The Muddy Creek Raceway in Blountville, Tennessee took on its natural state following a few days of heavy rainfal making for a classically muddy Tennessee National.

According to the series points leader and local rider, Zach Osborne said before the start of the race that he saw the track to be in ideal condition following all of the rain, and that he was, “grateful to have a home race.” However, Osborne had not seen much success throughout his professional career at his home track, and would be forced to lineup against fellow hometown heroes Aaron Plessinger and Shane McElrath who have both seen much success at the track.

More important than familiarity, though, adjustability was going to be the trait that would ultimately matter most because the track was already muddy and only going to get more rutted than what they rode in practice.

Moto 1
Plessinger pulled the holeshot and made his way ahead of a first turn crash that consumed Jeremy Martin and Joey Savatgy. Just behind Plessinger on the start was Adam Cianciarulo and Austin Forkner. Forkner nearly lost his 3rd place position when his feet left the pegs and formed a ‘W’ as they came up above the bars, but he managed to bring his feet back down without issue. RJ Hampshire, just behind Forkner, washed out a bit but held on for 4th during the opening lap that proved to be tricky for everyone.

Hampshire was passed up shortly by Alex Martin and local boy McElrath, but managed to hold his ground for 6th ahead of the other local rider and series points leader, Osborne. Osborne, though, wouldn’t wait long before making his own move past Hampshire before the first 10 minutes had elapsed. Osborne, unlike McElrath, has not had much professional success at this home track. Regardless, Osborne stayed close and found his way around McElrath for that 5th place position during the second half of the moto.

Further back, Savatgy and J. Martin were battling their way up into the 14th and 15th positions behind Dylan Ferrandis with only 10 minutes left to fight as a result of their first turn crash. But with J. Martin making a second mistake and crash, Ferrandis and Savatgy would move up to 10th and 11th by the 5 minute mark, J. Martin was still stuck in the 15th position for the time being.

Hampshire eventually had to pull off the track and out of potential points due to bike trouble, after holding tight in the top 10 throughout the majority of the moto.

For the final three laps of Moto 1 there was very little change in position, with the majority of the attention on A. Martin working on Forkner in an attempt to earn a spot on the podium. Ultimately A. Martin found 4th place, while Forkner held on for 3rd behind Cianciarulo. Plessinger rode unrivaled the entire moto.

Moto 1 Results
1. Aaron Plessinger
2. Adam Cianciarulo
3. Austin Forkner
4. Alex Martin
5. Zach Osborne
6. Shane McElrath
7. Sean Cantrell
8. Colt Nichols
9. Dylan Ferrandis
10. Mitchell Harrison
11. Joesph Savatgy
12. Luke Renzland
13. Jeremy Martin
14. Steven Clarke
15. Chase Sexton
16. Kyle Cunningham
17. Justin Hill
18. Lorenzo Locurcio
19. Mark Worth
20. Jon Ames
…
38. RJ Hampshire

Moto 2
Plessinger started off the second moto in similar fashion to find he had earned back-to-back holeshots at Muddy Creek. Forkner came out of the first corner in 2nd and Osborne in 3rd. Osborne exchanged positions with Sean Cantrell twice before Cantrell overcame took him to make a dash for Forkner and Plessinger. Osborne stayed on him, though, and reclaimed the 3rd spot from Cantrell again only a minute before Cantrell endo’d over a jump that took him out for the remainder of the moto.

Osborne kept his momentum moving and took over Forkner for 2nd and immediately created some safe space between them. Despite not having much prior professional success at his home track, Osborne was racing well and seemed too hungry to settle with 2nd. As he approached Plessinger in the lead, Osborne actually watched as Plessinger made a minor mistake to leave the door wide open for a pass which he immediately took.

Rounding out the top five at the halfway point in the moto was A. Martin ahead of Ciaciarulo, with J. Martin close behind in 6th with Colt Nichols as padding between him and Savatgy in 8th.

With 10 minutes remaining in the second moto, not much change to the order of the front of the pack apart from Osborne stretching his lead to 5 seconds. Savatgy made a pass on Nichols to take over 7th.

For the remainder of the moto the best battle emerged between A. Martin trailing Forkner. In the first moto Forkner successfully held off A. Martin to take third, and repeated the feat to hold him off for third again.

Muddy Creek marked a first-time professional moto win for Osborne at his home track, and for Plessinger a second-ever overall win in his professional career (his first overall for the season).

Moto 2 Results
1. Zach Osborne
2. Aaron Plessinger
3. Austin Forkner
4. Alex Martin
5. Adam Cianciarulo
6. Jeremy Martin
7. Joey Savatgy
8. Colt Nichols
9. Chase Sexton
10. Mitchell Harrison
11. Shane McElrath
12. RJ Hampshire
13. Justin Hill
14. Luke Renzland
15. Dylan Ferrandis
16. Lorenzo Locurcio
17. Kyle Cunningham
18. Nick Gaines
19. Bradley Taft
20. Steven Clarke
…
38. Sean Cantrell

250 Overall Results
1. Aaron Plessinger (1-2)
2. Zach Osborne (5-1)
3. Austin Forkner (3-3)
4. Adam Cianciarulo (2-5)
5. Alex Martin (4-4)
6. Colt Nichols (8-8)
7. Shane McElrath (6-11)
8. Joey Savatgy (11-7)
9. Jeremy Martin (13-6)
10. Mitchell Harrison (10-10)
11. Chase Sexton (15-9)
12. Dylan Ferrandis (9-15)
13. Luke Renzland (12-14)
14. Sean Cantrell (7-38)
15. Justin Hill (17-13)
16. RJ Hampshire (38-12)
17. Kyle Cunningham (16-17)
18. Lorenzo Locurcio (18-16)
19. Steven Clark (14-20)
20. Nick Gaines (39-18)

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