Round 10 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship is underway at Unadilla. Check back here throughout the day for recaps and highlights from the 250 Class.

QUALIFYING

In a continuation of what we saw in the final 450 practice session, the track slowed down even more as the 250 riders headed out for their final session. The culprit: rainy conditions that threaten to turn today’s race into a mudder.

As a result, Joey Savatgy’s first-session lap time (2:11.556) held up as the fastest lap of the entire morning. The Star Yamaha crew was strong throughout the day as well — Dylan Ferrandis and Justin Cooper slotted in at Nos. 2 and 3 in the first session, then Ferrandis, Aaron Plessinger, Colt Nichols and Cooper were the top four riders in the second session. Incidentally, that second session looks closer to what the riders will deal with during the motos.

One rider who might not be hindered as much by the weather is Plessinger, who has a background in cross-country racing and has frequently done well in muddy conditions. He’s also closing in on the 250 Class championship, and although it’s not likely to happen today, a strong pair of motos would at least set him up to clinch next weekend.

250 Combined Qualifying Times
1. Joey Savatgy, 2:11.556
2. Dylan Ferrandis, 2:12.609
3. Justin Cooper, 2:12.861
4. Chase Sexton, 2:12.950
5. Shane McElrath, 2:13.924
6. Alex Martin, 2:14.112
7. Jordon Smith, 2:14.189
8. RJ Hampshire, 2:14.190
9. Colt Nichols, 2:14.252
10. Austin Forkner, 2:14.410
11. Michael Mosiman, 2:14.452
12. Aaron Plessinger, 2:14.986
13. Mitchell Harrison, 2:15.728
14. Cameron McAdoo, 2:16.961
15. Jordan Bailey, 2:17.402
16. Sean Cantrell, 2:17.531
17. Martin Castelo, 2:17.724
18. Gage Schehr, 2:18.817
19. Enzo Lopes, 2:18.831
20. Dakota Alix, 2:18.875
Full Results

MOTO 1

After a full-on mudder in the first 450 Class moto, the rain died out in time for 250 Moto 1, but it was still a muddy track. Michael Mosiman, coming off solid results at the last two rounds, emerged with the holeshot and soon opened up a 10-second lead on Dylan Ferrandis, Mitchell Harrison and the rest of the field. Joey Savatgy was running near the front as well but went down hard and fell outside the top 10. Also crashing early in the race was Savatgy’s teammate, Austin Forkner, who has ended up on the ground a lot in recent weeks. That crash took Forkner outside the top 30.

Mosiman’s lead started to diminish over the next several laps. On Lap 5, Ferrandis had the lead cut down to under two seconds but before he could make a challenge, Mosiman crashed by himself on a jump. Ferrandis, Harrison and Aaron Plessinger all moved up a spot in the aftermath of the crash, and Mosiman fell back to fourth. Plessinger then passed Harrison to jump into second place behind Ferrandis.

The second half of the race started off as a battle of the Star Yamahas. Ferrandis had the lead but then his bike began smoking, which resulted in his team telling him to back off the clutch. He caught a break when Plessinger, who had been just a few seconds back, had a bad lap and lost a ton of time. That allowed Ferrandis to stretch it out to a 25-second lead, and even though he went off-track and into a fence at one point, he still maintained a huge lead over his teammate for the rest of the race.

With Ferrandis way out front, the only drama was whether anything would happen to his bike before the checkered flag. Fortunately for the Frenchman, it held up to give him his third moto win of the season. Ferrandis is now the only rider aside from Plessinger to win more than two motos in the 250 Class this season.

Plessinger finished second, allowing him to add to his championship lead over Alex Martin, who finished 10th. Rounding out the podium was Shane McElrath, who inherited third place late in the race thanks to a crash from Harrison. Harrison and Sexton rounded out the top five, and Mosiman matched his career-best result with a sixth-place finish.

Forkner was unable to score any points in the moto following his early crash. He finished 23rd, giving him one bad moto result for the fifth consecutive round. The good news for Forkner is that while one moto has been bad each week, he’s balanced it out with a top-two finish in the other moto each time.

