The back half of the AMA Motocross tilt began at the pacific northwest circuit in Washougal, Washington. Highlighted by the first repeat 250 class winner, as well as a new winner in the 450 class to boot.
Not only that, but the last National before a two-week break, followed by five consecutive race weekends to end the season. As well the final National before the United States Motocross Des Nations team is announced. There will be a lot on the line with that in mind, as both series championships start to reach their ends. Before we get to the racing action, it was a busy week leading up to Washougal.
Pre National Headlines
Cianciarulo Done For the Year
Starting off with the biggest piece of news, being that Adam Cianciarulo had successful surgery on his right hand. This was to fix an ulnar nerve issue in his right hand, which caused him the loss of feeling in his hand at times. Thus he is done for the remainder of 2021. It is a disappointing end to AC’s year, but hopefully, this surgery gives him the relief he needs, and he can hit the ground running for Supercross next year.
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Return of El Hombre?
Jason Anderson has been hinting on his Instagram recently that his return to racing is coming soon. To add to that, just yesterday he posted a video of him on his bike. Riding at what appears to be the Baker Factory interestingly enough (more on that later).
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Anderson if you recall, broke his hand in a practice crash in early June. He said on a previous Instagram video in a comment that “I’ll do Budds if they let me.” referring to Budds Creek. That event is slated for August 21st and is the third to last round of the season. It would definitely be nice to see Anderson’s curtain call with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna end with him not on the sidelines. As the former Supercross Champion has been heavily linked to Monster Energy Kawasaki for next year.
Baker’s Factor Exodus
It is no secret that the Aldon Baker program is not for everyone and that it can burn riders out mentally. Hence why riders like Ken Roczen, James Stewart, and more recently Anderson have split from the world-class trainer. You can now officially add Cooper Webb to that list now as well. The defending Supercross champion is now working out of the 83 Compound as of a few weeks ago. His most notable new training partners would be the Lawrence Brothers. It is also worth noting that the KTM Group’s exclusive deal with Baker expires after this year. It doesn’t feel like that will get renewed based on this.
We Are Venom and A Peek Down the Road
Over the last couple of weekends, gear brands have been rolling out some of their 2022 products for riders to wear. Such as Fox, FLY, Alpinestars, and others. However, Troy Lee Designs had something very cool for this weekend. They teamed up with Marvel/Sony to put together a gear kit for the upcoming Venom: Let There Be Carnage movie. And the results are as cool as expected. Here is that along with some 2022 gear kits.
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Now onto the action from the scenic Washougal National.
250 Class
Moto 1
Carson Mumford would pull off a monster start on his FXR/Chapparal Honda to nab a holeshot over Justin Cooper. However, the story would be a multi-bike pile-up in the opening corner. Austin Forker and teammate Jo Shimoda would hit the deck, while Jalek Swoll would get the worse end of things. The Husqvarna rider would be down for a considerable amount of time before he could be taken off track. He would also be done for the day after this incident. Shimoda also took a good amount of time to get back going and then needed to come into the pits for a quick fix.
Mumford would admirably hold on to the lead for about 10 minutes but would lose it to Cooper going up Horsepower Hill. R.J. Hampshire would also get by Mumford a few sections later, putting him back to third. Jett Lawrence meanwhile, who has not been at the top of his game in the start department recently, found himself in 10th just over 10 minutes in. Hampshire would later then begin to make inroads on Cooper’s lead. The latter would be up to the challenge, as the lead would yo-yo between a second and a second and a half down the stretch. Cooper then laid down the gauntlet with two to go and cruised to an opening moto win. Hampshire second, with Jeremy Martin in third. Mumford, who got the holeshot, ended up outside the top 10.
Moto 2
Cooper nailed his second Moto start for a holeshot, but he had the Jett and Martin right behind him. A bobble from Lawrence sent him back a few spots, but Martin would begin to hunt down his teammate. They along with Hampshire would be in a nice little battle in the opening 10 minutes. Behind them would be Forkner, who got caught up in that opening corner pile up in the first Moto. Meanwhile, TLD/GasGas’ Pierce Brown was quietly setting himself up for an excellent day. Just over 12 minutes in, he was en route to a 6-4 finish.
Back to the front pack, Martin had his patience run out with Cooper and sent it on him going to the whoops for the lead. Hampshire briefly passed Cooper as well but stalled the bike immediately after the pass. Even more so, Forkner threw away fifth falling down right before Horsepower Hill. A rather chaotic 60 seconds. Later on, in the middle of Jason Weigandt’s microphone dying, Hunter Lawrence tipped over right before the finish with around 10 minutes left.
