Team Suzuki Press Office – August 17.
Utah’s scenic Wasatch Mountains served as a backdrop for round 11 of the 12-event AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah and Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Blake Baggett scored yet another top result in what is turning out to be an excellent rookie campaign.
Baggett went 4-4 to finish fourth overall making his sixth top-five finish of the season and further cemented his fourth-place in the series standings.
Saturday in Utah proved to be a day of the number four for the No. #4 Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 rider. Not only did he post a 4-4 moto result for fourth overall, he also started off the day at Miller by qualifying fourth with a time of 1:57.166.
“The track has turned out to be really pretty good,” Baggett said after timed qualifying practice. “It was a little bit muddy in the morning, but I think it’s going to be awesome by the time the races come around. The first practice wasn’t so good; I was running outside the top-10. In the second practice we made some bike changes and ended up fourth. We’re going to check out the segment times and see if we can shave-off a little here and a little there.”
In the first moto Baggett was down in 12th on the first lap, but used the quick handling and abundant power of his Suzuki RM-Z450 to claw his way up through the field. Halfway through the moto Baggett was already up to sixth and in the final half of the moto he improved his position even further to fourth with strong and consistent laps.
The second moto went almost identically for the rookie standout as he began lap one in 12th and this time he advanced through the field even more rapidly. Baggett’s reputation as a hard-charging rider has clearly been established with performances like this one in Utah.
Afterwards Baggett talked about yet another brilliant come-from-behind race.
“It was a pretty good weekend,” Baggett explained. “We were just shy of the podium. We had a tie in points (with third-place finisher Justin Barcia), but just didn’t have as good of a second moto. A fourth overall… we’ll take it and we’re still sitting fourth in the points for the season. We’re going to dig deep and see what we can do next week in Indiana and finish it out strong.”
Yoshimura Suzuki goes back East as the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship comes to an exciting conclusion next weekend with its 12th and final round of the 2015 season. Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana, will be the host site of the Bud Light Ironman National next Saturday, August 22nd.
2015 Utah 450 Motocross Results:
1. Ryan Dungey (1-1)
2. Ken Roczen – RCH Suzuki - (2-2)
3. Justin Barcia (5-3)
4. Blake Baggett - Yoshimura Suzuki - (4-4)
5. Broc Tickle – RCH Suzuki - (3-7)
6. Trey Canard (7-6)
7. Dean Wilson (10-5)
8. Josh Grant (8-8)
9. Christophe Pourcel (9-9)
10. Phil Nicoletti (12-10)
450 Motocross Standings:
1. Ryan Dungey, 500
2. Justin Barcia, 407
3. Ken Roczen, 402
4. Blake Baggett, 333
5. Christophe Pourcel, 291
6. Broc Tickle, 287
7. Jason Anderson, 283
8. Phil Nicoletti, 229
9. Weston Peick, 223
10. Fredrik Noren, 206
