SOUTHWICK, Mass. – The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship hosted its fifth round of the season at The Wick 338 for the annual Twisted Tea Southwick National on Saturday afternoon.
Overnight rain brought a lot of moisture to the circuit, creating a physically demanding track that treated Northeastern fans to an action-packed afternoon of racing.
Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing’s Dylan Ferrandis continued to show he’s the man to beat, taking his third consecutive win and fourth victory in five rounds to extend his 450 class championship lead. In the 250 class, Team Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence swept both motos to capture his first win.
When the 40-rider field rounded the first turn for the opening 450 class moto it was Ferrandis who prevailed with the holeshot ahead of his teammate Aaron Plessinger and Justin Barcia. Ferrandis’ championship rival Ken Roczen was just outside of the top-five off of the start in sixth aboard his Team Honda HRC machine. Ferrandis would lead the field around on the opening lap, while Barcia would move into second, sliding Plessinger back to third.
Out front, Ferrandis found himself under heavy pressure during the early stages of the moto, however, the charge from both Barcia and Plessinger proved to be short-lived as the Frenchman upped his pace to open a comfortable lead. The battle for second was wide open as Plessinger stalked Barcia for the majority of the 30-minute-plus-two-lap moto.
At the checkered flag, it was Ferrandis taking his third moto win of the season by 5.4 seconds. Barcia held on for second to give him his best finish of the season, just ahead of Plessinger in third.
The final and deciding 450 class moto kicked off with Cooper Webb launching out of the gate for the holeshot ahead of Roczen and Plessinger. Exiting the first turn, Roczen used a handful of throttle to slingshot his way past Webb for the lead, while Plessinger would exit the racetrack with a mechanical issue. It was Roczen, Webb, and Cianciarulo inside the top three at the completion of the opening lap, while Ferrandis started in sixth.
Roczen was on a tear at the front of the field, opening a commanding lead in the early laps, while Webb and Cianciarulo maintained second and third. With 20-minutes to go, Cianciarulo found his way by Webb for second, followed shortly after by Ferrandis who bumped Webb outside of podium contention. A mistake by Ferrandis saw him slide out and lose one position to Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac.
Three-time champion Tomac began to find his rhythm, making the move on his teammate Cianciarulo for second and clocking the fastest laps of the race as he set his sights on reducing the gap to Roczen. As the race entered the final 10-minutes of the moto, Tomac’s relentless pursuit to the front saw him hot on the heels of Roczen before charging his way past for the lead.
Tomac proved to be unstoppable as he recorded a dominating moto win with 16.4 seconds to spare on the second place Roczen. Ferrandis would finish third, followed by Barcia in fourth.
It was Ferrandis’ consistency that paid off for the overall victory (1-3). Roczen finished the day runner-up in second place (4-2) and Barcia earned his first podium of the season in third (2-4). Tomac just missed the overall podium in fourth (8-1).
“It’s amazing to win another overall,” said Ferrandis. “The team showed me on the pit board to save my bike in moto 2. Eli [Tomac] was riding really well in that last moto and it made me just want to go faster and faster, but I had to be smart for the bike. I wanted to beat Ken [Roczen] so badly, but the team asked for me to save the bike. It was a great day overall, getting another win and picking up some more points on the day. As a rider I always want to win so I’m a little bit frustrated to not be able to push as hard as I would have liked at the end.”
With the win Ferrandis was able to extend his lead in the championship standings to 19-points over Roczen. Plessinger’s second moto mechanical issue moved Tomac into third in the standings and slid Plessinger back to fourth.