Saturday Night Live: RedBud

“It was a great day for us,” Tomac said. “From practice, we had super good starts in both motos, the first moto start especially. Second one I was close and then Justin obviously came out of the inside in that second one. Just a good day. It was a fun track to ride this time. I think the prep was pretty good here. The whoops were harder, the sand whoops. It was nice to do the Leap this year. There’s been a couple years where there’s only one guy jumping it or two guys jumping it, so we got to do that. Yeah, not much to say. It was just a great day for us.”

Joey Savatgy rode to a career-best 450 Class moto finish to date with a third place in the first moto. He was running second for a majority of the moto but was caught by Sexton.

Despite Sexton losing some points to second place in the standings Tomac, the #23 was satisfied with his riding.

“My starts [today] weren’t horrible, but they definitely weren’t great, especially when Eli is starting in second place or getting holeshots,” Sexton said. “So, that was tough. My starts weren’t horrible, it just made my life difficult. The 450 class is so stacked that you have to go through some good riders. The first moto, it took me a while to get going and kind of halfway through my tear offs broke. So, I was just like bobbling out there a little bit but finally got some groove going and got into second, but Eli was long gone by that point. Second moto, it wasn’t a bad start but not a great start. I was riding pretty good. I felt like Jason and I were battling there a little bit and he ended up going down and I ran into him and fell over. After that though, I think that actually made me a little bit mad, so I clicked up a gear and really put in a good charge I felt like. That’s probably the best I’ve felt all year was that second moto so that’s a positive.”

Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas’s Justin Barcia rounded out the podium in moto two and the overall podium after 8-3 finishes. He crashed hard in the big uphill rollers but was still charging hard—and sending LaRocco’s Leap—with bent up bars.

“It was a wild day,” Barcia said. “It feels great to be back on the podium. It’s been way too long. We’ve been working really hard, so it’s easy to get down on yourself. But I stayed motivated, and the boys made some big changes before the first moto today and everything just kind of clicked. I was having a good first moto and I had a big crash and rode it into eighth which was frustrating, but it was honestly probably the best ride I’ve had all year like comfort-wise. Second moto was good. Freight train behind me was coming so I had to stay on it. It feels fantastic to be up here with the guys. It’s been a while, so I’m looking forward to keeping this train going.”

Jason Anderson went down in the first turn of moto one but charged to an incredible seventh place finish. He went down once in the second moto and collected Sexton as well. Anderson’s 7-4 earned him fourth overall on the day. Roczen eventually faded to seventh by the checkered flag in moto two, finishing 4-7 for fifth overall.

Ryan Dungey went 6-5 for seventh on his KTM 450 SX-F and Yamaha’s Christian Craig finished 5-6 for an unusual eighth place overall. Aaron Plessinger (9-8 for ninth overall) and Marshal Weltin (10-12 for tenth overall) rounded out the top ten overall. In his debut with the Fire Power Parts Honda Racing team, Max Anstie suffered bike issues that cost him the day. The #34 was battling inside the top ten early in the race and had made his way into fifth but his engine gave out around the halfway mark, and he did not finish, recording 37th officially. Unfortunately, the team was unable to get the issue fixed and he did not start the second moto.

As mentioned, Sexton continues to lead the standings by seven over Tomac. Roczen sits in third, 23 points behind Tomac.

In the 250 Class, there was quite a shakeup in results. The Lawrence brothers picked up where they left off at the last round in Pennsylvania—and where they have been basically all summer—in first and second early. Hunter grabbed the holeshot ahead of Jett and Jo Shimoda. It appeared we were in for yet another race with Hunter and Jett finished first and second, but Shimoda was not going anywhere. Jett got into the lead as his and Hunter's lined formed one and the older brother eased up to avoid contact. Unfortunately, on the tenth lap, Jett’s bike cut out. Suddenly, he was off the side of the track and and began pushing his bike back to the pits!

Hunter inherited the lead with Shimoda right on his tail. Shimoda overtook Hunter for P1, and Hunter would eventually drop back as Shimoda took his maiden Pro Motocross moto win (Hunter said afterwards he heard the tune of his bike change and saw Jett pushing his bike and backed it down so he was not pushing his bike back to the pits alongside his brother!). With the #96 backing it down, Shimoda took the moto win by over 21 seconds. Hunter Lawrence claimed second as Stilez Robertson claimed third. Robertson had a great start (inside the top five) and rode well to claim his maiden Pro Motocross moto podium. The mechanical DNF after only nine laps gave Jett Lawrence 35th officially—way out of points-paying positions. Hunter Lawrence, who entered the day 12 points behind his little brother, suddenly had the points lead. Later, he would say the situation was bittersweet.

