Ferrandis had a good start to the day, qualifying second. He did not get off of the gate as he hoped but quickly made his way into fifth on the first lap. On Lap 5, the points leader moved into fourth and then closed the gap to the final podium spot around the midway point, making the pass for third just before the start of Lap 10. Trailing the leader by over 10 seconds, he put his head down and closed the gap on second, passing him right before the clock ran out. With three laps to go, the Frenchman kept charging and ate away at the five-second gap to bring his rival in sight, coming just .384 of a second shy of the win.
Fired up after that first moto, Ferrandis had a better start in third. After getting shuffled to fourth, the Frenchman quickly made his way back to third just before the finish line on Lap 2. He kept putting in some fast times and closed the gap to the frontrunners, but he wasn’t alone as the race tightened up and turned into a four-rider battle. On Lap 8, he made another pass before the finish line to take the runner-up spot and set his sights on the leader. A few laps later, he had a couple of tries and then made the pass stick on his championship rival to claim the lead. Ferrandis built a gap and took the win to return to the top step of the podium with his fifth overall victory of the season. The 2-1 result also maintained his 39-point advantage in the title chase with three rounds remaining.
Craig’s first moto got off to a rough beginning. He didn’t get the start he was hoping for and then crashed on the second lap and ultimately was credited with 40th. The Californian rebounded in Moto 2 with a better start and quickly made his way to eighth, where he would finish, ending the day 14th overall.
Plessinger tried to tough it out at Budds Creek despite not feeling 100% after his big crash last weekend at Unadilla. He had a good qualifying effort in eighth and a decent start just outside of the top 10 in Moto 1. He worked his way up to seventh, but the punishing conditions had him dropping down the order before the halfway mark, and he ultimately withdrew from the event a few laps later.
The Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing team heads to Crawfordsville, Indiana, on August 28 for Round 10 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at the Ironman National.
