Freestone 250 – Race Report

May/5/12

Can you say sweep? Every class finish for the first two rounds has been a 1-1 finish. And today’s sweeper in the 250 class was a very fast Eli Tomac. Round two of the Lucas Oil Motocross Championship showed us that we would not have just one guy dominate the 250 class, and there will be great battles all year long. The winner, however, showed that he was going to check out and say goodbye to the pack. Yes Tomac got redemption on this Texas track today.

Moto one started out with rookie Jessy Nelson out front with a hard charging Nicoletti in tow. Battling back and forth for the lead for some laps, Nelson would eventually drop back a few positions to 7th, and Nicoletti would have a bike problem leading to a DNF. Bummer for him, as he was riding awesome. Someone needs to go check out Blake Baggett’s mental stability while we are at it, because jumping 25+ feet in the air every lap into the twelve pack was honestly ridiculous. The fans went nuts watching him, and in (becoming) normal Blake Baggett fashion-he put on quite a charge in moto one up to second place. Roczen would round out the top 3.

The start of moto two would claim a whole pile up of riders, notables being Justin Barcia, Martin Davalos, Ivan Tedesco, and Kyle Peters, leaving them with their work cut out to make things happen. Wharton would find himself out front, with a hard charging Tomac and the two would battle until Tomac made the pass stick. A three way battle mid moto between Roczen, Baggett, and Anderson was heated up ending in Roczen tipping over in a corner, and Baggett getting the best of Anderson. He would eventually pass Wharton pushing him back to third to round out moto two’s podium. Barcia put on quite the charge from 18th to 8th, salvaging as many points he could. It would be the 17 of Tomac that would take the win on the day and show he is ready to battle for this championship.

How about Jessy Nelson getting his feet wet out front in moto one? Great riding out of the rookie today.

Photo: Austin White

Blake Wharton had great rides today going 6-3 for his efforts, and spent some time leading moto two.

Photo: Austin White

Justin Barcia had to claw through the pack today, and showed the proper way to scrub while he was at it.

Photo: Austin White

Jason Anderson was the guy with no number plate, but rode like a maniac to claim 22-7 scores on the day.

Photo: Austin White

Roczen seemed cautious perhaps not to burn his body up, as he is new to heat like the American races have. He rode smart, consistent, and fast all day landing him third overall and in the hunt for this championship.

Photo: Austin White

Wil Hahn had semi-quiet rides today with a lot of the mayhem happening behind or in front of him. He would finish 12-6 for 8th overall.

Photo: Austin White

This kid was on a rampage today (See: Wall Jump), but didn’t have anything for the number 17 of Tomac today.

Photo: Austin White

Eli Tomac goes 1-1 and finds himself back on top of the podium. Amazing riding out of Eli, showing that he has the speed and wants this title just as much as anyone else.

Photo: Austin White