Round 7 of the 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is underway at RedBud. Check back here for recaps and highlights from the 450 Class throughout the day.

QUALIFYING

For the second time this season, Blake Baggett was the morning’s top 450 qualifier during the practice sessions. With the first session producing the fastest times, his best time from that session (2:02.411) held up as the top lap overall. The KTM rider has missed the podium at the last three rounds but will look to break that streak today.

The qualifying results are typically littered with riders from the A Group near the top of the leaderboard, but this week several B Group riders were able to take advantage of a fast track early in the morning to get inside the top 12: Jeremy Hand (6th), Carlen Gardner (7th), Matthew Hubert (9th) and Brock Papi (12th).

450 Combined Qualifying Times
1. Blake Baggett, 2:02.411
2. Eli Tomac, 2:02.474
3. Marvin Musquin, 2:03.446
4. Justn Barcia, 2:03.703
5. Benny Bloss, 2:05.397
6.  Jeremy Hand, 2:05.529
7. Carlen Gardner, 2:05.906
8. Ken Roczen, 2:06.064
9. Matthew Hubert, 2:06.666
10. Cooper Webb, 2:06.727
11. Brandon Scharer, 2:07.225
12. Brock Papi, 2:07.235
13. Lorenzo Locurcio, 2:07.462
14. Jake Nicholls, 2:07.697
15. Phil Nicoletti, 2:07.734
16. Justin Hill, 2:07.773
17. Jeremy Smith, 2:07.897
18. Kyle Cunningham, 2:07.914
19. Weston Peick, 2:08.092
20. Cody Cooper, 2:08.262
Full Results

MOTO 1

As the riders rounded the first turn, Blake Baggett emerged with the holeshot, with Lorenzo Locurcio in second and Eli Tomac in third. A mistake from Locurcio allowed Tomac and Phil Nicoletti to move past him, and then a crash from Baggett gave the lead to Tomac.

Once he took the lead, Tomac started to pull away. Marvin Musquin and Justin Barcia had both gone down in the first turn of the race in separate incidents, so they — like Baggett — were focused on salavaging positions instead of challenging Tomac for a win. The only rider who appeared capable of mounting a challenge to the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider was Ken Roczen. Despite getting held up a bit by Musquin’s first-turn crash, Roczen worked his way up to second place after a few laps and got the deficit to under five seconds.

Tomac was running at a much faster pace in the later stages of the race and built himself a huge lead, but with three laps to go, disaster struck for the points leader. Tomac’s rear wheel stopped rotating, and he could do nothing as he sat on the side of the track while everyone else went around him.

That misfortune allowed Roczen to inherit the lead, and he closed out the final laps to take the checkered flag. Finishing in second place was Musquin, who battled hard through the field after his first-turn crash. Benny Bloss ended up on the podium in third, and Barcia and Baggett bounced back for top-five finishes after their own first-lap issues.

And just like that, the championship race has gotten a lot tighter. Thanks to Tomac’s DNF and Musquin’s resilience, there was a 22-point swing between the two riders in just this moto. That means that Tomac’s 32-point lead is now down to 10 points entering Moto 2.

450 Moto 1 Results
1. Ken Roczen
2. Marvin Musquin
3. Benny Bloss
4. Justin Barcia
5. Blake Baggett
6. Phil Nicoletti
7. Cooper Webb
8. Weston Peick
9. Jake Nicholls
10. Justin Hill
11. Kyle Cunningham
12. Heath Harrison
13. Henry Miller
14. Cody Cooper
15. Toshiki Tomita
16. Ben LaMay
17. Brandon Scharer
18. Brandan Leith
19. Jeremy Hand
20. Brock Papi
…
24. Justin Bogle
36. Eli Tomac (DNF)
37. Lorenzo Locurcio (DNF)
Full Results

MOTO 1 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: MUSQUIN, BARCIA, BAGGETT CRASH ON LAP 1

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: TOMAC’S BIKE ISSUES RESULT IN DNF

MOTO 2

For the third time in four motos since returning from injury, Justin Bogle grabbed the holeshot. Marvin Musquin and Ken Roczen soon moved toward the front and engaged in a back-and-forth battle for second place. Musquin emerged with the position, then overtook Bogle for the lead. As he came under fire from Roczen, Bogle tipped over and fell all the way back to 36th.

Meahwile Tomac’s struggles continued. Because of his DNF in Moto 1, Tomac had a bad gate pick for Moto 2 and was unable to get a good start. That forced him to come from 18th place to salvage as many points as possible. After racing his way up to sixth though, Tomac went down and lost several positions. To make matters worse, he needed to pull into the pits to get the bike straightened out after the crash. As a result, he needed to come back yet again — this time from about 12th place.

Up front, a lead pack emerged as Musquin, Roczen and Justin Barcia settled into the top three spots. Things stayed close for a while, but no real battles materialized until the final lap. That’s when Barcia caught up to Roczen and tried to do whatever he could to make the pass for second place. The factory Yamaha rider eventually found an inside line that allowed him to move around Roczen and take the position, but neither rider had an answer for Red Bull KTM’s star Frenchman. Musquin (2-1) won a moto for the fourth straight week and the overall for the second straight week.

And most importantly, Musquin also took over the points lead — something that seemed nearly unimaginable earlier in the morning, but came to fruition thanks to Tomac’s DNF in Moto 1 and ninth-place finish in Moto 2. What was originally a 32-point lead for Tomac entering the day is now a narrow 3-point lead for Musquin entering Round 8, which will take place two weeks from now at Spring Creek.

Roczen (1-3) and Bacia (4-2) joined Musquin on the overall podium. It’s the fourth straight round that Barcia has been on the podium, but it’s only the second time this season that Roczen has been on the podium.

450 Moto 2 Results
1. Marvin Musquin
2. Justin Barcia
3. Ken Roczen
4. Justin Hill
5. Blake Baggett
6. Phil Nicoletti
7. Cooper Webb
8. Kyle Cunningham
9. Eli Tomac
10. Henry Miller
11. Weston Peick
12. Cody Cooper
13. Jake  Nicholls
14. Toshiki Tomita
15. Brandon Scharer
16. Ben LaMay
17. Cody Williams
18. Justin Bogle
19. Dare DeMartile
20. Chase Marquier
…
23. Benny Bloss
Full Results

MOTO 2 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: BARCIA VS. ROCZEN FOR 2ND ON FINAL LAP

450 OVERALL RESULTS

1. Marvin Musquin (2-1)
2. Ken Roczen (1-3)
3. Justin Barcia (4-2)
4. Blake Baggett (5-5)
5. Phil Nicoletti (6-6)
6. Justin Hill (10-4)
7. Cooper Webb (7-7)
8. Kyle Cunningham (11-8)
9. Weston Peick (8-11)
10. Jake Nicholls (9-13)
11. Benny Bloss (3-23)
12. Henry Miller (13-10)
13. Cody Cooper (14-12)
14. Toshiki Tomita (15-14)
15. Eli Tomac (36-9)
16. Brandon Scharer (17-15)
17. Ben LaMay (16-16)
18. Heath Harrison (12-28)
19. Cody Williams (33-17)
20. Justin Bogle (24-18)

450 POINTS STANDINGS

1. Marvin Musquin, 304
2. Eli Tomac, 301
3. Justin Barcia, 264
4. Ken Roczen, 246
5. Blake Baggett, 232
6. Weston Peick, 193
7. Benny Bloss, 176
8. Phil Nicoletti, 172
9. Cody Cooper, 101
10. Kyle Cunningham, 93

(Story and photos from ProMotocross.com)