It was a wild, unforgettable day at Budds Creek Motocross Park. Among the day’s events: severe weather that caused a two-hour delay and nearly resulted in the cancellation of the final 450 Class moto. Fortunately for Justin Barcia, the race did take place, and it resulted in the first moto win and first overall win of his 450 Class career in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.

The first moto was dominated by Ryan Dungey. After securing the MotoSport.com Holeshot Award, the Red Bull KTM rider went on to lead every lap of the race without truly being challenged. He also benefitted from a late fade by Ken Roczen, his main rival in the point standings. Roczen ran in second place for nearly 30 minutes after passing Christophe Pourcel on the opening lap, but over the final four laps of the race, he dropped spots to Pourcel, Justin Barcia and Blake Baggett, landing him fifth, while Pourcel and Barcia secured podium spots in second and third, respectively.

Then came the heavy rains. Severe thunderstorms caused the start of the second moto to be delayed from its original 4 p.m. ET start time, and there was even talk that the track might be too damaged for another race. It left the riders with a lot of downtime to hang out and await a decision, and ultimately, once the track was deemed capable of running the moto, the gate drop was set for 6 p.m.

With the two-hour delay passed, Dungey got another good start in Moto 2, although he lost out on a second holeshot to Barcia. However the conditions got the better of the Red Bull KTM rider, and Dungey went down on the opening lap and ended up losing his front fender. The mistake knocked him out of contention, as he crossed the line in 21st at the end of the opening lap and would spend the rest of the moto salvaging positions.

Out front, Barcia just checked out. He built up a large lead and went on to win the moto by about 18 seconds to earn the first 450 Class moto win of his career, His 3-1 results gave him the overall victory as well – also a career first. He’s been showing solid improvement throughout the season, and this win gives him a major confidence boost heading into the second half of the season.

“The momentum’s huge,” Barcia said after the race. “I don’t care if it’s muddy or not – that’s probably the best I’ve ever ridden on my Yamaha.”

Barcia looked to be enjoying himself throughout the moto and clearly felt right at home racing in the mud. “I was just having so much fun,” he said. “Today reminded me of being back in New York.”

Another impressive note about Barcia’s win: his team swapped three engines on the bike over the course of the day.

Behind Barcia in the second moto, a great battle took place for second between Pourcel and Baggett. The position changed hands a few times, as each rider found opportunities to capitalize on the other’s mistakes, and both Pourcel and Baggett admitted after the race that they legitimately had fun racing each other. Baggett ended up with second place in the moto, but Pourcel’s 2-3 moto finishes were still enough to put him second overall. Baggett (4-2) finished just behind him in the overall standings.

As for Dungey, he finished the moto in 12th but thanks to his victory in the first moto, he didn’t lose any points to Roczen in the championship battle. The two riders finished in a tie for fourth overall with 34 points apiece on the day. Dungey will maintain his 37-point championship lead heading into next Saturday’s round at RedBud.

450 CLASS OVERALL RESULTS

1. Justin Barcia (3-1)
2. Christophe Pourcel (2-3)
3. Blake Baggett (4-2)
4. Ken Roczen (5-4)
5. Ryan Dungey (1-12)
6. Jason Anderson (7-7)
7. Broc Tickle (6-9)
8. Phil Nicoletti (11-5)
9. Tommy Hahn (12-6)
10. Wil Hahn (8-14)
11. Justin Brayton (9-17)
12. Kyle Cunningham (17-10)
13. Tony Archer (40-8)
14. Weston Peick (10-34)
15. Fredrik Noren (38-11)
16. Cody Gragg (22-13)
17. Gannon Audette (14-20)
18. Kevin Rookstool (13-37)
19. Nick Ferrell (33-15)
20. John Short (15-32)

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