After qualifying first, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Broc Tickle turned in his second podium finish of the season with a 6-4 for third overall. Tickle has been working very hard this season and it appears that it has really been paying off.
There were some new faces in both classes, but the most anticipated was Zach Bell aboard a Geico Honda. Bell just recently dominated the 250 A class action at Loretta Lynn’s and came into Southwick looking to show his blazingly fast speed. As it turned out, Bell qualified an impressive ninth and parlayed that into an amazing start in the first moto.
In the first moto, Bell jumped off the gate to take the holeshot, and within the first few laps, opened up a five-second lead over former World Motocross Champion Marvin Musquin. This photo was taken on the first lap of the race. All told, Bell led for a total of five laps before letting his teammate Eli Tomac go around him. Bell then did his best to keep Tomac in sight, but ultimately went down and knocked his head pretty good in the process. Bell did not start the second moto.
Here, Bell pulls into the pits after crashing in the first moto. As we mentioned, he returned to the pits shortly after this photo was taken. He didn’t return for the second.
As for Bell’s teammate, Tomac, he went on to a dominating win in the first moto. The second moto, though, didn’t go as well as he would have liked, but he still managed to finish third for second overall. In the second moto, Tomac caught and passed eventual moto winner Blake Bagget, but in the process miss-judged a tight left hand turn, hit a tree, and was ripped off his bike. During the week before the race, Tomac took a trip to some sand dunes by his house in Colorado to get some sand practice in.
TAGS: ama, blake baggett, championship, dirt bike, john dowd, Lucas Oil, motocross, mx, mx338, ryan dungey, southwick
