Thousands of avid motocross fans were in attendance on Fourth of July weekend at the legendary RedBud National in Buchanan, MI for round six of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship series. At only his second race back, Muscle Milk-backed GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac earned impressive results on his CRF450R, improving on his finish last week with a second overall. Team Honda Muscle Milk's Trey Canard also had an impressive weekend, finishing fourth overall.

450 Race After qualifying sixth quickest in practice, Canard jumped off the line to a second-place start in the first moto, and quickly moved into the lead on the opening lap. He set a comfortable pace up front before relinquishing one position a few laps later. Canard fought hard, maintaining second until the checkered flag. In the second moto, he kept his momentum going, rocketing his CRF450R off the line to another great start and leading for the first five laps. Amid the heated fight in second, a mistake caused Canard to fall to fourth and that was where he finished. His 2-4 marks landed him just shy of the podium in fourth.

"Today was a much better day than we have had. Practice was a little tough but I was happy to get good starts in both motos today, which really helped me out during the races," Canard explained. "The first moto was good. I don't think I was strong enough in the middle of the race but was able to kind of pick it back up towards the end. It was a lot of cat and mouse out there. The second moto was about the same except while running second I just washed my front end out and fell back to fourth. The bike was working much better; we made a lot of progress this last week testing so I am looking forward to the rest of the season."

Swedish native Fredrik Noren made his factory debut at RedBud with Team Honda Muscle Milk as the fill-in rider for injured Justin Barcia. Noren grabbed a mid-pack start in the first moto and was running 12th before going down on the first lap after coming together with another rider. He spent the remainder of the race making a charge from 38th to 17th. In moto two, Noren blasted off the line to a great start, running in fifth for the opening laps of the race. He fell back a few positions and took the checkered in 10th to claim 11th overall for the day.

"Today is only my second time riding the bike and I am really happy with it," explained Noren. "The bike and entire team are great and I couldn't be happier with this situation. The first moto was a bit of a struggle. I got a decent start but went down on the first lap and just had to work up from there. I ended up finishing 17th, which isn't great but still good compared to where I was after going down. I got a great start in the second moto and was fifth. I may have charged a little too hard right off the start since I am not used to running that pace, and got a little tired, falling back to 10th. I am happy with that and think that it can only go up from here."

Muscle Milk-sponsored GEICO Honda rider Eli Tomac shook up the competition and made his presence known. In only his second appearance of the series, he scored a second overall on his CRF450R with impressive 4-2 marks.

"Today went even better than last weekend in Tennessee," said Tomac. "First moto came around and I got a top-five start and was battling with Dungey, Canard and Roczen the whole race. I passed Dungey at one point but he ended up getting around me, so I settled into fourth. In the second moto I ended up battling with the exact same guys the whole race. This time I got around Dungey and it stuck, then got pretty close to Canard when he tipped over. I was in second but wasn't able to catch Roczen. I'm hoping to turn this progress into a first place next weekend."

250 Race Although the result wasn't what Muscle Milk-supported GEICO Honda's Justin Bogle was hoping for, he showed impressive speed, running up front in both motos until succumbing to the increasingly difficult track conditions. In moto one, Bogle launched his CRF250R off the line to a solid start and was running with the lead pack until going down, losing multiple positions. He rebounded, working his way back into third before another mistake landed him in fifth. During the final race of the day, Bogle grabbed another good start, taking over the lead on the second lap. He led the pack for 4 laps until going down multiple times, falling outside the top 10. His 5-12 marks landed him ninth overall for the day.

"Today was looking to be a great day," stated Bogle. "I was running towards the front in the first moto when I went down. I got up quick and raced up to third, but I went down again and ended up fifth. Still, not bad and definitely something I wanted to build on in moto two. In the second moto I got a great start and was leading for the first few laps but then I went down again. Everyone was really close so a bunch of guys got past me.

Teammates Matt Bisceglia and Zach Bell overcame some adversity throughout the day's motos to log 12th and 14th overall. Bisceglia returned to the line after missing Tennessee due to an injury and impressed everyone when he claimed the holeshot in moto one, taking the early lead. By the end of the 30-minute plus two-lap race he had slipped back to 13th. He then logged a 14th in the second race. Bell struggled with his starts, forcing him to work from the back of the pack forward. He recorded 11-17 scores for the day.

The Focus: RedBud National Honda History RedBud Motocross Park in Buchanan, MI held its first national race on July 28th, 1974 and has hosted the national circuit during the 4th of July holiday weekend since 1978. American Honda has a total of 10 450 class wins at RedBud, the last being in 2011. They also have nine victories in the 250 class, with the last being Trey Canard in 2010. Honda won both classes at Red Bud in 1983 with David Bailey and Johnny O'Mara,1989 with Jeff Stanton and George Holland and again in 1995 with Jeremy McGrath and Steve Lamson. RedBud is also the site of the largest obstacle in American Motocross. LaRocco's Leap, named for former champion and long-time Honda rider Mike LaRocco, is a 120-foot uphill triple jump.

450 Class Overall Results 1. Ken Roczen 1-1 2. Eli Tomac (Honda) 4-2 3. Ryan Dungey 3-3 4. Trey Canard (Honda) 2-4 5. Andrew Short 5-5 6. Josh Grant 6-6 7. Chad Reed 8-7 8. Brett Metcalfe 9-7 9. Justin Brayton 8-15 10. Kyle Chisholm 13-13

450 Class Championship Points (after 6 of 12 rounds) 1. Ken Roczen 280 2. Ryan Dungey 254 3. Trey Canard 226 4. James Stewart 196 5. Brett Metcalfe 168 6. Josh Grant 159 7. Andrew Short 134 8. Chad Reed 132 9. Weston Peick 131 10. Malcolm Stewart 120