VOL. 50 ISSUE 27 JULY 9, 2013
A rapidly improving Jeremy
Martin made the 250 podium
for the first time.
250 NATIONAL
While the 450 class was the tale
of two dominating motos by Villopoto, the 250 class was a tale of
two exceedingly different motos the first a runaway by Eli Tomac,
the second a riding expose by
Ken Roczen.
Tomac passed GEICO Honda
teammate Wil Hahn at the start
of the opening moto and then
blitzed the rutted track to break
away for a comfortable lead, finishing the race with an 18-second
margin over Roczen, who was
forced to work his way up from
just outside the top five after the
start.
Roczen spent most of the race
battling his Red Bull KTM teammate Marvin Musquin, after passing him early in the race. Towards
the end, Musquin came under
fire from Star Racing/MyPlash
Yamaha's Jeremy Martin, who
eventually finished a solid fourth
in the moto, ahead of TLD/Lucas
Oil Honda's Cole Seely.
In the second moto, Tomac
tucked his front wheel just after
passing teammate Zach Osborne
for second place on lap three of
the race, leaving both riders on
the ground.
Roczen had already taken the
lead at that point and was well on
his way to an easy win.
Rejoining the race just outside the top-10, Tomac put on
a charge to the front similar to
the one he turned in last week
at Southwick to claim second in
the moto behind Roczen, his 1-2
moto finish leaving him in second
overall behind the former MX2
World Champ.
Martin was third in this race,
putting the rookie rider on the
podium for the first time in his career.
Musquin went 3-4 for fourth
overall, while Osborne rounded
P57
out the top five in the overall with
a 10-5 moto tally.
"In the first moto, it took me
a while to get past Marvin and a
couple of others, but I worked
my way up and got second, and
I was okay with that," said Roczen. "In the second moto, I got
a good start and got out front
again. I think in the middle of the
moto, I paced myself a little, I saw
Eli coming but I was trying not to
stress too much. But in the end
I pulled it off, although I didn't
gain any points in the standings. I
wanted to go 1-1 here, but overall
I'm happy with the weekend."
Despite finishing second,
Tomac held his ground in the
championship chase, though he
admitted frustration at not being
able to put together two complete races.
"I think my riding is okay, it's
just a little bit disappointing when
you can't put it all together," said
Tomac. "I was "P-1" in practice
and I won the first moto, but then
just a little mistake in the second
moto cost me. I need to start putting it all together, it gets a little
old after a while."
Things might have turned out
differently had Tomac not pushed
his luck while trying to pass Obsorne.
"I was somewhere around fifth
or sixth and I was going around
Zach Osborne over a tabletop
before the sand rollers, and I
tried to squeeze him out; I got a
little impatient and went in a little
hot. I tucked my front end and
went down. And then he was so
