Round 2 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is underway from Glen Helen. Check back for recaps and highlights from the 450 Class throughout the day.

QUALIFYING

With light rain and cool temperatures this morning, this isn’t a typical Glen Helen race, and the track could change throughout the day.

Fresh off his first supercross title, Jason Anderson had what could have been considered a down race last week at Hangtown. His 4-6 scores were good enough for fourth overall, but he faded a bit late in Moto 2 and lost several positions in the closing laps. Hoping for a better result this week, Anderson (2:37.156) started the day off by very narrowly topping Eli Tomac (2:37.294) for the fastest lap time in qualifying.

Tomac enters Glen Helen with the points lead, but Marvin Musquin is not far behind and could make a run at grabbing the red plate today. The Frenchman qualified No. 3 with a time of 2:37.643.

One story to follow today is Alex Ray’s debut with factory Yamaha. This is the first of at least three rounds that he is scheduled to fill-in for Cooper Webb, and he ended up 13th in qualifying.

450 Qualifying Times
1. Jason Anderson, 2:37.156
2. Eli Tomac, 2:37.294
3. Marvin Musquin, 2:37.643
4. Blake Baggett, 2:38.269
5. Justin Barcia, 2:39.136
6. Christian Craig, 2:40.452
7. Weston Peick, 2:41.257
8. Ken Roczen, 2:42.445
9. Benny Bloss, 2:42.493
10. Kyle Cunningham, 2:42.559
11. Bradley Taft, 2:42.718
12. Phil Nicoletti, 2:44.086
13. Alex Ray, 2:44.684
14. Dylan Merriam, 2:45.309
15. Cody Cooper, 2:45.509
16. Kyle Chisholm, 2:45.973
17. Ben LaMay, 2:46.105
18. Josh Mosiman, 2:46.265
19. Brendan Leith, 2:47.249
20. Toshiki Tomita, 2:48.406
Full Results

INTERVIEW WITH ALEX RAY

MOTO 1

For the second week in a row, Christian Craig took his Honda straight to the front of the field by grabbing the Moto 1 holeshot. His teammate Ken Roczen was just behind him in second, and Roczen ended up taking over the lead after Craig went down hard on a first-lap crash. The incident started a mini-pile-up that also claimed Alex Ray, who was making his debut as a Factory Yamaha fill-in, and left Craig looking potentially injured.

Five minutes into the moto, it was Eli Tomac, Jason Anderson, Marvin Musquin and Benny Bloss holding down the second through fifth positions behind Roczen. The marquee battle on the track soon became Tomac vs. Roczen for the lead. Tomac was stalking Roczen all throughout the middle portion of the race, frequently keeping the deficit to under a second. With under 12 minutes to go, Tomac closed in and pulled side-by-side with Roczen a few times, but Roczen was able to take his line away and hold onto the lead temporarily. Eventually Tomac found an opportunity to strike, as he was able to get inside of Roczen and blow past him into the top spot.

After taking the lead, Tomac was able to pull away from Roczen en route to the checkered flag. It’s the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider’s third straight moto win to start the season.

As for Roczen, he soon had another challenge on his hands in the form of Musquin. A battle formed, with Musquin pressing hard for several minutes before finally making the pass with under a minute left on the clock. Roczen showed some fight but was unable to re-pass the Frenchman. That allowed Musquin to claim second place, though he finished 12 seconds behind Tomac. Meanwhile, Roczen’s third-place finish was a marked improvement from last week’s 6-16 scores.

Anderson and Blake Baggett rounded out the top five, while Justin Barcia—who was coming off a pair of third-place moto results at Hangtown—was knocking on the door of the top five late in the race but lost a position (and a lot of ground) after going down. He eventually re-passed Bloss to earn sixth in Moto 1.

As for Bloss, he was on track for another solid finish until crashing on one of the final laps. He was seen being looked at by a member of the medical team off to the side of the course.

Among the notable names in the top 10 was local privateer Dylan Merriam, who placed ninth.

