2017 RedBud 450 MX Results

Steve Cox | July 1, 2017

2017 RedBud 450 MX Results: It looks like Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac may have finally put his demons behind him if the RedBud 450cc MX National was any indication. Tomac, widely regarded as the fastest racer in the series (and maybe the planet) right now, has been having a miserable time putting two motos together throughout much of the early part of the 2017 Lucas Oil/AMA 450cc Pro Motocross Championships, but at RedBud, he finally got his second 1-1 performance of the year.

In moto one, Honda’s Christian Craig got the holeshot over RCH Suzuki’s Justin Bogle, Monster Energy/Yamalube/Chaparral Yamaha’s Cooper Webb, and AutoTrader/JGR/Toyota Suzuki’s Weston Peick, but Webb lost the front end exiting the first turn and went down big, taking Peick, RCH Suzuki’s Broc Tickle, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Martin Davalos, and many others down with him. In a separate incident, Red Bull KTM’s Trey Canard ended up on the ground in the middle of the start straight with Yamaha privateer Heath Harrison.

2017 RedBud 450 MX Results

After the carnage, Craig held the lead over Bogle, Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin, points leader Blake Baggett (Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM), and then Tomac.

Baggett fought his way around Musquin on the opening lap, and Musquin put up a really tough fight, but after securing the position, Baggett made a costly error later in the lap near LaRocco’s Leap and handed the second spot back to Musquin, and it would prove costly.

Soon, Musquin took the lead from Craig and at around the same time, Tomac snatched third away from Baggett, then made quick work of Craig and set out after Musquin. Baggett took almost an entire lap to get Craig, and then seven more laps just to catch and pass Musquin. With five laps left to run, Tomac held almost a five-second lead over Baggett when he got himself up to second place, but Baggett put in a charge, and over the last five laps cut that lead down to less than a second.

2017 RedBud 450 MX Results

However, on the last lap, Baggett got balked by a couple of lappers, and that was all the breathing room that Tomac needed to take the moto win with just under a second and a half to spare over Baggett. About 30 seconds later, Musquin came across in third, followed by Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson, who was among the racers caught up in the first-turn crash. Behind him came the pair of factory Honda racers in Craig and Cole Seely, and then Peick’s teammate Justin Barcia, Anderson’s teammate Dean Wilson, Bogle, and Tomac’s teammate Josh Grant.

Interestingly for Grant, on the Thursday before the race, his team sent out a PR announcing he wouldn’t be at RedBud due to injuries suffered in a big crash a week earlier in Tennessee, and less than an hour later, Grant posted a picture of himself with a skeptical look on his face and a caption asking if anybody thought he was really going to miss the best track of the year. He was 10th in moto one.

Baggett got the holeshot to start moto two with Anderson right behind him, but Barcia came screaming around them both going into the third turn of the race to take the lead. A few turns later, on a rough downhill where Baggett was going to the outside into the following right-hand off-camber all day, he went to the outside as he battled with Anderson, and as the two lines came together, Anderson took Baggett’s front wheel out.

Baggett went down and remounted last.

2017 RedBud 450 MX Results

Barcia led the early part of the race over Anderson, and then Tomac caught them and went around Anderson, and just as he was beginning to pressure Barcia, Barcia lost the rear on his Suzuki and went down, remounting fifth.

From there, Tomac cruised to the moto win, 15 seconds in front of Anderson, and then Musquin, Peick, and Grant, who grabbed a top-five in the moto despite not even supposed to be racing. Behind Grant came Barcia, Bogle, Wilson, Seely and then Baggett, who passed both Craig (for 11th) and Canard (for 10th) on the final lap of the race, salvaging two valuable championship points.

Tomac now leads the title chase headed to the sand of Southwick, Massachusetts, where he won last year. Baggett now trails by 13 points, and Anderson sits a further 12 points back, 15 points in front of former points leader Musquin in fourth.

2017 RedBud 450 MX Results

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