A day at the races - Unadilla NY AMA National Motocross.

Pizza party at Pro circuit – FINALLY!

Race report from Unadilla National New Berlin NY

There is a tradition at Pro Circuit Racing that if the team wins on the weekend then Mitch treats everyone back at the Corona Headquarters to a pizza party for lunch on Monday. There was a time a few years back when the local pizza shop owner must have been killing it and able to finance a new BMW off the guys at Pro Circuit, as it used to be routine for their riders to fill the podium. However the last few years have been lean for the crew at Pro Circuit as injuries and increased competition from the other teams have translated for very few wins in the last few years. There was even a rumor that the pizza shop owner even called Mitch to see if he was still in business! For 2015 the Pro Circuit team was win less, however that all changed at Unadilla New York.

Unadilla is one of the most iconic motocross tracks in the world. It has been home to the old Trans AMA series where the best Europeans raced the upstart American’s in the sports infancy here in the US. Then there were years of the New Berlin facility hosting the US round of the 250cc World MX GP, and the 1987 MX des Nations. It is a naturally beautiful track laid out in rural Up State New York. I was luckily enough that the planets aligned and I was able to attend the Unadilla US National this year.

Now there is a definite difference in the race fans that attend outdoor nationals compared to those that frequent supercross. Equally as stark is the difference between the fans from the West Coast to the ones on the East Coast. Having attended both Glen Helen and Unadilla this year I have a unique perspective to compare the fans that attend these events. The East Coast fans are FAR more passionate about motocross. At Unadilla they have some of the rowdiest and most intense fans in the whole country. However, it has been tamed down since the glory days when riot police were required to keep the fans subdued. There are many old stories and legends from the old days of cars and RV’s being set on fire and the wild pre-race parties. Nowadays it is pretty much limited to some wild drinking and the chant of “Una-F’n-Dilla” that rings out around the hills.

As interesting as crowd watching is the racing is where the real action lies. Unfortunately over the years the Unadilla circuit has been “enhanced” as the MX Sports crew try to spin it, but to me the traditional character of the circuit has been lost. Many of the off chamber corners have disappeared, and even the old staircase section has been turned into a massive step up double. Also the famous gravity cavity now features a jump in and is more lipped up on the exit to provide more air time. I personally preferred the old unenhanced version of Unadilla, if I wanted to see monster jumps and perfectly lipped jump faces I would go to a supercross race. Also I feel that the original version of Unadilla allowed more line choice, and played into the favor of those who have creative line choices such as Pourcel and Musquin. Regardless Undilla is still an iconic stop on the US National Motocross tour.

While most have seen the racing on TV or the interweb, seeing these events live offers a different perspective. Such as during the second 450 moto when Dungey and Roczen were literally and more importantly – visually over half a track in front of Christophe Pourcel in 3^rd , who was well in front of Barcia who was in 4^th. The visual aspect was shocking at just how fast Dungey and Roczen were racing, and how average everyone else looked.

The first 450 moto was largely processional after the second corner pile up that involved Roczen and Pourcel. The surprises of that moto for me were Bogle, how fast he was on the big 450 (Bogle is only a little lightweight guy) and how hard he threw out the anchor once he ran out of steam. Another throwing out the anchor was Dean Wilson, which is understandable since he has been out for a considerable time with injury. Guys moving in the opposite direction were Shaun Simpson, who was enjoying a US vacation, since the MX GP guys had the weekend off, and a Factory KTM450 to secure 4^th overall. Blake Baggett went from virtually last to 13^th, and was continually working past riders. Another moving forward was Ken Roczen who after the big crash on the opening lap looked like he may pull off, and I wouldn’t have blamed him as he was over half a lap behind the next guy.

The 450 class is looking like a formality that Ryan Dungey will win another outdoor title. Second and third look fairly solid too, with Barcia second and reigning champ Ken Roczen in third. After that there are a gaggle of riders fighting for the minor places for the year.

