The potential for championship drama may not be high, but that doesn’t mean the action won’t be good. Everyone wants to go out with a win, and there are a handful of guys who would love to break through for that first win of the season—Aaron Plessinger, Malcolm Stewart, Jason Anderson, and Chase Sexton come to mind. The 250 Class promises to be interesting too, as both East and West riders will line up together in the 250SX main event for the first time this season.

The track itself doesn’t look especially tricky, but that can be a dangerous assumption to make from the press box without having been down on the track. The whoop section, consisting of eight whoops, is short, and they don’t look particularly big, but again, the view from the press box never does the size of those monsters justice. The start stretch runs the entire length of the stadium before a sweeping 180-degree left-hander, which leads directly into a long rhythm section. The entrance to this rhythm lane is intriguing. There’s a very small bump at the beginning and it’s going to be interesting to see what the guys do with it. Whatever choice they make at the beginning will play a role in how they’re able to finish out the rest of the long lane.

Practice is set to begin soon, so check back for a report on who’s fast, and how the riders are tackling the different sections of the final track of the year.

Free Practice

The usual suspects, Colt Nichols, Jo Shimoda, and Jett Lawrence, were at the top of the board to kick the afternoon off here in Salt Lake City. It looked like Jett Lawrence would end free practice quickest with a 46.885, but Shimoda edged him right at the end. There wasn’t a whole lot of variation in jump combos, although Nichols was experimenting with different lines in the long rhythm late. Most riders were absorbing the small bump at the beginning before doubling through and exiting by doubling to a table and doubling off.

In the 250SX West session there was a little more variation in some of the lanes, with Justin Cooper trying a few different lines. Cooper was really fast too, posting a 46.533 before lowering his own time to a 44.836, which would stand as the fastest lap of 250SX free practice. Elsewhere on the track, guys were starting to get a double, triple, triple combination down in the rhythm lane before the finish line, although some guys were still playing with a double, double, triple, single combination at the end. The whoops don’t seem to be giving any of the elite riders any trouble, and as far as we saw, the guys weren’t getting out of shape at all blitzing through them.

In 450SX free practice Eli Tomac was the top dog, posting a 43.118 that would stand as the fastest lap, although Chase Sexton wasn’t too far off with a 43.616. The guys got the more difficult rhythms down pretty fast in this session, but there was still some variation in the longest lane. A single, double, triple, double, double combo seems to be a common choice right now but we’ll see if that changes when timed practices come around.

Lap times are going to be low tonight, so expect the track to get pretty chewed up in the main events.

Qualifying - Sesson 1

If you like qualifiers in which the fastest lap bounces around a bunch then you would have loved the action in the first 250SX West qualifier. Mitchell Harrison was fastest at first, but then Hunter Lawrence and Justin Cooper started trading fast laps. Then Seth Hammaker got in on the action by posting a 42.437! He tried to lower it again a few laps later but a downed rider forced him to slow up, which ruined his attempt. When it was over it was championship leader Justin Cooper who was fastest, ending the session with a 41.864. Cameron McAdoo was fourth fastest with a 43.014, but Harrison was right there with a 43.150. Garrett Marcbhanks and Jalek Swoll actually tied with a 43.153. Those are some pretty tight times!

One name you may have noticed as not being present this afternoon is Nate Thrasher. Yamaha announced he’d be sitting out and focusing on preparing for the Nationals. He also has 127 points right now, just eight shy of the threshold for burning a year of eligibility in the 250SX Class, and it’s pretty likely he’d score at least eight points tonight if he were competing. Draw your own conclusions on that one, folks.

In 250SX East qualifying Jett Lawrence looked great, and the stopwatch backed that up. Lawrence was fastest immediately, posting a 43.641, but Michael Mosiman one-upped him with a 43.072. Lawrence wasted little time in responding, however, and after jumping back to the top of the board, lowered his own time a few times more. He looks great, and if he gets a good start tonight it could be curtains for everyone else.

