Photo by: Ryne Swanberg

The 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship landed at Muddy Creek Raceway for the Tennessee National over the weekend and Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac (450MX) and Star Racing / Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger (250MX) walked away from round five with the overall wins in their respective classes.

In the 450MX class, Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson (2nd) and Rocky Mountain ATV/MC / WPS / KTM’s Blake Baggett (3rd) joined Tomac on the overall podium, while Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne and Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner (3rd) climbed onto the 250 podium with Plessinger.

Leaving Muddy Creek, Baggett kept the 450 red plate with a 4-point advantage over Tomac and Osborne stretched his lead in the 250 points to 31-points over Troy Lee Designs / KTM’s Alex Martin—who pushed his brother, GEICO / Honda’s Jeremy Martin, back to third in the standings.

After racing was over, riders gave their thoughts on the 2017 Tennessee National.

Eli Tomac: (1st in 450) “Oh, yeah! It’s been a long time coming really. It’s been over a month now or exactly a month. I had a couple of goofy mistakes at a few races—a couple of top-overs and one little mishap. I feel like we’re supposed to be hear and we were looking forward to this weekend. ”

 

Aaron Plessinger: (1st in 250) “I definitely didn’t feel good this morning. I wasn’t flowing, I wasn’t getting the track down right, and once I got the holeshot, I just put the hammer down and nobody caught me. They were pushing hard and it made me push hard. It was a good moto. In the second moto, I got off to a holeshot again. If you’ve been around here long, you know that’s unheard of for me. Zach was riding good; He got by me and he pulled away pretty good. I just rode it in for a second and took the overall [win].”

With his moto 2 win, Zach Osborne finished second overall and stretched his lead in the 250 points. Photo by: Simon Cudby

Jason Anderson: (2nd in 450) “I qualified first overall. My weekend went pretty well. I got a good start the first moto and just rode my own race up front and got another moto win. I felt like I had a holeshot the second moto, but then I got bumped in the first corner and came out around fifth and worked my way up. I tried to catch Eli, but I couldn’t hold it the entire time.”

 

Zach Osborne: (2nd in 250) “Today was a good day. I started off really well. It wasn’t ideal conditions for my riding, but it came around in the motos. I just tried to work my way up after my start in the first moto and ended up fifth. I got off to a really good start in the second moto and made a couple passes in the beginning to pull away to a comfortable lead for a win and a second overall. It’s nice to come out of here with some more points gained on my competitors and I’m just going to keep rallying.”

 

Blake Baggett: (3rd in 450) “Ideally, a holeshot would be the best over laying on the ground in a pileup. I just got hung up with Cooper [Webb], our bikes got locked together and we both went down. It took us a while to get them undone. I put my head down, tried to do damage control, enjoy it and had fun with it. The track was fun today so I just tried to do what I could. I enjoyed it. ”

 

Austin Forkner: (3rd in 250) He [Alex Martin] was there both motos. In the first moto I was trying to catch Adam [Cianciarulo] and Aaron [Plessinger] in the second moto. If I started thinking about who was behind me, I was going to make mistakes. I just tried to focus ahead. I knew he was back there and I could hear him. He had some better spots on the track, and I had some better spots on the track and I could hear him lurking the whole time. He definitely kept me honest the whole race. With the pace we were running in the second moto, I thought if we got to twenty-minutes, that I’d break him, but him and Adam in that second moto never broke. You had to push hard. The intensity was up there the whole time.”

 

Marvin Musquin: (14th in 450) “I ended up with a DNF in the second moto, which was disappointing. I had a problem because a rock hit the brake. Overall it was a bit better than last week regarding the feeling in my knee, but it’s still difficult. I was able to practice pretty well over the week, so that’s what I’m going to try and do again next week. I’m going to keep working and will try to get better and stronger. It’s tough because I’m losing points in the championship, but it’s mainly about me getting better.”

 

Adam Cianciarulo: (4th in 250) “I felt better this weekend. It was nice to get one podium finish today. We’re getting closer to the front with every moto and I’m not going to quit until I’m on that top spot.”

