BUCHANAN — Just over a month ago Austin Wagner and Dillon Finley were graduating from Edwardsburg High School.

On Saturday, they were both living their dream of qualifying for a professional motocross race. Not only did the two 19-year-old friends both qualify for their first race, they did it on their “home” track at RedBud in Buchanan, arguably the best track on the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series.

Wagner, a Niles native, has been riding motocross since he was 4 years old and has always dreamt of racing against the biggest names in the sport. Austin qualified 33rd in the 40-bike 450cc field.

“I can’t explain how happy I am. It seems unreal that I’m here really,” Wagner said. “It means a lot to me that my first time qualifying is here at Red Bud.”

Finley, an Edwardsburg native, has also been riding since he was 4 years old and has only dreamed of racing against the many stars of motocross. Finley raced to a second place finish in the consolation race placing him in the 41-bike 250cc field.

“It means a lot to qualify on my hometown track with all my family and fans around,” Finley said. “RedBud has the most fans and I’m really excited to hear all the fans on the parade lap.”

Wagner took the track with some of the biggest names in the sport, like Chad Reed, Ryan Dungey, James Stewart, Trey Canard, Josh Grant, and points leader Ken Roczen.

While running in the middle of the pack on lap one, Wagner was wrecked by another rider dropping him all the way to last place. The “rookie” didn’t get rattled and continued to battle climbing his way back up to a 28th place finish in the first moto.

In the second moto Wagner had a better run early on than the previous race and managed to finish 25th.

The combined results of the two races placed Wagner 28th overall on the day.

“I was hoping to get into the low 20s, but I’m happy with this,” Wagner said. “It was crazy being out there with the biggest names in the sport.”

While the names in the 250 class might not be as recognizable to the average fan, to the people that follow motocross the names Blake Baggett, Cooper Webb, Justin Bogle, Christophe Pourcel and points leader Jeremy Martin could be intimidating to any rider making his first pro appearance. However Finley took the track like a pro and battled with sports current and future stars.

Finley would finish 38th overall after finishes of 31st and 37th in his two races.

While happy to qualify for their first professional race on their home track, but of these local racers plan to continue chasing their dreams and each plan to try to qualify for more events this year.

“I plan on doing the rest of the season trying to qualify and hopefully some Supercross,” Wagner said.

“I plan to keep putting the work in and getting to the top,” Finley said. “I’m going to ride the closest races — Indiana and Minnesota and keep pushing.”

 

RedBud Nationals at Buchanan

450cc results

1. Ken Roczen 1-1

2. Eli Tomac 4-2

3. Ryan Dungey 3-3

4. Trey Canard 2-4

5. Andrew Short 5-5

 

250cc results

1. Jeremy Martin 1-2

2. Marvin Musquin 4-3

3. Jason Anderson 3-4

4. Blake Baggett 2-7

5. Cooper Webb 14-1