Press Release

Tomac's second-place finish headlines GEICO Honda team effort in Unadilla

NEW BERLIN, N.Y. (Aug. 18) -- The GEICO Honda team flooded the front of the pack at Saturday's Red Bull Unadilla National in upstate New York, but ultimately fell just short of grabbing the race win. Still, Justin Barcia and Eli Tomac remain firmly in championship contention with just two rounds to go in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.

Tomac and Barcia didn't have the performances they were hoping for in the first moto, where bad starts and crashes relegated them to sixth and seventh, respectively. But they bounced back in Moto 2. Barcia grabbed the holeshot and led early, until he succumbed to Tomac's intense charge and handed over the lead. Tomac went on to score the victory -- his sixth moto win of the year -- and take second overall for the day with 6-1 moto scores. Barcia took second in the moto and fourth overall with 7-2 finishes.

"It was definitely a light switch for me going into the second moto," Tomac said. "First moto, I came into a pack of two riders and kind of got screwed. I tried to sneak to the inside but it put me in a bind, and that put me back somewhere in the 20s. I made some other mistakes, and overall it was a rough moto.

"Second moto, it was just (about) finding the right lines and making everything connect. The way this track works, if you make a mistake at the beginning of the corner, it will slow you down all the way through the next straightaway. It was probably one of the most technical tracks I've ridden in this series, with the ruts, and how the dirt would grab your front wheel and take it wherever it wanted to."

Barcia wasn't happy with his day but was grateful to ties series' leader Blake Baggett on points earned in the race. He still sits 24 markers behind in second.

"I always love coming up here, the fans are just the best," Barcia said. "Besides that, it wasn't that great. First moto I crashed three times and two of them weren't my fault, but I guess it kind of was because I put myself into a bad position with a bad start. Second moto I got a holeshot and was out front but I struggled.

"Me and my bike haven't bonding the last two races. We've got a weekend off and I'm going to go home, work hard and charge into Pennsylvania."

Justin Bogle logged his best day of the summer with 11-4 finishes for sixth overall.

"It was a lot better than last week," Bogle said. "I liked the track and it was a lot of fun. First moto I was up front until a lapper took me out, so that was kind of bad. Second moto, I was fourth, and almost got to third. It was close. I tried to hold it wide open past the mechanic's turn to try to make the pass, but I ended up pushing out wide. Still, it was a good day. A lot better than I've been doing, that's for sure."

Will Hahn finished seventh overall with finishes of 9-8.

"It was just kind of an average day," Hahn said. "I started off bad; practice wasn't great. The second moto was better, I was right behind two other riders, but I just couldn't capitalize. I don't know, it was a long day for me."

Rookie Zach Bell made another big splash in his second professional race, grabbing the first moto holeshot and leading early. Once again, he crashed while leading, but recovered to finish eighth. In Moto 2, Bell crashed hard and dropped out of the race.

"We are having him checked out, but we're optimistic that he'll be okay," said GEICO Honda Team Manager Mike LaRocco.

The series takes a weekend off before resuming Sept. 1 with the Steel City National just outside of Pittsburgh, Pa.

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