Photos by: Chase Yocom

The 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship headed to Mechanicsville, Maryland for the penultimate round, and the 2018 Budds Creek National. Once again, it was Monster Energy / Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac walking away with the overall win in the 450 class. The #1 extended his points lead over Red Bull / KTM’s Marvin Musquin—who finished 3rd overall—to 20 points with just two motos to go. HRC / Honda’s Ken Roczen scored his second moto win of the year and took the 2nd spot on the podium with a 1-3 score on the day.

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In the 250MX class, Monster Energy / Star Racing / Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger locked down the 250MX AMA National Championship after his moto one win, but it was the GEICO / Honda duo of RJ Hampshire—his first-ever win—and Chase Sexton taking the top two spots on the podium. With his emotions high from locking down his first-ever National Championhip in moto one, Aaron finished 11th in moto two, but he still climbed up to the 3rd spot on the podium.

After the racing was over, we gathered numerous quotes from riders about their eleventh outdoor MX race of 2018.

Eli Tomac: (1st in 450MX) “Winning the championship is the ultimate goal, and today we were able to add some more points to put us in the best possible position going into the final round next weekend,” said Tomac. “In Moto 1 I struggled a little bit making my way through traffic, but in Moto 2 I was just feeling it and after I got around a couple guys I knew I could catch the leader and win. I am pumped I was able to do that!”

 

RJ Hampshire: (1st in 250MX) “It was awesome. We just haven’t been able to put two motos together. It’s not because of myself, actually. I’d put a good moto in and I’d almost get killed the next moto–I’d get taken down off the start, someone would land on me, whatever. Chase and I went 1-2 today, and that’s a big boost for our team. They’ve been working hard to improve the bike, and it showed today.”

 

Ken Roczen: (2nd in 450MX) “The first moto was great. I had a good battle with Marvin [Musquin] going through most the race and once there were only five laps left, I just told myself that I better pull this off and get the win. I was trying to just keep it steady, but if Marvin was still close behind me, I was going to try and put on a charge the last couple laps; luckily I didn’t really have to. It was my shot at the overall today, but unfortunately I got sick halfway through the week and definitely wasn’t feeling it this morning and it caught up with me in the second moto. I just ran out of steam at the end and let those guys get by me. I gave it my all out there and unfortunately it wasn’t enough for the overall again, but I just want to get this season over with healthy and giving each race all that I have–today, that was it. We’re going to take what we’ve learned to regroup for this off-season, and come back to crush it next year. I’m happy with where I’m at this season, but at the same time, I’m a winner and I want to win. I try to put it into perspective because I was here last year hurt and I would’ve taken a day of racing sick and in the heat over anything, so to be back a year later fighting for wins and getting second overall is pretty dang good.”

 

Chase Sexton: (2nd in 250MX) “My starts have been horrible. Today I probably got two top ten starts. Luckily my first lap, second moto, was good enough to get into fourth. I got into third and I saw Aaron [Plessinger, who had already clinched the 2018 250 National Championship] ahead of me and I was like “Yeah he’s not going to put up too much of a fight in this moto.” I saw RJ up ahead, yeah, it was cool.”

 

Marvin Musquin: (3rdin 450MX) “Today I had great starts – the first moto I got into the lead on the first lap and I just couldn’t get it back. I was fighting for it all the way until the last two laps. It was close but I couldn’t get it. In the second moto, I was up there and it was good, but unfortunately towards the end, physically, it was really tough and I could only get fourth in that moto and third overall for the day. One more round to go, I am looking forward to fighting hard.”

This is why Aaron Plessinger is becoming a fan favorite. The man will celebrate with anyone.

Aaron Plessinger: (3rd in 250MX) “It was pretty surreal. I’m still trying to process it. It;’s crazy! I never thought I could really do it until this year. I don’t know, I’m still speechless when I think about it. I think now I can take it easy and let everything sink in. It’s been a big year for me. I need to let it all come to me and really get excited about it. I haven’t had much time to really get excited about anything, because it’s been one after the other, after the next.”

 

Mitchell Harrison: (4th in 250MX) “Overall it was a good day. I rode great in the motos and went 4-5. I proved to myself that I can stay up front in dry conditions. I can’t thank everyone at Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing enough and I’m looking forward to next weekend.”

