Hangtown Race Reports
US MX 2015
www.motorcycle-usa.com By Byron Wilson
GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac put in one of the most commanding performances in recent 450 Motocross memory during the 2015 season opener at Hangtown. He took wins in both motos, both times lapping into the top-10 ranks and in Moto 2 beating his closest competition by more than one and a half minutes. Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey finished second to Tomac in both motos and took second overall while Rockstar Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson had a remarkable showing with a 3-7 result for third overall.
Moto 1
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The key for Tomac has always been to get good starts, and he was on fire at Hangtown. In Moto 1 he and Dungey battled through the opening corners for the front, but it was quickly apparent that Tomac was on another level and he soon pulled away in the lead. JGRMX’s Weston Peick slotted into third-place during the initial rotation followed by Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett in fourth and Motosports.com’s Fredrik Noren in fifth.
Team HRC’s Cole Seely, on the other hand, was down hard in the opening lap and needed assistance getting back to his feet. The incident proved severe enough that Seely didn’t line-up for Moto 2. It’s unknown yet how or if the crash will affect the rest of his season.
As Tomac and Dungey pulled away from the rest of the riders, Peick found a happy home in third position, the battle for fourth raging between a number of riders behind. Positions shuffled a lot through the 4-9 ranks early on, with Anderson, Baggett, Rockstar Husqvarna’s Christophe Pourcel, RCH Racing’s Ken Roczen, Noren, and Brett Metcalfe all fighting for the advantage. Anderson and Baggett brought the group up onto Peick’s rear tire, with Anderson passing into third just after 10 minutes had elapsed and Baggett making the pass on Peick soon after for fourth.
At the front, Dungey looked to have a closable gap on his hands, Tomac pacing just 2.8 seconds ahead of the KTM ace at one point. The latter stages saw Tomac gun it though, the Honda rider growing his advantage to more than 22 seconds during the final 10 minutes of racing. Anderson was able to hold steady in third with Baggett trailing in fourth and Pourcel in fifth. Roczen’s teammate, Broc Tickle, battled his way up to sixth position by the finish followed by Metcalfe in seventh and Peick in eighth.
It was a tough opening moto for defending champ, Roczen. The Suzuki rider had a previous back issue flair up prior to the round and he struggled to keep pace in light of the pain. He dropped back to 19th position by the finish.
Moto 2
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Tomac got an even stronger start in Moto 2 and by the end of the first lap had already built a 4.7 second gap on Dungey in second-place. TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed got into the lead-pack action along with JGRMX’s Justin Barcia and Roczen during the initial stages. After the first laps running order was Tomac, Dungey, Barcia, Roczen, Anderson and Reed through six.
Roczen gave Barcia a big challenge during the opening laps for third-place, but the Yamaha rider put up a strong defense and soon pulled away from the Suzuki ace. Positions shuffled behind, with Peick making moves up the ranks to fifth as the race reached mid-point. Peick then put the pressure on Roczen during the second half of competition, and eventually made the pass without a huge fight. All the while, Tomac was still out front dropping lap times that were, at times, more than seven seconds faster than the second-fastest rider on track.
The latter half of the race was marked by battles between Anderson and Baggett for sixth, the fight almost getting dirty at points as the two riders bumped each other through corners. Baggett eventually prevailed for sixth-place and set his sights on Roczen in fifth. Though he came close to the RCH rider, Bagget proved unable to make the pass and crossed the line in the number six spot.
Barcia also had a late race fight when Peick came roaring up from fourth-place, the teammates duking it out for the final step on the podium for the moto. With less than two laps remaining, Peick was able to get the pass done for third-place while Barcia held to fourth.
Further back, Anderson claimed seventh in Moto 2 with Tickle following in eighth, Metcalfe in ninth and Noren in 10th.
Tomac leaves Hangtown with points lead, followed by Dungey in second and Anderson in third. Peick sits fourth with Baggett in fifth.
Hangtown 450 Motocross Results 2015
1. Eli Tomac (Honda) 1-1
2. Ryan Dungey (KTM) 2-2
3. Jason Anderson (Husqvarna) 3-7
4. Weston Peick (Yamaha) 8-3
5. Blake Baggett (Suzuki) 4-6
6. Broc Tickle (Suzuki) 6-8
7. Brett Metcalfe (Kawasaki) 7-9
8. Christophe Pourcel (Husqvarna) 5-12
9. Fredrik Noren (Honda) 10-10
10. Phil Nicoletti (Yamaha) 9-14
11. Justin Barcia (Yamaha) 35-4
12. Ken Roczen (Suzuki) 19-5
13. Kyle Chisholm (Kawasaki) 11-13
14. Justin Brayton (KTM) 14-11
15. Chad Reed (Kawasaki) 12-15
450 Motocross Championship Points 2015
1. Eli Tomac, 50
2. Ryan Dungey, 44
3. Jason Anderson, 34
4. Weston Peick, 33
5. Blake Baggett, 33
6. Broc Tickle, 28
7. Brett Metcalfe, 26
8. Christophe Pourcel, 25
9. Fredrik Noren, 22
10. Phil Nicoletti, 19
Star Racing Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin picked-up where he left off in 2014, taking the overall 250 Motocross win in this year’s season opener at Hangtown. The Yamaha ace went 2-1 to take the top-step, followed by Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin in second overall with a 1-2 showing for the day. Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Chris Alldredge posted 5-3 results, earning his first professional podium in Moto 2 and finishing third overall.
