2018 Spring Creek National Motocross Results:
Tomac 1-1, Regains Points Lead
After a disastrous round at RedBud two weeks ago, Eli Tomac righted his ship with a pair of wins at the La Crescent Wine & Spirit Spring Creek National Motocross round at Spring Creek MX Park in Minnesota.
Marvin Musquin relinquished his 2018 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship Series lead after a fall in the first moto left him in fourth place. Tomac now holds a seven-point lead in the series with four rounds remaining.
- Eli Tomac was on a mission, and completed it with a pair of wins. Tomac (Monster Energy Kawasaki) had a strong third place start in Moto 1, quickly passed Musquin, and then hounded Ken Roczen for the lead from laps six through 10 (of 16) before putting a pass on Roczen in lapped traffic. Tomac then sped away. Tomac again hounded Roczen for second place during most of the second moto, before flying by on an uphill pass. Tomac took off after leader Musquin, passing Musquin aggressively on an uphill with just over two laps remaining. Tomac scorched Musquin in the final five laps, running 25 seconds faster than Musquin.
- Marvin Musquin looks good, but not good enough to beat Tomac. Musquin (Red Bull KTM) led 13 of 16 laps in Moto 2, but still found himself nearly seven seconds behind Tomac at the end. In Moto 1, he was competitive for five laps until he went down and was far behind third place Blake Baggett. No matter how far ahead Musquin is late in a moto, he almost always looks vulnerable to a Tomac charge. At this point, Musquin likely knows that only Tomac can cause Tomac to lose the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. Musquin just needs to be there in case something goes wrong, as it did at the RedBud National.
- Ken Roczen is looking stronger, yet he cannot hold back Tomac all the way to the finish line. Roczen (Team Honda HRC) lead the first 10 laps of the first moto, but was under nearly constant pressure from Tomac. Tomac took advantage of lappers to pass Roczen, yet Roczen could not hang with Tomac and trailed Tomac by 13 seconds at the end of Moto 1. Roczen kept Tomac behind him for laps 3 through 10 in Moto 2, yet when Tomac finally went by, Roczen could not compete. Roczen was over 36 seconds behind Tomac when the second moto was over. Still, the second overall for Roczen moves him to just eight points behind Justin Barcia for third place in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship standings.
- Blake Baggett stood on the podium for the first time since Thunder Valley. Baggett (Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/WPS/KTM) has been in the top five in all but one moto since his pair of third place motos at round three at Thunder Valley, yet this is his first time visiting a moto podium. Certainly, Baggett benefitted from Musquin’s crash to take third, but Baggett was putting in faster lap times than Musquin for most of the first moto. Baggett’s consistent riding from Thunder Valley forward has put him solidly in fifth place in the standings, 18 points behind Roczen, and 47 points ahead of Weston Peick.
- Justin Barcia’s 5-5 was his worst performance since going 5-6 at Thunder Valley. Barcia (Monster Energy/Yamaha Factory Racing) suffered from a ninth place start in the first moto and 10th place after one lap in Moto 2. He worked his way up to fifth in both cases, battling with Peick for a long time in Moto 2, for a fifth overall. Barcia lost 10 points of his series lead over Roczen, and needs to get back on the podium, as he has in five of six motos coming into the Spring Creek National.
- After a tough couple of rounds, Weston Peick has returned to form. Peick (Autotrader/Yoshimura/Suzuki) went 9-11 and 8-11 at the last two rounds. Peick picked it back up at Spring Creek MX with a pair of sixth place finishes. Peick has lost touch with fifth place Baggett in the standings, but has a 24-point lead over Benny Bloss, who has struggled the last three motos.
- Phil Nicoletti has proven to be a decent fill-in rider for the Rockstar Energy/Husqvarna Factory Racing Team. Since the second moto at round four at High Point, Nicoletti has finished in the top 10 in every moto. His 8-10 performance at Spring Creek was a step down from the 6-6 at RedBud, yet he’s still eighth in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship standings and just three points behind Bloss.