450 Moto 1 Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Marvin Musquin
3. Ken Roczen
4. Jason Anderson
5. Blake Baggett
6. Justin Barcia
7. Weston Peick
8. Kyle Cunningham
9. Dylan Merriam
10. Phil Nicoletti
11. Kyle Chisholm
12. Bradley Taft
13. Ben LaMay
14. Brandon Scharer
15. Toshiki Tomita
16. Cody Cooper
17. Bradley Lionnet
18. Chris Alldredge
19. Alex Ray
20. Cade Autenrieth
Full Results

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: TOMAC VS. ROCZEN FOR THE LEAD

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: MUSQUIN VS. ROCZEN FOR 2ND PLACE

MOTO 1 RACE RECAP

MOTO 2

The race opened with Jason Anderson taking the holeshot, but just a few turns later, Blake Baggett fell while going up a hill, which triggered a bit of a pile-up behind him. Among the riders who managed to avoid the incident was Justin Barcia, who made an incredible save by getting himself over Baggett’s downed bike. Meanwhile, because of where he was on the hill, Baggett struggled to get going again.

Things calmed down after the opening-lap carnage, but Anderson opened up a decent lead after several laps. As the race neared the midway point, second-place Marvin Musquin was more than six seconds back of Anderson, and third-place Eli Tomac was nearly three seconds back of Musquin.

Tomac kept the pressure on and was eventually able to pass Musquin, which left him with about 11 minutes plus two laps to make up a 9-second deficit behind Anderson. ET slowly chipped away at the lead, and with two laps to go, he finally got close enough to challenge Anderson. As the two riders went up a hill, Tomac was able to blow right by Anderson and cap off an incredible comeback.

And with that, Tomac was able to secure his fourth straight moto win and second straight overall victory to start the season. The defending champion also extended his points lead in the process.

As for Anderson, his 4-2 scores were enough to put him on the overall podium in third place. Musquin (2-3) nabbed second overall for the day.

One rider who missed out on the overall podium was Ken Roczen. After his superb effort in the first moto, he made a stop in the mechanics’ area early in Moto 2 and was only able to finish the moto in eighth place.

450 Moto 2 Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Jason Anderson
3. Marvin Musquin
4. Justin Barcia
5. Weston Peick
6. Benny Bloss
7. Phil Nicoletti
8. Ken Roczen
9. Blake Baggett
10. Cody Cooper
11. Kyle Chisholm
12. Alex Ray
13. Brandon Scharer
14. Cade Autenrieth
15. Toshiki Tomita
16. Dare DeMartile
17. Ben LaMay
18. Bradley Taft
19. Felix Lopez
20. Dustin Pipes
Full Results

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: ANDERSON USES HOLESHOT TO TAKE LEAD

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: TOMAC VS. MUSQUIN FOR 2ND

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: TOMAC PASSES ANDERSON FOR LEAD LATE IN THE RACE

MOTO 2 RACE RECAP

450 OVERALL RESULTS

1. Eli Tomac (1-1)
2. Marvin Musquin (2-3)
3. Jason Anderson (4-2)
4. Justin Barcia (6-4)
5. Ken Roczen (3-8)
6. Weston Peick (7-5)
7. Blake Baggett (5-9)
8. Phil Nicoletti (10-7)
9. Kyle Chisholm (11-11)
10. Cody Cooper (16-10)
11. Benny Bloss (22-6)
12. Brandon Scharer (14-13)
13. Kyle Cunningham (8-37)
14. Toshiki Tomita (15-15)
15. Ben LaMay (13-17)
16. Bradley Taft (12-18)
17. Dylan Merriam (9-39)
18. Alex Ray (19-12)
19. Cade Autenrieth (20-14)
20. Dare DeMartile (21-16)
Full Results

450 POINT STANDINGS

1. Eli Tomac, 100
2. Marvin Musquin, 86
3. Jason Anderson, 73
4. Justin Barcia, 73
5. Blake Baggett, 60
6. Weston Peick, 60
7. Ken Roczen, 53
8. Phil Nicoletti, 49
9. Benny Bloss, 42
10. Kyle Chisholm, 39

(Story and photos from ProMotocross.com)