Round 6 of the 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is underway from Southwick. Check back here for recaps and highlights from the 250 Class throughout the day.

QUALIFYING

It’s been a crazy season so far in the 250 Class, and things got even more chaotic this week when Jeremy Martin underwent back surgery. The second major title contender lost in recent weeks (alongside Zach Osborne), Martin’s absence gives Aaron Plessinger some breathing room in the title chase, but with Plessinger having bouts of inconsistency this year, this field is wide open. Add in a sandy Southwick track capable of producing surprise winners, and it’s difficult to pick a favorite today.

Plessinger leads the championship standings, but he’s not the only Star Yamaha rider on point lately. His teammate Justin Cooper has kept himself afloat in the title discussion with a string of solid results (minus the second moto where he collided with Jeremy Martin and finished 28th last week) and for the third time this season, he’s the top qualifier at a Pro Motocross round. Cooper’s time from the first session (2:08.659) edged out yet another Star Yamaha standout, Dylan Ferrandis (2:08.927 in the second session), who’s coming off his first moto win of the season.

250 Qualifying Results
1. Justin Cooper, 2:08.659
2. Dylan Ferrandis, 2:08.927
3. Austin Forkner, 2:09.450
4. Chase Sexton, 2:09.605
5. Alex Martin, 2:09.776
6. Joey Savatgy, 2:10.211
7. Colt Nichols, 2:10.250
8. Michael Mosiman, 2:10.634
9. Jordon Smith, 2:10.823
10. Cameron McAdoo, 2:10.959
11. Aaron Plessinger, 2:11.207
12. RJ Hampshire, 2:11.228
13. Shane McElrath, 2:11.691
14. Jimmy Decotis, 2:11.699
15. Mitchell Harrison, 2:12.000
16. Jordan Bailey, 2:12.342
17. Sean Cantrell, 2:12.755
18. Dakota Alix, 2:13.010
19. Gage Schehr, 2:13.875
20. Challen Tennant, 2:14.095
Full Results

MOTO 1

Fresh off his surprise win at Muddy Creek, Shane McElrath came out strong once again by grabbing the Moto 1 holeshot ahead of local product Jimmy Decotis. Impressively, McElrath was able to check out pretty quickly—within a few minutes, he had already opened up a lead of about eight seconds on the rest of the field.

Part of the reason that McElrath was able to amass such a big lead was that Justin Cooper and Austin Forkner were having to fight to get around Decotis. Both riders were eventually able to clear Decotis, putting Cooper into second and Forkner into third. About 10 minutes into the moto, Forkner was able to make a pass on Cooper to take over second, and he was then able to chip away at McElrath’s lead. On Lap 7, a really slow lap time from McElrath (2:20.225) allowed Forkner (2:15.871) to make up a ton of ground. Forkner then found an outside line two laps later to overtake McElrath for the top spot.

While Forkner was able to open up a small gap on everyone, McElrath continued to slide back through the field—first losing a spot to Alex Martin, then one to Aaron Plessinger and another one to Chase Sexton. After getting passed by Dylan Ferrandis later in the race, McElrath fell out of the top five completely. He wasn’t the only one going backwards though—Cooper had gone down on Lap 8 and dropped outside the top 15. (He ultimately finished 17th.)

Meanwhile Forkner’s lead was dwindling, as a pair of title contenders—Martin and Plessinger—were starting to reel him in. Martin kept things tight throughout the final four laps but couldn’t get close enough to attempt a pass. That enabled Forkner to get his first moto win since his rookie season in 2016.

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

MOTO 1 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: FORKNER VS. MCELRATH FOR THE LEAD

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: MARTIN CHALLENGES FORKNER FOR THE WIN

MOTO 2

For the second time today, Shane McElrath was credited with the holeshot, but Austin Forkner and RJ Hampshire both emerged ahead of him with the top two spots.

A mistake from Hampshire allowed McElrath to move into second early on, and Alex Martin eventually took over third. That set up a battle between teammates McElrath and Martin for second place, and it wasn’t until shortly past the midway point that Martin was finally able to take the position. That left him with a manageable deficit behind Forkner and plenty of time to make it up.

Throughout the moto, Dylan Ferrandis was on a bit of a tear. The Frenchman had to work his way up from 10th place but made a number of passes during the race. With under eight minutes left in the moto, he got around McElrath to move into the top three.

With under five minutes left on the countdown clock, the top three riders (Forkner, Martin, Ferrandis) were all within just a few seconds of each other. Having closed in on the leader, Martin tried diving to the inside of Forkner for a pass attempt, but Forkner was going for a similar line, which left very little room for Martin, and the two riders made contact and took each other down. Martin lost a couple positions but remounted fairly quickly; Forkner, on the other hand, needed more time to compose himself and lost a ton of spots.

The carnage allowed Ferrandis and McElrath to cruise past the downed riders and take over the top two spots. McElrath was only about a second behind Ferrandis on the final lap, but the Frenchman held strong and took the checkered flag. Not only did Ferrandis score his second moto win in his last three tries, but thanks to the resulting chaos from Forkner and Martin’s crash, he also earned the first overall victory of his Lucas Oil Pro Motocross career with 4-1 moto scores.

With the win, Ferrandis also became the fifth different rider to win a 250MX overall through the first six rounds of the 2018 season.

Although the crash cost him a shot at the overall victory, Martin (2-4) was able to take second place thanks to his quick recovery. McElrath (6-2) proved to be one of the beneficiaries of that crash, taking third place overall for the day. It’s the second straight week that McElrath has ended up on the overall podium. The KTM rider entered the season with only two podiums in his entire outdoor career.

After a disappointing second moto, Plessinger (3-7) ended up fifth overall. He’ll still retain the points lead heading into RedBud next weekend, but he did lose six points to Martin today at Southwick. Plessinger currently holds a 23-point edge after Round 6.

As for Justin Cooper, his title prospects took a hit after finishing 17-9 for 15th overall. Cooper, who started the day 41 points back of Plessinger, now faces a 59-point hole and has McElrath and Forkner close behind him.

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

MOTO 2 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: MARTIN AND FORKNER CRASH, FERRANDIS TAKES LEAD

250 OVERALL RESULTS

1. Dylan Ferrandis (4-1)
2. Alex Martin (2-4)
3. Shane McElrath (6-2)
4. RJ Hampshire (7-3)
5. Aaron Plessinger (3-7)
6. Colt Nichols (8-8)
7. Austin Forkner (1-20)
8. Chase Sexton (5-14)
9. Mitchell Harrison (15-6)
10. Michael Mosiman (10-11)
11. Cameron McAdoo (9-13)
12. Jordan Bailey (13-10)
13. Jordon Smith (12-12)
14. Joey Savatgy (32-5)
15. Justin Cooper (17-9)
16. Sean Cantrell (11-15)
17. Hayden Mellross (16-16)
18. Dakota Alix (14-19)
19. James Weeks (19-17)
20. Challen Tennant (18-18)

250 POINT STANDINGS

1. Aaron Plessinger, 233
2. Alex Martin, 210
3. Jeremy Martin, 176
4. Justin Cooper, 174
5. Shane McElrath, 170
6. Austin Forkner, 169
7. RJ Hampshire, 154
8. Jordon Smith, 151
9. Chase Sexton, 141
10. Joey Savatgy, 128

(Story and photos from ProMotocross.com)