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