Round 6 of the 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is underway from Southwick. Check back here for recaps and highlights from the 450 Class throughout the day.

QUALIFYING

Can anyone end Eli Tomac’s overall win streak? That’s the story of the day for the 450 Class at Southwick. Marvin Musquin has come close to doing so in recent weeks and has a pair of moto wins to show for it, and now for the first time this year, he’s the fastest qualifier heading into the day’s motos. Musquin’s 2:07.315 in the first session held up as the top lap of the day despite a heater from Tomac (2:07.385) in the second session that nearly toppled him.

Today’s race also features a pair of notable names making their return from injury. Justin Bogle, who has been sidelined since February due to a broken arm, qualified 10th and Cooper Webb, who is keeping expectations to a minimum for now, was just behind him in 11th in his return from a broken leg.

Qualifying is always an interesting affair at Southwick, as there usually seem to be a few local guys who rank surprisingly high on the leaderboard. Today was no exception with Robby Marshall (5th, 2:10.582) and Chris Canning (7th, 2:11.186) both finding their way inside the top 10.

450 Qualifying Results
1. Marvin Musquin, 2:07.315
2. Eli Tomac, 2:07.385
3. Blake Baggett, 2:09.294
4. Justin Barcia, 2:09.455
5. Robby Marshall, 2:10.582
6. Ken Roczen, 2:11.033
7. Chris Canning, 2:11.186
8. Kyle Cunningham, 2:11.376
9. Benny Bloss, 2:11.439
10. Justin Bogle, 2:11.547
11. Cooper Webb, 2:11.678
12. Cody Cooper, 2:11.830
13. Justin Hill, 2:12.061
14. Tristan Lane, 2:12.246
15. Jeremy Smith, 2:12.565
16. Brandon Scharer, 2:12.592
17. Weston Peick, 2:12.675
18. Lorenzo Locurcio, 2:13.160
19. Ben LaMay, 2:13.161
20. Phil Nicoletti, 2:13.487
Full Results

MOTO 1

In his first race action since February, Justin Bogle was officially credited with the holeshot, but Blake Baggett and Ken Roczen were both neck-and-neck with him. Roczen emerged from the turn with the race lead, and Justin Barcia and Marvin Musquin followed him into second and third, respectively.

As for Eli Tomac, he once again had to come back from a subpar start. But by the end of Lap 2, he had climbed his way into the top five behind Roczen, Barcia, Musquin and Baggett. Then on the next lap, Tomac picked off Baggett for fourth place.

With Tomac charging toward them, a great battle developed among the lead trio. After nearly getting passed by Musquin, Barcia stepped it up and made a charge at Roczen to take over the lead. Musquin then got past Roczen as well to move into second.

About 11 minutes had elapsed in the race when Tomac caught the top three. After making quick work of Roczen for third place, Tomac set his sights on Musquin, who was actively trying to find a line around Barcia. The level of racing was extraordinarily high, and shortly before the midway point, Musquin was able to pass Barcia—giving the race its third different leader in less than five minutes—and Barcia then dropped second place to the hard-charging Tomac.

As the race entered its second half, things settled down just a tad. Musquin and Tomac emerged as the two frontrunners, while Barcia and Roczen lost ground to them. For the next several laps, Tomac stalked Musquin and ended up taking a lot of roost. With the countdown clock expired and three laps to go, Tomac started getting more aggressive, but Musquin was able to counter a number of his pass attempts by shutting the door on Tomac. Shortly before the two riders came around to take the white flag, Tomac went to the outside and rode past Musquin as the two riders nearly made contact.

But the Frenchman refused to let the win get away without a fight—he raced hard on the final lap and ended up crashing on a downhill jump. The fall sent Musquin into the track banners, but he was able to get back on the bike without losing any positions. (He and Tomac had a giant gap on the rest of the field by that point.)

Tomac went on to take his ninth moto win of the season, with Musquin finishing 27 seconds behind him. Barcia, Baggett and Roczen rounded out the top five.

After his magnificent start, Bogle ended up finishing in 18th. Another rider making his return from injury, Cooper Webb, fared much better with an eighth-place finish.

