Ferrandis, Martin top the Motocross Rankings after Unadilla

With a second-place overall finish at Unadilla, Dylan Ferrandis remains perfect in regard to 450 podium finishes while Jeremy Martin ascends to the top of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Power Rankings in the 250 class.

Last week after finishing second in Moto 1 at Unadilla, Ferrandis practically conceded Moto 2 and the overall win to Ken Roczen. Butt Ferrandis did what he needed in order to minimize any points’ deficit. He finished 2-3 to keep Roczen from taking a sizeable chunk out of his lead.

Ferrandis, a rookie in the 450 class, currently holds a 39-point lead over Roczen.

Meanwhile, Eli Tomac continued to be inconsistent on some race weekends with a third-place finish in Moto 1 and a seventh in Moto 2. This was the second time in the last four weeks that he podiumed in one moto and finished outside the top five in the other. Tomac’s Unadilla run was strong enough for fourth overall, however, which is his sixth consecutive top-five finish.

Coming off his Washougal win, Chase Sexton hoped to capitalize on that momentum. On Lap 1 of Moto 1, he got crossed up and was pitched from his bike. He walked gingerly back to his fallen steed and remounted before finishing second in Moto 2 to salvage fifth overall at Unadilla.

Marvin Musquin has been one of the most consistent riders this season on 450s. He scored top-10 overall finishes in five of the first six rounds, but seems to have found a new gear in the last two weeks to finish in the top five in all four motos. That was enough to bring him well up the grid from 10th last week to fifth.

Last week Musquin finished 4-4, but was not overly concerned about his failure to podium in the individual motos.

“I know it’s been a rough season, but there’s so many good guys out there that are capable of getting podiums and you can see today the results have been a little bit inconsistent from other guys and I was a little bit more consistent,” Musquin said earlier this week in a tweet.

Roczen had an impressive win at Unadilla. He dominated both motos and left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he deserved the overall win. It will take more than one strong event to erase consecutive overall results outside the top five at Spring Creek and Washougal, however.

450 Power Rankings (Last Week)

1. Dylan Ferrandis [4 overall, 4 moto wins] (1)
2. Eli Tomac [3 moto wins] (2)
3. Chase Sexton [1 overall, 1 moto win] (3)
4. Marvin Musquin (10)
5. Ken Roczen [2 overall, 6 moto wins] (6)
6. Christian Craig (7)
7. Cooper Webb (8)
8. Joey Savatgy (9)
9. Dean Wilson (13)
10. Max Anstie (14)
11. Brandon Hartranft (11)
12. Justin Bogle (12)
13. Aaron Plessinger (5)
14. Chris Canning (15)
15. Ben Lamay (20)
16. Justin Rodbell (16)
17. Ryan Surratt (17)
18. Jacob Runkles (23)
19. Jeremy Hand (22)
20. Tyler Stepek (24)

The 450 class is stacked 🧱 it’s anybody’s podium 🔥 and Marvin wants to finish the season strong 💪 #ProMotocross pic.twitter.com/lr7zmGXaNE

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) August 17, 2021

In 250s, Jeremy Martin continues to impress with his rebound from hand and wrist injuries.

Trouble at Southwick pushed him down the order and practically eliminated his shot at winning the championship, but he put in one of the gutsiest performances of the season at his home track of Spring Creek to win.

Motocross Rankings Unadilla — *Jeremy Martin is flying high with three consecutive podiums after sustaining wrist and hand injuries. (ProMotocross.com / Align Media)*

One week later, Martin became the first 250 rider to win twice at Washougal. Last week, he swept the podium in both motos before taking third in the overall standings. Add all of that together and Martin has a worst moto finish of third in his last six races.

Justin Cooper has swept the overall podium this season through eight rounds, but lacks consistency nonetheless. Last week after winning his fourth moto of 2021 in the first race, he faded to fourth in Moto 2. Two weeks ago at Washougal, he won Moto 1 and finished eighth in the second race. That has caused him to lose some ground to Martin in the Power Rankings.

Jett Lawrence has now bookended the season with overall wins and joins Martin as the only riders with more than one. He could not catch Cooper in Race 1 at Unadilla, but with a second-place finish in that race, he knew the overall was in reach. In Race 2, he scored his fourth moto win of the season.

Michael Mosiman has hovered around the top five since returning from injury at Southwick. He finished seventh overall in that event, was second at Spring Creek and sixth last week.

Hunter Lawrence rounds out the top five this week with his eighth top-10 overall finish in eight rounds. In the past 45 days, his worst overall result was a seventh at Washougal, although he has two individual motos outside the top 10 that keeps him from rising any further up the ranks.

250 Power Rankings (Last Week)

Jeremy Martin [2 overall, 5 moto wins] (2)
Justin Cooper [1 overall, 4 moto wins] (1)
Jett Lawrence [2 overall, 4 moto wins] (3)
Michael Mosiman (7)
Hunter Lawrence [1 overall, 2 moto wins] (4)
RJ Hampshire [1 overall] (6)
Jo Shimoda (8)
Max Vohland (9)
Dilan Schwartz (14)
Carson Mumford (16)
Austin Forkner (10)
Jarrett Frye (18)
Jalek Swoll [1 overall, 1 moto win] (12)
Stilez Robertson (13)
Pierce Brown (11)
Ty Masterpool (17)
Brandon Scharer (20)
Garrett Marchbanks (15)
Joshua Varize (21)
Derek Kelley (25)

Justin Cooper was not feeling at home on the rough track in the final moto 😤 Don’t count him out, he’s ready to do battle with 8 motos to go ⚔️ #ProMotocross pic.twitter.com/twHpgSo0li

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) August 17, 2021

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

Dylan Ferrandis leads Motocross Power Rankings after Unadilla, Jeremy Martin best in 250s

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

Read more about Motorsports

Read more about SuperMotocross