Broc Tickle's Day at RedBud Motocross

Broc went 18-17 for 17th overall at round 6

July 5, 2017

RCH/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory team rider Broc Tickle always looks forward to RedBud every year as RedBud and Muddy Creek are both home races for the Holy, Michigan rider. Broc has a lot of friends and his wife’s family show up for the annual 4th of July race at RedBud. We will take you through Broc’s weekend at RedBud.

Broc Tickle participated in the Thursday afternoon press ride at RedBud along with his RCH Suzuki teammate, Justin Boggle. Broc said that RedBud is his favorite track on the circuit with the deep soil thats not hard packed and provides multiple lines and ruts all over the track that make for some great racing.Rob Koy

Broc hits Laroco’s Leap after a few laps seeing the new layout. The Leap was contracted about 50 feet closer to the table top so the new grandstand could be built. Instead of the traditional approach the leap had a left and right corner that was added before the leap. The first time Broc hit it he over jumped it landing on the flat of the landing. Broc said that the approach was more hard packed then he expected on press day. After a few attempts Broc felt comfortable to though some whips over the Leap.Rob Koy

Broc’s RCH Suzuki was all prepped and ready to go Saturday morning before the riders meeting.Rob Koy

Broc’s mechanic Mikey Germain and the Showa Tech team make a last minute adjustment to the Showa airforks before the 1st practice session.Rob Koy

Broc takes the inside line on the corner after Larocco’s Leap in the 1st time session. Broc turn his best lap of 2:02.823 on the 4th lap of the session 1. His 2nd best lap was a 2:03.028 on lap 3.Rob Koy

Mikey cleans the bike after the 1st practice session so he can have a clean bike to work on in between the practice session in case they might make some changes for practice two.Rob Koy

Arai and Beam Designs came to RedBud with a patriotic helmet design for the July 4th holiday for both Broc and Justin Boggle.Rob Koy

Before the 2nd time practice gets underway a five-minute start session takes place for the riders to practice their starts to see what setup will work best for the conditions. Here Broc works through the first turn during the session.Rob Koy

Broc on his first lap of practice session 2 takes the outside line in the lane next to the start straight. Checkout Broc's red, white, and blue July-4th-themed Vexea gear and the stars and stripes Arai Beam Design helmet. Broc said the Vexea gear has made a lot of improvements and the fit is great for the two-year-old company.Rob Koy

Broc pulled into the pits after his first lap of the session.Rob Koy

Broc crashed in the section before the finish line in the sand section and landed on his elbow and dislocated his shoulder. Broc said that he didn't realize that he dislocated there shoulder as it popped right back in as he remounted on the bike. Broc didn’t go back out on the track in the 2nd timed session. The only time recorded was the lap he crashed and that was a 3:45.989 for 45th time of the session. Obviously Broc went with his 1st practice session time which gave him the 4th gate pick in Moto 1 if he was able to race.

After the crash, Broc had the Alpinestars medical team check his shoulder which they said it looked like a mild AC separation. The doctors gave him a shot of cordarall for the pain and taped the shoulder so he could try to race. Broc said that it was a late decision to race but he wanted to give it a try to score some points to keep the momentum going. Broc gets ready for the 1st Moto start after deciding to race.Rob Koy

Broc takes his sight lap. This was more of a test of the shoulder then a sight lap for Broc.Rob Koy

Broc got a good start down the straight and was up towards the front as they start to round the 1st turn. Broc lined up to the inside of the doghouse and might have been a little to far outside going into turn one.Rob Koy

Broc got caught up in the big crash exiting turn one which did not help his shoulder. He came out of the turn one crash in 35th place after the 1st lap. It took a few laps for him to catch up to the field and make some passes. By the halfway point Broc was up to 23rd place.Rob Koy

Broc was able to soldier on and break into the top 20 towards the end of the Moto. The rough RedBud track is not a track you would want to race on with an AC separation, but Broc was able to tough it out.Rob Koy

Broc at the end of Moto 1 passing the American flag over the tabletop. He was able to finish the Moto in 18th place scoring three points.Rob Koy

In Moto 2 Broc got chopped off by Martin Davalos off the start and lost the start battle and had to let off as his space closed up on him. Broc was in 24th place after the 1st lap and was able to move up to 20th by lap 5.Rob Koy

Broc was in an unusual place outside the top twenty for the first third of the race. Broc was able to move up to 17th place at the end of the moto and score four points toward his total.Rob Koy

Despite the shoulder injury, Broc Tickle went 18-17 for 17th overall at RedBud.Rob Koy

Even with a shoulder issue at RedBud, Broc still was hitting Larocco’s Leap on a regular basis. Broc went 18-17 for 17th overall at RedBud and was a little disappointed with the way the weekend turned out. Broc said that his shoulder was hurting after Moto 1 and the first turn crash didn’t help. Broc thinks he should have opted not to race the 2nd Moto as he might have done some more damage going out there. Broc hopes that he hasn’t done anymore damage by racing at RedBud and he will get it checked out this week. If everything is okay he plans on racing at Southwick next weekend and continue on improving every week and keep the momentum going in the 2nd half of the season.