Round 5 of the 2017 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship brought heated racing to a very wet and slippery Muddy Creek Raceway for the Tennessee National.

So far the first four rounds have proved to be exciting and unpredictable, but they have also stirred some serious rivalry with athletes expressing themselves on and off the track. Coming into Muddy Creek all eyes and ears seemed to be surrounding Blake Baggett and Eli Tomac as the two have exchanged the points lead (along with Marvin Musquin) and created off-track chatter.

However, Round 5 was set to offer plenty more excitement with the return of Justin Barcia on a muddy track after having a concussion last weekend and being sidelined as well as the Trey Canard making his debut to this outdoors season after recovering from a collarbone injury. Mix in Marvin Musquin stating his knee was “definitely better than expected,” and Jason Anderson announcing his frustration in not yet earning an overall win—Muddy Creek was set to be great.

Moto 1
As the gates dropped, local rider and last year’s 250 winner, Cooper Webb found himself pinched off at the first turn by Justin Barcia who earned the holeshot. Just behind Barcia coming out of the first turn was Jason Anderson with Broc Tickle not far behind.

Throughout the entire first lap, Bam Bam and Anderson were doing battle but did not end up changing positions. Nearly five minutes into the moto Anderson squared up a turn to make an inside move and overtake Barcia for the remainder of the moto. Considering Barcia was unsure he would even be racing this weekend after hitting his head the weekend prior, he was riding very well and temporarily held onto 2nd after fending off Tickle.

Eli Tomac and Weston Pick found themselves battling in the 5th and 6th positions early on, but Tomac would overtake Peick before the two of them would continue to press forward.

Within the first 5 mins Cole Seely went down and was sidelined for the remainder of the moto.

Tomac and Peick made their way into the 4th and 5th positions behind Justin Bogle after a mistake sent Tickle back into the pack. Tomac showed his hunger and continued forward making quick work of Bogle and then Barcia to take 2nd place before the halfway mark on the moto. Peick would eventually find his way around Bogle for 4th.

Slightly deeper in the pack, Trey Canard was having a successful return to outdoors. Racing the first half of the moto in front of Marvin Musquin, eventually Canard settled into 9th with Musquin able to make the pass.

The one rider that was making the most mid-moto moving, though, was Blake Baggett. Baggett found himself in the thick of things early on when he was a bit behind Tomac and Peick before they pushed forward through traffic. Baggett’s moves came a few laps later once they had settled. Baggett chipped his way through the ranks in the second half off the moto, and with less than 10 minutes to go he made a move on Peick, an amazing pass on Barcia (who made a minor mistake) and found himself in 3rd on the hunt for Tomac. Anderson, however, had stretched his lead to more than 12 seconds ahead of everyone. He was in a lone race for the win.

It was not clear what happened to Bogle, but considering his strong start and his late moto fade it seemed as if something may have had an effect on his ride. Musquin, however seemed to be feeling stronger as he passed Bogle, with Canard and Webb also following suit. With less than five minutes left to hold on, Musquin had worked his way into 6th ahead of Tickle and Dean Wilson, while Canard and Webb settled in 9th and 10th.

While trying to make up ground on Tomac, Baggett made a mistake and dumped his bike but managed to recover without losing position.

Musquin kept pressing forward to get around Peick and work toward Barcia, but Bam Bam made contact with Musquin just before the finish that sent him out of his line and back a few spots to end the first moto in 7th place.

Moto 1 Results
1. Jason Anderson
2. Eli Tomac
3. Blake Baggett
4. Weston Peick
5. Justin Barcia
6. Broc Tickle
7. Marvin Musquin
8. Dean Wilson
9. Cooper Webb
10. Trey Canard
11. Martin Davalos
12. Justin Bogle
13. Fredrick Noren
14. Dakota Alix
15. John Short
16. Josh Moisman
17. Heath Harrison
18. Toshiki Tomita
19. Robert Piazza
20. Ronnie Stewart
…
38. Cole Seely (DNF)

Moto 2
The action out of the gate was intense as multiple riders fought for the holeshot. What first looked to belong to Anderson, quickly shifted to be Baggett’s then Tomac’s, but it was actually Bogle who beat the pack out of the gate to snag the holeshot.

Baggett, Webb and Tickle all tied up on first lap and essentially rode out the first lap in the back of the pack.

Bogle had his early lead but made a mistake on his second lap to hand it off to Tomac. But Bogle managed to salvage his crash and hold onto the 5th position behind Peick in 4th, Jason Anderson in 3rd and Canard in 2nd. Then, Anderson made a mistake in the same place as Bogle the lap prior which allowed Bogle to pass him after making a pass on Peick.

Within the first eight minutes, Baggett had worked his way up from 39th to 16th and into the points as an effort to salvage what he could as the current series points leader.

Still inside the opening 10 minutes of the second moto, Anderson made a pass on Canard to take over 2nd in his effort to win an overall. Canard was riding well considering it was his first outdoors race of the season, but over the course of the next two laps he dropped to 6th as Dean Wilson worked his way into the top five.

At the halfway mark in the second moto Tomac had stretched his lead to nearly 12 seconds ahead of the pack. But 10 spots back, Baggett was still making up incredible ground as he passed Barcia to crack into the top 10 with 15 minutes left to advance further.

Musquin was just ahead of Baggett in 9th, but looked to be dealing with a bike malfunction that allowed Baggett by. Shortly after another mistake was made ahead as Baggett quickly found his away around Wilson, Frederik Noren and Canard to ride all the way to 6th place behind Martin Davalos rounding out the top five. Later it was learned that Musquin’s front brake took a shot from a rock the rendered it useless and forced him off the track and out of the points.

Baggett was forced to work on Davalos for a series of laps. After a set of lappers allowed Davalos room to stretch out his lead over Baggett, another lapper found his way directly in front of Davalos that allowed Baggett to work his way into 5th. With only two minutes remaining, Baggett worked his away around Bogle and Peick in about 30 seconds to finish 3rd in the moto and the day overall. Following his first turn crash, Baggett went from 39th to 3rd. Tomac, however would earn the Moto 2 and overall wins, and close the gap to only 4 points separating him from Baggett in the lead.

Moto 2 Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Jason Anderson
3. Blake Baggett
4. Weston Peick
5. Justin Bogle
6. Martin Davalos
7. Dean Wilson
8. Frederik Noren
9. Cooper Webb
10. Justin Barcia
11. Trey Canard
12. Broc Tickle
13. Henery Miller
14. Dakota Alix
15. Josh Moisman
16. Toshiki Tomita
17. Heath Harrison
18. Dakota Tedder
19. Carson Tickle
20. Isaac Teasdale
…
34. Marvin Musquin (DNF)
40. Cole Seely

450 Overall Results
1. Eli Tomac (2-1)
2. Jason Anderson (1-2)
3. Blake Baggett (3-3)
4. Weston Peick (4-4)
5. Dean Wilson (8-7)
6. Justin Barcia (5-10)
7. Justin Bogle (12-5)
8. Martin Davalos (11-6)
9. Cooper Webb (9-9)
10. Broc Tickle (6-12)
11. Frederick Noren (13-8)
12. Trey Canard (10-11)
13. Dakota Alix (14-14)
14. Marvin Musquin (7-34)
15. Josh Moisman (16-15)
16. Henry Miller (35-13)
17. Tochiki Tomita (18-16)
18. Heath Harrison (17-17)
19. John Short (15-38)
20. Dakota Tedder (36-18)

(Story from Pro Motocross press release; photos by Jeff Kardas / Racer X Online)