When the 450s rolled out onto the dirt Malcolm Stewart quickly set a 42.382, but a few laps later Jason Anderson flexed his muscles with a 42.023. Both would end up falling to Chase Sexton, however, who looked really smooth out there. Sexton flowed his way to a 41.706 to end up as the fastest rider in the first 450SX qualifier. Check out how tight the times are though. First through tenth are separated by roughly half a second, and second through tenth only have a few tenths between them! Making up time is going to be tough tonight, making the start that much more important.

Qualifying – Sesson 2

You might as well just call the second 250SX East qualifier the Michael Mosiman and Jett Lawrence show. They weren’t riding together out there, but they were swapping times back and forth like crazy. Lawrence drew first blood with a 44.449, but Mosiman almost immediately shoved him out of the way with a 44.305. The back and forth would continue as the session progressed, and Mosiman pulled into the mechanics area several times before going back out and laying down heat. Mosiman dropped all the way down to a 43.196, to which Lawrence tried to respond. Unfortunately for Lawrence he went down in a rhythm lane. He pulled into the mechanics area afterward for a moment and tried to go back out, but the clock had expired, leaving Mosiman as the fastest 240SX East qualifier of the session.

Times were bouncing around like an overinflated football in a trampoline park in the second 250SX West qualifier. Seth Hammaker, Cameron McAdoo, Justin Cooper, and Hunter Lawrence all spent time at the top of the board, with Hammaker and Cooper climbing to the top multiple times. You’d think Cooper would be taking it easy to make sure he didn’t go down and hurt his chances of racing in the night show and securing the championship, but the Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha rider was absolutely flying out there and ended the session fastest with a 42.255. All he has to do is finish seventeenth or better to nab the title, but with the way he’s riding, he just might win the race tonight too.

When Chase Sexton set the fast time right away it looked like it’d be more of the same from the first 450SX qualifier, in which he was fastest. But then Tyler Bowers set a fast time! It was short-lived, however, when Sexton struck back, only to several guys blow boy. Dylan Ferrandis, Ken Roczen, and Jason Anderson all took turns exchanging hot laps, but when the checkers flew it was Roczen who stood on top of the heap with a 41.810.

One of the most entertaining parts of this qualifier was a line that developed in the long rhythm lane that only five or six guys were doing. The riders who were doing it would wheelie over the small bump at the beginning, wheel tap off the second to turn it into a double, triple, then triple again onto a table, and exit by doubling off the table. A few additional guys got the triple, triple to table, double out, combo figured out, but only a few were entering with the wheelie, wheel-tap to double move. It was faster and it looked amazing, although it seemed like it was making the guys drift wide significantly when they did it, which could limit their ability to do it in traffic.

250SX West Heat Race

The first race of the night kicked off with Hunter Lawrence bumping Justin Cooper off the track as the two came into the first turn. Jalek Swoll ended up with the lead but lost it briefly to Cameron McAdoo. Swoll got it back, but came under heavy fire from Lawrence. McAdoo, Seth Hammaker, and Enzo Lopes were all over them too. Swoll managed to get away from the group, but behind him things were still going nuts. Then Lopes went down and lost contact with the lead group. Things eased up just a bit after a few laps, but the guys were still pretty close to each other. Cooper was running eleventh at this point.

With about a minute and a half left McAdoo had reeled Swoll back in and was trying like crazy to get around him. Finally he came in hot up the inside of Swoll, bumped him, and took the right before the finish line. It was a pretty aggressive pass but nobody went down. One lap later Lawrence passed Swoll, but Swoll refused to give in, battling back hard and getting the spot back. Then Lawrence repassed him right before the finish line! McAdoo ended up with the win, followed by Lawrence, Swoll, Hammaker, Garrett Marchbanks, Pierce Brown, Kyle Peters, Justin Cooper, and Jarrett Frye. Everyone else would get another chance in the LCQ. If that’s the kind of action we can expect tonight, we’re in for an epic night of racing!

