Page 40 - ISSUE78

BLAKE BAGGETT
450 MX / 4TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Blake Baggett has enjoyed a successful 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross campaign, but it has still been slightly underwhelming compared to how he performed (pre-thumb injury) last season. Baggett hasn’t had the greatest, or worst, of starts this year and the same could be said for his results. He only has one overall podium nish to show from the rst ten rounds, but he has eight top ve nishes. So, he has been consistently right there week
in and week out but he just has not been contending for wins and challenging the front runners of the series as hard as what would have been expected of him at the start of the year. He could be just one holeshot away from unleashing his full potential and with time running out on the season, he’d love to do it here at Budds Creek. Baggett looked to mesh well with the course strewn through rural Maryland. He ended up putting forth a solid qualifying practice effort and came away with the sixth fastest time of the class. He was ready to get the ball roll- ing because he tends to thrive when it is rough, hot, and humid like it was there trackside. Baggett started his rst moto, like he has most of the season, with an average start. He managed to round the opening lap in eighth posi- tion. Luckily for him, he was right with the points leader, Eli Tomac, so he piggy backed him to the front. He would even challenge Tomac for a bit and the two riders would dice back and forth all while moving closer to the front. Baggett would pass his teammate, Benny Bloss, for seventh three laps into the race and then manage to get by the gritty Phil Nicoletti on lap ve to take over sixth. There he and Tomac would encounter the returning Jason Anderson. Tomac was able to pass him quickly leaving Baggett to try and make a move to keep up. Anderson however, was not trying to let that happen. The two riders fought with tenacity for well over a lap. Baggett was all over him, but he wouldn’t budge. Finally, Baggett had enough and tried to make an aggressive move but ended up crashing. He was able to remount his machine without losing a position, but he would not be able to reel back in Anderson. He would end up passing Justin Barcia on the nal lap though to nish the moto in fth. A slightly frustration moto for Baggett after his battle with Anderson but he was ready to come back out swinging in moto two. Baggett got off to a better start in the second moto as he rounded lap one in fth. This time, he had Tomac behind him instead of in front of him. Both riders would duel, and switch positions several times in an entertain- ing battle. They were doing this all while trying to pass Phil Nicoletti. Once they both nally passed Nicoletti, the battle got even more wild when they caught Barcia. The three riders, Baggett, Barcia and Tomac, spent two laps swapping positions. It was very fun to watch, and Baggett even got bumped off the track at one point by Barcia allowing Tomac by. Baggett would respond by passing Tomac right back and they would do that again a few more times. Tomac however, would nally make a pass stick but both riders would pass Barcia who ended up crashing. This put Baggett up to fourth. He stayed there for most of the moto and it appeared he would nish there but late in the race, he channeled old “El Chupacabra” and started clocking blistering lap times. He managed to catch and pass both Marvin Musquin and Ken Roczen to take second place. He even tried another run at Tomac but ran out of time. Late in that second moto, Baggett nally showed what everyone expected of him all season long. His 5-2 moto scores earned him fourth overall on the day and some big-time momentum heading into the nal round in Indiana.
40 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 19, 2018