In the second race, it was rookie Ryder DiFrancesco who grabbed the holeshot but in the second turn he was shuffled back as his teammate Seth Hammaker quickly got to the lead in the second turn as Ty Masterpool snuck into second around DiFrancesco. However, just as quickly as Hammaker went into the lead, he crashed out of the lead. As the #47 hit the double exiting the fourth turn, he washed the front end and got ejected from his bike upon takeoff! The Kawasaki rider was not injured in the crash as he remounted and eventually finished 15th (5-15 for 11th overall on the day). Out front, Masterpool was leading but he was under fire from Hunter Lawrence. Then, the two were battling for the race lead.

Moto one winner Shimoda went down on the first lap when RJ Hampshire went down and collected Shimoda and Justin Cooper. Shimoda going and kept clicking off position after position as Masterpool continued to put up a fight with Hunter Lawrence as Jett Lawrence was outside the top five on the start. But the #1 was charging as well. Hunter Lawrence made his way into the lead and quickly Jett Lawrence was in second. Masterpool ran third and third-place finisher from the first moto Robertson was sitting in fourth ahead of DiFrancesco. Shimoda kept fighting and shaking up the overall podium with each position he gained. Levi Kitchen made his way into third, but Shimoda caught and passed the #59 for the final spot on the podium. With Shimoda jumping into third place, his 1-3 finishes would give him the overall if he could hold on. Jett Lawrence got redemption as he took the race win over his brother with Shimoda coming home for third. The 1-3 finishes held up to give the Japanese native his first career Pro Motocross overall win.

“I had a good start [in the first moto],” Shimoda said. “That’s all I was looking for at first. And after that, I think I was behind Hunter for a little bit and Jett passed me but his bike obviously broke. I wanted to battle with him too, but you can’t do much about it. But I never gave up and kept pushing and pushing and I’m happy to take my first win.”

Hunter Lawrence captured second overall with his 2-2 finishes. After five full rounds, the #96 leads the 250 Class points standings by seven over his brother.

“It was an interesting day,” said Hunter Lawrence. “It’s funny because it’s like such a bittersweet feeling for me right now to leave with the red plate, but in my eyes, the first moto was not a blessing, but we got really lucky with the fact I was able to nurse the bike home and not push it off the track. So, that was kind of like, ‘Phew, okay!’ The second moto I just really struggled. I just sucked to be honest. I was just so tight. Two-two but I just felt like there was so much more in it. But then you’re still leaving with the red plate so it’s like… they don’t come as fast as you want, and they don’t come how you want most of the time. So, a weird kind of deal and feeling for myself to be completely honest, but I’ve dreamt of this for myself for a long time.”

Hunter capitalized on the opportunity, and he will now head to the site of his first ever 1-1 and maiden overall Pro Motocross next weekend as we head to The Wick 338 in Massachusetts.

Rounding out the overall podium was Robertson, whose 3-5 gave the California native his maiden Pro Motocross finish in a career-best day.

“It was pretty crazy,” Robertson said. “First moto I got a pretty good start and tucked in behind the Lawrence brothers and stayed with them as long as I could. I got a little tight and then after that I just tried to stay there, and Jett’s bike ended up breaking and I kind of ended up third. My teammate RJ was coming at the end, so I had to empty the tank at the end, and I was like, ‘Dang, we have another one to go.’ But the second moto was good as well. I just went down and made it hard for myself. But my first podium at RedBud is special for sure.”

Hampshire’s 4-6 gave him fourth overall, Kitchen held on for fourth in the moto, but his 9-4 finishes were good enough for fifth overall, and Masterpool finished 8-8 for sixth overall.

Jett Lawrence’s 35-1 gave him ninth overall on the day. When Shimoda (third in points) gained 45 points on the weekend, and Hunter (now first in points), Jettson only gained 25 from his fifth moto win of the season. We had been seeing Jett and Hunter finishing 1-2 in the early motos of the season and some said it might be the summer of the Lawrence brothers, but now the battle is really on. Tune in next weekend for the sixth round Southwick National.