Kit Palmer | July 2, 2016
There’s a new leader in the 250MX Championship and that’s Cooper Webb. Now seemingly fully healed from his earlier wrist injury, the Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha Team rider collected his second overall victory in a row after going 1-1 at the RedBud round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, July 2.
250MX RedBud
Cooper Webb took over the 250MX-class points lead at RudBed. Photography by Rob Koy
Former points leader Joey Savatgy and a terrible day despite finishing second in the first moto, and that’s because he fell twice (the first time while leading) in the second moto—the second crash was pretty hard, which came while he was trying to pass Shane McElrath for fourth. He was slow to his feet and had to pull in to straighten out his bike. He fought back to finish 16th in the moto and salvage some points, but it wasn’t enough to keep the red plate, which Webb will sport next week at Southwick.
Savatgy is now second in the 250MX championship and trails Webb by 11 points. That’s a huge blow to Savatgy and his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki Team when you consider he held a 12-point advantage over Webb coming into the RedBud race.
Third overall was Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne. He finished fifth in the first moto then made a last-lap pass on Alex Martin for second place in the second moto.
Despite getting passed right at the end, it didn’t hurt his score in the overall. Alex Martin’s 3-3 still rewarded the Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha Team rider with second overall. At one point in the second moto, Martin led the race before Webb got him (then Osborne).
Martin’s brother and teammate Jeremy Martin finished a disappointing fourth overall (4-4)—disappointing because he fell while running a strong second in the second moto.
TLD/RedBull/KTM’s Shane McElrath was hoping to build on his strong third-place performance the previous week in Tennessee and it looked like he just might do that. After finishing ninth in the first moto, McElrath was leading the second moto when he ran off the track and dropped a couple of positions. He still managed to regroup and finish out the day fifth overall with a 9-5.
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo is steadily improving after going 7-8 for sixth overall and Cianciarulo’s teammate, Austin Forkner, also had a strong ride.
Forkner actually led the first lap of the first moto and battled back and forth with Webb for a while before giving way to the new points leader. Forkner ended up finishing out the moto in sixth. A 15th-place start in the second moto led to a 10th place finish, but he still nabbed eighth overall.
Arnoud Tonus, another Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider, took ninth, while TLD/RedBull/KTM’s Mitchell Oldenburg rounded out the top 10 overall.
Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship
RedBud MX
Buchanan, Michigan
RESULTS: July 2, 2016
250MX
For more information and race results of the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, click HERE
