Motocross: Glen Helen Race Recap

Glen Helen National in San Bernadino, California, is perhaps one of the most well known motocross tracks on the planet, and annually plays host to some great racing when the professionals roll into town. Round 2 of the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship took place at Glen Helen this past Saturday, and the racing was by no means disappointing. 

250 Qualifying

The day got underway with 250 qualifying practice. It quickly became clear that Jeremy Martin’s overall win at Hangtown was no fluke, as he came out in both practices with the fastest lap times. However, Justin Hill was only 0.03 seconds off of J. Martin’s fastest pace, which was surprising to see after Hill struggled in the opening round at Hangtown. Musquin was once again fast, qualifying thirdfollowed by Geico Honda rookie RJ Hampshire. The track was quite muddy in the opening practice, so the lap times in the second practice session were quite a bit faster. This was a disadvantage for Joey Savatgy; bike problems in the second practice kept him from riding, hence the reason he qualified way back in 20th.

450 Qualifying

450 qualifying practice started with Eli Tomac grabbing the fastest lap times in the first session. However, as the track dried out, times quickly got faster, and the reigning 450 champion Ken Roczen came out with the fastest time. His fellow Suzuki rider Blake Baggett was close behind in 2nd, and Eli Tomac was all the way back down in 6th. Roczen proved to everyone that he was ready to go after struggling through a back injury at Hangtown. Additionally, Cole Seely, who DNFed Hangtown after injuring his leg, rode good in practice to get the third fastest time.

250 Moto 1

The first moto of the day started off with some exciting drama as the defending champ and Hangtown overall winner Jeremy Martin struggled with some bike problems and wasn’t on the line for the gate drop. Once the gate dropped, the excitement continued as Adam Cianciarulo crashed immediately by getting squeezed off on the start. Jessy Nelson came out of the sweeping first turn with the holeshot, followed by Kyle Peter, Joey Savatgy, and Marvin Musquin. At the very end of the pack, J. Martin had managed to get his bike started and had already caught up to the last group of riders. By the end of lap 1, J. Martin was already up to 24th, and Cianciarulo was up to 32nd. As J. Martin and Cianciarulo continued their climb up through the pack, Musquin had found his way past Savatgy and Peters to get into 2nd right behind Nelson. The battle for the lead between Musquin and Nelson raged for the first 6 laps of the moto, as Musquin was constantly looking for his way around Nelson but couldn’t find the proper line to make the pass. Eventually, near the end of lap 6, Musquin was able to make the pass stick, and immediately began pulling away. At this point, Savatgy was back in 3rd, and Justin Hill was riding very strongly in 4th. Jordon Smith also had a good race going in 5th. Back in the pack, J. Martin had an incredible come from behind ride and was up into 10th, with Cianciarulo back in 15th. Cianciaurlo’s lap times began to get longer, but J. Martin would continue his race through pack for the next 10 minutes, and found himself all the way up to 5th by the end of lap 12. Meanwhile, Musquin had a very comfortable lead, but a battle for 2nd was going strong with Savatgy and Hill all over Nelson. Hill found a way around Savatgy, and made the move to get into 2nd past Nelson with two laps to go. Nelson began fading due to arm pump, and Savatgy also found his way around Nelson. The order would continue that way for the rest of the race, with Musquin taking the checkered flag followed by his Hill and Savatgy. J. Martin’s incredible comeback ride concluded with a 5th place finish, and Cianciarulo would end up 12th.