Jason Anderson split moto wins with Eli Tomac in Tennessee. Photo by: Simon Cudby

Jeremy Martin: (9th in 250) “Rough day of racing at Muddy Creek for the number six machine. needed to be better on a day that I wasn’t feeling very good. Starts were everything on that track so the first turn crash in the first moto set the tone for the day. Had the bad gate pick for the second moto. Not making excuses though—I straight up got beat and I gotta get better. Looking forward to Red Bud and getting back up front.”

 

Cole Seely: (40th in 450) “My start was pretty good and was hoping to charge forward, but after going down we felt it best to sit out and play it safe. I’ll be back for sure next weekend. I always enjoy Red Bud. It’s hard to beat that crowd.”

 

Alex Martin: (5th in 250) “I’ve been glad to have the consistency throughout the season. If something happens to the leader in the championship, I know we can be right there. It would be nice to get better overall finishes with my moto scores, but the class is so competitive and the points are close.”

 

Martin Davalos: (8th in 450) “I had a pretty decent weekend. I feel like I’m moving in the right direction. I put on a good charge in the first moto and ended up 11th. I got a better start in the second moto and just put my head down and dug deep. I passed Bogle for fifth, but then made a mistake and ended up sixth. That gave me eighth overall, and I’m pretty pumped about the second moto. It’s a learning process for me, and obviously my riding is getting better and better. I’m looking forward to Redbud—it’s one of my favorite tracks.”

 

RJ Hampshire: (16th in 250) “Day started off good. I always rode well at Muddy Creek so I was pretty excited to go racing. First moto I had a good start, came around the first turn in second but slid out exiting the turn and fell back to fourth. Struggled to find a flow the first couple laps and got shuffled back a little bit. Started putting laps together and pulled up to Zach Osborne and the pack in front of me. I think lap eight we ran into some electrical problems so that ended my moto. Second moto we had 38th gate pick and just tried to make the best out of it on a track that was pretty tough to pass on. I’m happy with my riding and the starts. We will be ready for RedBud!”

Adam Cianciarulo was solid, but did not quite have the pace of the moto winners. Photo by: Ryne Swanberg

Joey Savatgy: (8th in 250) “I wasn’t on pace today. I seemed to be just a little off all day and couldn’t keep up with the front runners. I’m pumped for Adam and Austin on their podium finishes, they both rode great. All I can do is do my homework this week and come out swinging next week.”

 

Dean Wilson: (5th in 450) “I felt like my riding was really good this weekend. I didn’t have a great start the first moto and wasn’t moving forward too much, but I put on a really good charge midway through the race. I caught up to the pack and made some passes. I was in eighth, and had seventh, six, fifth and fourth all right in front of me. I made a really good effort but it was hard to pass. I got a pretty good start in the second moto. I feel like I could have ended up third, but made a mistake and crashed around the finish corner and went back to 10th, but then came back to 7th. I got fifth overall, which is good. I’m happy with my riding, I just need to put it all together.”

 

Shane McElrath: (7th in 250) “It’s such a good feeling coming to this track where I spent a lot of time in my early years. My first moto start was really good and helped me push hard in those opening laps. I wish I would have been able to duplicate it in Moto 2, but I’m happy to get my best finish of the season and hopefully we can build on it.”

 

Trey Canard: (12th in 450) “I had a very good weekend. I wasn’t even planning on coming to this race until Tuesday, so it’s been kind of a whirlwind of a week. I was so happy to be back at the races. There were some good things to write home about. I qualified well and got good starts. I had some good moments in the motos, but there’s no way to anticipate that race pace. I did better with it the second moto, but didn’t have much left for the end. All-in-all I’m happy and I feel like I’ll have a bit more anticipation going into next week. Hopefully I’ll be able to build some momentum in the next few weeks.”

 

Justin Hill: (15th in 250) “Today was tough. I changed my work out routine this past week and I’m hoping this new technique will eventually turn things around for me. All we can do is continue to work and put in our best effort.”

 

Chase Sexton: (11th in 250) “Tennessee went pretty well! Track was fun and the fans were awesome! First moto I fell in the first corner and had to come from way back to 15th. Second moto was top 15 on the start and made some passes early and felt really good on the bike. Ended up ninth in the second moto and 11th overall on the day. Now I just need to work on starts and come out swinging at RedBud!”

 

 

Author

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