250SX East Heat Race

When the gate dropped it was Michael Mosiman who shot out to the early lead. Behind him was Geran Stapleton, Jo Shimoda, and Jett Lawrence, but Mosiman put his head down right away and started sprinting away. After two laps he had three seconds on Stapleton, who then lost second to Shimoda. Lawrence went by Stapleton shortly thereafter in the whoops. Championship leader, Colt Nichols, was by himself in fourth after also going by Stapleton. With just under a minute remaining Lawrence got around Shimoda for second, but there would be no catching Mosiman, who’d long since checked out and had about seven seconds on Lawrence with two laps remaining. Mosiman took the win, with the remaining transfer spots going to Lawrence, Shimoda, Nichols, Thomas Do, Josh Osby, Stapleton, Logan Karnow, and Josh Varize.

450SX Heat Race One

Eli Tomac took command immediately in the first 450SX heat race, followed by Marvin Muquin, Ken Roczen, and Malcolm Stewart. With one lap down Roczen came skidding up the inside of Musquin and took away his line to make the pass. Stewart slid by Musquin shortly after too, and just like that, the top four got pretty spread out. Max Anstie, Joey Savatgy, and Broc Tickle were embroiled in a pretty intense battle for fifth, but Savatgy gained control of the situation when he pulled alongside Anstie in a rhythm lane and shut the door on him in the ensuing corner. That slowed Anstie up enough to allow Tickle by as well. Tomac would go on to take an unchallenged win, with Roczen, Stewart, Musquin, Savatgy, Tickle, Anstie, Benny Bloss, and of course, Kyle Chisholm, filling the remaining transfer spots.

450SX Heat Race Two

Justin Barcia nearly pulled the holeshot in this one but it was Jason Anderson who snuck into the lead. Cooper Webb and Aaron Plessinger held second and third ahead of Barcia, who ended up fourth off the start. Webb soon was all over Anderson but was having a hard time making a move stick. While they battled Plessinger lurked in third, just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Behind them a battle was raging between Barcia and Chase Sexton. Time and time again Sexton was next to Barcia, or just inches from being able to make a pass in a corner, but just couldn’t quite get it done. The top six had bunched up too, and when the checkers flew Anderson won, but had less than a second in front of Dylan Ferrandis, who finished sixth. That’s a tight race! Anderson, Webb, Plessinger, Barcia, Sexton, Ferrandis, Dean Wilson, Tyler Bowers, and Fredrik Noren filled all nine transfer spots.

250SX LCQ

Hunter Schlosser nabbed the all-important holeshot in the 250SX LCQ, followed by Cedric Soubeyras, Robbie Wageman, Enzo Lopes and Coty Schock. Things changed quickly from there, with Soubeyras moving into the lead, while Lopes, Schock, and Dilan Schwartz moved into qualifying spots. But then Soubeyras went down! Fortunately for him he was able to remount quickly and held onto fourth. He had Mitchell Harrison all over him though, and it looked as though Harrison was going to be able to take the spot. But Harrison rushed a move up the inside on a right-hander, hit Soubeyras, and went down. That was it for Harrison. Lopes won, followed by Schwartz, Schock, and Neese.

450SX LCQ

Joan Cros holeshot the 450SX LCQ, but he had Justin Starling, Alex Ray, and Theodore Pauli right behind him. Not too far back was Nick Schmidt. Starling wasted no time and sliced his way by Cros and checked out. Back in the battle for transfer spots, Alex Ray had moved into second, while Cade Clason had fought his way into fourth. Henry Miller, who’d gotten a bad start, was on a mission and was slashing his way forward. He was closing rapidy on Clason on the final lap, and had he had just one more lap, probably would have gotten into a qualifying spot, but he ran out of time Starling won, with Ray, Cros, and Clason taking the remaining three transfer spots.

