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

After a two week break, I was pretty pumped to watch some motocross racing this past weekend. Heck, I'm even more pumped to share my thoughts on it, so let's jump straight into my picks for the best and the worst of Unadilla.

250 Class

The Good: Justin Hill | 4th Place

How about this guy?! He returned to racing at Washougal and surprised me with a very solid fifth place overall, and he surprised me even more this past weekend by grabbing fourth overall at Unadilla. Those are some pretty solid rides for someone who will be a free agent at the end of the year, and I'm sure he will have no problem finding a team (we're hearing it will be Monster Energy / Pro Circuit Kawasaki) for 2017 and beyond. Also, I must say that the Justin Hill we've seen these past two weeks is drastically different from the Justin Hill we saw at Hangtown. At Hangtown, he just hovered around wherever he started both motos, and he never really seemed to charge or get aggressive with other riders. These past two weeks, though, he's been on the charge the entire 35 minutes of each moto and has had no problems blowing past some pretty fast riders. So with that in mind, I'm expecting him to continue his streak of top five finishes at Budds Creek.

The Bad: Monster Energy / Pro Circuit Kawasaki

With the exception of Austin Forkner, Unadilla was not a great day for the Monster Energy / Pro Circuit Kawasaki squad. That's not to say it didn't start out well, as three out of the team's four riders finished inside the top ten in moto one, but the day took a turn for the worse when it was time for the second moto. Arnaud Tonus didn't line up, Joey Savatgy pulled off halfway through the race, and Adam Cianciarulo mysteriously disappeared around the ten-minute mark. So yeah, you could say that Mitch Payton was probably not too pumped how the day ended for his team. As far as why Tonus, Cianciarulo, and Savatgy all threw in the towel early, there has been no official word so we don't really know. But I'm thinking it was most likely heat exhaustion, because it was pretty damn hot and humid the entire day. Hopefully everyone is alright and will be on the line at Budds Creek in a week's time.

The Ugly: Jessy Nelson | 14th Place

I'm super bummed for Jessy Nelson right now. He had a bad crash in the turn before the Skyshot and ended up in the hospital due to the severity of his injuries. He released an update on Sunday, (which you can read here) and I'm really hoping that we hear some good news soon. We're pulling for you, Jessy. If you'd like to help pay for his medical bills, you can donate here.

450 Class

The Good: Benny Bloss | 4th Place

Benny is one fast giant. His season may not have started out that great, but he has really come to life during the second half of the season. He's scored multiple top tens in a row, and he nearly landed on the podium in the second moto at Unadilla! Most riders would be pretty satisfied with those results, but when you consider that he is a rookie it makes his season even more impressive. The crazy thing about him is that I don't believe he has a ride locked up for next year, but after Unadilla I bet he'll have a few offers in his mailbox by the end of the season. (EDIT: It was confirmed this week that Benny has signed with BTO Sports KTM for 2017.)

The Bad: Eli Tomac | 3rd Place

We never know what we're going to get from Eli. One week he will challenge Ken Roczen for the win and potentially beat him, and then the next week Roczen will put 30+ seconds on him like it's nothing. He's gotta be frustrated with how inconsistent he's been, and I'm sure he's trying to figure out what the issue is.The problem is that he's running out of time to figure it out. There's only two rounds left in the season, and then he won't see Roczen again until Monster Cup. So if the problem is solely with him, he doesn't have much time to figure it out. But if the problem is with the bike, then maybe he's looking forward to the off-season so he can do some more testing on it. Heck, maybe everything is working great and Roczen is just on another level. We will probably never know, but since he didn't do so hot this week I hope he puts up a fight at Budds Creek.

The Ugly: BTO Sports KTM Rig Fire

It sucked to see that BTO Sports KTM's rig caught on fire really late in the day on Friday, but it was really awesome to see all of the KTM teams and the Husqvarna team come together to put the bikes back together. By Saturday morning, they had all three bikes re-built and ready for racing. Major props to everyone that helped out, and I hope that the black cloud that has been hovering over the team the entire year will disappear once the season is over.