Motocross: Jeremy Martin Earns 250 Overall At Tennesee

Following last weekend's exciting race at Thunder Valley, Round 4 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship took place at Muddy Creek in Blountville, TN. With only 2 points separating Jeremy Martin and Marvin Musquin entering the weekend, an exciting duel was expected between these two.

Moto 1

The early lead in the first 250 moto went to Marvin Musquin, who immediately set super fast lap times and opened up a lead over Adam Cianciarulo and Jessy Nelson behind him. Jeremy Martin and Joey Savatgy rounded the first lap in fourth and fifth. After great finishes the prior weekend, Christian Craig and Zach Osborne got off to a bad start and were in 23rd and 25th respectively after Lap 1; RJ Hampshire and Alex Martin were even further back after a first corner crash. The top 5 riders remained the same for the first half of the race, with Musquin opening up a very comfortable lead. However, on Lap 11, J. Martin was able to pick up his speed and get past Nelson for third. J. Martin then began to pressure Cianciarulo over the next couple of laps, but Cianciarulo eventually crashed and dropped back to fourth on Lap 13. Musquin went on to take the checkered flag with an 18 second lead over J. Martin in second and a 34 second lead over Nelson in third; Savatgy ended up passing Cianciarulo for a fourth place finish. After a bad start, Christian Craig’s problems continued and he DNFed the race due to bike problems, but Zach Osborne was able to move all the way up to ninth. Hampshire also had a good come from behind ride and finished 11th, whereas A. Martin wasn’t so lucky and finished 19th after another crash halfway through the race.

Moto 2

The last moto of the day at Muddy Creek got underway with a holeshot from Jessy Nelson, followed by Aaron Plessinger and Jeremy Martin. Marvin Musquin also started near the front, but a small crash on the first lap with Matthew Bisceglia put him all the way back in 37th place. The struggles also continued for Alex Martin, as he crashed right away in the first turn and came out in dead last. Plessinger quickly passed Nelson for the lead, and put down some fast laps to open up a small gap. Similarly to the first moto, J. Martin took a while to find his normal pace, but was able to pass Nelson on Lap 4 for second, and eventually also pass his teammate Plessinger for the lead on Lap 8. The first half of the race was great for Plessinger, but once J. Martin passed him, he quickly faded back and got passed by both Jessy Nelson and Adam Cianciarulo within the next few laps. At this point, Musquin had already made his way back up to seventh in an amazing ride through the pack in which he was setting the fastest laps. Musquin quickly made his way past both Joey Savatgy and RJ Hampshire to get into fith by the end of Lap 14. Plessinger continued to fade back, getting passed by Musquin, Hampshire, and Jordon Smith before the end of the race. Plessinger’s late race fade put Musquin up into fourth just behind Cianciarulo, but Cianciarulo was able to pick up the pace and fend off Musquin’s hard charge. Jeremy Martin eventually took the win over Jessy Nelson and Adam Cianciarulo. Musquin and Hampshire rounded out the top five. After his first turn crash, Alex Martin was able to come back all the way to 12th place. 

Here are the top-10 overall finishers from the Muddy Creek round this past weekend: 

Below are how the 250 class points standings look entering next weekend's round at High Point: 

Despite his apparent struggles with the track, Jeremy Martin was able to extend his points lead at Muddy Creek by 4 points over Marvin Musquin. However, Musquin was setting the fastest lap times all day though, and did a great job of minimizing his points loss. Expect the championship points battle to tighten up this weekend at High Point in Mt. Morris, PA, for round 5 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.

Scott Yargeau is the lead motocross writer for the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @scottyargeau.