Steve Cox | August 12, 2018
2018 Unadilla 450cc National MX Results: Days after the French Motocross of Nations team slighted the fastest French motocross racer on the planet—leaving him off the team despite his winning at the host venue, RedBud, only weeks before the announcement—Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin went out in the mud at Unadilla and scored yet another win in the 2018 Lucas Oil/AMA 450cc Pro Motocross Championship.
Privateer Dylan Merriam got the holeshot in the very-sloppy first moto over Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM’s Blake Baggett and Musquin, while local boy Justin Barcia (Monster Energy Yamaha) went down in the first turn and was slow to get back going again. Merriam held tough out front for the first little while, but once the dam broke and Musquin battled his way by, so did the rest of the top racers in the field. Merriam eventually finished 15th in the moto.
Musquin was chased by Baggett and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Phil Nicoletti, and points leader Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki) was eighth at the end of lap one after starting mid-pack.
2018 Unadilla 450cc National MX Results
While Musquin led, Nicoletti ran second, and Baggett third, Tomac caught up to Baggett’s rear wheel only three laps into the race, but then his goggle’s roll-off system failed and he, smartly, made a quick pit-stop for fresh goggles. He lost one spot to Baggett’s teammate Benny Bloss, which he quickly regained on the next lap, and by the end of that lap, he was right back on Baggett again.
Soon after, Baggett pitted for fresh goggles, rejoining the race in sixth, and then Nicoletti had a minor crash, handing second to Tomac. Just as Tomac went by Musquin for the lead, Musquin pitted for fresh goggles himself, and that was it.
Tomac took the moto win by over 25 seconds over Musquin, with Nicoletti nearly another full minute behind him in third. Then came Bloss, Baggett, Red Bull KTM’s 5-time GNCC champ Kailub Russell in a very respectable sixth place (in his first-ever AMA pro motocross race), and Honda’s Ken Roczen, who was the last racer on the lead lap.
2018 Unadilla 450cc National MX Results
With the first gate pick for moto two, Tomac picked the far inside gate, and it paid off, keeping him out of the carnage as Musquin got the holeshot and Tomac came around in second, but it was Nicoletti who snuck by both of them to take the lead in the first couple turns. He stayed there for the first few laps until Musquin surprised him with an inside move in a turn and took the lead, and Tomac soon followed the Frenchman by, but Tomac had nothing for Musquin in the second moto.
Musquin took the win by almost 35 seconds over Tomac, who had another 30 seconds on Barcia in third. Barcia battled with his teammate Cooper Webb in the last few laps to snatch third. Webb was fourth and Nicoletti, after a fall, was fifth. Then came Baggett, Roczen, and AutoTrader/Yoshimura Suzuki’s Weston Peick, the last racer on the lead lap.
2018 Unadilla 450cc National MX Results
Musquin took the overall win with a 2-1 over Tomac’s 1-2, which means Musquin didn’t make up any points on Tomac in the championship chase. Local boy Nicoletti ended up third overall with a 3-5 over another local boy, Barcia, who scored an 8-3 for fourth despite his opening-moto first-turn fall. Baggett was fifth overall on the day with a 5-6.
Russell, the GNCC star, was running 10th in moto two when he went over the bars after his front-end tucked in a rut, and he scored a DNF and looked to be favoring his left elbow.
Tomac maintains a 15-point lead as the series heads to the penultimate round this coming weekend at Budds Creek in Maryland.
2018 Unadilla 450cc National MX Results
2018 Unadilla 450cc National MX Results
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