Team HRC Honda’s Ken Roczen swept the 450 Class at Unadilla to take his third win of the season.
The first 450 Class moto got underway with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac capturing his second Motosport.com Holeshot over Rocky Mountain ATV/MC-WPS-KTM’s Justin Bogle and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Zach Osborne. The German Ken Roczen started the race on a tear as he blasted through the field and muscled his way by Tomac to lead the opening lap. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Marvin Musquin was credited in third, followed by Bogle and Osborne.
Roczen quickly sprinted out to a multi-second lead in the opening laps, while Tomac continued to give chase in second. As the race closed in on the halfway point of the 30-minute-plus-two-lap moto, Roczen extended his lead to more than 10 seconds, while Musquin started applying heavy pressure on Tomac. Shortly after, Musquin used a strong drive on an uphill to pull alongside Tomac and make the pass stick for second.
With Roczen holding a commanding lead out front over Musquin, the battle began to heat up for the final podium position as Monster Energy/Yamaha Factory Racing’s Justin Barcia was searching for a way around Tomac. On Lap 10, Barcia took control of second, bumping Tomac outside of the top three.
At the finish it was Roczen taking his fourth moto win of the season with 15.2 seconds to spare on the runner-up Musquin. Barcia completed the podium to take his first podium result of the season, while Tomac dropped to seventh after leading early.
As the 450 Class field exited the first turn to start Moto 2 it was Musquin emerging with his third Motosport.com Holeshot of 2019, narrowly edging out Osborne and Barcia. In an attempt to get himself to the front quickly, Barcia lost the front end in a high speed sweeping turn, losing valuable positions. At the completion of the opening lap Musquin led the way with Osborne and Roczen in hot pursuit.
With a clear track advantage, Musquin pushed hard to try and distance himself from the riders behind him, however, first moto winner Roczen made the move on Osborne to takeover second and would soon find himself hot on the heels of Musquin. On Lap 3, Roczen grabbed a handful of throttle and launched into the lead. Musquin quickly reacted in an attempt to strike back, but Roczen held on to the top spot.
Similar to the first moto, Roczen’s impressive efforts out front continued as he once again built a commanding lead, taking his fifth moto win of the season by 22.4 seconds over Musquin. A late race charge by Tomac allowed him to make the move on Osborne and take the final step of the podium in third.
Roczen secured his 18th career victory via 1-1 moto scores. Musquin’s consistent riding carried him to second overall (2-2), just ahead of Osborne in third (4-4).
“I haven’t done anything the last few weeks,” said Roczen. “My body needed to get some rest. Today was just odd. I told myself yesterday I wanted to go 1-1 and I was able to come out and do that today, including qualifying fastest. I’m really happy how we ended the weekend here at Unadilla.”
Despite an off day, Tomac still holds a 40-point lead over Musquin in the championship standings. Roczen trails Musquin by a single point in third.
