2021 BUDDS CREEK NATIONAL PRE-RACE REPORT: INJURY LIST HAS GROWN & SECOND MOTOS DELAYED

The 2021 Pro Motocross season has four more races left and round 9, the 2021 Budds Creek National, is set to go this Saturday, August 21st, in Mechanicsville, Maryland. Just thirty minutes away from Washington D.C., the Budds Creek track is known for it’s loamy soil and fun track layout. With the Covid-19 restricted schedule in 2020, the Budds Creek National was missed last year. In 2019, it was Eli Tomac who went 1-1 in the 450 class and Shane McElrath who went 1-1 in the 250 class back when he was riding for the Troy Lee Designs Red Bull KTM team. Coming into this Saturday’s race, it’s the Honda boys, Ken Roczen and Jett Lawrence who have the momentum coming in after their wins last Saturday at the Unadilla National.

2021 BUDDS CREEK NATIONAL | FULL COVERAGE

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2021 BUDDS CREEK NATIONAL TV SCHEDULE

The second motos will not be LIVE on TV this Saturday.

The first motos from the 2021 Budds Creek National will be shown LIVE on MAVTV and on NBC’s online streaming service Peacock Premium. Sadly, the second motos will not be LIVE on NBC Sports as usual, they will be shown eight hours later on the NBCSN network. Then, the second 450 moto will have an encore showing on the premier NBC channel on Sunday, August 22nd, at 1:00 PM pacific time. If you’d like to watch both motos live, you’ll need the Peacock Premium subscription streaming service.

HONDA BOYS HAVE THE MOMENTUM 

Ken Roczen’s 1-1 performance at Unadilla was dominant, but he still trails Dylan Ferrandis by 39-points. 

Jett Lawrence went 2-1 at Unadilla to get his first overall win since the season opener at Fox Raceway. He’s now only four points behind Justin Cooper in the title chase.

YAMAHA BOYS HAVE THE RED PLATES

It looks like Dylan Ferrandis will have the red plates for a while longer. He leads the 450 Championship by 39-points over Ken Roczen and 63-points over Eli Tomac.

Justin Cooper has the pressure on now. With his 1-4 moto scores at Unadilla, his points gap shrunk considerably.

INJURED LIST:

JUSTIN BARCIA | CONCUSSION

Justin Barcia, Round 6 winner, crashed last week during a routine practice session. His doctor advised taking this week off before being re-assessed for future races. No word from GasGas on the extent of his injuries

ALEX MARTIN | WRIST

Alex Martin posted via instagram: “Whelp, it’s been that kind of year. Had a small crash at Unadilla in the 2nd moto last weekend and reinjured the wrist I hurt in Supercross. I’ve been working very hard to come back from numerous injury’s this year, but the reality is I’ve missed a lot of seat time and have been more focused on rehab and physical therapy this summer than actual training and riding. It’s a tough decision as I want to be at the races doing what I love and representing my sponsors, but at this point I’ve decided to be done racing for the summer and let all of my injuries heal properly. Thanks to everyone that supported us this year!”

MICHAEL MOSIMAN | CONCUSSION 

COLT NICHOLS | INJURED SHOULDER

Colt Nichols will also miss Budds Creek. He posted via instagram: “UPDATE — I gave riding another shot this week. but my shoulder just simply is not where it needs to be yet for Budds Creek. As soon as the strength is back to be competitive I’ll be back out there, hopefully sooner than later”

ADAM CIANCIARULO | INJURED ARM

Adam Cianciarulo has struggled with a nerve issue in his arm. Originally he planned to get it fixed when the 2021 Pro Motocross season was over, but after Spring Creek, he decided to go under the knife to get it fixed and he will miss the remainder of the season. 

ZACH OSBORNE | INJURED BACK

Zach Osborne re-aggravated the back injury he sustained while training during the Supercross season at the Thunder Valley National and he is out for the summer. 

JASON ANDERSON | BROKEN HAND

A bad get-off in practice resulted in a broken hand for Anderson. It is uncertain when or if Jason will be back.

PHIL NICOLETTI | KNEE SURGERY

Phil Nicoletti recently had a full ACL reconstruction in his knee. He is out for the season. 

CAMERON MCADOO | FRACTURED TIBIA

Cameron McAdoo was decommissioned after a very unfortunate crash during the second moto at Fox Raceway, fracturing the top of his tibia and pulling his ACL. Cameron has already had surgery and begun the healing and therapy process. He’s out for the season. 

450 POINT STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 8 OF 12

Dylan Ferrandis was consistent at Unadilla and maintained a healthy 39-point lead. 

Ken Roczen was incredibly quick at Unadilla winning both motos while Dylan Ferrandis on the other hand finished in second and third. What is interesting though, is that Dylan wasn’t very close to the leaders in both motos at all, finishing half a minute behind Ken Roczen in the second moto. We expect the results would have been a little bit different had both Chase Sexton and Aaron Plessinger stayed on two wheels during the first moto.

POS.	#	NAME	Total Points
1	14	Dylan Ferrandis	345
2	94	Ken Roczen	306
3	3	Eli Tomac	283
4	23	Chase Sexton	270
5	51	Justin Barcia	239
6	7	Aaron Plessinger	217
7	25	Marvin Musquin	213
8	29	Christian Craig	211
9	2	Cooper Webb	209
10	17	Joseph Savatgy	160

250 POINT STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 8 OF 12

Justin Cooper remains in the points lead after getting second overall at Unadilla. 

Similar to Dylan Ferrandis, Justin Cooper had a healthy points lead heading into round 8, which meant that even though the two wouldn’t get the overall, an HRC Honda rider would slowly close the gap in the points chase. However, in the 250 class, Jett Lawrence had put on quite the performance finishing almost a full minute ahead of the points contender. Now, there are only four points separating the Honda and Yamaha 250 riders.

POS.	#	NAME	Total Points
1	32	Justin Cooper	324
2	18	Jett Lawrence	320
3	41	Hunter Lawrence	263
4	6	Jeremy Martin	262
5	24	RJ Hampshire	243
6	30	Jo Shimoda	192
7	47	Jalek Swoll	173
8	64	Colt Nichols	172
9	42	Michael Mosiman	154
10	38	Austin Forkner	152

2021 BUDDS CREEK NATIONAL | FULL COVERAGE