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MOTOCROSS LUCAS OIL AMA PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 / JUNE 18, 2016 HIGH POINT RACEWAY / MT. MORRIS, PENNSYLVANIA P64 450MX Roczen started out the series win- ning five out of the first six motos, with the only loss coming when his forks deflated while leading in moto one at Glen Helen. But with the historically fast starts by Roczen and historically slow starts from Dungey, it's easy to under- stand why so many fans and pun- dits seemed to be simply waiting for Dungey to find something and begin to beat Roczen and narrow the points gap. Instead, the usu- ally consistent and healthy Dungey made a mistake in moto two in Colorado and crashed pretty hard while he was trying to get away from Roczen early on the opening lap while Roczen was stuck in the pack. Dungey got up and finished the moto, but during the 13 days between the Colorado National and this past weekend's race, Dungey found out he had a fractured vertebra. The defend- ing champion, who was second in the points standings, is out of the championship. And then there's Trey Canard. Canard, who was fourth in points after the first three rounds, is a former 250cc National Champion, and when things are going well, can literally beat any racer on the planet. He had just figured out his starts after a couple of years of major inconsistency in that regard and had begun to work his way back toward the front of the pack in this year's Lucas Oil AMA 450cc Motocross Championship. At the last round in Colorado, Canard scored his first top-three moto finish of the season. But a crash while practicing at home in Okla- homa left Canard with a bulging disk in his back just above his already fused vertebrae from a previous back injury. The bulg- ing disk left him with diminished feeling and strength in his right arm, so he was forced to sit out the High Point National as well. His return to the series depends on the recovery of feeling and function in his arm, as well as making sure he doesn't do more damage by returning too early. And just like that, the already dominant Roczen headed to the High Point National to face a field without second and fourth place in points. Even with the knowledge that he wouldn't have to deal with Dungey or Canard, Roczen didn't leave anything to chance. In the first moto, Roczen start- ed second, just behind Monster Energy Kawasaki's Eli Tomac (third in points coming into High Point), but moved to the lead in the middle of turn one. After an early Roczen sprint, Tomac began to reel his longtime rival back in only to lose the front end and go down. With Tomac off his tail, Roczen simply cruised it in to take the moto win over the lone ranger at Red Bull KTM, Marvin Musquin. Musquin has a history of strong finishes in the 250cc class at High Point Raceway, and with his teammate Dungey missing (and his other teammate Dean Wilson missing for most of the last two years with injury), he stepped up to the plate to snag second place in the opening moto, just in front of Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Jason Anderson, Anderson's teammate Christophe Pourcel, and then Tomac, who managed to recover for fifth. In the second moto, it was Autotrader.com/JGR/Monster Energy Yamaha's Justin Barcia who snatched the holeshot, but yet again, Roczen struck early and immediately pulled away, while Barcia tried to hold off Anderson, Musquin, Tomac and the rest of the field. Tomac was the man on the move, but by lap four, when he found his way by Anderson for second, Roczen was gone. Roczen took his seventh moto win over Tomac, Anderson, Musquin, Barcia, Honda's Cole Seely, and the rest of the field. But bigger than that, 2014 450cc National Champion Roczen leaves High Point—four rounds into the 12-round series—already with over 40 points in hand over Tomac in the championship chase. Dungey still sits third in points in front of Canard's teammate Seely, then Anderson, Musquin, Canard, Barcia, Tomac's teammate Josh Grant, and Pourcel. And speaking of Grant, he's been nursing an ankle injury for quite a while now, and he aggra- vated it in practice at High Point. Because of this, Grant scored two DNFs in Pennsylvania and is reportedly due for ankle surgery sooner than later.