Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/990347
MOTOCROSS LUCAS OIL AMA PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3 / JULY 2, 2018 THUNDER VALLEY PARK / LAKEWOOD, CALIFORNIA P60 Alex—ahead of points leader, Aaron Plessinger (Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha). Cooper and Savatgy opened up a small gap to third place Smith. Cooper, de- spite being hounded relentlessly by Savatgy, remained composed. However, at the three-quarter mark, Cooper had a slight bobble and Savatgy was able to capitalize. But Cooper wasn't ready to let go of the lead and kept the Kawasaki rider within striking distance, once again ex- hibiting the calm of a much more seasoned rider. Further back Jeremy Martin got around Smith to take over third, as Osborne, who came into the race nursing a sore thumb that he aggravated in a small crash in practice earlier that morning, slipped back to 1-1, Roczen was second with a 2-2, Baggett finished third with a 3-3, and Musquin was fourth with a pair of fours. Tomac leaves Colorado with tremendous confidence and a full moto's win worth of points over Musquin. Roczen says he's happy with his recovery and is now having fun, as opposed to all the hype and pressure over his return to racing after two seri- ous injuries. And Barcia certainly must be thinking what might have been. 250MX When the gate dropped on the first 250MX moto it was rookie Justin Cooper (Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha) with the hole- shot, followed in close proximity by top qualifier Joey Savatgy (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki), with Jordon Smith (Geico Honda), Zach Osborne (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), the Martin Brothers—Jeremy and eighth, after having been riding exceptionally well before the race was red flagged. With shades of the first moto, Barcia grabbed the holeshot, followed by Roczen, Tomac and Baggett. No sooner had Tomac gotten around Roczen when Bar- cia went down, landing in a deep rut and blocking Tomac enough to allow Roczen to get back by, as well as Baggett. A few laps later Baggett made a mistake that had him off track, allowing Tomac to get past. With Roczen out front, Tomac gradually reeled him in, at about a bike-length per lap. To watch these two riders in close proxim- ity to one another was a study in contrasts. Roczen was silky smooth, carefully choosing lines to reduce the pressure on his still-healing wrist, while Tomac muscled his Kawasaki with an aggressiveness that was some- times scary. For several laps Tomac had been experimenting with an inside line after the finish hill. With about 10 minutes left, Tomac put the inside strategy to work and got the run on Roc- zen through the rollers to take the lead, which he never relin- quished. Tomac almost instantly opened up an impressive 10-sec- ond lead over Roczen. Baggett circulated in a somewhat lonely third, with Musquin running an even lonelier fourth. Bloss got around Barcia for fifth. The final overall tally for the 450s was an easy lesson in math; Tomac took the win with a Brothers Alex (left) and Jeremy Martin talk about their duel for the win in the second 250MX moto. They ended up finishing 1-2 overall with Jeremy taking the win.