Joey Savatgy bounced back at Thunder Valley and showed the form he displayed at the start of the season to claim a 2-1 finish and the round overall.
In Moto 1 it was a Star Yamaha parade out front. Cooper Webb grabbed the holeshot, while Jeremy Martin, Aaron Plessinger and Alex Martin all started off inside the top five along with GEICO Honda’s Jordon Smith.
Jeremy Martin quickly emerged as the fastest of the bunch and on Lap 5 finally cleared his teammate Webb and moved into the lead.
Aaron Plessinger and Alex Martin both went down in the same incident and fell outside the top ten and savatgy moved up to fourth. He then to pick off Jordon Smith, then Cooper Webb, and on Lap 9 he got Jeremy Martin for the lead.
While in the lead, Savatgy went down and allowed Martin to reassume the lead. Savatgy remounted in second but did not have enough time to close the gap. Martin won the moto with a 2.9 second margin of victory, giving him his second consecutive moto win.
In Moto 2, Savatgy got a much better start, opening the moto in second behind Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammate Adam Cianciarulo. Savatgy quickly moved around AC into the lead. As for Cianciarulo, he crashed on Lap 4 while running in second and ultimately pulled out of the race.
Cianciarulo’s crash moved a surprising Martin Davalos into second place. Davalos seemed to be on pace for one of the best motos of his career, but he was faced with pressure from Alex Martin, who had moved from seventh to third since the opening lap. Alex Martin finally executed the pass on Lap 9 and quickly began closing in on Savatgy.
By the time they reached the two laps to go mark, Alex Martin had cut Savatgy’s lead down to less than a second. By this point in the race, Jeremy Martin had moved into third and was in position to take the overall victory if his older brother could successful pass Savatgy. It was not to be though. Despite possibly being one of the fastest riders on the track all day long, Alex Martin could not catch him.
Savatgy won the moto by 1.2 seconds over Alex Martin. Younger brother Jeremy was 26 seconds behind Alex in third. Savatgy recaptured the points lead after the weekend’s overall win and will take the red plate into Round 4 at High Point.
Round 4 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship will take place Saturday, July 18 at High Point Raceway.
250 CLASS OVERALL RESULTS
1. Joey Savatgy (2-1)
2. Jeremy Martin (1-3)
3. Alex Martin (8-2)
4. Zach Osborne (4-6)
5. Cooper Webb (3-8)
6. Martin Davalos (7-5)
7. Jordon Smith (5-12)
8. Shane McElrath (12-7)
9. Austin Forkner (17-4)
10. Mitchell Harrison (11-11)
11. Aaron Plessinger (14-10)
12. RJ Hampshire (10-14)
13. Arnaud Tonus (18-9)
14. Adam Cianciarulo (6-38)
15. Colt Nichols (15-13)
16. Mitchell Oldenburg (9-25)
17. Jessy Nelson (13-34)
18. Luke Renzland (39-15)
19. Anthony Rodriguez (21-16)
20. Kyle Cunningham (19-18)
250 CLASS POINT STANDINGS
1. Joey Savatgy, 123
2. Jeremy Martin, 120
3. Alex Martin, 114
4. Cooper Webb, 110
5. Aaron Plessinger, 81
6. Austin Forkner, 80
7. Zach Osborne, 78
8. Jessy Nelson, 65
9. RJ Hampshire, 59
10. Jordon Smith, 52