Pro Motocross: Roczen, Martin begin title defenses today at Hangtown

By May 16, 2015, 4:35 PM EDT
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With a long and grueling supercross season in the books, it’s time for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship to take center stage today. Coverage of all four motos will air from 5-7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Live Extra, and NBCSN will also televise the second motos live at 7 p.m. ET.

Today’s race at Hangtown will be the first of 12 rounds throughout the summer that will decide champions in two separate classes, but both of last year’s title winners will be faced with tough challenges along the way.

For Ken Roczen, the path to defending last year’s 450 Class title is already getting off to a rough start. The RCH Suzuki rider is currently battling injury – he hurt his ankle during the supercross season and is reportedly dealing with a back issue now as well – and if his practice times this morning are any indication, he does not seem to be 100% today.

As of now, Roczen is still expected to line up for today’s races, but should he struggle, Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey and GEICO Honda’s Eli Tomac would stand to be benefit. Dungey already has two 450MX championships under his belt, and Tomac was the fastest qualifier this morning – more than three seconds better than the rest of the field. Both riders are expected to be title contenders this year, so Roczen can ill-afford a slow start to the season.

In the 250 Class, Jeremy Martin will embark on a title defense of his own after last year’s breakout campaign. His toughest competition though may come from his own Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha teammate, Cooper Webb, who recently dominated the 250 west region during the supercross season.

Martin and Webb both pit under the same rig, so all Webb has to do is look a few feet to his side to see Martin’s bike featuring the red #1 plate of a champion, something which gives Webb a constant reminder of his goal for the year – to earn a title of his own.

“It gives me motivation for sure,” Webb said. “Especially for me after winning the supercross championship and getting third in the series last year. To get beaten by Jeremy, I get a little motivated. It’s extra motivation to steal that plate off of the #1 and put it on the 17.”

Live coverage of the season-opening round begins at 5 p.m. ET with first motos in both classes. The 250 Class will take the track first, followed by the 450 Class. Second motos in both classes will then air live at 7 p.m. ET. All races are streaming live on ProMotocross.com and NBC Sports Live Extra, and NBCSN will also carry live coverage of the second motos at 7 p.m. ET.

Alex Palou wins Detroit Grand Prix from pole

By Jun 4, 2023, 5:30 PM EDT
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DETROIT – Alex Palou won the IndyCar Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix from the pole, fending off several challenges and three late restarts during a chaotic debut for a new downtown track.

After qualifying first, Palou won by 1.1843 seconds in his No. 10 Dallara-Honda over Will Power, followed by Felix Rosenqvist, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi.

Kyle Kirkwood (who rebounded from falling to 26th in a massive shunt on the first lap) finished sixth, followed by Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong, Marcus Ericsson and Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden to round out the top 10.

As expected, there was lots of action on the nine-turn, 1.645-mile layout that made its debut Sunday with seven caution flags chewing up 32 of 100 laps – and eliminating some contenders.

With 20 laps remaining, Romain Grosjean slammed the wall in Turn 4 while running seventh in his No. 28 Dallara-Honda, which had started third. He later attributed the problem to a suspension failure.

Pato O’Ward’s shot at a decent finish fell apart during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 35. The No. 5 Dallara-Chevy’s left rear wheel was loose as O’Ward left the stall, so he stopped to allow the crew to push him back.

He returned in 26th at the end of the lead lap but then slammed the wall in Turn 9 eight laps later after overshooting the corner.

“Honestly our race went upside down on that pit stop,” O’Ward said. “All downhill from there. It is what it is.”

The yellow flew again during the next restart on Lap 49 as Sting Ray Robb went into the tire barrier in Turn 3 while Christian Lundgaard and Santino Ferrucci (who was trying to fight back onto the lead lap) also were caught scrambling in traffic.

During the caution, Graham Rahal hit the Turn 1 wall and then was rear-ended by rookie Benjamin Pedersen.

“I got a lot of understeer,” Rahal said, struggling to process what had happened to lose control of his No. 15 Dallara-Honda. “It’s on me. I need to see the tape and understand. I’m just disappointed in myself with all the errors this weekend, just not driving well. It’s hard to figure out why, but ultimately it’s on me. I’ve got to perform a heck of a lot better than that, especially on a day like this.

“It’s just not typical of me. I know you’ve got to stay on the dance floor. I don’t know what to say. We weren’t good in the race. We were in pretty bad shape. It’s disappointing. I’ve got to be better. It’s been a really tough couple of months. We need a reset. I need a reset. We need to come back much, much stronger.”

The first incident occurred in the first corner as Callum Ilott rear-ended Kyle Kirkwood on the entry into the Turn 3 hairpin (starts and restarts for the race occurred on the longest straightaway off Turn 2).

Kirkwood, who was starting after clipping the wall in qualifying, was able to continue after pitting to change the rear wing of his No. 27 Dallara-Honda.

But Ilott’s day was over after failing to complete a lap.

“I didn’t have anywhere to really go, but it was my bad for kind of being a little bit on the late side,” the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver told NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee. “I was gaining bit of time, and they just checked up a little bit more than I anticipated the last bit. I wasn’t coming with that much more speed, but I just couldn’t slow it down on the last part, so sorry to the team and sorry to Kyle cause that didn’t help him, either. On to the next one.”

After four consecutive weeks of racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and on the streets of Detroit, IndyCar will take a one-week break before returning June 18 at Road America.