Cycle News Staff | August 29, 2020
It was a good day for defending 450MX Champion Eli Tomac at the Ironman National Motocross in Crawfordsville, Indiana, August 29. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider managed to take a big chunk out of Zach Osborne’s lead in the championship after going 2-1 on the day for the overall win, which he certainly had to fight for.
450MX National
Adam Cianciarulo, Eli Tomac and Marvin Musquin make up the 450MX-class podium at the Ironman National Motocross. Photos: Rob Koy
The first moto, however, was all Marvin Musquin’s on the Red Bull KTM. It was a year ago to almost the day that Musquin injured his knee at this very track that resulted in him sitting out the entire 2020 Supercross season. He put that disaster out of his head in a big way and dominated the first moto with a wire-to-wire win, but there was still plenty of racing action to watch behind him.
Tomac, who wanted to finish ahead of Osborne at all cost, got away in second but had Osborne all over him in third and was threatening the Kawasaki rider for the position—and he did so for a long time. But a run-in with a lapper and a bout with arm-pump would eventually get the best of Osborne who slipped back to seventh by moto’s end.
Tomac finished a distant second to Musquin, followed by Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) and a hard-charging Chase Sexton (Honda HRC).
Osborne wanted to get some of those points he lost to Tomac back in the second moto and darted into the lead ahead of Cianciarulo and Tomac.
Cianciarulo, who could taste his first 450MX-class win, got around Osborne on the third lap and tried sprinting away, but Osborne stayed with him for a while before changing his attention to Tomac, who was on the attack right behind him.
Tomac eventually got around Osborne, and then Tomac’s teammate Cianciarulo, but he wasn’t out of the woods just yet.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Justin Barcia (Monster Energy Yamaha) made his way up through the pack and started challenging Tomac for the lead! Barcia chased Tomac the last four laps but couldn’t find an opening he needed to make the pass.
Tomac took the moto win just 1.103 seconds ahead of Barcia and another 20 seconds ahead of third-place Osborne. Cianciarulo slipped back to fourth, followed by Sexton and first-moto winner Musquin, who got off to a bad start and later admitted that he just didn’t have the intensity that the riders ahead of him had in that moto.
Musquin’s 1-6 still gave him second overall, with a 3-4 netting Cianciarulo a podium finish (third) for the second week in a row.
Barcia, sixth in the first moto, ended up fourth overall, while a 7-3 resulted in a fifth for Osborne.
In the championship, Tomac pulled 13 points on Osborne, who is still on top of the leaderboard with 122 points. Musquin is second with 109, followed by Barcia with 96 and Tomac with 95.
After pulling out of the first moto, Jason Anderson, who was fourth in the championship going into the Ironman race, did not start the second moto, complaining of pain in his arm from an earlier injury.
Max Anstie, ninth in the championship, also retired early with an injury from a hard second-moto crash.
250MX National
Jeremy Martin captured his second MX250 win in a row, but he still trails Dylan Ferrandis in the championship.
In the 250MX class, it was another frustrating day for points leader Ferrandis who was clearly the fastest rider on the track but didn’t come away with the win, which instead went to his nearest rival in the championship Jeremy Martin.
Ferrandis was in a class of his own in the first moto. He chose the far inside on the starting gate and made it work by grabbing the early lead and running off with the win. And no one was close. The Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha team rider eventually took the checkered flag 26 seconds ahead of Martin, who started right behind Ferrandis off the start but just couldn’t match Ferrandis’ speed.
Brandon Hartranft (Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM) was third, followed by Jett Lawrence (Geico Honda), and RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), who were all fairly spread out as the top five crossed the finish line. Shan McElrath, however, was right behind Hampshire, who was just ahead of Alex Martin, Justin Cooper and Cameron McAdoo.
Going into the second moto, Ferrandis looked to be in good shape to get the overall win based on his performance in the first moto, but a first-turn crash that involved his teammate McElrath, McAdoo and a couple of other riders, put Ferrandis to the back of the 40-rider field while Martin got away out in front, which was bad news for Ferrandis.
Martin went on to win the moto, but all eyes were focused on Ferrandis, who had no shot at the overall victory but needed to minimize the damage as best he could.
