime range. His laptimes actually dropped into the 1:56 and 1:57 range on a handful of the final 8 laps while the two leaders – McElrath out front and Alex Martin in second – had laptimes bottom out in the 1:58s, but hover in the 1:59-2:00 range.
Needless to say, Webb closed the gap quickly, and went by teammate Alex Martin as soon as he caught him near the end of lap 16. With two laps to go, and trailing McElrath by at least five seconds, Webb kept the hammer down. McElrath didn’t do himself any favors when, on the penultimate lap, he failed to jump the “Bomber” uphill triple, which put Webb right behind him. Only a few turns after the pair took the white flag, Webb pushed McElrath wide to take the lead. Although McElrath looked like he was trying to fight back, he duplicated his error from the previous lap and again failed to jump the Bomber. At that point, the race was over.
Webb took the moto win with three seconds to spare over McElrath, then Alex Martin, Forkner, Jeremy Martin, Smith, Savatgy, his teammate Arnaud Tonus, GEICO Honda’s RJ Hampshire, and Osborne.
Webb took the overall with a 2-1 score over Savatgy’s 1-7 for second place. Then came McElrath, with his career best moto (second) and overall (third) finishes, thanks to his 5-2 score. Then came Smith (4-6), Jeremy Martin (6-5), Osborne (3-10), Forkner (10-4), Hampshire (9-9), Alex Martin (19-3) and Tonus (12-8).
“I’m just tired of losing…” Cooper Webb said following his first victory of the season.
Webb has narrowed the points gap on Savatgy from 20 points to just 12 as the series heads to RedBud this weekend, July 2nd, in Buchanan, Michigan.
Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship
Muddy Creek Raceway
Blountville, Tennessee
RESULTS 250MX: June 25, 2016
— STEVE COX
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