Steve Cox | July 21, 2018
2018 Millville 450cc National MX Results: Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac lost 35 points to rival Marvin Musquin (Red Bull KTM) in one day at RedBud, the previous round of the 2018 Lucas Oil/AMA 450cc Pro Motocross Championships, and at Spring Creek Raceway in Millville, Minnesota, it was the first time in 2018 that Tomac’s KX450F wasn’t sporting the red number-plates that identify him as the current points leader. But he came out swinging at Millville.
Tomac set the fastest qualifying time over Musquin by nearly a second before putting in two winning motos to leave Minnesota as the points leader once again.
2018 Millville 450cc National MX Results
Honda’s Ken Roczen got the holeshot to start moto one over Musquin, Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM’s Blake Baggett and Tomac, while AutoTrader/Yoshimura/JGR Suzuki’s Justin Bogle did his best to fight off a hoard of factory racers in fifth. Baggett took an off-track excursion through the sand whoops on the first lap, giving up third to Tomac, who then went after Musquin and made that pass stick just over a lap later. Then he set out after Roczen, who had already pulled out to a nearly four-second lead.
But even with that lead, Tomac was able to catch Roczen within just a couple of laps and begin putting pressure on the former champ. The battle lasted more than half the race before, with about a handful of laps left, Roczen was balked by a lapped rider entering the sand whoops and Tomac was able to go by.
Musquin crashed late in the first half of the race, giving Baggett third, and the finishing order was Tomac by over 13 seconds over Roczen, Baggett, Musquin, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Justin Barcia, Bogle’s teammate Weston Peick, Barcia’s teammate Cooper Webb, Rocktar Energy Husqvarna’s Phil Nicoletti, Yamaha privateer Henry Miller, Bogle’s teammate Justin Hill, Baggett’s teammate Benny Bloss and Suzuki privateer Kyle Cunningham in 12th. Bogle hung on for 14th, which was his best moto finish so far since he returned to action a few races ago.
The ride of the day came in moto two, though… Bogle got another holeshot (his fourth of the six motos he’s raced thus far in 2018) over Musquin, Roczen and Baggett, while Tomac sat about eighth off the start. Tomac seemed remarkably patient in the early laps, and it was easy to suspect that he was being too patient to have a chance to win, as Musquin pulled away out front. For the second moto in a row, Tomac had to find a way around Roczen for second, which took him over half the moto, and when Tomac moved into the runner-up spot, he had well over 5 seconds to make up on Musquin. And, as a testament to Tomac’s unbelievable raw speed, he did it in just two laps.
Then, Tomac used an outside line, just as he caught Musquin, to jet past the KTM pilot before he even knew what hit him. Tomac took the moto lead with just three laps left to go, then went on to win by about 7 seconds over Musquin, Roczen, Baggett, Barcia, Peick, Hill, Bloss, Webb and Nicoletti. Then came Miller and Bogle, with that 12th-place representing his best moto finish of the year so far.
2018 Millville 450cc National MX Results
And just like that, with his 1-1 performance on the day, Tomac gets the red plate back on his motorcycle, while Roczen was second overall (2-3) and Musquin third (4-2). Baggett (3-4) and Barcia (5-5) rounded out the top five overall.
Tomac now leads the championship by seven points over Musquin, while Barcia sits almost 50 poitns behind Musquin and just eight points in front of Roczen as the series heads to its final four rounds starting next Saturday in Washougal, Washington, where Musquin won in 2017, and Tomac won in 2016.
2018 Millville 450cc National MX Results
2018 Millville 450cc National MX Results
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