Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha rider Cooper Webb has extended his championship points lead after claiming two moto wins at the Unadilla Round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.
A red flag five minutes into Moto 1 forced a restart, much to annoyance of Austin Forkner.
With the second gate drop it was Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo taking the holeshot and Cooper Webb right on his tail. Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha rider Alex Martin suffered another issue immediately again and found himself down and picking himself back up early on. Unfortunately Forkner found himself stuck behind A. Martin rather the front of the pack for the restart of the moto.
Arnaud Tonus emerged in the restart toward the front of the pack and was quickly pressing on Webb attempting to take the second place spot. However, Monster Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy would gain on Tonus before any moves could be made, which ultimately spread the riders back out to settle again into their postions. For the opening ten minutes of the moto Webb would continue to work on Cianciarulo while Savatgy battled to gain on Tonus, with no change in position througout the halfway point of the race had hit.
Webb finally found his line around Cianciarulo and that would leave him to battle his teammate, Savatgy, for the second place position. After a series of corners and a battle between teammates, Savatgy emerged in second.
Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha Aaron Plessinger had wound his way up into third and was putting incredibly fast lap times. Plessinger was putting in five and six second faster lap times then his competitors. Plessinger not only worked his way into third, he was pushing forward onto Savatgy for second. Plessinger would get it within bike lengths multiple times during the final two laps of the moto.
By the end of the moto Savatgy would continue to hold off Plessinger. The finish would go in order of Webb, Savatgy and Plessinger to round out the moto 1 podium.
For the second moto there was no restart and Forker’s earned holeshot remained intact for a solid showing of redemption at the gates. Just behind, Savatgy and Webb came firing out of the gates and held the second and third positions for the first series of turns, while Osborne experienced bike issues and pulled off the track.
Savatgy then lost control coming around a corner and up a hill to give way to Webb for second. Next was A. Martin who nearly lost control moving up the same hill but continued to press on and hold onto fifth with Hill and Plessinger just behind him.
A. Martin began to put the pressure on Savatgy for a few turns, then it was Hill putting the pressure on A. Martin. While those three stayed tight in battle, Forkner stretched out his lead over the 250 pack.
Rookie professional, Forkner had held the front of the pack for a long majority of the race, but his gap from Webb had closed. Webb, known for his strong riding late in motos, eventually closed the gap of Forkner and took the lead away.
Then, past the 20-minute mark, Jessy Nelson crashed so hard on the course that it caused for red flag to stop the race. Because the race had past the 20-minute mark the results are decided on the order at that point.
The moto2 podium resulted going Webb, Forkner and Plessinger. Webb ended his day going 1-1 to further his points lead over the 250 class. Plessinger going 3-3 allowed him to finish second on the day, while rookie Forkner finish third on the day with 7-2 on the motos.
Leaving Unadilla only two rounds remain with the next stop being Budds Creek on Aug. 20, before the season ends at Ironman on Aug. 27.
250 MOTO OVERALL RESULTS
- Cooper Webb (1-1)
- Aaron Plessinger (3-3)
- Austin Forkner (7-2)
- Justin Hill (5-4)
- RJ Hampshire (9-6)
- Mitchell Oldenburg (8-9)
- Alex Martin (13-5)
- Martin Davalos (11-8)
- Tristan Charboneau (10-10)
- Joey Savatgy (2-33)
250 MOTO OVERALL CLASS POINTS
- Cooper Webb, 422
- Joey Savatgy, 341
- Alex Martin, 341
- Jeremy Martin, 321
- Austin Forkner, 293
- Aaron Plessinger, 285
- Zach Osborne, 253
- Adam Cianciarulo
- Arnaud Tonus, 195
- Mitchell Oldenburg, 194
Photo: Simon Cudby