2015 GEICO Budds Creek National Qualifying Report

The rain is falling this morning in Mechanicsville, MD. Photo by: Hoppenworld

Ten motos down and fourteen to go for the 2015 Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Championship. With five rounds of racing and the first week off in the rearview mirror, the riders packed up and headed to the Eastern end of the U.S. for round number six in Mechanicsville, Maryland and the beautiful Budds Creek circuit.

Jonathan Beasley and the crew at Budds Creek have only been on the AMA National circuit since 1989, but in the twenty-six years since, they have hosted every major motocross race the world has to offer. Budds Creek has been on the schedule for 125, 250, 450 and 500cc AMA Nationals, hosted a USGP in 1999 and, in 2007, was selected to be the first U.S. track to host the Motocross of Nations since Unadilla way back in 1987. Few motocross tracks in the world have seen the kind of talent that has roosted around Budds Creek, and today, with a lot of rain in the forecast, it looks like the current talent might be playing in the mud.

This morning, everyone in Mechanicsville woke up to rain, and the promoters quickly cut the morning schedule down to just one qualifying practice each and no consolation races. That means each rider would only have one fifteen-minute session to perform their fast lap and try to make the forty man gate today. With the track conditions changing quickly from one qualifying session to the next, this can always mix things up. Today, though, to try to make it more fair, they are doing track prep between each qualifying session.

250MX

In the 250MX class, the 250 group B riders went out to a very wet circuit and tried to carve some lines into the Maryland countryside. In the end, it was Aaron Lampi from Fishkill, NY recording the fastest lap in 250MX group B, and his 2:26.671 was only good enough to score him the 25th gate pick in today’s motos.

For the first time since the Hangtown National opener, the fastest overall qualifying time on the day (2:18.801) went to Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciuarulo. Since coming out on fire at the opener, Adam has not been on the top of the leaderboard in qualifying, but this morning he showed he has some mud skills. Overall, Adam’s time was over a half second faster than the second fastest lap of the day.

The second fastest lap (2:19.373) was set by the defending 250MX Champion, Star Racing/Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin. Jeremy has spent the last couple years training at the Ricky Carmichael farm and there’s plenty of rain in Tallahassee, Florida. On top of that, his trainer RC, once lapped the entire field in the mud, so we expect Jeremy has picked up some pointers about keeping her pinned in the slop. With an eight point gap to make up on Red Bull/KTM’s Marvin Musquin today, those skills may come in handy.

The third (2:19.840), fourth (2:19.857) and fifth (2:19.865) fastest qualifying times on the day were recorded by GEICO/Honda’s RJ Hampshire, Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy and the 250MX red plate holder, Musquin. The three riders were as close as it gets in time—hopefully a glimpse into how competitive the 250MX class will be later this afternoon. Mud is known as the great equalizer, and with the top five all within a second, things sure look equal.

Making his return to racing today at Budds Creek is Star Racing/Yamaha’s Cooper Webb. At the Hangtown opener, the #17 re-aggravated a foot injury he picked up in Supercross and has been out for the last four rounds. In qualifying today, Cooper looked fast, turning in the eighth (2:20.741) fastest lap of the qualifying session. It’s always hard to re-enter a series and latch onto the leaders’ momentum, but we expect Cooper to be there sooner than later.

450MX

For the second straight week, Rockstar/Husqvarna’s Christophe Pourcel set the Bud Light fastest lap (2:13.181) in the 450MX class. At round five, the Frenchman was over a half second faster than anyone, and today at round six, the #377 improved to over a full second faster than the field. So far in 2015, though, Christophe has not proven to anyone he has the fitness to go the distance, and until he proves he can, riders like Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey and RCH/Soaring Eagle/Suzuki’s Ken Roczen are not worried too much about the former MX2 World Champion.

The second fastest 450MX time (2:14.226) in today’s wet conditions was JGRMX/Yamaha’s Justin Barcia. Bam Bam has always ridden well in these conditions, but like Pourcel, the #51 has not yet proven to be a threat to the #5 or the #1 at the end of these motos. Justin has never won an overall in either class at Budds Creek, but he did have three-straight overall podium finishes and a moto win in the 250MX class. In fact, Barcia has never finished outside the top five in Mechanicsville, MD.

The third (2:14.371), fourth (2:15.2013) and fifth (2:15.435) fastest laps of the morning were recorded by Dungey, Rockstar/Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson and Roczen. These are the three riders that occupy the top three spots in the points and have also occupied the podium at the last two stops of the series. At the moment, Dungey has a 37-point lead over Roczen and a 72-point lead over Anderson in the 450MX Championship, and the last thing the former two-time 450MX Champion wants to see with a big points lead is rain.

Rainy conditions breed mistakes, mechanical issues and uncertainty in general, and Roczen needs a little help to get back into this Championship heading into the second half of the season. Last year, Roczen went into a rainy Indiana with just slim points lead in the 450MX Championship and left the mud with a 1-1. Combined with a myriad of mistakes by Dungey in the rain, Roczen locked down the 2014 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross 450MX Championship that day. The #1 needs today to go like that so he can gain some points and momentum heading into the final six rounds of 2015.