It’ll be a strange sight this weekend: Eli Tomac’s Kawasaki running a standard white number plate.

Before RedBud, most of the talk about how crazy this season of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross has been centered on the 250 Class — and rightfully so. But it was the 450 Class that delivered arguably the summer’s biggest shock so far. In the blink of an eye, Tomac’s 32-point championship lead, which looked like a relatively safe margin at the start of the day, dissipated completely.

It was a bike issue that doomed Tomac in the first moto — he had a comfortable lead with three laps to go until a mechanical issue forced him to pull off the track — and though the bad gate pick that resulted from that DNF played a role, it was also a mistake of his own doing that contributed to his misfortunes in the second moto. (Tomac overcame a poor start to work his way up to sixth place but then he crashed and lost six positions when he had to pull into the pits to get the bike straightened out. He finished ninth in the moto and 15th overall for the day.)

Meanwhile his primary rival, Marvin Musquin, capitalized by winning the second moto. That gave Musquin his second straight overall win and moved him into the championship lead by a mere three points (the difference between a first and a second-place moto finish).

A sight that was difficult to imagine before the start of the day at RedBud. (Photo: Rich Shepherd)

So for the first time this season, Tomac won’t be running the red number plate on his bike. Instead it will be Musquin’s KTM sporting the mark of the points leader.

Tomac started the season hot with six straight moto wins, but in the rounds since then, Musquin leads all 450 Class riders with four moto wins. Tomac has three moto wins in that timeframe, and Ken Roczen has one of his own. No other rider has won a moto yet this season.

This once looked like a possible runaway title defense for Tomac, but it’s now shaping up to be an exciting showdown over the final five rounds. Here’s a look at the stats for both riders so far this summer:

	Musquin	Tomac
Points	304	301
Moto Wins	4	9
Overall Wins	2	5
Moto Podiums	11	12
Overall Podiums	6	6
Avg. Starting Position	5.9	5.3
Laps Led	60	102
Worst Finish	5th	36th
DNFs	0	1

With the benefit of a week off after RedBud, it’s time to see who has made the right adjustments and who will leave Millville with the advantage.

RedBud marked the first round of the season that Tomac did not win at least one moto. (Photo: Jeff Kardas)

OTHER STORIES TO WATCH

Getting on the board
As mentioned above, Ken Roczen is the only rider other than Tomac or Musquin to win a 450 moto so far this season. He finally got the W at RedBud — his first victory since August 2016 — thanks in part to Tomac’s bike issues. He and Justin Barcia will once again try to break the Tomac/Musquin stranglehold and win motos at Spring Creek.

Bloss turning heads
It was the tale of two motos for Benny Bloss at RedBud. He was one of the biggest beneficiaries of Tomac’s mechanical problems in Moto 1, as that allowed him to inherit third place and score the first podium finish of his career. He was working on another solid result in Moto 2 but ended up 23rd after crashing mid-race. Bloss does not yet have a contract in place for 2019, so these remaining rounds will serve as somewhat of an audition for him.

Protecting the points lead
Aaron Plessinger has swept three of the first seven rounds of the season. He’s hard to beat when he’s on point and he has now built up a 35-point lead over Alex Martin in the 250 Class standings. As we saw with Eli Tomac two weeks ago, that sort of lead is never truly safe, but if he can build on that lead at Spring Creek, he’ll be in a good spot with just four rounds left to go.

Alex Martin has finished on the podium in 8 of 14 motos this season. (Photo: Rich Shepherd)

Home track advantage
If Alex Martin is going to make a run at the championship, this would be a good week to tilt the scales in his favor. Spring Creek is, of course, the track his parents own, and with Jeremy out for the season, Alex will be the lone Martin brother racing in Millville this year. He’s still looking for his first win of the season, and you know the fans will go crazy if he gets it this weekend.

Staying hot
In the four rounds since Dylan Ferrandis returned from injury, only Plessinger has scored more points than him. The Frenchman hasn’t finished worse than fourth in any of his last five motos.

Looking for better luck
It’s been a couple of rough weeks for Austin Forkner. He collided with Alex Martin while leading Moto 2 at Southwick, then collided with Aaron Plessinger while leading Moto 1 at RedBud. His recent moto finishes (1-20, 35-2) look inconsistent on paper, but he easily could have finished top two in all four of those motos. He’s still looking for his first overall win since August 2016 — will this be the week that it all comes together?

On the rise
RJ Hampshire has been flying under the radar a bit, but take a look at his recent moto results: 4-19, 7-3, 2-40. It hasn’t been the most consistent riding, but he’s been up near the front of at least one moto at each of the past three rounds. He quietly had some solid results in the second half of the 2017 season as well and could be one of the next riders to break through (à la Shane McElrath).

Plessinger leads the 250 Class with six moto wins. (Photo: Jeff Kardas)

THE INJURY LIST

A look at some of the notable riders who have picked up new injuries or are nearing a return to action.

Enzo Lopes (250MX): After missing the last three rounds with a cracked collarbone, JGR’s rookie rider is set to return at Spring Creek.

Brandon Hartranft (250MX): The CycleTrader/Rock River Yamaha rookie recently announced that he’ll miss the rest of the season after opting to undergo surgery on the shoulder he injured a few weeks ago.

LINKS FOUR ROUND 7

How to watch
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(Story and photos from ProMotocross.com)