250SX Main Event

There was a pileup on the start in this one, which includedd Michael Mosiman and several other riders, but it didn’t have an effect on the championship leaders, as Colt Nichols nailed the holeshot and Justin Cooper started in about sixth. As the race started to unfold Nichols found himself in the safest place there is—up front and all alone. About a second-and-a-half back were Seth Hammaker, Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence, and Cameron McAdoo. Cooper had dropped back to about ninth, where he seemed content to circulate. Up front Jett Lawrence had gotten around Hammaker. Hunter Lawrence tried to put a move on the inside of Hammaker about a lap later but laid it down trying. With the race approaching the halfway point most of the racers were spread out, and there wasn’t a whole lot of action happening. That changed when McAdoo caught up to Hammaker. He didn’t waste any time stalking him and just dove hard to the inside and took over the spot. Hunter Lawrence, meanwhile, had caught back up to them and was only a couple of bike lengths off Hammaker. As soon as the opportunity was there, Hunter Lawrence pounced and went after McAdoo, knowing that if he passed him, he’d take second in the championship.

Up front, meanwhile, Jett Lawrence had inched up to Nichols. When he got close enough he threw a move on him and took the lead, prompting a loud roar from the crowd. Nichols, understandably, didn’t put up much of a fight—the championship was still firmly within his grasp. The battle between Hunter Lawrence and McAdoo was starting to heat up at this point. Lawrence wasn’t rushing it, but you could tell he was riding with some urgency, intent on getting the job done. When McAdoo bobbled in a turn leading into the straightaway on the final lap, Lawrence zipped by and took over third. Jett Lawrence won, with Nichols, Hunter Lawrence, McAdoo, and Hammaker filling out the top five. The Lawrence brothers celebrated afterward by lining up their front wheels, nose to nose, and doing burnouts for the crowd. Congrats to Nichols and Cooper, who, as expected, secured their respective 250SX titles.

450SX Main Event

Ken Roczen kept his hope alive by taking the holeshot in this one, but he had none other than Cooper Webb right on his tail. Webb wasn’t playing it safe, either, and immediately went to work on Roczen, showing him a wheel in the corners and trying to sneak up the inside. Roczen wasn’t having it, however, and fought back. Rozen’s teammate, Chase Sexton, was in fourth behind Marvin Musquin this whole time, but was able to get by Musquin and start pressuring Webb, which took some of the heat off Roczen, who quickly gained a couple bike lengths when Sexton joined the fray. Then Sexton smashed through the whoops at approximately Mach 9 and blew by Webb to take second. Sexton held second for a while, but after a few laps he went by his teammate and started checking out. No team orders here!

Justin Barcia and Jason Anderson were having quite a battle in this one, but something must have happened to Anderson or his bike because he pulled off with about thirteen minutes remaining and went back to the pits.

With the race approaching the halfway mark, Sexton had nearly two seconds on Roczen, who had about one second on Webb in third. As the laps wore on Roczen’s gap on Webb stayed pretty stable, but Sexton continued to slowly get away from everyone. Then suddenly, in an instant, Webb was all over Roczen again, and this time he made a move stick when he dove to the inside of Roczen and bumped him out of the way. Musquin was right there to take advantage, and Roczen was unable to go back after Webb because Musquin was in the way. Roczen continued to slide too, losing another spot to Dylan Ferrandis, then, Malcolm Stewart, Aaron Plessinger, Joey Savatgy, and Justin Barcia.

Up front Sexton still led, but Webb, just as he’s done so many times this season at the end of the race, closed the gap out of nowhere and took the lead from Sexton. Musquin also closed on Sexton, but wasn’t able to get around him with the same quickness as Webb had. Musquin persisted though, and after several laps was able to get by and into second. Webb took the win, and his second 450SX Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, while Musquin, Sexton, Ferrrandis, and Stewart rounded out the top five.