His brother Jett with under five minutes remaining, let the sails down and made a run into the top three by the end. The real drama did not begin until two to go. Cooper, running in second, wrecked going up Horsepower Hill and mangled his bike, and maybe shook him up. This also guaranteed Martin his second Overall win in a row, going 3-1 on the day. For Cooper, what would have been a double-digit plus gain on Lawrence in the points was just a small handful. Will be interesting to see if that ends up bitting him.
Top 10 Overall in 250 Class
No. 6 Jeremy Martin 3-1
No. 24 R.J. Hampshire 2-3
No. 32 Justin Cooper 1-8
No. 18 Jett Lawrence 7-2
No. 45 Pierce Brown 6-4
No. 42 Micheal Mosiman 4-7
No. 41 Hunter Lawrence 5-10
No. 90 Dilan Schwartz 13-6
No. 38 Austin Forkner 12-9
No. 115 Max Vohland 9-12
450 Class
No. 23 Chase Sexton– Honda HRC (1-3 for first overall)
Sexton now has his second career overall win as a 450 Rider in Motocross. The 450 Sophmore absolutely dominated the opening moto, taking a convincing holeshot all the way to a wire-to-wire Moto win. In the closing Moto, Sexton hung around in second behind Dylan Ferrandis for a wide majority of the race. But after emptying the tank in an effort to hold off Eli Tomac, he ended up surrendering second. The good news was that a 1-3 was good enough for the Overall win. The title is likely out of reach at this juncture, but this is the highlight of a good season for Sexton.
No. 3 Eli Tomac- Monster Energy Kawasaki (2-2 for second overall)
For what feels like the first time this season, there was a land shark advisory in Motocross. That was due to a mammoth late Moto 2 charge that Tomac put on to almost win both the Moto and Overall. Unfortunately for him, Ferrandis was able to answer the bell on the last lap to take home the Moto win, but the late stretch of this Moto was a season highlight. Despite being 54 points back of the Frenchman, the Colorado native likely has the best shot of anyone to catch up in this title fight. That being if Ferrandis slips up in these final five rounds. Speaking of whom.
No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis- Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha (5-1 for third overall)
Feels odd to say a 5-1 is an off day for the points leader, but based on his season so far, it somewhat is. But if a 5-1 for third is a bad day, Ferrandis should absolutely take that down the stretch here. How he managed to hold off Tomac down the stretch in Moto 2 is an anomaly. About a half dozen riders have been in that spot in years past and had no answers. But Ferrandis got the job done, an impressive feat for the rookie. Now sitting 47 points up on a fading Roczen, it may be conservation mode for Ferrandis with five rounds to go.
No. 25 Marvin Musquin– Red Bull KTM (3-5 for fourth overall)
How about the savvy French veteran on Saturday? Washougal was arguably the best Musquin has looked since his 2019 knee injury at times. He rode kind of angry, which is not his bag so to speak, but it seemed to work out in his favor. It also has not been the best season for Marv either, currently tied for eighth in points with his teammate Webb. However, a strong 3-5 day is a good confidence booster going into this two-week break.
No. 94 Ken Roczen- Honda HRC (6-10 for ninth overall)
Likely a result of some lingering rib problems from last week, but Saturday was not what the doctor ordered for Roczen. In Moto 1, he ran up at the front for about the first two-thirds of the race. But once Musquin got by him, it all came apart, falling from second to sixth in the final ten minutes.
On top of maybe being a lap away from being passed by Webb in seventh as well. Moto 2 would be a 10th place run where he was a non-factor for a win for close to the whole way too. A shame considering how gnarly his Moto 2 run at Millville was, but this felt like Roczen’s last gasp, unfortunately. To his credit, however, this is far better than what I thought he would be at this year.
No. 65 Carson Brown– BBR Motorsports [Husqvarna] (18-DNF for 20th overall)
Mr. Brown is on here for a couple of reasons. Not only did he almost qualify top 20 on a two-stroke Husqvarna, but he did so on a blown-out shoulder. Then proceeded to get an 18th in the only moto he ran. If that isn’t gnarly, then I do not know what is. Kudos to Brown for giving it a shot at his home National. He is the pride of Ravensdale, Washington for those wondering.
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Top 10 Overall in 450 Class
No. 23 Chase Sexton 1-3
No. 3 Eli Tomac 2-2
No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis 5-1
No. 25 Marvin Musquin 3-5
No. 51 Justin Barcia 4-7
No. 2 Cooper Webb 7-6
No. 7 Aaron Plessinger 12-4
No. 29 Christian Craig 8-8
No. 94 Ken Roczen 6-10
No. 17 Joey Savatgy 10-9
With two weeks in between now and Unadilla, expect the long put-off fourth part of our James Stewart Retrospective Series to be completed in that span. Washougal being his final career start in 2016 being part of the reason for that being the case.
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Main Image Credit: https://mxvice.com/new-deal-chase-sexton/
