As for today’s action, free practice will kick off shortly and will lead in with the final race of the Supercross Futures this year. The big names like Ryder DiFrancesco, Chance Hymas, Gavin Towers, and more are all here to contest for the winner take all championship tonight. Of course, it’s also an East/West Showdown tonight as well which means we will see separate East and West practice and qualifying sessions as well as separate heat races tonight.

Maybe the biggest story still ongoing this season is that of the 250SX West title fight between Monster Energy/Star Yamaha Racing’s Christian Craig and Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence. Craig holds a large 18-point lead over Lawrence in the standings which essentially means he would need to crash out with Lawrence winning to claim the title. Even so, Lawrence’s Honda HRC teammate and brother Jett who has already wrapped up the 250SX East title explained that he would do what he can to help out his brother this evening given his title chase is over.

The 450SX title is already wrapped up as well after Eli Tomac claimed the title a round early last week in Denver. Tomac, who injured his knee in a heat race in Atlanta, will sit out the final round here tonight to nurse the injury and prepare for Lucas Oil Pro Motocross. That leaves the door open for someone else to win the finale and it could be either Malcolm Stewart, Justin Barcia, or Marvin Musquin who are all still fighting for third in the championship. There should be at least some fireworks here tonight!

FREE PRACTICE

After the Supercross Futures and then the overflow 250SX practices kicked things off, it was the 250SX West guys who hit the track first. The track was holding water well and looked to be in great shape for these first sessions.

Christian Craig ended up firing first on the day as he would go fastest in 250SX West with a 48.514. His time was just under two tenths faster than Hunter Lawrence who laid down a 48.688. Garrett Marchbanks had a huge crash at the end of the session when he went down at the end of the whoops. He remained on the ground until the session ended when he was helped off the track on his feet to the Alpinestars Medical Mule. No update on his conditions at this time.

Jett Lawrence and the 250SX East contingent was next to hit the track and Lawrence found his way to the top of the sheets in both the session and overall as well with a 48.087. Lawrence did have a bit of a moment at the end of the whoops early on in the session and he was working in the track but settled in nicely to find a good flow. Enzo Lopes and Austin Forkner would round out the top three positions.

The 450SX A Group headed out for their Free Practice and Jason Anderson would lead the field around. Anderson is coming off three consecutive race victories and seems to be better than ever. As he looks to make it four in a row tonight, he went to the top of the sheets with a 47.554. Sexton was second quickest with a 47.775 as he and Anderson were the only two riders to dip down into the 47s.

FIRST QUALIFYING SESSIONS

As the first timed sessions began, the 250 East group would go first this time and it was a neat surprise to see Enzo Lopes shoot to the top of the board. Lopes’ 48.042 was the fastest 250SX time of the day to this point and is certainly a bright spot for ClubMX Yamaha who had Marchbanks go down in Free Practice and then Jace Owen went down in the first 250SX East qualifying session.

Christian Craig followed up the East session with another top time of his own as he laid down a 48.028 to shoot to the top of the 250SX West session. Hunter Lawrence was second fastest behind him again but there was a little but more of a gap as Lawrence’s 48.394 left him three tenths down of Craig in West.

The first 450SX qualifying session of the day turned into a bit of a lap time war with Jason Anderson and Chase Sexton as Anderson spent most of the time at the top of the board but Sexton was able to take it from him late in the session. Anderson fired back on his final timed lap of the session to go fastest with a 46.803. Anderson and Sexton, just like in the first session, were the only two riders to dip into the 46 second range this time through.

SECOND QUALIFYING SESSIONS

The West group was first to hit the track in the final qualifying runs of the day and Hunter Lawrence was looking for just a bit more to knock Christian Craig off the top spot. Craig actually fell at one point during the session when he tucked the front end before the short rhythm lane out of the first corner complex. Hunter Lawrence would run a time of 47.998 to move to the top of the board but Craig would come back late in the session and snag the top spot at the end of qualifying.

Austin Forkner was on top of the 250SX East qualifying early on, but the real story was Jett Lawrence pulling out of the session before it really even started with an apparent leg injury. Lawrence had crashed heavily right at the end of the first qualifying session, and it was announced after the session that Jett Lawrence would not race tonight as he nurses a tweaked ankle.

Mitchell Oldenburg then went to the top of the board next as he laid down a 47.667. That was the fastest time between the two sessions on the day and would be good enough to help Oldenburg qualify fastest in the 250SX East. Austin Forkner and Pierce Brown would go second and third fastest, respectively.

