Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin overcame a disappointing showing in the first 250 Class moto at Budds Creek to claim the overall victory thanks to a win in the second moto.
The first moto featured a battle of the Martins, with Alex prevailing over his brother Jeremy. Alex took over the lead after RJ Hampshire went down on Lap 2 and was sitting in the driver’s seat for his first career moto win, but Jeremy put on a hard charge in the final laps after overtaking Zach Osborne for second. Jeremy reduced the gap down to nothing and raced his brother side-by-side for the lead, taking away the top spot with three laps to go.
Alex appeared destined for a second-place finish, but then Jeremy’s bike stalled while rounding a corner on the final lap, and just like that, Alex was back in the lead and took the checkered flag for his first career win. Jeremy recovered to finish in second, and Osborne rounded out the podium.
Musquin did not get a great start in the first moto, crossing the line in eigth after the opening lap. He later got tangled up with his training partner, Adam Cianciarulo, and dropped outside the top ten. Musquin rebounded a bit to finish the moto in seventh, but the result put him into a tie with Jeremy Martin for the points lead heading into the second moto.
As a heavier rain began to fall in the second moto, Musquin got off to a much better start, putting himself second behind Cianciarulo, who captured the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award. Cianciarulo held the Frenchman off for the first four laps of the race, but once Musquin got around him on Lap 5, he was gone. While Musquin did his part in grabbing the moto win, the battle for the overall victory would play out behind him.
After giving up the lead, Cianciarulo ended up in a battle with Jeremy Martin for second place. Had Martin stayed in the top three, he would have won the overall, but he lost several spots late in the race, falling back to sixth and putting him into yet another battle with brother Alex.
Alex, who was running in seventh, closed the gap to within two seconds by the end of the race but was unable to mount a challenge. Had Alex been able to pass Jeremy, he would have earned the first overall victory of his career. Instead, Alex ended up in a tie with Musquin for the overall, with the Red Bull KTM rider getting the nod due to a higher finish in the second moto. Musquin (7-1) officially ended up first overall, while Alex (1-7) was second.
Joey Savatgy (4-3) secured a spot on the overall podium as well, narrowly edging out Jeremy Martin (2-6) and Zach Osborne (3-5) for third place.
The win ensures that Musquin will hold onto the red plate for another week, as he stretched his points lead out to ten points over Jeremy Martin.
250 CLASS OVERALL RESULTS
1. Marvin Musquin (7-1)
2. Alex Martin (1-7)
3. Joey Savatgy (4-3)
4. Jeremy Martin (2-6)
5. Zach Osborne (3-5)
6. Adam Cianciarulo (8-2)
7. Christian Craig (5-10)
8. Cooper Webb (6-14)
9. Matt Bisceglia (21-4)
10. Jessy Nelson (12-12)
11. Jordon Smith (17-8)
12. Nick Gaines (13-16)
13. Shane McElrath (22-9)
14. Chris Alldredge (9-21)
15. Daniel Baker (14-17)
16. Justin Starling (11-20)
17. Mitchell Oldenburg (10-22)
18. Aaron Plessinger (40-11)
19. Kyle Peters (20-13)
20. RJ Hampshire (15-19)
