Round 5 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is underway from Muddy Creek. Check back here for recaps and highlights from the 250 Class throughout the day.

QUALIFYING

After taking the holeshot in three of the season’s first eight motos, Justin Cooper will have a good chance to work his magic once again in Moto 1. That’s because he ended the morning as the 250 Class’s top qualifier and will now have the top gate pick for the first moto. It wasn’t particularly close either — Cooper had the fastest lap time in both the first session (which had slower times across the board due to some morning rain) and the second session. Cooper’s top lap time in the second session (1:52.503) was nearly two full seconds ahead of the next rider, Shane McElrath (1:54.318).

Cooper makes up just one prong of a powerful Star Yamaha attack. His teammate Aaron Plessinger was just ninth in qualifying but enters the Tennessee National holding the red plate for the second time this season and is coming off a 1-1 sweep last week at High Point. The team also got Dylan Ferrandis back last week, and the Frenchman immediately delivered a fourth-place finish. This week the team gets Colt Nicols back from an arm injury. Ferrandis and Nichols qualified sixth and 12th, respectively, this morning.

250 Qualifying Times
1. Justin Cooper, 1:52.503
2. Shane McElrath, 1:54.318
3. Jeremy Martin, 1:54.495
4. Joey Savatgy, 1:54.495
5. Chase Sexton, 1:55.059
6. Dylan Ferrandis, 1:55.542
7. Alex Martin, 1:55.955
8. Jordon Smith, 1:55.961
9. Aaron Plessinger, 1:55.977
10. Austin Forkner, 1:56.123
11. RJ Hampshire, 1:56.638
12. Colt Nichols, 1:56.734
13. Michael Mosiman, 1:57.050
14. Luke Renzland, 1:57.911
15. Brandon Hartranft, 1:58.197
16. Sean Cantrell, 1:58.719
17. Mitchell Harrison, 1:58.765
18. Challen Tennant, 1:58.921
19. Jordan Bailey, 1:59.412
20. Cameron McAdoo, 2:00.108
Full Results

MOTO 1

Aaron Plessinger grabbed the holeshot by a decent margin but made an unforced error on the opening lap of the race and went down. As Plessinger remounted outside the top 10, his three main championship rivals took advantage of his misfortune — Alex and Jeremy Martin moved into the top two spots, and Justin Cooper settled into fourth behind RJ Hampshire.

Cooper was able to ascend into the top three after a mistake from Hampshire that came about five minutes into the race. Hampshire then dropped another spot to Shane McElrath, who had entered the race as the No. 2 qualifier, and fell back to fifth place.

Up front, the Martin brothers battled for the lead until a mistake by Alex allowed Jeremy to close in and ultimately wrest away the top spot. Although Alex kept the deficit manageable for a while, it all came unraveled shortly past the midway point. That’s when Alex crashed on a jump and struggled to get back to the bike and get it going again. That incident shuffled Alex back to 11th and gave Jeremy a lot more breathing room out front.

Jeremy went on to win the moto by several seconds, while Cooper, McElrath, Hampshire and Austin Forkner (2nd-5th) were all beneficiaries of Alex’s crash.

After his first-lap crash, Plessinger was able to claw his way back into the top 10 by making a few passes but had to settle for ninth place. He entered the day with a 20-point lead over Jeremy Martin in the championship standings, but he lost 13 points to Martin in just this moto alone. The red plate has changed hands after each round of the season so far, and it’s in danger of happening again if Plessinger doesn’t turn things around in Moto 2.

As for Alex Martin, he actually lost a spot to Dylan Ferrandis after his crash and finished 12th.

This moto also featured the return of Star Yamaha rider Colt Nichols, who hadn’t raced since March, and he delivered a solid 10th-place result.

250 Moto 1 Results
1. Jeremy Martin
2. Justin Cooper
3. Shane McElrath
4. RJ Hampshire
5. Austin Forkner
6. Joey Savatgy
7. Jordon Smith
8. Chase Sexton
9. Aaron Plessinger
10. Colt Nichols
11. Dylan Ferrandis
12. Alex Martin
13. Cameron McAdoo
14. Michael Mosiman
15. Mitchell Harrison
16. Jordan Bailey
17. Jimmy Decotis
18. Sean Cantrell
19. Challen Tennant
20. Brandon Hartranft
Full Results

MOTO 1 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: AARON PLESSINGER GETS HOLESHOT, THEN GOES DOWN

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: JEREMY MARTIN TAKES LEAD FROM ALEX MARTIN

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: ALEX MARTIN CRASHES WHILE RUNNING 2ND

 

MOTO 2

After a disappointing turn of events in Moto 1, Alex Martin bounced back in Moto 2 by taking the holeshot ahead of teammate Sean Cantrell and Dylan Ferrandis. After the first lap, it was all Yamaha and KTM riders in the top five with A-Mart, Ferrandis, Jordon Smith, Aaron Plessinger and Cantrell making up the top five.