In the final 450SX A group session of the day, Chase Sexton went to the top of the board first as he laid down a 47.768 right at the beginning of the session. Malcolm Stewart went down early as well when he slid out coming into the rhythm section after the finish, but he would remount quickly and continue.

Jason Anderson would lay down a blistering 46.187 lap with a couple minutes to go and that time would be good enough to hold onto the top spot. Marvin Musquin and Chase Sexton would both be right in the mix throughout the session as well, but neither rider could match Anderson’s time.

250 WEST HEAT RACE

Christian Craig shot out to the holeshot in the opening heat race of the night as Hunter Lawrence did not get out of the gate very well and was buried down in sixth spot. Chris Blose was in second place early on but Nate Thrasher made the move to get into second place on the third lap of the race.

Dominique Thury ran in fourth place and had Hunter Lawrence starting to close down from behind. Michael Mosiman was also down the order early on but had found his way into a transfer spot as he moved up to eighth.

Craig’s lead extended out to over five seconds as he settled into cruise control a bit for the final half of the race. Lawrence was slowly working his way up to Thury for fourth but went down after the finish line jump and fell back behind Carson Brown to seventh. Mosiman went down at the same time in the whoops and fell back to 10^th but quickly got back around Mitchell Harrison to get back into a transfer spot.

Christian Craig went on to win the heat race ahead of Nate Thrasher, Chris Blose, Jo Shimoda, and Dominique Thury. Hunter Lawrence would come home in seventh place after crashing around the halfway point.

250 EAST HEAT RACE

Mitchell Oldenburg grabbed the holeshot in the heat race ahead of Austin Forkner. Pierce Brown crashed on the first lap before the whoops and was dead last early on. After making a few passes, he crashed again and would find himself well behind the final transfer spots.

RJ Hampshire also had an early crash and was down in 11^th place after picking himself up. Max Miller sat on the bubble spot in the early running behind Hardy Munoz. Hampshire needed to make up about four seconds while Brown was over 10 seconds behind the final spot at the halfway mark.

Austin Forkner was able to get after Oldenburg out front and eventually make the pass for the lead with a couple laps to go. Hardy Munoz crashed out of eighth place and Hampshire was able to get around Max Miller as well which pushed him up to the eighth position.

Forkner would go on to take the race victory ahead of Oldenburg, Enzo Lopes, Jordon Smith, and Jace Owen.

450 HEAT 1

Cooper Webb grabbed the holeshot in the opening 450 heat race of the night with Marvin Musquin and Malcolm Stewart right behind him. Alex Ray was down early on and would pull off the track and head back to the mechanics area.

The top three opened up the gap on the rest of the field rather early but it was Benny Bloss holding on to fourth place just ahead of Justin Brayton. Bryson Gardner rounded out the transfer spots in the early running as he was latching on to Cade Clason ahead of him.

Webb led for a few laps before Musquin started putting pressure on him and eventually, he was able to make the pass stick before the second rhythm lane in the middle of the track. Musquin’s jump line through the whoops was gaining him time as well and he opened up a bit of a gap on Webb behind him.

Musquin went on to win the heat race ahead of Webb, Stewart, Brayton, and Bloss.

450 HEAT 2

Jason Anderson holeshot the final heat race of the night ahead of Chase Sexton and Justin Barcia. Barcia and Sexton went back and forth a bit before Barcia secured the spot, but he didn’t hold too much of an advantage and Sexton continued to tail hm. Justin Starling and Kyle Chisholm rounded out the top five positions while Logan Karnow held a health advantage in the final transfer spot.

The rest of the race stayed pretty status quo as Anderson cruised to the win ahead of Barcia and Sexton as the trio out front put a big gap on the rest of the pack. Starling and Chisholm completed the top five as Brandon Hartranft, Alex Martin, Austin Politelli, and Logan Karnow going to the main event.

250 LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER

Pierce Brown grabbed the holeshot in the LCQ ahead of Mitchell Harrison. Michael Mosiman started in seventh but was up into fifth behind Geran Stapleton before long. Stapleton bobbled and Mosiman shot through to go into the fourth and final transfer spot.

Brown continued to extend his lead while Harrison, Cullin Park, and Mosiman. Derek Kelley went down out of fifth spot and there was suddenly a huge gap. Mosiman and Park both worked around Harrison and then held position as Brown took the win ahead of Mosiman, Park, and Harrison.

