Steve Cox | August 12, 2017
2017 Unadilla Lucas Oil AMA 250MX Results -It was a wet one at Unadilla. Track builders, along with the AMA and MX Sports official, saw there was inclement weather on its way prior to the running of the Unadilla MX National, held at Unadilla Valley Sports Center in New Berlin, New York, so they prepped the track differently than normal, opting to pack the dirt down more than usual (rather than ripping the soil really deep) in the hopes it would allow more run-off from the track. It wasn’t much of a factor through most of the first moto, but by the end of the day, this was a full-on mudder.
2017 Unadilla Lucas Oil AMA 250MX Results
In the first moto, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo grabbed the holeshot over his teammate – and winner of the last two 250MX Nationals in a row – Joey Savatgy slotted himself into second place. Things were steady out front for much of the race until Cianciarulo went down in a right-hander, handing the lead to Savatgy, who went on to dominate the remainder of the moto.
Cianciarulo eventually slid back to fifth, as he fell victim to the charging Jeremy Martin (Geico Honda) when he fell, then was also eaten up by points leader Zach Osborne (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) and Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger in the final couple of laps.
Cianciarulo managed to finish in front of Plessinger’s teammate Dylan Ferrandis, Martin’s teammates Chase Sexton and RJ Hampshire, Mitchell Harrison (Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha), and TLD/Red Bull KTM’s Shane McElrath.
Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha rookie, in his first-ever pro race after garnering major accolades last week at Loretta Lynn’s, Justin Cooper finished a solid 12th in the opening moto, just behind teammate Colt Nichols and in front of AutoTrader/JGR/Suzuki’s Kyle Cunningham.
Then the skies opened up, and after the second 450MX moto was ended abruptly due to lightning in the area, there was a 2 1/2-hour rain delay before the start of the second motos. The second motos were also shortened to just 20 minutes plus two laps, rather than the usual 30 minutes plus two laps.
The second moto was all Jeremy Martin. Martin got the holeshot, followed by rookie Cooper, Plessinger, Hampshire, Ferrandis, Savatgy, Sexton, Harrison, Osborne and Cianciarulo, and then Martin just held steady in the desperate conditions to take the moto win, and the overall.
Cooper hung on for second in the moto in front of Ferrandis, Savatgy and Osborne.
Overall, Martin took the win with a 2-1 score over the 1-4 of Savatgy and the 3-5 of Osborne. Ferrandis was fourth overall (6-3) and Cooper, in his first-ever AMA National, came in a remarkable fifth overall with a 12-2 score.
Osborne now leads Martin by 63 points with just two races (four motos) left to run in the series, which means that even if Martin manages to win both motos next weekend at Budds Creek, Osborne just needs to garner 37 total points on the day to clinch the championship with one race still remaining. For a point of reference, a 4-3 score on the day would give Osborne 38 total points.
2017 Unadilla Lucas Oil AMA 250MX Results
2017 Unadilla Lucas Oil AMA 250MX Results
250MX Point Standings