Riders battled on the hard clay at the Peterson CAT Washougal National and fought against unpredictable conditions on the water-logged track. With heavy rains falling the day prior, Round 9 of the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship proved to be fickle from start to finish.

Phil Nicoletti found the holeshot with Andrew Short on his tail for the first opening turns, but before the first lap was over Ken Roczen would do what he does best and make an early moto dash for the front. 

Coming into the Washougal whoops Roczen rode wide and blasted through to take the lead by the end of them. Then Christophe Pourcel came into the mix to overtake Short and find his groove riding well in second.

Ken Roczen made passes early in moto 1 to pull away from the pack. (Photo: Simon Cudby)

Slightly deeper was a battle between Eli Tomac and Benny Bloss. Bloss made an impressive pass as a rookie to Tomac, but Tomac would be quick to take the position back. Then, coming into the whoop section Tomac took an outside line to move beyond Bloss and move on toward Short.

All the while Marvin Musquin found his path to pass Bloss and Short by following along in Tomac’s tracks.

Back near the front, Pourcel was putting the moves on Nicoletti to take over second place, which seemed to cause Nicoletti to lose momentum as Tomac passed him for third and sure enough Musquin followed suit.

A few laps later Musquin looked to be setting up to put pressure on Tomac for a pass, but instead caught his front tire and slid his back out until he hit the ground. While Musquin dumped his bike in an attempt to make a move on Tomac, Pourcel found another gear and grew his gap from Tomac.

After riding most of the moto seemingly uncontested for second, Tomac found his way into the mix with only two minutes left before the 2 lap marker. Following a few closed doors to Tomac, Pourcel lost his lead to the relentless Tomac.

Then, with Tomac out ahead, Pourcel got bucked leaving the lip of a jump and held onto the bars to superman into the flats before suffering an ugly crash that removed him from the remainder of the race.

With only two laps left to go, the top three was devoid of Pourcel but the order would not be shaken further. Roczen would finish first with Tomac and Musquin rounding out the podium behind him.

Marvin Musquin came out firing for moto 2 and earned the holeshot. (Photo: Simon Cudby)

Firing out of the gates in moto 2, Musquin came into and out of the first corner in the lead to grab the holeshot with his teammate Dean Wilson as well as Tomac right behind him.

However, as we have seen all season, Roczen wasted no time to take a fair start and push through the pack and take the lead within the first few turns.

Tomac quickly found his way around Wilson and furthered his pursuit to put the pressure onto Musquin. Musquin was working to keep an eye on Tomac and nearly lost control a number of times, and ultimately gave way as Tomac took over second.

Tomac was looking solid as he pushed past Musquin, and the track showed signs of firm clay and bumpy lines as the weather had changed dramatically from the morning’s practice. These new track conditions showed promise for Tomac and his aggressive style.

Coming up on his tail, Roczen looked over his should to see Tomac closing in and appeared to let off of the throttle while Tomac took the lead. Not hesitating, Tomac opened up the throttle and accepted the lead and took off.

Wilson was back in fourth position at this point, but Justin Barcia, a.k.a. Bam Bam, was quickly coming up on him. Bam Bam closed in on Wilson and stayed true to his nickname as he came up hard and fast on Wilson to take away his fourth place position. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Weston Peick entered the frame and came flying up on Wilson to take fifth place for himself.

Wilson continued to fade into the pack while Short and Pourcel (recovered from his moto 1 crash) pushed their way into the fifth and sixth positions. Pourcel worked as he passed Wilson to find a line that would lead him around Short, as well. Pourcel continued to push and passed Short. Wilson, on the other hand, continued to fade all the way back to 10th, which gave way to Frederick Noren to take eighth and Bloss to earn ninth.

Looking back to the front, Tomac grew his lead over Roczen to more than a eight second lead. Speculating on what Roczen was dealing with, it was discovered in the pits that Tomac had switch to tinted goggles for the second moto while Roczen remained riding in clear goggles, but it was unclear how much that was truly affecting him.

Without any change in the front of the race, Tomac rode well to the finish for a 16-second lead, moto win and the overall on the day. Roczen claimed second on the moto and the day while Musquin cleaned up the podium with third on the moto and day.

450 CLASS RESULTS

1. Eli Tomac (2-1)
2. Ken Roczen (1-2)
3. Marvin Musquin (3-3)
4. Weston Peick (7-5)
5. Justin Barcia (10-4)
6. Andrew Short (6-7)
7. Benny Bloss (5-9)
8. Phil Nicoletti (4-11)
9. Dean Wilson (8-10)
10. Frederick Noren (15-8)

450 CLASS OVERALL POINTS

1. Ken Roczen, 434
2. Eli Tomac, -55
3. Marvin Musquin, -151
4. Justin Barcia, -190
5. Christophe Pourcel, -217
6. Broc Tickle, -263
7. Andrew Short, -279
8. Justin Brayton, -282
9. Cole Seely, -283
10. Benny Bloss, -283