| June 25, 2016
On the hottest day of racing so far in the 2016 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, RCH Suzuki’s Ken Roczen proved that he’s still the man to beat at Muddy Creek. Unlike many of the previous rounds, though, Roczen had a close challenger in both motos in the form of Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac.
Muddy Creek 450MX Motos
The temperatures reached into the 90s by the time the gate dropped for 450cc moto one at Muddy Creek Raceway in Blountville, Tennessee, June 25, and Honda’s Cole Seely snatched the holeshot. He was quickly passed for the lead by Autotrader.com/JGR/Monster Energy Yamaha’s Phil Nicoletti, who quickly relented and handed the lead back to Seely.
Roczen rounded the first turn outside of the top 10, but managed to come around in fifth place on lap one. Tomac actually started just in front of Roczen, but rounded lap one in seventh, with Nicoletti’s teammate Weston Peick sandwiched between them.
Roczen worked his way first by Peick and Nicoletti’s teammate Justin Barcia for fourth, then fast qualifier Christophe Pourcel (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) for third and Nicoletti for second by the fourth lap of the race.
By this time, though, Seely had managed to build a sizeable gap, and with Tomac within striking distance back in third place, Roczen began eating away at Seely’s lead. Before the halfway point, Roczen was looking for a place to pass Seely, and Tomac was doing the same with Roczen. The two nearly collided on a couple of occasions as they frantically switched up their lines, but Roczen managed to zap Seely for the lead on lap 10 of 18 as Tomac pressured them both.
With Roczen taking over out front, and Tomac fearing that he’d get away, Tomac quickly pushed his way past Seely, forcing the Honda rider wide in an aggressive, but ultimately clean, move for second place.
From there, Tomac could only keep Roczen honest, as he stayed close to Roczen until getting caught behind some lappers on the final lap and slowed it down to settle for second, 5.8 seconds behind the championship points leader.
Seely hung on for third in front of Pourcel, Peick (in his best performance of the year so far), Roczen’s teammate Broc Tickle, Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin (in a remarkable ride after falling in the first turn), Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett, BTOSports.com/KTM’s Justin Brayton, and Nicoletti.
Tickle snatched the start in moto two while Roczen fought his way into the top five in the first few corners. Tomac actually passed Roczen momentarily early on lap one, but Roczen got him right back and then went to work, passing Seely and Brayton to land on Tickle’s rear wheel. He passed his teammate early on lap two for the lead, and Tomac managed to fight his way by Tickle on the fourth lap for second. At that point, Roczen held a relatively comfortable lead, but Tomac “just focused on my lap times and hitting my marks” and managed to close in on Roczen.
Tomac (running 1:54s) erased two seconds per lap off of Roczen’s lead (who was running 1:56s) in the last few laps until, with two laps to go, Tomac found himself close enough to strike. He made moves to the inside of Roczen, then to the outside, but Roczen countered his every move and managed to drop his lap times down into the 1:54s as well.
On the final lap, late in the lap, Roczen came upon a couple of lappers that seemed to believe they were out of the way once Roczen got by and moved back into the main line, just in front of Tomac, and that was all it took.
Roczen scored his eighth and ninth moto wins of the season in Tennessee, followed closely in both motos by Tomac.
In moto two, Tickle hung on for a best-ever third-place 450cc moto finish in front of Musquin, Barcia, Seely, Baggett, Pourcel, Peick and GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle.
And overall, Tickle’s 6-3 score was good enough for third overall on the day behind the 2-2 of Tomac and the 1-1 of Roczen.
Roczen now leads the points standings by 47 points as the series heads to the halfway point next Saturday, July 2nd, at RedBud Raceway in Buchanan, Michigan.
2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship
Muddy Creek Raceway
Blounteville, Tennessee
RESULTS: 450MX June 25, 2016
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–STEVE COX