2019 Washougal Motocross | Race Report
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2019 WASHOUGAL MOTOCROSS | COMPLETE COVERAGE
Presented by Fasthouse
250 Class
Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Justin Cooper led his teammates Dylan Ferrandis and Ty Masterpoo through the first corner of the scenic track in the Pacific Northwest, while series points leader and fast qualifier Adam Cianciarulo suffered a mediocre start and was forced to play catch up. AC made some aggressive moves on the first lap and closed on the leaders quickly aboard his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki. Up front, Cooper relinquished the lead to Ferrandis when he missed a line and was forced into the slippery soil off the main race line, and with that the Frenchman took advantage of the clear track ahead of him and built up a comfortable lead that he would enjoy until the closing moments of the moto. Early in the race, AC charged to the rear wheel of Cooper but stuffed his front end in one of the soft rutted corners just past the finish line and dropped back into the back a bit. AC methodically worked his way back towards the leaders and actually closed to the rear wheel of Cooper’s Yamaha with five minutes left in the race, but a couple of small mistakes and a burst of late-moto speed saw the Yamaha rider scoot away and actually close to within a few bike lengths of Ferrandis. Alas, it was too little, too late and Ferrandis crossed the finish line with a couple seconds to spare over Cooper and Cianciarulo.
The entire Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha crew led the way at the start of the final moto, with Colt Nichols, Ferrandis, Masterpool and Mitchell Oldenberg in tow. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Michael Mosiman and Cianciarulo both gated well and snaked their way into second and third on the first lap, while Ferrandis took over the lead and hoped to repeat his moto one performance. AC found his way past Mosiman and into second on the second lap and set his sights on the Frenchman.
Cianciarulo stalked Ferrandis throughout the entire moto and it looked like a game of chess between the two front runners as the gap would shrink, then grow, the shrink again. AC made a massive push on the last lap that included a huge skyshot off of a jump that was usually scrubbed. In the end, Ferrandis held tough and completed his day with a clean sweep of both motos. Cianciarulo’s second was good for second overall, though he lost valuable ground in the championship points chase to his French rival. Mosiman held on for third in a great ride. Cooper was third overall with a 2-4.
450 Class
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Joey Savatgy snagged the holeshot at the start of the first moto and led Cooper Webb, Ken Roczen and Marvin Musquin onto the track. Points leader and fast qualifier Eli Tomac was mired near 10th. Savatgy enjoyed the lead for exactly one lap as Roczen raced into the lead at the start of lap two aboard his Honda CRF450R. Tomac, however, rode like a man possessed and sliced through the field with exceptional speed in the outside lines. Into fifth behind Musquin and Webb by lap four, a great three-way battle for position ensued over the next several laps. Tomac found his way past Musquin just before the halfway point, as did Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson. A bobble by Webb just past the finish line allowed Tomac by and into third behind his teammate Savatgy. Tomac passed Savatgy for second in the top area of the track with 12 minutes left in the moto, and set out after Roczen who had built up an eight-second lead. With four minutes left in the moto, Tomac got his first peek at Roczen as he had closed the gap to three seconds.
Tomac closed to striking distance with three laps to go and went for the kill in the upper section of the track, but he dove into an inside rut a little too aggressively and went down. This gave Roczen some breathing room, but Tomac remounted quickly and closed back in with incredible precision. Just before the white flag came out, Tomac dove inside Roczen in the tree section and the two riders made contact. Tomac raced past into the lead, while Roczen was pushed off the track momentarily. At the finish, it was Tomac with a comfortable lead over Roczen, Webb, Anderson and Musquin.
Savatgy holeshot the second moto on his Kawasaki KX450 but Musquin took over the lead with an inside pass within only a few corners. Roczen gates around fifth and began an immediate charge towards the front, while Tomac was again mired at the start and gated around 14th. Roczen also made quick work of Savatgy and set his sights on Musquin, but closing in on the KTM rider would not prove to be so easy. At the halfway point, Tomac had moved into third behind Musquin and Roczen, and it seemed only a matter of time. As he has done so many times, Tomac gained speed as the moto wore on and picked off his rivals with methodical precision. Roczen fell victim to the Tomac freight train with nine minutes to go, and it was only a matter of a couple laps before Tomac found his way past with an outside pass in the tight chicanes before the catcher’s mitt area of the track. Once out front, ET set sail and turned in an easy win over Musquin and Roczen.
“…Ty Masterpoo…”. That’s funny. Please tell me you did that intentionally!?
Wonder if doing a Lap by Lap style breakdown wouldn’t be a cool way to summarize the race vs. prose. Add an ‘exec summary’ at the top of the breakdown for the overall key points in the race.