2019 HIGH POINT NATIONAL MX PREVIEW
After a weekend off, racing picks back up this weekend in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania for round four of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. At the last round in Colorado two weeks ago, we saw Eli Tomac suffer from issues in the first moto which ultimately handed the red plate back over to Ken Roczen for the second time this year. Adam Cianciarulo took his third 250 class overall win of the year, coming with a little bit of controversy and again leaving Justin Cooper just short of claiming his first career overall win. We also saw some fresh faces jump into the mix, such as Zach Osborne in the 450 class and Michael Mosiman in the 250 class, in hopes of battling for the outdoor championships. So far this season we have already seen some of the best racing in years, and after that quick break to allow riders to reenergize for the rest of the season, round four should be no different. (For extended coverage of the 2019 High Point National MX, click here.)
250 Class
At this point in the series, there is no doubt who the front runners of this 250 championship are going to be. Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo has taken half of the moto wins so far and with them, all of the overall wins as well. Star Racing/Yamaha’s Justin Cooper has taken the other half of those moto wins, but has always seemed to find himself barely off the top step of the podium. The debacle that came from Adam Cianciarulo going off course in Colorado shed some light on Cooper’s first win for a second, but again the Yamaha rider’s hopes were cut off when the overall went to Cianciarulo. Coming into the fourth round of this championship, Adam Cianciarulo will look to maintain his points lead and continue his winning ways, but there’s no doubt that Justin Cooper will be looking for a little bit redemption after three weekends of coming so close to that first victory.
Rockstar Energy/Husqvarna rider Michael Mosiman jumped into the mix at the front of the pack back at round three, landing a third in moto two and taking home third overall for the day, his first overall podium of his career. The California native sits 54 points down in the championship standings now, but with his continued progression and the speed he has shown this year, we could see him close a bit of that gap this weekend.
Star Racing/Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis has kind of flown under the radar so far in this outdoor championship, continually running third in the championship without having any majorly outstanding rides, but also not having any sort of devastating issues dropping him out of the championship chase. The French rider comes into round four 33 points down out of the points lead, but his consistency could lead to him making up some of those points this weekend.
The Troy Lee Designs/KTM team will be looking a bit different this weekend, as many of their riders are out with injuries. Jordon Smith has been dealing with a nagging wrist injury that he will undergo surgery next week to fix which will leave him out until further notice. Shane McElrath suffered a crash earlier this week while practicing, but will hopefully be ready to go by round five in Florida next weekend. Sean Cantrell and Mitchell Falk are both back to riding after injuries of their own, but will no be lining up this weekend. That leaves Derek Drake as the only remaining original TLD rider. Fortunately for him, he will not be under the tent alone this weekend, as the team has extended Wilson Todd’s fill-in position another weekend. They’ve also picked up Cameron McAdoo to fill-in for at least the next four rounds of the outdoors.
Here are the current 250 class points standings:
1 Adam Cianciarulo 139
2 Justin Cooper 133
3 Dylan Ferrandis 106
4 Chase Sexton 94
5 Colt Nichols 94
6 Michael Mosiman 85
7 R.J. Hampshire 77
8 Alex Martin 69
9 Hunter Lawrence 66
10 Garrett Marchbanks 63
11 Shane McElrath 61
12 Ty Masterpool 49
13 Christian Craig 48
14 Jordon Smith 38
15 Derek Drake 36
16 Wilson Todd 36
17 Martin Davalos 32
18 Jacob Hayes 25
19 Brandon Hartranft 20
20 Kyle Peters 15
21 Jordan Bailey 13
22 Thomas Covington 10
23 Killian Auberson 6
24 Martin Castelo 4
25 Jerry Robin 4
26 Challen Tennant 2
27 Benjamin Nelko 1
450 Class
The 450 class has kept the racing interesting all year so far. Monster Energy/Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac came into the season as the reigning, back-to-back champion as well as carrying the red-plate with him, but at round one we saw him quickly lose it to rival Ken Roczen. Kenny has two outdoor championships of his own, but injuries in recent years have kept him away from continuing his success. Round one gave us a good look back at the Ken Roczen we are used to seeing. Round two had the championship lead flip back over to Tomac, after dominating the day with 1-1 moto scores. Thunder Valley showed us that Ken Roczen winning the first round was no fluke, as he again claimed the day’s overall victory and the red plate back from Eli, keeping the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship interesting. Round four this weekend will hopefully bring the same kind of excitement.
Rockstar Energy/Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne scored his first career 450 class podium at round three in Colorado two weeks ago, showing a bit of the speed we have been used to seeing from him back in the 250 class. The “rookie” has put in his fair share of good rides so far this year and has put him third in the championship hunt, 26 points behind points leader Ken Roczen.
HRC/Honda’s Cole Seely had a practice mishap during the break, dislocating his shoulder and will be undergoing surgery to have it fixed. This will leave him out for the remainder of the outdoor season.
While JGR/Suzuki’s Justin Hill is out with an injured shoulder sustained while training over the weekend off, Kyle Chisholm will fill-in on a week-to-week basis. The 31 year-old will be lining up at the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship for the first time this year.
Here are the current 450 class points standings:
1 Ken Roczen 136
2 Eli Tomac 134
3 Zach Osborne 110
4 Marvin Musquin 107
5 Jason Anderson 106
6 Cooper Webb 98
7 Justin Barcia 77
8 Dean Ferris 69
9 Justin Bogle 63
10 Blake Baggett 61
11 Cole Seely 59
12 Justin Hill 51
14 Todd Waters 46
13 Fredrik Noren 46
15 Jake Masterpool 31
16 Ben LaMay 27
17 Dylan Merriam 18
18 Lorenzo Locurcio 16
19 Tyler Bowers 14
20 Toshiki Tomita 13
21 Taiki Koga 11
22 Henry Miller 11
23 Cody Cooper 6
24 John Short 5
25 Erki Kahro 5
26 Mathias Jorgensen 3
27 Dare DeMartile 2
28 Brandan Leith 1
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