Steve Cox | July 7, 2018
2018 RedBud 450cc National MX Results: As they say, there’s a reason they actually run the races. If we knew how things were going to go before we dropped the gate, there’d be no point in dropping the gate.
At round seven of the 12-round 2018 Lucas Oil/AMA 450cc Pro Motocross Championship, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac came into RedBud with a 32-point championship lead, and left with a 3-point championship deficit to Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin. Here’s how:
Fast qualifier Blake Baggett grabbed the moto-one holeshot with Musquin hot on his heels, but Musquin fell immediately in the second turn (as did Monster Energy Yamaha’s Justin Barcia in a separate incident) and Tomac quickly moved through a gaggle of privateers (and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Phil Nicoletti) in the top five to sit second halfway through the first lap. Just after that, still on the first lap, Tomac began to pressure Baggett for the lead when Baggett knifed the front end on his Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM 450 SX/F and went over the bars, handing the lead to Tomac. Baggett then went into the mechanics’ area to have his front end straightened out after he re-entered the race.
2018 RedBud 450cc National MX Results
Over the first four laps, Tomac stretched out a lead while Honda’s Ken Roczen moved into second, and Musquin and Barcia moved into fifth and sixth around the halfway point. Then, with less than three laps left to go and over 15 seconds on Roczen in second place, Tomac’s motorcycle quit. He ended up with a DNF while Roczen sped away to his first moto win since the end of the 2016 season.
Musquin recovered remarkably for second place, passing Baggett’s teammate Benny Bloss for the spot in the final handful of laps, while Bloss hung on for third over Barcia, Baggett, Nicoletti, Barcia’s teammate Cooper Webb, AutoTrader/Yoshimura Suzuki’s Weston Peick, Brit Jake Nicholls, Peick’s teammate Justin Hill and Suzuki privateer Kyle Cunningham, who just celebrated his 29th birthday two days prior to the event.
2018 RedBud 450cc National MX Results
The DNF in moto one left Tomac with only a 10-point championship lead and a far-outside starting position in the second moto, which means he started poorly, rounding turn one outside the top 20, while Peick’s Suzuki teammate Justin Bogle got his third holeshot in the last four motos. Bogle led early, but Musquin was making moves just a few spots back and his battle with Roczen took the two of them past Bogle on the first lap, after which Bogle went down awkwardly in the turn before LaRocco’s Leap just as Barcia was passing him for third.
Musquin led Roczen, Barcia and Hill, and just as Tomac caught up to sixth place, just passed Webb, he went down and had to go into the mechanics’ area to have his front end adjusted. He re-entered the race 13th, only to go down again about six laps later.
In the end, Musquin took the moto and overall win for the second week in a row, finishing the second moto about four seconds in front of Barcia, who made a last-lap pass on Roczen for the runner-up spot. Roczen hung on for third about 40 seconds in front of Hill in fourth. Then came Baggett, whose teammate Bloss crashed out of a decent position about halfway through, and then Webb, Cunningham and Tomac in 9th.
2018 RedBud 450cc National MX Results
Tomac now trails Musquin by 3 points in the championship with 5 rounds left to run, while Barcia sits another 37 points behind Tomac in third.
The series takes a weekend off this weekend before returning to action at Spring Creek in Millville, Minnesota, on July 21st.
2018 RedBud 450cc National MX Results
2018 RedBud 450cc National MX Results
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