- Cooper Webb’s comeback has stalled. In six motos since his return from injury, Webb (Monster Energy/Yamaha Factory Racing) has not been able to crack the top six or beat teammate Barcia. Sure, 8-9-7-7-7-9 isn’t bad, but Webb isn’t making progress.
- It’s time for Washougal next week. The picturesque track at Washougal MX Park is the site of the Motosport Washougal National on July 28. Qualifiers are shown on NBC Sports Gold at 1:10 p.m. (all times EDT) on Saturday, with the subscription service running the four motos in succession live starting at 4 p.m. MavTV runs the first motos live at 4 pm., with NBCSN delaying cablecasting the second motos until 11 p.m.
2018 Spring Creek National Motocross Results, Spring Creek MX Park, Millville, MN
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- Eli Tomac, Kawasaki, 1-1, 50 points
- Ken Roczen, Honda, 2-3, 42
- Marvin Musquin, KTM, 4-2, 40
- Blake Baggett, KTM, 3-4, 38
- Justin Barcia, Yamaha, 5-5, 32
- Weston Peick, Suzuki, 6-6, 30
- Cooper Webb, Yamaha, 7-9, 26
- Justin Hill, Suzuki, 10-7, 25
- Phil Nicoletti, Husqvarna, 8-10, 24
- Benny Bloss, KTM, 11-8, 23
- Henry Miller, Yamaha, 9-11, 22
- Justin Bogle, Suzuki, 14-12, 16
- Lorenzo Locurcio, Honda, 13-13, 16
- Kyle Cunningham, Suzuki, 12-16, 14
- Joseph Crown, KTM, 17-15, 10
- Ben Lamay, Honda, 19-14, 9
- Jake Masterpool, Yamaha, 16-20, 6
- Cody Cooper, Honda, 15-24, 6
- Nick Gaines, Yamaha, 18-19, 5
- Toshiki Tomita, Honda, 40-17, 4
- John Short, Yamaha, 22-18, 3
- Felix Lopez, KTM, 20-23, 1
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2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship Series Standings (after 8 rounds of 12)
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- Eli Tomac, Kawasaki, 351 points (11 moto wins)
- Marvin Musquin, KTM, 344 (4 moto wins)
- Justin Barcia, Yamaha, 296
- Ken Roczen, Honda, 288 (1 moto win)
- Blake Baggett, KTM, 270
- Weston Peick, Suzuki, 223
- Benny Bloss, KTM, 199
- Phil Nicoletti, Husqvarna/Suzuki, 196
- Justin Hill, Suzuki, 114
- Kyle Cunningham, Suzuki, 107
- Cody Cooper, Honda, 107
- Cooper Webb, Yamaha, 79
- Henry Miller, Yamaha, 75
- Jason Anderson, Husqvarna, 73
- Lorenzo Locurcio, 71
- Dylan Merriam, Yamaha, 69
- Brandon Scharer, Yamaha, 68
- Ben Lamay, Honda, 62
- Jake Masterpool, Yamaha, 53
- Toshiki Tomita, Honda, 49
- Alex Ray, Yamaha, 47
- Cade Autenrieth, KTM, 46
- Brandan Leith, Kawasaki, 43
- Kyle Chisholm, Yamaha, 39
- Bradley Taft, Husqvarna, 33
- Nick Gaines, Yamaha, 27
- Christian Craig, Honda, 26
- Dare DeMartile, Honda, 25
- Justin Bogle, Suzuki, 23
- Heath Harrison, Honda, 22
- Jake Nicholls, Honda, 20
- Joseph Crown, KTM, 19
- Chris Canning, KTM, 16
- Jacob Hayes, Kawasaki, 14
- Felix Lopez, KTM, 7
- Bradley Lionnet, Honda, 5
- Ryan Dowd, KTM, 4
- Cody Williams, Honda, 4
- Derek Anderson, Honda, 3
- John Short, Yamaha, 3
- Robert Piazza, Honda, 3
- Chris Alldredge, KTM, 3
- Chase Marquier, Husqvarna, 3
- Jeremy Hand, Honda, 2
- Jeremy Smith, Honda, 2
- Brock Papi, Honda, 1
- Robert Marshall, KTM, 1
- Dustin Pipes, Suzuki, 1
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