 

Phil Nicoletti: (5th in 450MX) “Today was good. I qualified good, and the first moto was good. I put in some decent laps. I ripped a nice holeshot in the second moto then ran fifth for awhile. I had a little mishap in the last lap and ended up sixth. I’ll get ’em in Indy.”

 

Austin Forkner: (5th in 250MX) “I have been the first to admit that I need to put two motos together and this weekend was definitely a huge step in the right direction. In Moto 1, I was able to get a good start and ride my own race finishing in third and I was set to do the same in Moto 2. I have been battling a cold this week so the heat just melted me, and I wasn’t able to hold onto third, unfortunately. We are leaving here with a fifth overall, so we will rest up and come out swinging for the last round next weekend.”

RJ Hampshire finally climbed the mountain for the first AMA win of his professional career.

Michael Mosiman: (10th in 250MX) “Budds Creek started off weird. This is a really technical track, but I ended up getting my flow. I got a good start in the first moto. I was up there and in the mix so it was good. I had a good battle with Harrison – he was riding really well today. I made one big mistake that put me back, but then Savatgy passed me and I was able to pass him back which was great. I got a great start in the second moto and came out about fourth. I was riding really well but then I lost the front. I was able to come back to ninth, which is good. All-in-all I had two great starts and am happy with how today went. I’m happy to be heading to the last round.”

 

Weston Peick: (10th in 450MX) “Budds Creek was the last round for me, because of my hand injury. The race didn’t go as well as I wanted it to. I didn’t get the best start in the first moto, but I worked my way up. The track was hard pack and bumpy, which took a toll on my hand. Honestly, it was one of my worst weekends for my hand issue. We made some changes to the bike for moto two, and they also prepped some of the track that was pretty gnarly rough. I got off to a sixth-place start and held there for half the race. I’m obviously not stoked, but given my hand situation, to pull off a top ten is good in my books. I am getting surgery on Tuesday to get my hand fixed. At this point I’m not sure how long I’ll be off the bike.”

 

Enzo Lopes : (12th in 250MX) “The day started out well. I was 13th fastest in the first practice, and pretty close to the leader’s pace. Midway through the second practice my foot came off the peg and I hurt my knee. I struggled in the first 15 minutes of the first moto with the pain, but then my knee started to loosen up and get better. For a few laps toward the end of the first moto I was one of the fastest riders on the track. Then, in the second moto I was caught up in the carnage of a first turn crash and had to dig deep to get toward the front. I fought hard and finished 13th. I have one more round to go, and I’m blessed to be in this position. I want to end the series with an even better overall result.”

 

Jason Anderson: (12th in 450MX) “I had a decent weekend. I was able to qualify third and get fourth in the first moto. I didn’t want to get super winded or take too many chances for the second moto, and just wanted to ease myself into it. I’ll get back out there next weekend and will see if I can do two solid motos.”

Jason Anderson returned to racing and finished 4th in moto 1, but did not start moto 2.

Joseph Savatgy: (13th in 250MX) “We had high expectations heading into the event, but I struggled all day getting into a groove and just had one of those off days. It’s been a long season, but we still have one round left and I plan to leave it all out on the table next weekend and finish strong.”

 

Cameron McAdoo: (15th in 250MX) “Budds Creek was not the way I planned to back up last weekend. Two crashes on lap one of the first moto, and getting caught in the bottom of a pileup in moto 2 definitely made it difficult. Happy with my riding in the second moto, coming from 38th to 12th. Gonna work hard this week and come out swinging for Ironman.”

 

James DeCotis: (18th in 250MX) “It was good to be back at the races. I was sick the past few weeks. I tried to limit my time on the dirt bike, and came in fired up. I felt good in both practices. I had a bad start in the first moto and crashed, then crashed twice more after that. I had a far outside gate pick, but I came around 10th. After hanging in there for 25 minutes, I ran out of steam the last four laps. We made some great changes on the bike, and I’m getting more and more comfortable. The results aren’t the best, but everything is feeling good.”

 

Jordan Bailey: (39th in 250MX) “I had to work my way through the pack in the first moto,” said Bailey. “I started moving up but had an issue which hindered my finish. I got a decent start from way outside in the second moto and made my way up to 11th, but had more issues with about four laps to go. It wasn’t a great weekend, but it wasn’t an awful weekend, so I’m happy. I’m looking forward to next week.”

Author

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