But the big story of the race’s opening lap was Jeremy Martin. The Moto 1 winner collided with Justin Cooper while in the air and went down. The GEICO Honda rider, who was clearly in pain while on the ground, was carted off and did not return to the race.

The incident was a blow to Cooper as well, who found himself back in 39th after the crash with Martin. Cooper only recovered to finish 28th, which means he was unable to score any championship points for Moto 2.

WIth all the chaos reigning down in each moto, the battle for the overall win was dealt a major shake-up. So much so that Alex Martin, even with a 12th-place finish in Moto 1, was temporarily in position to take the overall just by winning Moto 2. However Ferrandis wasn’t content to let Martin just ride away with the victory, and the Frenchman was able to keep the gap close throughout most of the race.

And then, more chaos. With two laps to go, Alex Martin crashed again. So with that, Ferrandis moved into the lead (and went on to win the race) while Martin remounted in second place.

Meanwhile, Shane McElrath was on a tear. After working his way into the top five, McElrath made passes on Plessinger and Chase Sexton to move into third. Then he was able to catch Alex Martin thanks to the earlier crash. With a late pass, McElrath moved into second place and became the overall winner with 3-2 moto results.

It’s the first victory of McElrath’s 250MX career and just the third time he’s finished on the overall podium. For the day, he finished seven points ahead of Ferrandis (11-1) and 11 points ahead of Sexton (8-4).

As for the championship race, it ended up not looking too much different than it did at the beginning of the day. Plessinger will hold on to the red plate and now has a 23-point lead over Jeremy Martin, though Jeremy’s health moving forward is now a concern. Alex Martin (29 points back) and Cooper (41 points back) remain third and fourth, respectively, in the 250MX standings despite their up-and-down days.

250 Moto 2 Results
1. Dylan Ferrandis
2. Shane McElrath
3. Alex Martin
4. Chase Sexton
5. Aaron Plessinger
6. Jordon Smith
7. Joey Savatgy
8. Cameron McAdoo
9. Austin Forkner
10. Michael Mosiman
11. Mitchell Harrison
12. Jimmy Decotis
13. Brandon Hartranft
14. Jordan Bailey
15. Hayden Mellross
16. Sean Cantrell
17. Challen Tennant
18. James Weeks
19. RJ Hampshire
20. Colt Nichols
…
28. Justin Cooper
40. Jeremy Martin (DNF)
Full Results

MOTO 2 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: JEREMY MARTIN CRASHES WITH JUSTIN COOPER

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: ALEX MARTIN CRASHES WHILE LEADING

 

250 OVERALL RESULTS

1. Shane McElrath (3-2)
2. Dylan Ferrandis (11-1)
3. Chase Sexton (8-4)
4. Alex Martin (12-3)
5. Jordon Smith (7-6)
6. Joey Savatgy (6-7)
7. Aaron Plessinger (9-5)
8. Austin Forkner (5-9)
9. Jeremy Martin (1-40)
10. Justin Cooper (2-28)
11. Cameron McAdoo (13-8)
12. RJ Hampshire (4-19)
13. Michael Mosiman (14-10)
14. Mitchell Harrison (15-11)
15. Jimmy Decotis (17-12)
16. Jordan Bailey (16-14)
17. Colt Nichols (10-20)
18. Brandon Hartranft (20-13)
19. Sean Cantrell (18-16)
20. Hayden Mellross (22-15)

250 POINT STANDINGS

1. Aaron Plessinger, 199
2. Jeremy Martin, 176
3. Alex Martin, 170
4. Justin Cooper, 158
5. Austin Forkner, 143
6. Shane McElrath, 133
7. Jordon Smith, 133
8. RJ Hampshire, 120
9. Chase Sexton, 118
10. Joey Savatgy, 112

(Story and photos from ProMotocross.com)