Preview: Martin, Musquin battle for Pro Motocross championship in series finale (Today, Live Extra) - MotorSportsTalk

The 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship concludes today with the Bud Light Ironman National, the final round of the season, and there’s a lot on the line.

NBC Sports Live Extra will have coverage all day starting at 10:30 a.m. ET. Coverage will include the inaugural Legends Race, which features past champions such as Ricky Carmichael, and the crowning of a 250 Class champion. Click here to access the Live Extra steam.

Ironman National: Live Extra Schedule
10:30 a.m. ET – Practice
11:30 a.m. ET – Pre-Race Show
12:30 p.m. ET – Legends Race
1:00 p.m. ET – 450 Moto 1
2:00 p.m. ET – 250 Moto 1
3:00 p.m. ET – 450 Moto 2
4:00 p.m. ET – 250 Moto 2

The biggest story of the day revolves around the championship battle in the 250 Class. Eleven rounds have come and gone, and with one final race left before the season ends, there is still no clear-cut favorite between Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin and Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin.

All summer long, the two riders have traded wins, and the points lead – which has never grown larger than 19 points – has exchanged hands a few times. Now the two title contenders enter the last round separated by just two points, making this one of the most highly-anticipated Nationals in quite some time.

As always, today’s race will feature two motos. Here’s a look at all the different outcomes in play for both riders:

If either Martin or Musquin sweeps both motos, they will win the championship.
If Martin gets 1-2 or 2-1 moto finishes, he will win the championship.
If Martin finishes ahead of Musquin, earns the same number of points as Musquin or loses no more than 1 point to Musquin, Martin will win the championship.
If Musquin picks up 3 or more points on Martin, Musquin will win the championship.
If Musquin picks up exactly 2 points on Martin, it will come down to a tiebreaker. The first tiebreaker is number of moto wins, a category that Musquin currently leads 10-9.

The title fight appears destined to come down to the final moto of the season, but despite the intense pressure they’ll be faced with today, both riders will try to block out all the distractions once the gate drops.

“Come Saturday, I focus on what I can control,” Martin said. “That’s how I’m gonna ride and that’s how I’m gonna approach the situation. I knew that it would come down to the wire. I was 19 points down after Glen Helen, Round 2, and I knew it was gonna come down to the last round, to the last moto. So I’m mentally prepared for it.”

Musquin echoed that sentiment. “The goal is to win both motos and not think about anything else or anybody on the track,” he said. “I just want to do my job and do the best I can. Honestly it’s gonna be a lot of pressure – that’s for sure – but I want to focus on myself and not think about the other guys. That’s the best I can do.”

This title fight has brought the topic of “team tactics” to the forefront of discussion. Last weekend at Utah, Cooper Webb – a teammate of Martin’s under the Star Yamaha rig – was leading Moto 2 with Martin in second and Musquin in third. When Martin caught up to Webb, Webb didn’t put up a fight, instead allowing Martin to move around him into the lead. The pass moved Martin back into the points lead. Had Webb kept himself in front of Martin, Musquin would be holding the championship lead instead right now.

While Martin could potentially receive help again from Webb this week, Musquin does not have that luxury. If Musquin wants to win this title, he’ll have to do it on his own.

“At the end of the day, what you want is to win by yourself,” Musquin said. “It’s an individual sport. I don’t have teammates, and if I win, I’ll be proud of myself. Winning on your own is the best.”

A championship would be significant for both riders for different reasons. For Musquin, this is his final season in the 250 Class and therefore his last opportunity to win a title before moving up to a 450 next year.

As for Martin, he is looking to defend last year’s championship and hold on to the #1 plate for another year. “It’d be nice to be able to defend the title in the first try,” he said. “Not a lot of people are able to defend it their first try. The first one’s sweet, but the second one is gonna be even sweeter.”

Jett Lawrence remains perfect in the Pro Motocross series after recording another perfect round at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California. In his second start on a 450, Lawrence won his second National with his fourth consecutive moto win. It is getting increasingly difficult to find the right superlatives to describe the exploits on the reigning 250 West Supercross champion.

“The track was so brutal out there,” Lawrence told NBC Sports Jason Thomas. “The bike handles amazing even when it’s not too friendly. You had to be really patient; you couldn’t take too much. I didn’t eat enough before that second moto. I kind of lost energy halfway through, but luckily I could use technique and balance and just keep that flow going.”

Lawrence leaves Hangtown with an 18-point advantage over Ferrandis in the 450 Motocross standings, but perhaps more importantly, he climbed to 19th in the SuperMotocross standings and should he stay there, he has an automatic invitation to the Main events in the SMX Championship.

“On this track, you just have to manage,” Lawrence continued. “If you try to take too much and not respect the track, it will bite you very quickly. It was humbling on the first few laps. I got kicked on the cutout at the start of the third section, the tabletop going to the left. I had to get my focus because the boys were coming.”

