Mission accomplished
Roczen, Webb clinch Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship titles
Over the course of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship Series, Ken Roczen and Cooper Webb have been all about sticking to their strategy and it has worked.
In Saturday’s 11th round of the championship series at the GEICO Motorcycle Budds Creek National, the two riders continued to stay ahead of the field, clinching the 450 and 250 class titles, respectively, at Budds Creek Motocross Park in Mechanicsville in front of thousands of fans.
RCH Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/ Suzuki Factory Racing’s Roczen wrapped up his second title in three seasons, sweeping both 450 class motos for his eighth victory of the series. He has now has won 18 of 22 motos on the season. The rider from Germany leads by 76 points over Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac, while Marvin Musquin
of France is in third with 365 points.
“Any championship is great, knowing where we came from in 2015 and all the struggles that we went through as a team. This season we turned everything around and it was so much fun,” said Roczen, who won the title in 2014, finishing runner-up last season. “Racking up 1-1 wins almost every week was phenomenal and that doesn’t come easy. It has been a dominant year for me and the team.”
It was also the eighth time this season that Roczen swept both motos and the second straight weekend that he led every lap. It was also the first-ever overall victory for Roczen at the Budds Creek stop.
“The Soaring Eagle/Jimmy John’s/Suzuki Factory Racing machine has been working great all year. There are so many people I have to thank — my team, my family, my girlfriend and my trainer. We finally made it,” he said. “I don’t really know what more to say right now. We have such a solid program that I’m just really happy with.”
Justin Barcia, of Monroe, N.Y., (third in Moto 1, third in Moto 2) took second overall on the day, his best overall finish of the season. Musquin (second in Moto 1, fourth in Moto 2) took third overall in the race.
With an 81-point lead in the standings over Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy, of Thomasville, Ga., and Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha’s Alex Martin, of Millville, Minn., coming in into Saturday, Webb (Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha) of Newport, N.C., took sixth in Moto 1 and third in Moto 2 for fifth overall.
Despite the fifth-place finish, Webb only needed to finish with a minimum advantage of 50 points in the standings in order to clinch his first career national championship.
Webb leads the 250 field with 457 points, while Martin sits in second with 384 points. Savatgy is in third with 361 points.
“I don’t know what to say. I honestly didn’t think I would be here at the start of the season with this [wrist] injury and everything like that, so to be able to do this is unreal, especially in front of my home fans and the home crowd,” Webb said. “Unfortunately it wasn’t the day we wanted [on the track], but we made it happen. That’s what champions are made of. You get knocked down and get right back up. We showed them [the 250 Class field] how to do it.”
Husqvarna rider Zachary Osborne of Abingdon, Va., came in fourth in Moto 1, but won Moto 2 for his first overall victory. Martin was second overall and Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner of Richards, Mo., went 5-2 in the motos and placed third on the day.
Martin delivered with his second win of the season in the Moto 1 and placed fourth in Moto 2.
Traders Racing Kawasaki’s Tony Archer of Waldorf finished inside the top 20 in Moto 1 of the 250 class with a 19thplace finish and 37th in Moto 2.
The championship series will host its 12th and final stop of the 2016 season on Saturday from Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Ind., with the Third Annual Ironman National.