Ken Roczen came out swinging for the fences at the opening round. Photo by: Hoppenworld

The 2016 GoPro Hangtown National and the opening round of the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship has officially come and gone. Leaving the stadiums of Monster Energy Supercross and heading into the opening round of outdoors, Star Racing/Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin and Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey are the men with the #1 plates. The Minnesota boys are the defending Champions with all the expectations that go with that, but both RCH / Soaring Eagle / Jimmy Johns / Suzuki’s Ken Roczen and Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy swept the opening round with 1-1 performances.

In the 250MX class, the returning Champion, J-Mart, came in under the weather and could only manage a 3-9 score for fifth overall on the day. Savatgy surprised everyone going wire-to-wire in moto one and winning moto two after starting second and stalking Troy Lee Designs / KTM’s Jessy Nelson before passing him for the lead and scoring his first ever 250MX win with a 1-1. Climbing onto the podium with Savatgy were Star Racing / Yamaha’s Alex Martin, with an 8-2 for second overall, and his teammate Cooper Webb, finishing third with a consistent 4-5 score.

Joey Savatgy used consistency and fitness to rule the day. Photo by: Hoppenworld
Joey Savatgy used consistency and fitness to rule the day. Photo by: Hoppenworld

In the 450MX class, Roczen did not holeshot either moto, but he finished the first lap of both with the lead and never looked back. The #94 led every recorded lap at Hangtown on his way to his first 1-1 since his 450MX championship run in 2014. The other two 450MX podium finishers on the day were Dungey in second with a 2-2 on the day and Monster / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac in third with a 4-4 score. After Tomac’s Hangtown domination in ’15, many thought he would handily win the opener, but the #3 is not quite up to pace yet on the green bike.

The fastest lap time battle at round one was Ryan Dungey’s (2:00.475) lone victory on the day. All the fastest overall laps came from moto one under the better track conditions. Early in moto one, Ken Roczen (2:00.539) got up to speed quicker than the defending Champ, but Dungey used his late race speed to close in on the German. In the end, it was Kenny’s fastest overall average lap time (2:01.911) that gave him the six-second win in the opening moto.

Ryan Dungey had the fastest lap, but could not keep the #94 in sight. Photo by: Hoppenworld
Ryan Dungey had the fastest lap, but could not keep the #94 in sight. Photo by: Hoppenworld
Top 10 450MX Times Top 10 250MX Times
1. Ryan Dungey – 2:00.475
2. Ken Roczen – 2:00.539
3. Trey Canard – 2:02.013
4. Blake Baggett – 2:02.285
5. Cole Seely – 2:02.462
6. Jason Anderson – 2:02.500
7. Eli Tomac – 2:02.728
8. Marvin Musquin – 2:03.219
9. Broc Tickle – 2:03.643
10. Josh Grant – 2:03.701
1. Cooper Webb – 2:01.669
2. Joey Savatgy – 2:01.831
3. Jeremy Martin – 2:01.898
4. Jessy Nelson – 2:02.020
5. Jordon Smith – 2:02.225
6. Zach Osborne – 2:02.473
7. Tristan Charboneau – 2:02.528
8. RJ Hampshire – 2:02.549
9. Aaron Plessinger – 2:02.920
10. Alex Martin – 2:02.976

The third fourth and fifth fastest 450MX laps belonged to HRC / Honda’s Trey Canard (2:02.013), Yoshimura / Suzuki’s Blake Baggett (2:02.285) and HRC / Honda’s other rider, Cole Seely (2:02.462). Trey had the pace to find the podium, but like in SX this year, mistakes got the better of the #41. Baggett has always been fast at Hangtown, but his come from behind battle to get around Tomac for third in the opening moto may have been the ride of the day. Unfortunately, the #4 broke his collarbone in the final moto.

With a fracture in his wrist, Cooper Webb was a big question mark heading into Hangtown. Photo by: Hoppenworld
With a fracture in his wrist, Cooper Webb was a big question mark heading into Hangtown. Photo by: Hoppenworld

In the 250MX class, the fastest overall single lap was turned in by Cooper Webb (2:01.669). With Cooper coming in with a fractured wrist, many thought he would not make it through the day, but his speed and fitness did not look overly affected by the injury. Savatgy was the second fastest (2:01.831) overall rider in the opening moto and the eighth fastest (2:04.135) in moto two, but it was his thirty+two consistency that ruled the day. The only person more consistent in a moto was Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne who recorded the fastest overall average lap time (2:04.500) in moto two on his way to a fourth.

The third, fourth and fifth fastest single 250MX laps belonged to J-Mart (2:01.898), Nelson (2:02.020) and GEICO / Honda’s Jordon Smith (2:02.225). J-Mart and Smith recorded their fastest lap while trying to keep Savatgy in sight, but Nelson was buried in the pack and used his speed to try and find the lead pack. All three had very up and down days but can leave knowing they have the pace heading to Glen Helen.

Zach Osborne had a tough opener, but in moto two he went from 20th to 4th with the fastest lap and average lap in the moto. Photo by: Hoppenworld
Zach Osborne had a tough opener, but in moto two he went from 20th to 4th with the fastest lap and average lap in the moto. Photo by: Hoppenworld

Full 2016 GoPro Hangtown National results here>>>

Top 10 450MX Avg Lap-Times Top 10 250MX Avg Lap-Times
1. Ken Roczen – 2:01.911
2. Ryan Dungey – 2:02.124
3. Blake Baggett – 2:03.683
4. Eli Tomac – 2:03.830
5. Jason Anderson – 2:04.514
6. Cole Seely – 2:04.632
7. Trey Canard – 2:05.063
8. Josh Grant – 2:05.426
9. Marvin Musquin – 2:05.804
10. Justin Barcia – 2:05.989
1. Zach Osborne – 2:04.500
2. Joey Savatgy – 2:04.540
3. Aaron Plessinger – 2:04.578
4. Alex Martin – 2:04.602
5. Jeremy Martin – 2:04.630
6. Jordon Smith – 2:04.718
7. Cooper Webb – 2:04.776
8. RJ Hampshire – 2:05.393
9. Tristan Charboneau – 2:05.419
10. Jessy Nelson – 2:05.578

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.

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 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship standings>>>


Author

Dan Lamb is a 12+ year journalist and the owner of MotoXAddicts.