VOLUME 59 ISSUE 24 JUNE 14, 2022 P67
>> 450MX
Roczen started up front early in
moto one and struck quickly to take
over the lead from MXGP import
Antonio Cairoli. From there, Roc-
zen clicked into a solid pace and
broke away from the rest of the
field.
Late in the race, however, Eli
Tomac, the home state hero, cut
into Roczen's lead and eventually
ran the Honda rider down in classic
Tomac style for the moto victory.
But the overall was still very
much up for grabs heading into
moto two.
Another similar scenario broke
out in the second outing, as
Roczen and Cairoli again started
up front and led the pack. Roc-
zen moved his way into the lead,
passing the Italian on one of the
course's fast downhills to take com-
mand before the first lap was over.
This time though, it was Chase
Sexton who caught fire. Seventh
after the first lap, Sexton marched
his way to the front, passing Chris-
tian Craig, Tomac, Jason Anderson
and Cairoli along the way. By the
fourth lap, Sexton was holding
down second and closing in on his
teammate Roczen. A pass for the
lead was eminent.
Before the halfway point, Sex-
ton was out in front and seem-
ingly headed to a sure win ahead
of Roczen and Tomac, who was
trying to get around the stubborn
Honda rider for second. Regard-
less, at this point of the race,
Tomac had the overall victory in the
bag whether he made the pass on
Roczen or not.
MYOWNRACE
29 CHRISTIAN CRAIG
12TH (10-12) 450MX
It was a tough day for Chris an Craig
despite qualifying fastest. He ended up
on the ground mul ple mes and was
forced to come through the pack in both
motos. "In the first moto, I crashed in
the first turn, so I had to come from last
and was able to make it back to 10th. In
the second moto, I was running with the
top guys and had a pre y big crash down
the hill. Unfortunately, my bike was all
twisted up, and I had to pull into the pits
to fix it up. I was only able to get back to
12th, which was disappoin ng."
51 JUSTIN BARCIA
7TH (6-8) 450MX
Jus n Barcia showed some speed this
weekend, running up front with the lead-
ers before finishing just outside the top
five. "It was a li le be er day, 6-8 for sev-
enth overall," Barcia said. "I was happy
with the first moto, I definitely rode
really well. The second moto, I struggled
a li le bit but all-in-all, it was definitely a
big improvement."
(Left) Ken
Roczen's 2-1
finishes earned
him the overall
win. He's won
Lakewood in
five of seven
attempts. (Below)
This was all the
competition saw
of Eli Tomac in
moto one. He
finished second
overall on the
day.