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

MOTO 1 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: MOSIMAN TAKES EARLY LEAD

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: MOSIMAN CRASHES, LOSES LEAD

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: FERRANDIS CRASHES INTO FENCE, MAINTAINS LEAD

MOTO 2

Several riders, including Michael Mosiman, went down in the first turn while Cameron McAdoo took the holeshot ahead of Dylan Ferrandis and the rest of the field. As riders shuffled around, it ended up being McAdoo, Jordon Smith, Mitchell Harrison and Ferrandis in the top four spots. Under intense pressure from Harrison, Smith went down early and dropped out of contention.

McAdoo ended up leading the first four laps of the race before ultimately losing spots to Harrison, Ferrandis, Aaron Plessinger and Joey Savatgy. It was then Harrison’s turn to enjoy the lead for five laps until he came under fire from the Star Yamaha duo of Ferrandis and Plessinger. The three riders were bunched so tightly together that at one point, Ferrandis went from looking like he would take over the lead to falling back to third in the blink of an eye. The lead eventually changed hands when Harrison made contact with a lapped rider with under four minutes to go and fell. That enabled Plessinger to move into first and Ferrandis into second, but the battle for the lead was far from over. WIth just over two minutes left on the clock, Plessinger went wide while Ferrandis went inside, and Ferrandis emerged from the turn as the race’s fourth different leader.

Plessinger nearly caught a small break on the final lap when Ferrandis got held up by a lapped rider, but it proved inconsequential. Even with his number plate hanging off the front of his bike for much of the race, Ferrandis was able to ride to his second moto win of the day. His 1-1 sweep gave him the overall win for the second time this season, and Plessinger finished behind him with 2-2 results.

Savatgy scored a third-place finish in the moto, but the final spot on the overall podium went to Harrison (4-4). It’s the first overall podium of Harrison’s 250MX career.

Plessinger’s solid day was augmented by the struggles of his main championship rival Alex Martin (10-7, 7th overall). With two rounds to go, Plessinger now holds a 78-point lead over Martin, a deficit that will be nearly impossible to overcome as long as Plessinger stays healthy. That puts him in good shape to clinch the title next weekend at Budds Creek. Plessinger just needs to leave that round with a lead of at least 50 points.

Ferrandis’s big day vaulted him all the way from 10th to fifth in points — an impressive ranking considering he missed the first three rounds of the season due to injury. He now ranks second behind Plessinger in 250 Class moto wins (4) and overall wins (2) this season.

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

MOTO 2 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: HARRISON TAKES LEAD FROM MCADOO

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: HARRISON, FERRANDIS, PLESSINGER BATTLE FOR LEAD

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: FERRANDIS TAKES LEAD FROM PLESSINGER

250 OVERALL RESULTS

1. Dylan Ferrandis (1-1)
2. Aaron Plessinger (2-2)
3. Mitchell Harrison (4-4)
4. Joey Savatgy (8-3)
5. Chase Sexton (5-8)
6. Shane McElrath (3-14)
7. Alex Martin (10-7)
8. Colt Nichols (7-10)
9. Justin Cooper (12-6)
10. Michael Mosiman (6-13)
11. Cameron McAdoo (15-5)
12. RJ Hampshire (9-11)
13. Jordon Smith (11-12)
14. Austin Forkner (23-9)
15. Hayden Mellross (16-18)
16. James Weeks (13-34)
17. Enzo Lopes (14-40)
18. Ramyller Alves (36-15)
19. Dakota Alix (17-19)
20. Luke Renzland (41-16)

250 POINT STANDINGS

1. Aaron Plessinger, 415
2. Alex Martin, 337
3. Justin Cooper, 291
4. Shane McElrath, 278
5. Dylan Ferrandis, 254
6. RJ Hampshire, 252
7. Chase Sexton, 251
8. Austin Forkner, 250
9. Joey Savatgy, 247
10. Jordon Smith, 244

(Story from ProMotocross.com)