Vital MX Perspective: Changing Landscape

Coming into round four of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, a lot of the talk was about how much the track had changed. There were several former features; either jumps or entire sections; that were missing completely. We checked in with Davey Coombs about the revamp, and he told us, "It was time to do a little bit of freshening up...a nip-tuck, or whatever you call it when you do plastic surgery. But we actually decided to go deeper and use the hills, and also at the same time condense the viewing area so that the fans would get more for their money."

Was it a more old school design? "That was the goal. There are so many things going on at some of these tracks...they're so busy, that sometimes it seems like there's not a lot of time to race because you're too busy setting up for the next thing and the next thing after that. We just thought we'd make it flow a little better and sort of not worry about the amplitude and the altitude, but let the guys doing the racing on the ground as much as possible."

But just as big as the changes to the track, are the variety of winners this season. Eli Tomac, Marvin Musquin, Jason Anderson, Justin Bogle, and Blake Baggett have all won motos so far in the 450 class. It's just as diverse in the 250s, with Zach Osborne, Jeremy Martin, Dylan Ferrandis, Joey Savatgy, and Alex Martin taking checkers in individual motos. Seeing the results spread around a bit more is big...both for the riders and fans. Fairly often we see riders settle into their level after a few rounds. It's unique to see a bunch of riders fighting for wins on any given weekend, and there are still riders out there who could break through and score moto wins. Having a diverse and deep field? That's some landscape change we can live with.

It took a couple tries, but the first moto on the new layout launched up the hill. The new start layout is much more fair than the old gate.

Josh Grant led four laps at the beginning of moto one before eventually landing in third spot.

Broc Tickle was impressive at High Point with a pair of fourth-place moto finishes, and third overall on the day in the 450s.

Aussie Dean Ferris took advantage of the break in the Australian series to come over and ride his first-ever Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship round. He took over the lead from Josh Grant for a lap, but Blake Baggett was on a mission, and passed him a lap later. Dean wasn't shy about saying that he'd like to come race in the U.S. full-time.

Reese95w: "Well that is so cool that Ferris got 2nd. And he's in a position for winning, winning, and more winning of the overall today!"

A crash early in the moto, in a spot where it was tough to remount, dropped Eli Tomac to 36th at the end of lap one. He rebounded to 12th, but it definitely didn't help his championship cause.

Jeremy Martin scored the holeshot in the first 250 moto, and led until just before halfway, when Zach Osborne got by.

Zach Osborne has shed the cold that hindered him over the past couple of rounds, and is back to full speed. Add another moto win.

Hut: "Osborne making it look like another day at the office."

Adam Cianciarulo scored the best moto finish of the day among the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki crew, with a fifth in moto one. Dylan Ferrandis (behind Adam) got by for fourth in moto one.

Austin Forkner scored a pair of sixth-place moto finishes.

Aaron Plessinger suffered an injury in a (ahem) sensitive region during practice, but soldiered on to third in each moto.

Flyin-W: "Plessinger is riding ballsy!"

Broc Tickle scored the holeshot to start the second 450 moto.

Eli Tomac was on a mission to get to the front, and he had a huge lead at the end of moto two.

jorgechavez: "I'm not sure which class had better riders but I can say I am really enjoying having basically the top 7 being able to win at any time."

A couple of crashes hurt his efforts in moto one, where he carded a fifth-place finish, but Jason Anderson rebounded in moto two with a third. He's not afraid to hang it out.

Cole Seely capped the top ten among the 450s with a 10-8 day.

Blake Baggett's win, combined with a second in moto two, gave him his second straight overall. But maybe more surprisingly, he left High Point with the red plate as the series points leader. A knee injury hampered Marvin Musquin, and he went from having a 17-point lead, to being down by eight.

Cooper Webb's making progress, and a 6-5 for fifth overall is his best 450 overall result yet.

Eli Tomac showed them who was boss in moto two. Unfortunately, the crash in moto one kept him off of the podium. Despite the troubles, he's only 11 points behind Blake Baggett...but with Marvin Musquin between them.

Blake Baggett has definitely found his comfort level on the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC-KTM-WPS 450, and looks like the El Chupacabra of old.

RG1: "It's not like he (Baggett) didn't catch Tomac at all. He took nearly 5 seconds out of him. Tomac responded well, but Baggett still had the speed to match him and possibly beat him had he started with him. That track is so gnarly, once he realised that Tomac had enough in hand to hold the lead there was no point in Baggett riding over his head to catch Tomac when he already had the overall and the red plate in the bag. Dominant moto win + overall win + red plate = backing it up."

Jason Anderson helping some High Point fans get the party started. Wait, who are we kidding? These guys come prepared for a good time.

250 moto two heads for the first turn. We dug the message on both Jeremy Martin's pants (Saturdays are 4 the boys), and Austin Forkner's Father's Day message (Thanks Dad).

Alex Martin scored the holeshot in moto two, and the first eight laps had him atop the lap charts. But he and his little brother battled for the lead for a while, with Jeremy taking over the top spot on the way to the win.

Austin Forkner ran as high as third before Aaron Plessinger got by him. Austin finished in sixth (and sixth overall), while Plessinger made it to third (and third overall).