Steve Cox | June 2, 2018
2018 Thunder Valley 450cc National MX Results: It’s starting to look like the only guy who can beat Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac in the 2018 Lucas Oil AMA 450cc Pro Motocross Championships is Eli Tomac. The defending champ has seemed to be under complete control during all six of the opening motos of this series so far.
In the first moto in his home state of Colorado, Tomac nearly got the holeshot, but that went to Monster Energy Yamaha’s Justin Barcia. Over the next 10 minutes, Barcia led Tomac while they pulled away from the rest of the pack, but at the 10-minute mark, there was a red flag for a downed rider, Kyle Chisholm. The race was stopped.
The riders were put back on the gate, picking gates in the order they were running when the race was stopped. Barcia got first gate pick, but in the end, it was Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM’s Blake Baggett who got the restart holeshot over Honda’s Ken Roczen and Tomac. Barcia came through the first turn in about sixth, then passed three racers in the second turn to take third from Tomac. Soon after, Roczen got by Baggett for the lead while Baggett came under pressure from Barcia. Then Barcia fell, remounting back in sixth again.
Roczen began to pull away as Tomac went by Baggett for second. Tomac had about 2-3 seconds to make up on Roczen out front, and he did it right away. But catching Roczen and passing Roczen are two different things.
Roczen held Tomac off for a handful of laps before Tomac stole the lead away in the rollers just after the finish line. From there, Tomac sped away with the win, by just under five second over Roczen, who held off Baggett by about a second at the finish. Then came Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin and Barcia.
2018 Thunder Valley 450cc National MX Results
To start moto two, Barcia again stole the holeshot, this time over Baggett, Musquin and Roczen, with Roczen taking over second from the two of them. Tomac was fifth off the start. Roczen nearly had the pass made on Barcia during the opening lap, but jumped out of the rut he was trying to use and barely saved it. Tomac moved into third on the opening lap. Tomac got Roczen for second, but then got stuck behind Barcia’s bike when he went down in a fast right-hand sweeper. Barcia got up sixth, and Roczen took the lead while Tomac struggled to get around Barcia’s bike. Baggett also got by Tomac while he was stuck.
It took Tomac a couple laps to find his way by Baggett for second, and then once he did, he set out after Roczen.
2018 Thunder Valley 450cc National MX Results
It took Tomac until well past halfway to find his way by Roczen, but he did it in the exact same spot as moto one, in the rollers after the finish, and then he pulled away to win by 11 seconds over Roczen, who finished by himself in second, 12 seconds in front of Baggett. Then came Musquin, Baggett’s teammate Benny Bloss, and Barcia.
Tomac took the overall with a 1-1 over Roczen’s 2-2, Baggett’s 3-3, Musquin’s 4-4, Bloss’s 6-5, and Barcia’s 5-6.
In the points race, Tomac is undefeated with 150 points over Musquin, who now sits 28 points behind in second. Barcia is third in points, 18 behind Musquin, and then Baggett and Roczen round out the top five, just a few points behind Barcia.
The series takes a weekend off before the series resumes at High Point in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania.
2018 Thunder Valley 450cc National MX Results
2018 Thunder Valley 450cc National MX Results
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