Ferrandis quickly worked his way up through the field, passing riders in bunches in the early half of the race. Late in the race, Ferrandis made a couple of big passes on Jett Lawrence and Brandon Hartranft to get third in the moto, finishing just 10 seconds behind winner Martin and five seconds behind runner-up Cooper.
So, what could’ve been a disastrous day for Ferrandis ended up not being so bad. He somehow managed to retain the red plate as the points leader. However, his lead did shrink a little bit, from nine to four, but it could’ve been much worse for the Frenchman.
Alex Martin, sixth overall on the day, is 31 points in back of his younger brother in third. McElrath is another five points back in fourth.
Hampshire (5-17), who was fast and aggressive all day but the victim of a second-moto crash, holds down fifth in the championship, five points behind McElrath.
2020 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship
Ironman Raceway
Crawfordsville, Indiana
Round 3 of 9
2020 Ironman Motocross Results: (August 29, 2020)
450MX Overall (Top 10)
| 1. |
Eli Tomac |
(Kaw) |
2-1 |
| 2. |
Marvin Musquin |
(KTM) |
1-6 |
| 3 |
Adam Cianciarulo |
(Kaw) |
3-4 |
| 4. |
Justin Barcia |
(Yam) |
6-2 |
| 5. |
Zach Osborne |
(Hus) |
7-3 |
| 6. |
Chase Sexton |
(Hon) |
4-5 |
| 7. |
Blake Baggett |
(KTM) |
5-7 |
| 8. |
Dean Wilson |
(Hus) |
8-8 |
| 9. |
Broc Tickle |
(Yam) |
9-10 |
| 10. |
Christian Craig |
(Hon) |
11-12 |
250MX Overall (Top 10)
| 1. |
Jeremy Martin |
(Hon) |
2-1 |
| 2. |
Dylan Ferrandis |
(Yam) |
1-3 |
| 3. |
Brandon Hartranft |
(KTM) |
3-4 |
| 4. |
Justin Cooper |
(Yam) |
8-2 |
| 5. |
Jett Lawrence |
(Hon) |
4-5 |
| 6. |
Alex Martin |
(Suz) |
7-6 |
| 7. |
Shane McElrath |
(Yam) |
6-10 |
| 8. |
Jo Shimoda |
(Hon) |
12-7 |
| 9. |
Mitchell Harrison |
(Kaw) |
11-8 |
| 10. |
Carson Mumford |
(Hon) |
13-9 |
450MX POINT STANDINGS (After 3 of 9 rounds)
| 1. |
Zach Osborne |
(Hus) |
122/2 wins |
| 2. |
Marvin Musquin |
(KTM) |
109 |
| 3 |
Justin Barcia |
(Yam) |
96 |
| 4. |
Eli Tomac |
(Kaw) |
95/1 win |
| 5. |
Adam Cianciarulo |
(Kaw) |
89 |
| 6. |
Blake Baggett |
(KTM) |
81 |
| 7. |
Chase Sexton |
(Hon) |
78 |
| 8. |
Broc Tickle |
(Yam) |
71 |
| 9. |
Christian Craig |
(Hon) |
59 |
| 10. |
Jason Anderson |
(Hus) |
58 |
250MX POINT STANDSING (After 3 of 9 rounds)
| 1. |
Dylan Ferrandis |
(Yam) |
135/1 win |
| 2. |
Jeremy Martin |
(Hon) |
131/2 wins |
| 3. |
Alex Martin |
(Suz) |
100 |
| 4. |
Shane McElrath |
(Hus) |
95 |
| 5. |
RJ Hampshire |
(Yam) |
90 |
| 6. |
Cameron McAdoo |
(Kaw) |
79 |
| 7. |
Justin Cooper |
(Yam) |
75 |
| 8. |
Jett Lawrence |
(Hon) |
63 |
| 9. |
Brandon Hartranft |
(KTM) |
61 |
| 10. |
Mitchell Harrison |
(Kaw) |
61 |
QUALIFYING
2020 Ironman Motocross Results: Although track conditions were soft and wet, it appears that the racers of the 2020 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship will finally have decent weather conditions to race in for round three at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana, August 29. The two sessions lacked the drama of last week’s, where points leader Zach Osborne nearly didn’t make it out of qualifying because of a mechanical. This time, all appears “normal” as the riders attacked the course right away, with lap times steadily dropping as the track got worked in.
