VOL. 53 ISSUE 29 JULY 26, 2016 P55
in third, behind Musquin and Roc-
zen, and was anxious not to let Roc-
zen get away again. Tomac used an
outside line to go around Musquin as
the two headed toward Horsepower
Hill. Once in second, Tomac quickly
narrowed the gap to Roczen, and
then on the start of lap four, Roczen
seemed to pull over and let Tomac
by.
"When I made the pass on Kenny
[Roczen], it was actually like he gave
it to me," Tomac said. "After the fin-
ish line there, I went to the inside,
and he was on the outside, and he
just kind of let off."
Although it was a ploy to learn
Tomac's lines, Tomac still pulled
away.
"I think we didn't make the right
changes for the second moto,"
Roczen said. "I feel like I should've
just gone a little softer with my overall
package, especially the front end,
and Eli was going pretty good, so I
just checked up a little bit to let him
go by just to see where he was go-
ing. I tried to stay with him, but he
was pulling away."
Tomac took off with the win by
16 seconds over Roczen, who was
nearly 45 seconds in front of Mus-
quin in third.
"I got smoked," Musquin said.
"They were so far ahead of me. It's
a bummer because I feel like I'm
getting better and I should be run-
ning with those guys. They were way
better than me that second moto.
Third was good, but with all the guys
injured in the championship, I just
think that I can do better than that.
Third, right now, is just my spot, but I
need to get better."
obviously pushing to get back by
Tomac for second—scrubbed a jump
too hard and caught his left boot on
the ground, which ripped him off
the bike, sending him belly-flopping
onto the cement-like Washougal dirt.
The crash dropped Pourcel out of
the moto, taking away what would've
been his first top-three finish of the
season.
Roczen took the win by a decep-
tively small margin of just over three
seconds (after he backed it down the
last few laps) over Tomac.
"Towards the end, I was strug-
gling a little bit with my front end and
Eli was coming, but overall it was a
good moto," Roczen said.
Meanwhile, Red Bull KTM's Mar-
vin Musquin overcame a poor start
and a midrace crash to finish solidly
in third.
"I was pushing hard and I felt
good," Musquin said. "I thought I was
going to pass Eli, but I got a little too
hot right there and landed right into
a braking bump, and my suspension
bottomed, and I went off the bike.
It was a little bit sketchy and I got
scared a little bit, but I'm not hurt."
Behind Musquin came Nicoletti,
Bloss, Short, Weston Peick, Red
Bull KTM's Dean Wilson, Yoshimura
Suzuki's James Stewart and then
Justin Barcia.
In moto two, Musquin got the start
just in front of Wilson, Roczen and
Tomac, and again Roczen went im-
mediately to work. Roczen passed
all of them in five turns, topping it off
with a forceful outside move to drop
Musquin to second heading into the
S-turn.
Tomac got sorted out in the pack
