Justin Bogle is doing well as he tries to earn himself a factory ride next year. (Photo: Rich Shepherd / Racer X Online)

Proving that his moto win earlier this year was no fluke, Justin Bogle returned to the top of the 450 Class podium at Budds Creek. The RCH/Yoshimura Suzuki rider was victorious in Moto 1 and finished third in Moto 2 to take the overall win at Round 11 of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. It’s Bogle’s second career moto win and first-ever overall win, and it comes at a much needed time — he’s due to be a free agent at the end of the season.

The championship battle was the other major storyline in the 450 Class, and after the first moto, it looked as though Eli Tomac could be setting himself up for trouble. But Tomac bounced back to win the second moto, effectively negating any damage done earlier in the day.

Read on for a recap of what happened in each moto at Budds Creek.

Budds Creek 450 Moto 1
For the second week in a row, Matt Bisceglia grabbed a holeshot, but he was passed by Martin Davalos on the opening lap of the race. It wasn’t a great start for any of the top riders in the championship fight — Eli Tomac, Marvin Musquin or Blake Baggett. Tomac had the worst start of the bunch, as he was outside of the top 10 after the opening lap.

Up front, it was Davalos leading the way. It’s been quite a season for Davalos, who finally moved up to the 450 Class after about a decade on the 250. His results have been improving throughout the season, which led to him finishing second overall just one week ago. But within the first nine minutes of the race, Davalos lost the lead to Justin Bogle, who won a moto earlier this season and is trying to showcase himself for a 2018 factory ride.

Musquin entered the day with a six-moto winning streak, but he was hindered by his start in this race. About 20 minutes into the moto, he worked his way up into the top three thanks to a mistake from Cole Seely. Musquin kept the charge going and was able to chip away at the deficit between himself and second-place Davalos. With less than four minutes left on the countdown clock, Musquin was able to make the pass on Davalos, leaving only Bogle left to chase down but limited time to do so.

With three laps to go, Musquin had just turned a lap that was two seconds quicker than Bogle’s — that cut the lead down to about 2.5 seconds. By the time the white flag arrived, there was little separating the two riders, despite some mistakes from Musquin on the prior laps. Though both riders pushed hard on the final lap, Bogle was able to hold off Musquin to score his second moto win of the season.

Davalos, Seely and Baggett rounded out the rest of the top five. Tomac finished back in seventh, meaning he lost eight points to Musquin (and two points to Baggett) in this moto. The point standings are even tighter now heading into Moto 2 — as it stands now, Tomac is 23 points ahead of Musquin and 25 points up on Baggett.

Elsewhere on the track, Dean Wilson went down in the late stages of the race and ended up finishing 16th. That ends his streak of top-10 finishes, which was 20 strong going all the way back to the season opener.

Results
1. Justin Bogle
2. Marvin Musquin
3. Martin Davalos
4. Cole Seely
5.  Blake Baggett
6. Matt Bisceglia
7. Eli Tomac
8. Weston Peick
9. Cooper Webb
10. Christian Craig

Budds Creek 450 Moto 2
Bisceglia continued his run of good starts in Moto 2, getting the holeshot for the third time in the last four motos. But on the opening lap, it was Bogle moving into the lead once again. At the end of the first lap, Bogle had opened up a lead of more than two seconds on second-place Baggett.

Baggett eventually closed in on Bogle though and made the pass within the first 10 minutes of the race to take the lead. Tomac soon followed Baggett past Bogle and into second place. Within a few laps, the stage was set for a battle between Baggett and Tomac. With exactly 25 points — the equivalent of one moto win — separating them at the start of the moto, this battle was huge for the points race. And shortly before the midway point, Tomac got inside of Baggett to move into the lead. A few minutes later, a mistake from Tomac nearly cost him the top spot, but he recovered just in time to stay in front of Baggett, and that’s where he would remain.

Thanks to a poor start from Musquin, it appeared as though Tomac and Baggett would both be able to pick up quite a few points on him. But Musquin rebounded from that start and got himself up to fourth (behind Tomac, Baggett and Bogle) around 20 minutes into the moto. At that point though, Musquin was too far behind the lead trio to be a factor.

Tomac led the final 11 laps of the race, putting his points lead at 28 points over Baggett and 30 points over Musquin.

With his third-place finish in Moto 2, Bogle (1-3) locked up the first overall win of his 450MX career. Musquin (2-4) and Tomac (7-1) joined him on the podium in second and third, respectively. Baggett (5-2) finished in fourth, just one point back of Tomac for third place.

Results
1. Eli Tomac
2. Blake Baggett
3. Justin Bogle
4. Marvin Musquin
5. Dean Wilson
6. Weston Peick
7. Cooper Webb
8. Cole Seely
9. Christian Craig
10. Matt Bisceglia

Budds Creek 450 Class Overall Results
1. Justin Bogle (1-3)
2. Marvin Musquin (2-4)
3. Eli Tomac (7-1)
4. Blake Baggett (5-2)
5. Cole Seely (4-8)
6. Weston Peick (8-6)
7. Cooper Webb (9-7)
8. Matt Bisceglia (6-10)
9. Christian Craig (10-9)
10. Dean Wilson (16-5)