With his victory in the second 250 Class moto at High Point, not only did Blake Baggett sweep this round, he also picked up ten more points on Jeremy Martin, keeping him firmly in the championship hunt despite Martin’s early-season domination.
It was another race that exemplified the type of performance you might normally expect from Baggett. After a decent (but not great) start, the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider would have to come from outside the top-five. He picked off riders one-by-one, eventually catching Jason Anderson within the first five minutes of the race to take over second, then running down Christophe Pourcel – who had gained the lead by virtue of winning his second MotoSport.com Holeshot of the day.
About eleven minutes into the race, Baggett went to the outside of Pourcel and tripled one of the jumps, getting him around the Frenchman for good. Baggett checked out from there, winning by more than 16 seconds. It marked his third straight moto win, as well as his second consecutive overall win.
While Baggett was consistent throughout both motos, no other riders were able to secure podium spots in both motos – helping Baggett gain a huge chunk of points not only on Martin, but also the rest of the field.
Behind Baggett, Jason Anderson had his best moto finish this year after getting around Pourcel for second place. Pourcel was able to hold off Justin Bogle to maintain the final spot on the podium for Moto 2.
Justin Hill rounded out the top-five after successfully fending off Martin. Martin actually crashed trying to chase down Hill at one point, a mistake that contributed to his sixth-place finish.
After two dominant rounds to start the season, Martin has seen his momentum slowed down a ton. He’s trying to stay focused on the future, rather than remaining fixated on today’s results. “I know I’m gonna improve, I know I’m gonna get better [during the two-week break],” Martin said as he prepares to put in some major work before Muddy Creek. “The two races are in the past, so it’s time to move forward.”
Because of the parity within the class today, Martin ultimately emerged in second-place overall despite the crash. He also increased his championship lead over teammate Cooper Webb to 29 points.
Jason Anderson’s 7-2 moto scores were enough to land him third overall on the day.
High Point 250 Moto 2 Results
1. Blake Baggett
2. Jason Anderson (-16.0 seconds)
3. Christophe Pourcel
4. Justin Bogle
5. Justin Hill
6. Jeremy Martin
7. Cooper Webb
8. Marvin Musquin
9. Cole Seely
10. Alex Martin
11. Kyle Cunningham
12. Zach Bell
13. Joey Savatgy
14. Matt Lemoine
15. Jessy Nelson
16. Kyle Peters
17. Dakota Alix
18. Zack Williams
19. Mitchell Oldenburg
20. Jacob Baumert
High Point 250 Class Overall Results
1.
Blake Baggett (1-1)
2. Jeremy Martin (2-6)
3. Jason Anderson (7-2)
4. Justin Bogle (4-4)
5. Christophe Pourcel (6-3)
6. Cooper Webb (3-7)
7. Marvin Musquin (5-8)
8. Justin Hill (9-5)
9. Cole Seely (8-9)
10. Alex Martin (10-10)
Updated 250 Class Point Standings
1.
Jeremy Martin, 177
2. Cooper Webb, 148
3. Blake Baggett, 141
4. Christophe Pourcel, 128
5. Justin Bogle, 126
6. Jason Anderson, 117
7. Marvin Musquin, 111
8. Justin Hill, 93
9. Jessy Nelson, 91
10. Cole Seely, 87
