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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1157198
MOTOCROSS LUCAS OIL AMA PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIPS ROUND 11 / AUGUST 17, 2019 BUDDS CREEK RACEWAY / BUDDS CREEK, MARYL AND P60 McElrath, who hadn't scored a single moto podium finish and had only scored three top-five moto finishes in the 20 motos run prior to Budds Creek. The win was de- finitive and came out of nowhere. 450MX Rocky Mountain ATV-MC KTM's Justin Bogle snagged the open- ing-moto holeshot, but Tomac fought his way into the lead im- mediately, followed a few seconds later by Roczen, who went 1-1 at the previous round at Unadilla. Roczen, who along with Marvin Musquin had an outside chance of winning the title, tried to match Tomac's pace early in the Mary- land heat, but he couldn't, and he was forced to settle for second in the moto with time to spare over Musquin and the Rockstar Energy to fifth place because of the zero- points day. He says he's going to try to line up at Ironman this Saturday. If he can't, depending on how well some other racers do, he could fall back to as far as 10th in points, as Hunter Lawrence (currently 10th) sits only 40 points behind Nichols. BETTER SETTINGS, BETTER RESULTS With the help of test rider Travis Preston, Justin Barcia is feeling much better on his factory YZ450F. Through round nine at Washougal, Barcia had only finished in the top five in one moto, which came in muddy conditions at Millville (round eight). In the last four motos, Barcia has had two top-five finishes. His teammate Aaron Plessinger is also improving, with a 9-9 at Budds Creek. GEICO UPDATE Geico Honda's Hunter Lawrence returned to action at Budds Creek after missing two rounds with an injury. He qualified in the top five and went 10-13 on the day de- spite getting caught up in first-turn crashes in both motos. His younger brother, Jett, was running 15th in the first moto but pulled off before the end of the race in order to avoid garnering a total of 25 points on the season (which would prevent him from racing as an amateur in 2020), and then in moto two, Jett was running fifth until the heat got to him, and he went backward. Both Jett Lawrence and Carson Mumford are slated to race as amateurs in 2020 for the team, but we'll see what happens if either of them are in a position to grab a podium at the finale. Jett Lawrence is sitting on 13 Briefly... Hot weather was a factor at the second-to-last round of the championship.