Ryan Dungey becomes the winningest rider at Washougal by winning the 450cc class, while Cooper Webb earns his second consecutive 250cc win.
Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey set a new record by becoming the winningest rider in Washougal history when he scored the 450cc overall win at the Peterson CAT Washougal National at Washougal MX Park, Saturday.
After finishing second to Autotrader.com/Toyota/Yamaha’s Justin Barcia in the first 450cc moto, Dungey took advantage of a late-race crash by Barcia in the second moto to claim his fourth overall win of the season via tiebreaker, making history by surpassing the great Ricky Carmichael for sole possession of all-time Washougal wins, with seven. In the 250cc class, Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb earned his second overall win in as many rounds, also via 2-1 moto scores, while Webb’s teammate and defending class champion Jeremy Martin once again had a mixed day that saw his healthy class point lead over Marvin Musquin practically evaporate.
450cc
Defending Lucas Oil 450cc Pro Motocross Champion Ken Roczen topped the qualifying chart to earn the prime gate pick on his RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/Suzuki, but when the gate fell for the first moto Barcia earned his sixth consecutive Motosport.com Holeshot award to take the early lead ahead of teammate Phil Nicoletti. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Christophe Pourcel and Dungey got good starts to run inside the top five, while Roczen got a poor start and began the moto from outside the top 10.
Heavy precipitation had soaked the already challenging Washougal track, but that seemed to play into Barcia’s favor, as he pulled out to a strong lead. Nicoletti was able to fend off Pourcel and Dungey for a few laps, but both mend passed Nicoletti on lap four, taking over second and third place respectively. Three laps later Dungey began to apply heavy pressure to Pourcel, making a strong pass to move past the Frenchman and into the runner-up position. Dungey quickly pulled away from Pourcel, but was comfortably out front by thenm and he went on to claim his third moto win of the season with a rather surprising 29.523-second margin of victory. Dungey finished the moto in second, followed by Pourcel. Meanwhile, Roczen had managed to fight his way up from 11th to sevent, finishing behind Nicoletti, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Baggett and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson.
The rain ceased before the start of the second moto, but Barcia was once again pulled the holeshot took the lead just ahead of Dungey and Smartop MotoConcepts Racing’s Vince Friese. Anderson quickly got past Friese to take over third place, only to crash on the opening lap and fall to ninth. Roczen quicklt took over third place, setting up a three-rider freight-train along with Barcia and Roczen at the front of the pack. The lead trio ran within a few second of each other for the majority of the mot as Dungey pressured Barcia for several laps, but could not pull off a pass.
Barcia maintained his fast pace and began to extend his lead over Dungey, who likewise pulled clear of Roczen. It appeared as though Barcia was well on his way to winning another overall, but it all went out the window when he carried too much speed into a downhill, off-camber turn with four laps remaining and flopped into the Washougal mud. Barcia tried to get up quickly, but Dungey was right there to make the all-importatn pass for the lead. Barcia frantically tried catch Dungey, but Dungey was able to cross the finish line for the win with 6.757 seconds in hand. Barcia settled into second place, which was good enough for second overall. Roczen finished a distant third.
Dungey (2-1) and Barcia (1-2) finished the afternoon tied on points, but Dungey’s second moto win earned the overall win via the tiebreaker, making him the most successful rider in history at Washougal MX Park with seven career wins (450cc class and 250cc class combined). Pourcel rounded out the overall podium in third after solid 3-5 moto performances.
“I didn’t have the best practice, but we got a decent start in the first moto,” Dungey said. “I was able to make some quick passes, but there weren’t a lot of lines to make passes. By the time I got into second Barcia was gone. I got another good start in the second moto but couldn’t make the pass on Barcia because he’s riding so good right now. I lost some ground when we hit lappers, but I was able to make up some ground again, then he made a mistake that allowed us to take the win.”
Barcia said that he felt he still had a good day despite letting the overall win slip away after his second-moto crash.
“I think it was a good day, for sure,” he said “I’ve gotten starts down so it feels good. The first moto was great, and we won pretty comfortably. The second moto was a barnburner. I could tell Ryan [Dungey] was behind me, but I was able to keep him behind me and still ride my lines. Then I pretty much just blew it in one turn and gave it away. It hurt [to not win] today. This was the hardest loss, for sure, because I felt like I had this one, but it was still good.”
Pourcel enjoyed good performances, netting the final overall podium spot.
“I got top-five in practice, which is always the goal,” Pourcel said. “I was third in the first moto and kind of rode my own race. I had a good start and didn’t make any mistakes so it was good to be on the box. I got a bad start in the second moto, so I had to come up from the back of the pack. I made some good passes, got up to fifth, and ended up third overall so it was really good.”
250cc
Jeremy Martin posted the quickest 250cc lap of timed practice, but that didn’t equate to a good start in the first 250cc moto, as he found himself having to play catch-up after getting off the line slowly and finding himself down in 16th place at the completion of lap one. GEICO Honda’s Christian Craig earned the Motosport.com Holeshot Award ahead of his Honda teammate RJ Hampshire, Webb and Red Bull KTM’s Musquin.
With a clear track ahead of him, Craig put over 5 seconds on the field, only to tuck his front end and crash out of the lead on lap two. Webb then assumed control of the moto, with Musquin second and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawsaki’s Arnaud Tonus taking over third in what was his first start of the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season. Craig remounted in fourth place.