450 Moto 1

The excitement carried over into the first 450 moto with Phil Nicoletti grabbing the holeshot and getting out to an early lead in front of his teammate Justin Barcia. Ken Roczen and Jason Anderson crashed together in the opening lap, and got up slowly in dead last. Ryan Dungey rounded the first lap in 3rd, with Chad Reed in 4th and Eli Tomac back in 5th. However, both Dungey and Tomac quickly made their way through the field, and by lap 4 found themselves in 1st and 2nd respectively; Barcia had also made his way past Nicoletti at this point. Dungey was looking very good up front, and had a small lead over Tomac before Dungey’s bike started to act up, causing it to stall and allowing Tomac to catch right up before he could get it going again. The battle for the lead between the two continued for a few laps, before Dungey’s bike once again stalled, this time allowing Tomac to get past and open up a comfortable lead. Dungey was able to restart it once again, and resumed riding in 2nd. Meanwhile, Roczen had managed to rebound from his first lap crash and was up into 9th, but Anderson had crashed again and pulled out of the race. Back up front, Reed had closed up to Nicoletti, who had also caught back up to Barcia; these three would continue battling this way for the remainder of the race, but one was able to make a pass stick. Peick was riding relatively close behind them in 6th as well, with Baggett, who had suffered a bad start, up into 7th. Tomac eventually opened up a large lead due to continued bike problems from Dungey, which would eventually turn really bad on the very last lap when Dungey stalled his bike for a prolonged period of time, causing him to drop all the way back to 6th. Tomac took the checkered flags shortly after, and JGR teammates Barcia and Nicoletti rounded out the podium with a 2nd and 3rd respectively. In fact, it was a great race for JGR as a whole; Peick’s 5th place finish allowed all 3 of their riders to be in the top 5.

250 Moto 2

The bad luck continued for Jeremy Martin at the beginning of 250 moto 2 as he crashed with Jordon Smith and Matt Bisceglia right away in the second corner, and came back up almost in dead last. However, his brother Alex Martin got of to an amazing start and rounded the first lap in 1st place ahead of Jessy Nelson and Marvin Musquin. A. Martin’s lead was shortly lived though, as Musquin quickly found his way back to the front and began pulling away immediately.   At the end of lap 2, the running order way Musquin, A. Martin, Nelson, McElrath, and Hampshire; J. Martin was all the way back in 22nd. The top five remained the same for the first 10 minutes, but Cianciarulo would eventually pass Hampshire to move up into 5th. However, Cianciarulo quickly became pressured by Zach Osborne and Justin Hill; Hill had managed to rebound from a bad start, and was looking for his way into the top 5. Both Osborne and Hill shortly found their was past Cianciarulo, but both Osborne and Cianciarulo would crash a few laps later and drop back to the bottom of the top 10. With only three laps left, Musquin had opened a very large lead over A. Martin who was still in 2nd, and a battle for 3rd was forming between Nelson and McElrath. McElrath would eventually make the pass stick on the very last lap, but was too far behind A. Martin to charge any further up to the front. Musquin eventually took the checkered flag once again to go 1-1 on the day, and the podium was completed by A. Martin and McElrath. J. Martin had another amazing comeback ride to get all the way back up to 6th after his first lap crash, and was very close behind the group of McElrath, Nelson, and Hill in the top five.

450 Moto 2

The last moto of the day got underway with a huge holeshot from Eli Tomac, who was followed right away by Ryan Dungey, Ken Roczen, Justin Barcia, and Phil Nicoletti. Nicoletti unfortunately had a huge crash shortly after the first lap and dropped all the way back to 39th. This allowed Jason Anderson to move up into 5th in front of Chad Reed and Christophe Pourcel. Back up front, Tomac quickly opened up a comfortable lead over Dungey, who had also gathered a bit of a lead over Roczen. The rest of the race remained mostly the same, with Tomac continuing to increase his lead. At the halfway point though, Chad Reed and Weston Peick both made their way around Anderson. Peick continued his charge through the pack and then passed Reed to get into 5th, setting his sights on his teammate in front of him. With about five minutes left, Peick almost had a huge crash going down one of the steep hills, but managed a miraculous save. This seemed to shake him up though, and allowed Anderson to catch back up and pass Peick back. Reed at this point had dropped back to 8th behind Blake Baggett. The rest of the race remained this way, with Tomac taking the checkered flag 23 seconds in front of Ryan Dungey. Roczen, Barcia, and Anderson rounded out the top five.

Overall, another good day of racing with Marvin Musquin taking the points lead in the 250 class due to bad luck from his main competitor Jeremy Martin. In the 450 class, Eli Tomac continued his domination; he has a perfect season thus far. Watch for Tomac to dominate once again at his home-state race this coming weekend at Thunder Valley National in Lakewood, Colorado. 

Scott Yargeau is the lead Supercross/motocross writer of the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @scottyargeau, and be sure to follow the brand-new Twitter account of motocross coverage on VAVEL, @VAVELMotocross.