Washougal Motocross - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Motocross Feature

Washougal, Washington played host to round nine of the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship this past weekend, and it provided us with some great racing, as well as some beautiful scenery. So let's cut the chit-chat and jump right into our picks for the best and the worst of the weekend.

250 Class

The Good: Austin Forkner | 2nd Place

Austin has been impressive all season, but his moto win at Washougal was a surprise to me. Should it have been such a surprise considering how much he's won as an amateur? I guess not, but I really didn't think that he had the fitness to go out and lead an entire 35-minute moto. He sure did prove me wrong, though, as he grabbed the lead on the first lap and held onto it until the checkered flag came out. The next item on his to-do list is an overall win, but I'm not sure if he'll be able to cross that off the list with only three rounds left in the season.

The Good Bonus: Troy Lee Designs KTM Team

Last week I was starting to get a little worried for the Troy Lee Designs KTM team, but they came back with the vengeance this week and scored some impressive results. Justin Hill looked fast in his return, and Jessy Nelson actually scored a podium in the second moto. Those are the kind of results we expect from the Factory KTM 250 effort.

The Bad: Zach Osborne | 13th Place

Zach can't be happy with the two DNFs he's had over the past two weeks. Actually, he can't be happy with his season as a whole. Yes, he has a moto win. But if you take away that moto win, it hasn't been a great year for him. To me, it can all be blamed on his starts. They have been bad this year, and he's been taken out of contention for podiums at several rounds purely because of his first lap position. The speed is there – he just needs to get the starts down so he can run up front every weekend.

The Ugly: Jeremy Martin | 11th Place

The curious case of Jeremy Martin continues. Is he sick? Is he back to normal? The world may never know, and all this weekend did was muddy the waters a little bit more. He got a decent start during the first moto but didn't look anything like he did at Spring Creek, and he eventually finished in fourth place. Then, in the second moto, all hell broke lose when Cooper Webb tried to brake check Joey Savatgy in the s-turn and ended up shouldering Jeremy to the ground as a result. To make matters worse, it looked like one of the Pro Circuit Kawasaki guys ran over Jeremy while he was trying to get through the pile up. So I think it's safe to say the 2016 Washougal National will probably not be a race Jeremy cherishes for the rest of his life. Hopefully he starts feeling back to normal during the break and comes out swinging at Unadilla. (Edit: We now know that Jeremy sustained two broken ribs in the moto two pile up, so we'll have to wait and see how he's feeling at Unadilla.)

450 Class

The Good: Weston Peick | 4th Place

After Weston's crash at Spring Creek, I figured he was done for the season. He's had countless run-ins with the ground this year, and I just didn't see how he was going to come back from that one. But of course, he came back and put in his best ride of the season. I guess the guy is just indestructible at this point. Anyway, this ride showed that Weston still knows how to go very fast, and it should definitely help with his ongoing search for a 2017 contract.

The Bad: Justin Barcia | 5th Place

We're at round nine of the championship and Justin Barcia still hasn't flipped the switch. That's not good folks, and I guess it's time to hit the panic button a few times. He's really been the mystery of the summer in the 450 class. His throttle has been wide open the entire season just like we expect from Bam Bam, but the results have not been there. At this point I think it has to be the bike. He trains hard and does a ton of motos during the week. So his disappointing results can't be blamed on a lack of effort by any means. But if it isn't the bike, then I really don't know what's going on. Whatever it is, I hope he figures it out within the next three rounds — otherwise it's going to be a very long off-season for him.

The Ugly: Christophe Pourcel's Crash

Christophe Pourcel hit the ground hard while battling Eli Tomac for second place in the first moto. He hit the dirt so hard, in fact, that I didn't think we'd see him back for moto two. He came back, though, and he finished a solid sixth place in the race. I hope he's feeling alright and is ready to take on Unadilla. If you missed the crash, you can check it out here.