Still in his first few races since returning from a concussion suffered at Houston in the Supercross series, Dylan Ferrandis finished second with results of third in Moto 1 and second in Moto 2. While Ferrandis was happy with the result, he remains hopeful that he will contend for victory shortly.

“The first moto was very hard for my physically, Ferrandis said. “I got arm pump and when you get arm pump your body gets tired. But I’m very happy because we made a big change for the second moto. We tried stuff every session today and in the last moto the bike was much better, but unfortunately I wasn’t sure what I could do with this bike because the track was very hard and difficult to pass.”

RESULTS: How they finished in the 450 Overall at Hangtown

With the rash of injuries at the end of the Supercross season, the podium was filled with heartwarming stories. Cooper Webb returned to action last week in Pala and failed to make the podium. He is steadily improving with a third-place finish in Hangtown. after finishing with a 4-2.

“It’s incredible what seven days can do,” Webb said. “Last week I felt like I was going to get lapped in the second moto. This week, I could see the leader. It was nice. I fought hard, learned how to suffer again there and that felt nice.

Moto 2 wasn’t pretty for Lawrence. On several occasions in the opening laps, he nearly high sided as he rode the front wheel through the ruts. The reward was worth the risk. By the halfway point, Lawrence had 4.5-second lead over Webb, who was embroiled in a tight three-rider battle for second with his teammate Aaron Plessinger pressuring him and Ferrandis ready to take advantage if those made contact.

It took 20 minutes for Plessinger to get around Webb and once he did, he trailed Lawrence by four seconds. But then, with three minutes remaining, Plessinger crashed and had difficulty restarting the bike, handing second back to Webb who has seven seconds behind Lawrence. Plessinger fell to fourth with results of third and sixth.

Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top five with a 5-4.

Heartbreak for Aaron Plessinger as he was charging forward 💔#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/vQtKIsuhVg

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 4, 2023

Last week Hunter Lawrence won the overall with a 3-1. He repeated that feat in Hangtown in an exact replica of his Fox Raceway results last week. In Moto 1, Lawrence got off to a slow start and lost 10 seconds in the opening laps. Forced to overcome a sixth-place position in the race at the end of Lap 1, he once again caught the riders ahead of him when the field hit heavy traffic. For the second week, scored another 3-1 for the Hangtown National win.

“The start was crucial’ I knew I had to go,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “They laid a lot of water down, so I didn’t want to be behind any longer than [I was]. First hot one of the year, was a bit of a wakeup call, so I’m happy to get out of here safe and healthy.”

Lawrence’s third-place finish in Moto 1 featured a fierce battle for final spot on the podium when he caught Spain’s Guillem Farres and France’s Tom Vialle. With Lawrence hailing from Australia, the international nature of the sport was highlighted.

Lawrence left Hangtown with a 10-point advantage over Haiden Deegan in the Pro Motocross championship battle.

Click here for 250 overall results

Justin Cooper finished second in both motos to finish second overall. Hangtown represented a huge improvement from Fox Raceway where he finished fifth overall with a 5-4 finish in the two motos. Cooper pressured Haiden Deegan in the second half of Moto 1 and he earned the holeshot in the second moto and stayed within three seconds of Lawrence in that race.

“He was following me a little bit, checking out my lines, seeing where he was better,” Cooper said. “It’s disappointing to give up the lead like that but it was way better than last weekend. I will definitely take two seconds. I want to be on the top of the step. I feel like I get close to the top step but I never get it done. That’s building up the frustration – the fire. I really want to get one of these wins, so it’s time to start digging.”

Haiden Deegan earned the first holeshot of his career in Moto 1 and rode away from the field, building a four-second lead in the opening laps. Cooper trimmed the lead at the halfway point and for a while it leveled off at two seconds. Then Cooper made another charge with three to go and closed to within a second. Deegan was biding his time, however.

“I was saving a little. I knew at the end Justin was going to try and put a charge on. I let him get up close and then sent it super hard at the end to break him a little at the end.”

Deegan’s first moto win comes in only his fourth National and he remains perfect in regard to podiums this year.

“This was a dream since I was a little kid, to win,” Deegan said. “And in my fourth race, it’s gnarly. I was just sending it. I was getting a little tired at the end becasue I left my mouth open the whole time. It’s unreal; I’m so hyped. I wanted to win bad and I proved it to you guys.”

Chaos erupted in turn 1 in Moto 2 Jeremy Martin went and another rider ran over his arm. Michael Mosiman crashed further down the track on that same lap. Both riders were helped off course by the Alpinestars Medical team.

Deegan grabs his first 250 Mx moto win!1️⃣#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/1FH5s1ZHfn

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 3, 2023