MOTOCROSS
LUCAS OIL AMA PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 11 / AUGUST 20, 2016
BUDDS CREEK RACEWAY / BUDDS CREEK, MARYLAND
P56
advances of Yamaha's Bradley
Taft, who was competing in his
second-ever 250cc National af-
ter moving up from the amateur
ranks following Loretta Lynn's.
Behind Taft came the Rockstar
Energy Husqvarna duo of Zach
Osborne and Martin Davalos,
then Martin's teammate Mitchell
Harrison and Luke Clout.
Savatgy found his way by
Smith before the halfway point,
but by that time he was a long
way behind Martin, and espe-
cially the fleeting Cianciarulo,
until Cianciarulo went down on
then was caught up in a first-turn
crash when another rider went
down in front of him. Starting
38th in the moto, he made his
own situation worse when he
went down a second time while
battling Kyle Cunningham for
25th place later on the open-
ing lap, after their lines came
together. Webb restarted his
charge in about 28th place.
Meanwhile, Savatgy's team-
mate Adam Cianciarulo was out
front and flying, snatching the
holeshot and pulling away from
Martin, GEICO Honda's Jordon
Smith, Savatgy and his rookie
teammate Austin Forkner, and
Forkner was fighting off the
250MX
With seven wins in the preceding
11 motos, along with only one fin-
ish outside the top three during
that same stretch, Yamalube/
Star Racing Yamaha's Cooper
Webb was already the favorite to
take home another win at Budds
Creek. But after setting the fast-
est qualifying time—which isn't
all that common for him—on a
day that should end with his first
National Championship, it almost
seemed like a foregone conclu-
sion.
But, as they say, that's why
they run all the races.
In the opening moto, Webb
got a poor jump off the gate,
(Above) Cooper Webb worked hard
for the number-one plate.