450 LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER

Justin Rodbell got out front in the 450SX LCQ ahead of Jeremy Hand as they tried to sprint away from the pack. John Short ran in third place as he was trying to maintain a distance behind him with Kevin Moranz behind him in fourth.

Short fell coming to the white flag and took Moranz and Tristan Lane down with him. When they all got up, Moranz was in third with Ryan Surratt now in the fourth and final transfer spot. Lane got close but, in the end, Surratt would hold on for the final spot. Rodbell took the win from Jeremy Hand and Kevin Moranz.

SUPERCROSS FUTURES MAIN EVENT

Ryder DiFrancesco got the holeshot in the Futures main event, but Chance Hymas was quickly able to move into second place. Gavin Towers was down in third place, but the front two battle was on right away.

Hymas snuck up behind DiFrancesco and stole the lead away after he ripped through the inside line in the sand. DiFrancesco fought back down the inside before the whoops, but Hymas was able to hold it on around the outside and keep the lead going into the finish line.

DiFrancesco then made a couple small mistakes and the gap opened up in a hurry to over five seconds. Hymas was able to cruise it home on the last lap of the race to take the Supercross Futures win in Salt Lake City.

250 MAIN EVENT

Hunter Lawrence grabbed the holeshot in the 250SX main event with Christian Craig right behind him in second. Nate Thrasher passed Craig right away but let him go back through before the whoops to give his teammate the better positioning.

Thrasher followed Craig for a couple of laps but then decided he had the pace to perhaps run Lawrence down out front, so he passed Craig for second. Sure enough, he immediately started reeling Lawrence in for the race lead and made the pass stick on the fourth lap of the race.

Things settled in for a couple of laps before Christian Craig slid out right before the finish line jump and lost a few places. He was able to pick it up still in sixth place and quickly made a move on Austin Forkner to get back into the top five.

Craig seemed to make a couple mistakes and decided to back it down a bit which allowed Jo Shimoda to reel him in and pass him back. Craig continued to look back as Austin Forkner caught back up to Craig and Craig just let him go by before the whoops.

Craig late let Michael Mosiman go by for seventh as Craig was simply just trying to relax and bring home the championship. The battle for the win was heating up though as Lawrence caught Thrasher for the lead and the battle commenced.

Thrasher continued to make mistakes in the whoops and Lawrence was sensing and opportunity to pounce for the lead. Pierce Brown was closing up as well and it was nearly a three-rider battle for the lead. Despite the mistakes, Thrasher was just holding on as the white flag waved and Lawrence made one last dash to try to get the lead away.

In the end, Thrasher held on for his first win of the year and the third of his career. Christian Craig would cross the line in eighth place to claim the 2022 250SX West championship.

450 MAIN EVENT

Justin Bogle grabbed the holeshot in the final main event of the year ahead of Jason Anderson and Cooper Webb. Chase Sexzton and Justin Barcia were both right up there as well. Webb tried to make a pass on Anderson for second and Anderson stuffed him which allowed Sexton to split them.

Anderson then made the pass on Bogle before the second lap was over and Sexton followed suit as they moved into first and second place. Bogle continued to get shuffled backwards as Webb, Barcia, Malcolm Stewart, and Marvin Musquin all moved by him in the next few laps.

Webb started to get shuffled back as well as both Barcia and Stewart passed him and then Musquin started to reel him in as well. Musquin and Webb exchanged the fifth position several times before eventually Musquin actually put an aggressive pass on Webb to make the pass stick.

Nearly simultaneously, Justin Barcia and Malcolm Stewart started to battle it out for third place. It was also a bit of a battle for third in the championship as Barcia was trying to take enough points away from Stewart to get the third spot.

Barcia threw it in on Stewart for the spot and put Malcolm on the ground in the process shuffling Stewart back to sixth behind Webb. Stewart then started to put on a charge and was fueled by the crowd as well. He got around Webb, then took a little bit of time before he got around Musquin as well. Then he just methodically clicked the time down as the laps continued to wind down and caught him with a couple laps to go.

He was just far enough back to not make an attempt for the position but after a late mistake, he just wasn’t close enough in the end and Barcia held on for third. The crowd booed massively after Barcia crossed the line, but the silver lining is that Stewart would still maintain third in the championship with his fourth-place finish.

Jason Anderson held on for his seventh win of the season over Chase Sexton as Barcia completed the final podium of the season.