As set as the 450 points race appears, the 250 title chase is coming down to 2 opponents. At the start of the day Jeremy Martin had a 4 point advantage over Marvin Musquin. At the end of the day at Unadilla that advantage was only 2 points! However, the riders in this class at times appear very evenly matched, and several riders are close to the same pace as the title protagonists’. In qualifying Marvin set a blistering time, and looked fluid, relaxed and fast. While Jeremy Martin was his usual hammer down style that is reminiscent of Ricky Carmichael.

 
In the first moto the Pro Circuit pair of Savatgy and Alldredge jumped out to an early lead. Marvin was right there with them and I expected him to make short work   of the PC guys while J-Mart was further back. As they emerged from the back section Marvin was no longer with the lead group, as it seemed he had a slight bobble in a corner. Now Martin was in front of Musquin and as Marvin was catching Jeremy, in a corner right near us Martin looked back and took a long look at Musquin. I thought either Martin is in trouble and already looking back, or he was being cheeky. It turned out Jeremy dropped the hammer and sliced through the riders that were in front of him finally catching Savatchy a couple of laps from the end. While Marvin worked forward also it was at a lesser pace and finished 4^th for the moto, Martin’s lead grew.

The second moto started much the same as the 1^st, except Martin was buried deeper in the pack. However Marvin still had a Yamaha on his tail, this time Cooper Webb. Helped by others misfortunes in the form of crashes Marvin and Webb advanced up the leader board and finally found a way around early leader Savatgy. If the results stayed that way Marvin would have actually taken the overall win. However Cooper Webb tried to jump an impossible double on the second last lap and came up way short on the landing and took a hefty, painful looking crash. Thus allowing Savatgy back into second and securing the first overall win for Mitch Payton and the Pro Circuit crew this season. Thus triggering the Pizza party on Monday for all the staff back in Corona.

The 250 title fight is shaping up to be one for the ages. Even though the riders results and points are very evenly matched we habe yet to see a real head to head duel between Jeremy Martin and Marvin Musquin. There are 4 moto’s left and hopefully we will see a toe to toe duel for the title. Although there are plenty who would like to play spoiler. The next four moto’s of this class are not to be missed.

** Also of note one 125cc KTM 2 stroke qualified for the 250 National. Also 3 or 4 250cc 2 strokes attempted to qualify for the 450’s although none were successful.

 

UNADILLA RESULTS: 450 CLASS
1. Ryan Dungey (KTM)…1-1
2. Justin Barcia (Yam)…2-3
8. Trey Canard (Hon)…3-6
4. Shaun Simpson (KTM)…4-8
5. Ken Roczen (Suz)…16-2
6. Broc Tickle (Suz)…6-9
7. Weston Peick (Yam)…12-5
8. Blake Baggett (Suz)…13-7
9. Josh Grant (Kaw)…9-11
10. Dean Wilson (KTM)…11-10

UNADILLA RESULTS: 250 CLASS
1. Joey Savatgy (Kaw)…2-2
2. Marvin Musquin (KTM)…4-1
3. Jeremy Martin (Yam)…1-5
4. Jessy Nelson (KTM)…6-5
5. Alex Martin (Yam)…8-6
6. Shane McElrath (KTM)…7-8
7. Christian Craig (Hon)…5-10
8. Aaron Plessinger (Yam)…16-3
9. Matt Biscelgia (Hon)…12-9
10. R. J. Hampshire (Hon)…15-7

2015 AMA 450 NATIONAL POINTS STANDING
(After 10 of 12 races)
1. Ryan Dungey…450
2. Justin Barcia…371
3. Ken Roczen…358
4. Blake Baggett…297
5. Christophe Pourcel…267
6. Jason Anderson…263
7. Broc Tickle…253
9. Weston Peick…223
8. Phil Nicoletti…209
10. Fredrik Noren…206

2015 AMA 250 NATIONAL POINTS STANDING
(After 10 of 12 races)
1. Jeremy Martin…416
2. Marvin Musquin…414
3. Joey Savatgy…284
4. Zach Osborne…277
5. Jessy Nelson…266
6. Alex Martin…261
7. Aaron Plessinger…228
8. Shane McElrath…208
9. Matt Biscelgia…195
10. R.J. Hampshire…189