450 Moto 1 Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Marvin Musquin
3. Justin Barcia
4. Blake Baggett
5. Ken Roczen
6. Benny Bloss
7. Lorenzo Locurcio
8. Cooper Webb
9. Weston Peick
10. Phil Nicoletti
11. Chris Canning
12. Henry Miller
13. Jake Masterpool
14. Dylan Merriam
15. Heath Harrison
16. Brandan Leith
17. Ryan Dowd
18. Justin Bogle
19. Dare DeMartile
20. Robby Marshall
…
21. Justin Hill
Full Results

MOTO 1 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: ROCZEN/BARCIA/MUSQUIN/TOMAC SWAP POSITIONS

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: MUSQUIN VS. TOMAC FOR THE WIN

MOTO 2

Justin Bogle took his second holsehot of the day but was immediately overtaken by Marvin Musquin. Phil Nicoletti and Ken Roczen weren’t too far behind the duo, and soon Eli Tomac came charging past all of them to move into second place behind Musquin.

After the drama of the first moto, it looked as though fans could be in store for another exciting Tomac/Musquin battle. Instead, this particular one proved to be more anticlimactic. Tomac quickly caught the Red Bull KTM rider and was able to pass him without too much difficulty. At this point, there were still more than 26 minutes left on the countdown clock.

It looked like a sixth straight overall win was in the bag for Tomac until he crashed shortly before the midway point of the race. When Tomac got back on the bike, Musquin was suddenly back on his tail and back in the hunt for the win. Once again, it looked like Tomac would be able to pull away and secure the win, but then Tomac crashed yet again. This time he was unable to get back on the bike before Musquin went by him. And so, with under 10 minutes left, Musquin inherited the lead.

Tomac was unable to mount a challenge, as there appeared to be an issue with his bike stemming from the crash. With the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider off the pace, Musquin was able to build a huge lead and cruise to the checkered flag for his third moto win of the season.

Although Musquin (2-1) and Tomac (1-2) tied in points for the day, Musquin was awarded the overall victory because of his better result in Moto 2. That brought an end to Tomac’s streak of five straight overall wins to open the season, but Tomac’s lead in the 450 Class championship standings will stay at 32 points.

Musquin was the second Frenchman to win big at Southwick today. About an hour earlier, his compatriot Dylan Ferrandis had won the 250MX overall.

Barcia (3-3) finished third overall for the day. Southwick marks the third straight round that Musquin, Tomac and Barcia have all been on the podium together (though the order has been different each time).

Blake Baggett (4-4), Ken Roczen (5-5), Benny Bloss (6-6) and Lorenzo Locurcio (7-7) all posted identical finishes in Moto 1 and Moto 2 to fill out the rest of the top seven, while Cooper Webb (8-9) took eighth overall in his first race of the season.

450 Moto 2 Results
1. Marvin Musquin
2. Eli Tomac
3. Justin Barcia
4. Blake Baggett
5. Ken Roczen
6. Benny Bloss
7. Lorenzo Locurcio
8. Phil Nicoletti
9. Cooper Webb
10. Brandan Leith
11. Weston Peick
12. Joey Crown
13. Kyle Cunningham
14. Nick Gaines
15. Chris Canning
16. Cody Cooper
17. Cade Autenrieth
18. Dare DeMartile
19. Jeremy Smith
20. Justin Bogle
Full Results

MOTO 2 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: TOMAC TAKES LEAD FROM MUSQUIN EARLY IN THE RACE

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: TOMAC’S FIRST CRASH

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: TOMAC’S SECOND CRASH

450 OVERALL RESULTS

1. Marvin Musquin (2-1)
2. Eli Tomac (1-2)
3. Justin Barcia (3-3)
4. Blake Baggett (4-4)
5. Ken Roczen (5-5)
6. Benny Bloss (6-6)
7. Lorenzo Locurcio (7-7)
8. Cooper Webb (8-9)
9. Phil Nicoletti (10-8)
10. Weston Peick (9-11)
11. Brandan Leith (16-10)
12. Chris Canning (11-15)
13. Joey Crown (29-12)
14. Henry Miller (12-34)
15. Kyle Cunningham (39-13)
16. Jake Masterpool (13-39)
17. Nick Gaines (23-14)
18. Dylan Merriam (14-23)
19. Heath Harrison (15-DNS)
20. Cody Cooper (38-16)
…
23. Justin Bogle (18-20)
40. Justin Hill (21-DNS)

450 POINT STANDINGS

1. Eli Tomac, 289
2. Marvin Musquin, 257
3. Justin Barcia, 224
4. Ken Roczen, 201
5. Blake Baggett, 200
6. Weston Peick, 170
7. Benny Bloss, 156
8. Phil Nicoletti, 142
9. Cody Cooper, 85
10. Jason Anderson, 73

(Story and photos from ProMotocross.com)