Moto 1
GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle led the way into the opening turns of Moto 1, with Musquin trailing close behind in second along with Martin’s teammate, Cooper Webb. Martin got pushed back outside the top-five during the initial stages, and was faced with a battle through the ranks during the opening minutes of competition.
Positions shifted a lot in the early going, with Webb getting ahead of Musquin and then Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo getting ahead of everybody to take the lead. Webb pushed hard up the ranks to second-place within the first 10 minutes of competition, literally bumping Bogle back in the ranks on his way up to second-place. Cianciarulo and Webb then waged a battle for the lead, with the Kawasaki rider holding strong against Webb’s repeated attempts at the front.
Meanwhile, Musquin was focusing in and regaining ground, moving up to third past Bogle as the race reached mid-point. Martin was still back in sixth at this stage with Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy and Bogle just ahead of him. The three riders fought hard, especially Bogle and Savatgy, the two swapping positions multiple times in the battle for fourth. Martin watched closely from sixth and when the opportunity arose, he made the pass on both riders in short order and started his second-half charge.
At the front, Cianciarulo maintained his lead until a mistake saw the Kawasaki rider on the ground. He was able to recover from the crash and reenter competition, but had lost any shot at the podium. Webb and Musquin slipped past easily and the KTM rider soon made a pass on Webb for the lead. After that, Musquin was able to stretch out a sizable advantage on the field. Webb dropped the intensity somewhat, which we learned afterward had to do with the fact that he was forced to ditch his goggles after a rock hit his lens. Roost packed the broken goggles before he threw them aside, but gave the Yamaha ace an added element of difficulty to contend with for the rest of the race.
When Martin got to Webb’s rear tire, Webb put up a good fight but Martin was ultimately able to push past into second-place. There were just a few laps remaining at that point and Musquin was well over five seconds ahead, leaving Martin without enough time to challenge for the win before the checkers.
Webb crossed the line in third followed by Savatgy in fourth and Alldredge in fifth. Cycletrader.com’s Alex Martin finished Moto 1 in sixth position trailed by Yamalube Star Racing’s Anthony Rodriguez in seventh and Bogle in eighth. Cianciarulo crossed in ninth followed by Star Racing Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger in 10th.
Moto 2
GEICO Honda was quick off the line in Moto 2 as well, with Matt Bisceglia grabbing the holeshot. This time Martin didn’t get stuck back in the pack though, and was firing on all cylinders from second in the opening turns. He quickly pushed ahead of Bisceglia for the lead and from there, he was untouchable.
Martin was fortunate to pull away from the pack too, Moto 2 being marked by a number of wrecks and mistakes from riders fighting for position. Webb was one of the first riders to suffer an off, getting himself back to the pit area before dropping to the ground in pain. Reports from the scene indicate that Webb did something gnarly to his leg, but there’s no official word yet on what or how severe his injury is.
Troy Lee Design’s Jessy Nelson was running well in second-place for the opening minutes, but a crash left him picking up his bike mid-corner and dropping quickly down the ranks. Soon after, Nelson suffered an even gnarlier off when he got loopy in the rollers, hitting Bogle and taking both riders down. Nelson was able to jump up and get back on his bike, but Bogle’s foot got stuck under his bike. Bogle’s race was done after the incident.
All the while, Alldredge was enjoying a stint in second-position, but had Musquin rolling up fast from third. Midway through the race Musquin was able to get past the Kawasaki rider for the runner-up spot, but by that point Martin had already built a 16-plus second gap and wasn’t showing any signs of slowing.
Positions remained steady to the checkers, with Martin and Musquin taking first and second. Alldredge got a challenge during the later laps from Alex Martin for third-place, but was able to hold for podium position, leaving Alex to finish fourth in the moto. Rockstar Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne grabbed fifth-place followed by Rodriguez in sixth and Red Bull KTM’s Justin Hill in seventh. Plessinger took eighth with Troy Lee Designs’ Shane Mcelrath following in ninth and Bisceglia in 10th.
Martin and Musuqin are now mathematically tied for the 250 Motocross Championship points lead, with Alldredge sitting third overall. Alex Martin is fourth followed by Rodriguez in fifth.
Hangtown 250 Motocross Results 2015
1. Jeremy Martin (Yamaha) 2-1
2. Marvin Musquin (KTM) 1-2
3. Chris Alldredge (Kawasaki) 5-3
4. Alex Martin (Yamaha) 6-4
5. Anthony Rodriguez (Yamaha) 7-6
6. Aaron Plessinger (Yamaha) 10-8
7. Joey Savatgy (Kawasaki) 4-15
8. Adam Cianciarulo (Kawasaki) 9-11
9. Matt Bisceglia (Honda) 12-10
10. Cooper Webb (Yamaha) 3-37
11. RJ Hampshire (Honda) 11-12
12. Zach Osborne (Husqvarna) 20-5
13. Justin Hill (KTM) 25-7
14. Justin Bogle (Honda) 8-35
15. Shane Mcelrath (KTM) 21-9
250 Motocross Championship Points 2015
1. Marvin Musquin, 47
2. Jeremy Martin, 47
3. Chris Alldredge, 36
4. Alex Martin, 33
5. Anthony Rodriguez, 29
6. Joey Savatgy, 24
7. Aaron Plessinger, 24
8. Adam Cianciarulo, 22
9. Cooper Webb, 20
10. Matt Bisceglia, 20