News 5 Jun 2017

Baggett wins maiden 450MX overall in Thunder Valley

Savatgy returns to winning form in 250MX category.

Source: Supplied.

Rocky Mountain ATV-MC/WPS/KTM’s Blake Baggett claimed his first Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross premier class overall victory at Thunder Valley’s third round of the 2017 championship.

It was RCH/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Justin Bogle who claimed the opening moto win marking a career-first for the Oklahoma native, behind him it was Jason Anderson, Baggett, Marvin Musquin and Cole Seely.

Both Baggett and Musquin put together impressive charges throughout moto one after falling together in the first turn and starting the 30-minute moto down the running order.

Moto two saw Baggett take the early lead before title favourite Eli Tomac made the move to the front as the KTM-backed rider trailed closely behind.

Pulling away from the field, Baggett stuck with Tomac and eventually made his way around the Colorado local to take the top spot and pull away for an impressive moto victory and the overall.

Behind Baggett and Tomac it was Musquin in third followed by Cooper Webb and Josh Grant. Moto one winner Bogle was unable to repeat his performance and finish out the final race of the day in ninth-place.

Claiming a career-first overall on the day, Baggett was joined on the podium by Musquin in second and Anderson in third. Rounding out the top five was Bogle in fourth and Tomac in fifth.

Musquin continues to lead the 450MX points chase with a 17-point lead over Tomac followed by Baggett in third, Anderson in fourth and Bogle in fifth.

In the 250MX class it was Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy who claimed top honours on the day following two action-packed motos.

Moto one saw Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GoPro/KTM’s Alex Martin take the early lead and continue to control the race for the entire 30 minutes as the remainder of the field battled it out.

Following multiple back-and-forth battles between a substantial pack of riders it was Austin Forkner who claimed second position with Jeremy Martin in third, Savatgy in fourth and Adam Cianciarulo in fifth.

In moto two it was Aaron Plessinger who stole the lead early from Savatgy and began to pull away before a crash saw him drop to the rear of the field as he was unable to safely return to his machine located on the landing of a blind jump.

It was Savatgy who regained the lead spot and took out the chequered flag and the overall victory followed by Jeremy Martin in second, Forkner in third, Alex Martin in fourth and series leader Zach Osborne in fifth.

With Savatgy’s 4-1 moto scorecard giving him the overall, it was Alex Martin who claimed second position ahead of his brother Jeremy in third with Forkner taking fourth overall and Osborne rounding out the top five.

Despite missing his first overall of the 2017 season, Osborne continues to lead the 250MX standings nine points ahead of Alex Martin in second followed by Jeremy Martin in third, Savatgy in fourth and Forkner in fifth.

The 2017 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship heads to High Point in Pennsylvania next for round four of the series on 17 June.

Recent