Image: Octopi Media.

Jeremy Martin dominated the second 250MX moto of the day to secure his third overall win of the season in round nine at Budds Creek.

While the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross championship has not quite gone the way he’d envisioned it, Martin has managed to find a rhythm, now taking three of the last four overalls victories.

The first holeshot of the day went to Cooper, from Jalek Swoll (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), Austin Forkner (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), Garrett Marchbanks (ClubMX Yamaha), and Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha), with Jett Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) mired in seventh.

Cooper launched out to a near 10-second lead in the opening five laps, running nearly three seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field. On lap six, Lawrence surged, making two passes and getting into fifth within two corners.

Lawrence then worked his way into third and set out after Forkner who was four seconds ahead. With 10 minutes to go, Lawrence caught the back of Forkner, making the pass a few minutes later.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Martin (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) had caught Forkner in third, eventually making the pass with just over a minute to go in the moto.

While Lawrence had clawed his way toward the front, Cooper maintained the gap at the front and managed to take the win by five seconds, with Martin in third.

In moto two, Martin stormed to the front to take the holeshot ahead of Jett Lawrence and Ty Masterpool (GasGas), with Cooper mired outside of the top five. Martin and Lawrence immediately began to open a gap on third.

Cooper found his way into the top five, settling in behind Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) as the duo worked past Masterpool who hit the ground early in the moto.

Maintaining a big gap at the front, Martin churned out flawless laps to take the second moto win over Jett Lawrence to take home the overall victory on the day.

Jett Lawrence’s 2-2 scores gave him second overall on the day and allowed him to pull back one point in the championship standings which closes to three points with three rounds to go.

Cooper would finish third overall on the day after revealing he’s been dealing with an illness through the week, which ultimately held him back in the second moto.

Hunter Lawrence held his own and maintained the gap over Cooper in the second moto to secure 6-3 moto scores and fourth overall on the day. Lawrence dropped six points to Martin and fall to fourth overall in the standings.

Fifth place on the day went to Forkner who found the front early in both motos to secure one of his best finishes of the season. The much-needed resurgence saw him go 4-5 on the day, he’ll be working for a podium in the final three rounds.

Forkner’s teammate Shimoda battled through the day eventually ending up taking home a pair of seventh-place finishes for sixth overall, just ahead of RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) who went 9-6 for seventh.

Masterpool had another breakout ride for his career-best result. The privateer GasGas rider was inside the top three in the second moto before a mistake cost him. He’d eventually finish 8-9 for eighth overall.

BarX Chaparral Suzuki’s Dilan Schwartz continued his great run of form going 10-8 for ninth overall on the day. Schwartz edged out Swoll who finished 5-15 on the day to round out the top 10.

The championship is tighter than ever as the series heads to round 10 at Ironman next Saturday 28 August for two of the final six motos of the season.

Detailed results