The top three riders ran within a few seconds of one another for most of the moto, but Webb and Musquin were the main combatants for the moto win. Musquin closed in on Webb’s rear fender while to two were in lapped traffic, and he was able to make an aggressive pass on Webb for the lead on lap 10. Webb then removed his mud-clogged goggles in an attempt to see better and challenge Musquin, who did the same in order to sees the track in front of him. The battle intensified on the final lap until lappers forced Webb to change his line in the slowest part of the track, almost sending him to the ground. That allowed Musquin to pull away and take the first-moto win by 2.305 seconds. Webb was second, with Tonus hanging tough for third. Martin had a tough moto, only managing to pick up six positions and finish ninth, a performance that allowed Musquin to make up a lot of points.
Better track conditions in the second moto helped Martin to grab the Motosport.com Holeshot ahead of Webb, FMF/Orange Brigade KTM’s Daniel Baker and Musquin at the start of the second moto. However, Webb was more interested in another overall win than in helping Martin’s cause in the series standings, and he attacked Martin and took over the lead before the start of lap two. Musquin moved into third almost as quickly and began to pressure Martin for second place.
Webb built a 3-second lead early, but Martin cut Webb’s advantage down to less than a second by the halfway point in the moto. Just as it seemed as though Webb was pulling away again, Martin staged another of his late-race charges, and he took advantage of an opportunity to make a pass in lapped traffic and retake the lead. However, Martin then crashed just a few laps from the finish and lost three positions as he attempted to restart his stalled motorcycle. Webb reclaimed the lead with Musquin charging hard in second. Martin would repass rookie teammate Aaron Plessinger for third, but it was too late to do anything with Webb or Musquin. Webb went on to claim the moto win by 5.063 seconds, with Musquin second and Martin third.
When the overall results were tallied Webb’s second-moto win broke the points tie with Musquin and and gave the Yamaha rider his second straight overall victory. Plessinger earned his first career overall podium finish, third, via 5-4 performances. Craig finished fourth overall (4-5), while Martin was fifth overall (9-3).
“The day was good and we were able to make some good changes after practice that really helped,” Webb said. “I got a good start in the first moto and led most of it, but had a goggle issue that allowed Marvin [Musquin] to get around me. We came up short there, but got another good start in the second moto and made our way around Jeremy [Martin] early. He was able to get around me, but made a mistake that put us on top of the box. I feel like I’ve been a competitor every race and I’m proving I can win.”
Musquin’s runner-up effort pulled back 15 points on series leader Martin and the two are once gain locked in a close battle for the class championship, separated by just four points with six motos remaining. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Zach Osborne, who finished ninth (7-11), sits third, 116 points out of the lead.
“It felt good to be myself today,” Musquin said. “The last two races have been tough with my [injured] wrist, but this week was really great and I came into Washougal with a lot of confidence. I went 1-1 here last year and I wanted to do that again today. The first moto was tough because it was easy to make mistakes, but I was able to win. In the second moto I made too many mistakes early, but we finished second and it ended up being a really good day for the championship.”
The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship will observe its final break in action next weekend before completing its final three rounds in three straight weekends. The legendary Unadilla MX in New Berlin, New York, is the next stop on the schedule. The Red Bull Unadilla National is slated to take place on Saturday, August 8.
2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship
Peterson CAT Washougal National
Washougal MX Park
Washougal, Washington
Results: July 25, 2015 (Round 9 of 12)
450cc Overall
1. Ryan Dungey-KTM/2-1
2. Justin Barcia-Yam/1-2
3. Christophe Pourcel-Hus/3-5
4. Ken Roczen-Suz/7-3
5. Phil Nicoletti-Yam/4-6
6. Weston Peick-Yam/12-4
7. Fredrik Noren-Ho/9-7
8. Trey Canard-Hon/8-9
9. Blake Baggett-Suz/5-12
10. Josh Grant-Kaw/11-8
Lucas Oil 450cc Pro Motocross Championship Point Standings
1. Ryan Dungey-400
2. Justin Barcia-331
Ken Roczen-331
4. Blake Baggett-275
5. Christophe Pourcel-247
6. Jason Anderson-242
7. Broc Tickle-226
8. Phil Nicoletti-209
9. Weston Peick-198
10. Fredrik Noren-187
250cc Overall
1. Cooper Webb-Yam/2-1
2. Marvin Musquin-KTM/1-2
3. Aaron Plessinger-Yam/5-4
4. Christian Craig-Hon/4-5
5. Jeremy Martin-Yam/9-3
6. Jessy Nelson-KTM/6-8
7. Shane McElrath-KTM/11-6
8. Mitchell Oldenburg-KTM/8-9
9. Zach Osborne-Hus/7-11
10. Arnaud Tonus-Kaw/3-20
Lucas Oil 250cc Pro Motocross Championship Point Standings
1. Jeremy Martin-375
2. Marvin Musquin-371
3. Zach Osborne-259
4. Joey Savatgy-240
5. Alex Martin-233
6. Jessy Nelson-233
7. Aaron Plessinger-203
8. Shane McElrath-181
9. Adam Cianciarulo-178
10. Cooper Webb-174
Matt Bisceglia-174
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