Adam Cianciarulo is the top 450MX qualifier at this morning’s Ironman National. Photos: Rob Koy
Adam Cianciarulo is on fire this morning. He blitzed the 450MX field in the first session and was nearly two full seconds quicker than the nearest rider, Marvin Musquin. Cianciarulo proved in P2 that his first time was no fluke, as he again topped the field with the outright quickest time of the morning. But the field did get a little closer to him this time. Osborne was just under a second off Cianciarulo’s time, followed by Musquin, Justin Barcia and Chase Sexton.
Unlike his teammate Cianciarulo, defending champ Eli Tomac isn’t setting the world on fire by any means. Instead, he’s well down the field in 13th place.
Shane McElrath (pictured) edged out teammate Dylan Ferrandis for the top qualifying spot in MX2.
In 250MX, Shane McElrath edged out teammate and points leader Dylan Ferrandis for the number-one gate pick. Two seconds back is last week’s overall winner Jeremy Martin, followed by Brandon Hartranft, Alex Martin and Jo Shimoda who are all within a second of each other.
RJ Hampshire, Derek Drake, Jett Lawrence and Justin Cooper round out the top 10.
Marvin Musquin
Dean Wilson
Adam Cianciarulo
Zach Osborne
Ironman Raceway
450MX Combined Qualifying
| 1. |
Adam Cianciarulo |
(Kaw) |
2:09.064 |
| 2. |
Zach Osborne |
(Hus) |
2:10.264 |
| 3. |
Marvin Musquin |
(KTM) |
2:10.687 |
| 4. |
Justin Barcia |
(Yam) |
2:10.864 |
| 5. |
Chase Sexton |
(Hon) |
2:10.963 |
| 6. |
Jason Anderson |
(Hus) |
2:16.402 |
| 7. |
Max Anstie |
(Suz) |
2:12.516 |
| 8. |
Fredrik Noren |
(Suz) |
2:12.900 |
| 9. |
Benny Bloss |
(Hus) |
2:12.988 |
| 10. |
Broc Tickle |
(Yam) |
2:13.084 |
250MX Combined Qualifying
| 1. |
Shane McElrath |
(Yam) |
2:13.107 |
| 2. |
Dylan Ferrandis |
(Yam) |
2:13.273 |
| 3. |
Jeremy Martin |
(Hon) |
2:15.016 |
| 4. |
Brandon Hartranft |
(KTM) |
2:15.342 |
| 5. |
Alex Martin |
(Suz) |
2:15.524 |
| 6. |
Jo Shimoda |
(Hon) |
2:15.716 |
| 7. |
RJ Hampshire |
(Hus) |
2:16.250 |
| 8. |
Derek Drake |
(KTM) |
2:17.251 |
| 9. |
Jett Lawrence |
(Hon) |
2:17.477 |
| 10. |
Justin Cooper |
(Yam) |
2:17.521 |
2020 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship Schedule
| Round 1 |
August 15 |
Loretta Lynn’s Ranch |
Hurricane Mills, Tennessee |
| Round 2 |
August 22 |
Loretta Lynn’s Ranch |
Hurricane Mills, Tennessee |
| Round 3 |
August 29 |
Ironman Raceway |
Crawfordsville, Indiana |
| Round 4 |
September 4 |
RedBud MX |
Buchanan, Michigan |
| Round 5 |
September 7 |
RedBud MX |
Buchanan, Michigan |
| Round 6 |
September 19 |
Spring Creek MX Park |
Millville, Minnesota |
| Round 7 |
September 26 |
WW Ranch MX Park |
Jacksonville, Florida |
| Round 8 |
October 3 |
Thunder Valley MX Park |
Lakewood, Colorado |
| Round 9 |
October 10 |
Fox Raceway at Pala |
Pala, California |
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