The up and down year of racing in the United States Motocross Championships continued at the 11th round of 12 in a rain-lashed Indiana at the weekend and may have set the scene for Germany’s Ken Roczen to win the premier title.

KTM’s Ryan Dungey slumped to his worst performance of the season, while 450cc class title rival – also his KTM team-mate – Roczen struck hard in the mud at Indiana.

With a second-place finish in moto two to add to his moto one win, Roczen clinched the 450 class overall at the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship event.

Dungey got off to a bad start in the second moto and never recovered, ultimately finishing ninth. His 2-9 moto results were enough to land him on the overall podium for the day, but he lost 13 points to Roczen at Indiana and will have to deal with a 20-point deficit at the final round of the season.

Trey Canard was able to steal the holeshot and once again it was him and Roczen in the top-two. Although he challenged Canard early, Roczen tipped over soon after and allowed Canard to build up a huge advantage. Canard went on to comfortably win the moto by the 23 seconds over Roczen, who was never challenged for second – due in part to poor motos from both Dungey and Eli Tomac.

For Canard, it’s his second moto win in as many weeks. He finally broke through last week at Unadilla for the first moto win of his 450 Class career, and that momentum carried through to Indiana.

After the first lap of racing, Tomac was situated in ninth, with Dungey back in 11th, Forced to fight his way from outside the top 10, Dungey was just unable to put on a charge. Tomac was turning the fastest laps in the field midway through the race but went down twice and halted his momentum. Dungey and Tomac ended the race ninth and tenth, respectively.

It’s fitting that Ryan Sipes – a rider who retired before the season and planned to just race the GNCC series – did well at Indiana. Afterall, it was the success of the local GNCC races in Indiana that prompted the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship to add a stop of their own here. Sipes (10-3) took third in moto two and finished fourth overall.

Andrew Short (8-4) continued his quiet but impressive season with a fourth-place finish in the moto and fifth overall. Josh Grant rounded out the top five in Moto 2.

In sixth place, Australian Chad Reed recorded his best moto finish since the round at High Point.

250cc CLASS

Meanwhile, in the 250cc class, Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin officially secured the championship title with a second-place finish in the opening moto in Indiana, giving him the crown with three races still left in the championship.

The moto one victory went to Honda’s Jessy Nelson, earning him his first career win.

But, with a victory in the second 250 class moto at Indiana, French former MX2 world champion Marvin Musquin earned his second overall round victory in the past three rounds.

For a while, it looked like Nelson might truly make it a breakout day with a potential moto sweep. He grabbed his second holeshot of the day and proceeded to set the pace out front with Joey Savatgy in second.

Nelson had built up a decent lead, but before the midway point of the race, he tipped over and lost that advantage. He remounted in time to retain the lead but suddenly had Savatgy hot on his tail. Savatgy was able to take the lead away, and he would spend some time out front.

Musquin was on the attack though. Soon after Nelson had yielded the lead to Savatgy, Musquin made the pass on Nelson for second and turned his attention to Savatgy. It was only a matter of time before Musquin ran down the young rider and proceeded to take his turn leading the field.

After giving up the lead, Nelson would continue to fade. He fell all the way back to eighth place, but his 1-8 moto scores were good enough to land him on the overall podium for the day in third place. Savatgy (4-3) ended the day in a tie with Nelson but won the tiebreaker for second overall thanks to a better finish in moto two.

French former MX2 world champion Christophe Pourcel was a late charger in the moto, working his way up to second and then turning some extremely fast laps at the very end of the race to nearly catch Musquin. He crossed the finish line just 0.6 seconds behind Musquin.

With the 250 class championship already secured, Martin rode the race without any pressure on him. He was involved in a battle with his brother Alex early in the moto but eventually had to pull into the mechanic’s row and fell out of the top 10. He ended the moto in 15th.

 

Indiana 450 class overall results

1. Ken Roczen (1-2)

2. Trey Canard (3-1)

3. Ryan Dungey (2-9)

4. Ryan Sipes (10-3)

5. Andrew Short (8-4)

6. Chad Reed (7-6)

7. Eli Tomac (4-10)

8. Josh Grant (12-5)

9. Fredrik Noren (9-8)

10. Matt Goerke (6-11)

 

Indiana 250 class overall results

1. Marvin Musquin (3-1)

2. Joey Savatgy (4-3)

3. Jessy Nelson (1-8)

4. Christophe Pourcel (9-2)

5. Cooper Webb (6-5)

6. Dean Wilson (8-6)

7. Alex Martin (7-7)

8. Jeremy Martin (2-15)

9. Jason Anderson (5-10)

10. Blake Baggett (14-4)

 

450 class championship points

1. Ken Roczen 494

2. Ryan Dungey 474

3. Trey Canard 418

4. Brett Metcalfe 304

5. Eli Tomac 281

6. Andrew Short 278

7. Weston Peick 268

8. Josh Grant 243

9. James Stewart 226

10. Chad Reed 185

 

250 class championship points:

1. Jeremy Martin 450

2. Blake Baggett 381

3. Cooper Webb 379

4. Marvin Musquin 374

5. Christophe Pourcel 355

6. Justin Bogle 331

7. Jason Anderson 270

8. Cole Seely 244

9. Jessy Nelson 238

10. Dean Wilson 204

 

Photo courtesy Lucas Oil Pro Motocross