Eli Tomac was the fastest man for the last time in 2015. A second moto crash ended his 2015 450MX Championship campaign with a torn rotator cuff. Photo by: Hoppenworld
The 2015 Thunder Valley National and the third round of the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship turned everything that happened over the first two rounds upside down. Both GEICO/Honda’s Eli Tomac and Red Bull/KTM’s Marvin Musquin came into Lakewood, Colorado with 19-point leads in their respective Championships, and both handed the red plates over before leaving the Rocky Mountains. In the 450MX class, Tomac’s season ended with a crash that tore his rotator cuff while Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey got the win and possession of the red plate. In the 250MX class, Star Racing/Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin put on a dominant 1-1 performance while Musquin lost the red plate to Martin with a 14-2 scorecard on the day.
In the fastest lap time battle at round three, it was all Eli Tomac. The #3 put down the fastest lap in moto one (2:10.381) and again in moto two (2:13.391) before his day and season ended with a big crash. In both motos, he was just over a second faster than RCH/Soaring Eagle/Suzuki’s Ken Roczen who had the second fastest overall time (2:11.680). Both Roczen and, especially, Tomac proved once again that pure speed often does not mean wins and championships. The winner of the Thunder Valley National and the new 450MX Championship points leader is Ryan Dungey. Dungey had the third fastest lap (2:12.631) on the day and the second fastest average lap time (2:14.623).
| Top 10 450MX Times | Top 10 250MX Times |
|---|---|
| 1. Eli Tomac – 2:10.381 2. Ken Roczen – 2:11.680 3. Ryan Dungey – 2:12.631 4. Jason Anderson – 2:15.118 5. Blake Baggett – 2:16.422 6. Justin Barcia – 2:16.730 7. Broc Tickle – 2:17.573 8. Phil Nicoletti – 2:17.992 9. Justin Brayton – 2:18.023 10. Freddie Noren – 2:18.087 |
1. Jeremy Martin – 2:13.707 2. Marvin Musquin – 2:14.380 3. Jessy Nelson – 2:14.886 4. Joey Savatgy – 2:15.175 5. Justin Smith – 2:15.396 6. Zach Osborne – 2:15.608 7. Adam Cianciarulo – 2:16.001 8. RJ Hampshire – 2:16.583 9. Christian Craig – 2:17.250 10. Matt Bisceglia – 2:17.617 |
In the 250MX class, it was Jeremy Martin’s day from the drop of the gate in moto one. With two holeshots and the fastest lap in moto one (2:13.707) and moto two (2:15.776), there would be no catching the #1 in Colorado. Musquin—with the 2nd fastest lap time (2:14.380)—tried to keep Martin honest, but a crash in moto one and Martin’s mistake free riding in the gnarly ruts, prevented us from seeing anyone battle for the lead. The third fastest lap (2:14.886) of the day was clocked by TLD/KTM’s Jessy Nelson.
The surprise speed of the day came from GEICO/Honda’s fill-in rider Christian Craig. Straight out of early retirement, the #68 qualified with the fastest lap (2:06.846) in morning qualifying and continued to surprise all day long. Craig had the ninth overall fastest lap (2:17.250) in the motos, the forth overall fastest 250MX average lap time (2:18.994) and finished 5th overall in his first ever 250MX outdoor National, a feat too impressive not to dedicate a paragraph to. Congrats to Craig. Hopefully he can carry this momentum forward with him.
You can check out the top ten 250MX and 450MX fastest single lap-times and top ten fastest average lap times from the 2015 Thunder Valley National below. Scroll down to see how the four motos broke down lap-for-lap and how the 250’s matched up against the 450 riders on the extremely rough circuit with MotoXAddicts’ lap-time comparison charts.
Full 2015 Thunder Valley National results here>>>
| Top 10 450MX Avg Lap-Times | Top 10 250MX Avg Lap-Times |
|---|---|
| 1. Eli Tomac – 2:14.060 2. Ryan Dungey – 2:14.623 3. Ken Roczen – 2:15.521 4. Broc Tickle – 2:18.858 5. Blake Baggett – 2:18.944 6. Jason Anderson – 2:19.742 7. Justin Barcia – 2:20.167 8. Cole Seely – 2:20.601 9. Justin Brayton – 2:20.911 10. Christophe Pourcel – 2:21.373 |
1. Jeremy Martin – 2:17.426 2. Zach Osborne – 2:18.405 3. Jessy Nelson – 2:18.724 4. Christian Craig – 2:18.994 5. Marvin Musquin – 2:19.080 6. Adam Cianciarulo – 2:19.435 7. Jordon Smith – 2:19.739 8. Chris Alldredge – 2:19.846 9. Joey Savatgy – 2:19.926 10. Matt Bisceglia – 2:20.826 |
Each graph charts the lap times of the top five finishers in each moto. You can run your cursor over the lines to see which rider the line signifies and that rider’s time for each lap. Click on a rider’s name on the right to remove them from the chart so you can run riders’ times against each other heads up. Also, scroll down to see how the top three 250MX class finishers matched up against the top three 450MX class finishers.
Click here for the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship standings>>>
