It seems like a lifetime ago when in 2007 Ricky Carmichael was openly ripping the Budds Creek circuit for its degenerated and baked track surface.

Here we are in 2012 and although the track was gnarly due to a new approach to track prep the series hasn’t seen before, the racing surface is much improved when compared to the criticisms of 5 years ago. Definitely very one-lined but it was good to at least see some ruts and not just a baked SoCal style surface with concrete slots to drop into in the corners.

MX2

We’ve been seeing a battle amongst the top four in the MX2 class for the better part of every moto thus far but in Budds Creek the script was rewritten a bit and became a bit fragmented. Instead of a four-way battle, the fight was divided by two with two battles, one for the top spot and the other between positions 3 through 5. So who was the new guy on the block infiltrating the “fast four”? None other than two-time World MX2 Champion, Marvin Musquin. Marvin has been running a distant 5^th much of the season to the lead group but he’s also been racing his way out of an injury. In Budds Creek he turned a first moto 5^th place start into a 4^th and his second moto saw what had to be some fatigue fade to go from 2^nd to 4^th. The insult to injury here was Marvin going 4-4 for 5^th overall. Sorry Marvin but them’s the breaks. I hope to see Marvin continue to progress as this injury is put behind him and he can put two strong motos together every weekend, he has the skills to run with this top four when fully healthy.

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