Photography by Larry Lawrence
This will be a day Aaron Plessinger, Jeremy Martin and the entire Star Racing Yamaha squad won’t soon forget. Plessinger broke through with a 2-1 to earn his first-career 250 class Lucas Oil Pro Motocross victory. At the same time teammate Jeremy Martin nailed down his second-consecutive 250 Motocross Championship, in spite of finishing just sixth overall. The nail-biting title chase between Martin and Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin was pretty much decided in the first moto, when something broke on Musquin’s bike and he suffered a DNF.
Yamalube Star Racing’s Cooper Webb won the first moto in a close battle with Plessinger, who charged from seventh on the first lap and made passes all races and drew to within 1.885-seconds of Webb at the finish. Jessy Nelson took third on the Troy Lee Designs KTM.
The big story of the first moto was Musquin, who was only two points out of the series lead, dropping out on the first lap. He valiantly pushed his bike back to his team for them to try to work on it, but he never re-entered the race.
That gave Martin, who finished fourth an almost sure path to the title. All he really had to do was finish 15th or better to clinch the title. And that he did, taken a very careful ninth-place finish to wrap up the championship. In the end Martin was 12 points ahead of Musquin (491-479).
“I was nervous,” admitted Martin. “But I knew that me and my team were up for the challenge. I was just playing it conservative in the second moto and making sure I got the job done. This championship feels even sweeter than last year because of the challenge I got from Marvin all year. It was a great battle to the end.”
Plessinger took over the second mot about halfway through after a battle with Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joseph Savatgy. At the checkered flag Plessinger had a 10.715 gap on Savatgy and that earned him his very first overall victory.
“It feels great to get the win here at a track that’s only two-and-a-half hours from my house,” Plessinger said. “And we’ve got some history here. My dad won a GNCC race here so that makes it even more special.”
Musquin was disappointed, but blamed no one after his the broken bike ruined his shot at the title.
“We’ve had no problems all season,” Musquin said. “So my team always gives me a great motorcycle to ride, but this is racing and these kinds of things happen from time to time. I’m proud of the season I had and happy that we were in the battle for the championship all the way to the end.”
Results
Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship
Bud Light Ironman National
Ironman Raceway – Crawfordsville, Indiana
August 22, 2015
Round 12 of 12
250 Class (Moto Finish)
1. Aaron Plessinger, Hamilton, Ohio, Yamaha (2-1)
2. Joey Savatgy, Thomasville, Ga., Kawasaki (5-2)
3. Jessy Nelson, Paso Robles, Calif., KTM (3-6)
4. RJ Hampshire, Hudson, Fla., Honda (8-4)
5. Matt Bisceglia, Tualatin, Ore., Honda (6-5)
6. Jeremy Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha (4-9)
7. Zach Osborne, Abingdon, Va., Husqvarna (10-7)
8. Christian Craig, Plymouth, Minn., Honda (9-8)
9. Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., Yamaha (1-37)
10. Marvin Musquin, France, KTM (40-3)
250 Class Championship Standings
1. Jeremy Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha, 491
2. Marvin Musquin, France, KTM, 479
3. Joey Savatgy, Thomasville, Ga., Kawasaki, 348
4. Zach Osborne, Abingdon, Va., Husqvarna, 330
5. Jessy Nelson, Paso Robles, Calif., KTM, 323
6. Aaron Plessinger, Hamilton, Ohio, Yamaha, 311
7. Alex Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha, 288
8. Matt Bisceglia, Tualatin, Ore., Honda, 256
9. Shane McElrath, Canton, N.C., KTM, 248
10. RJ Hampshire, Hudson, Fla., Honda, 248
