In the premier class, Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton continues to lead the standings as he enters today with a seven-point lead over Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac. Sexton has finished either first or second in nine out of the first ten motos (one fourth-place finish at the Thunder Valley National), but now Tomac has claimed three of the last four moto wins and the last two overall wins. In the 50 years of Pro Motocross, the first rider to claim two overall wins has won the title 30 times. In his three 450 Class Pro Motocross title seasons, Tomac was the first to two overall wins only once (2018). Tomac said last week he was looking forward to this track as he does well here and enjoys the brutal conditions it typically brings. Sexton has avoided the mistakes that have cost him in previous years and looks strong and confident. This championship is about to get good as we hit today’s halfway mark. Honda HRC’s German native Ken Roczen finished on the overall podium here last year with 4-2 finishes and his first-lap proficiency has been on display this year. The #94 could get out front, lead laps, and contest for the win. Justin Barcia also landed on the overall podium here last year and his all-out riding ability will bode well with the track today. Jason Anderson has not had great results when it comes to finishes but he has shown incredible speed this year coming through the field. If he gets a start today, he could very well contest for the win as well. Max Anstie had clutch issues last weekend but the recently-signed Honda rider will be one to watch today. The 450 Class is going first today (due to NBC’s broadcast schedule), so do not be surprised to see a local Massachusetts/Connecticut native qualify well this morning having an upper hand practicing with this terrain all the time.

In the 250 Class, Jett Lawrence handed over the points lead to his brother Hunter Lawrence when the defending champion’s bike expired last weekend in the first moto. Hunter Lawrence now enters today with the points lead for the first time ever in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship as he sits seven points ahead of little bro. The sand circuit was the site of Hunter’s maiden overall win in 2021 with a big 1-1 day and he said yesterday he was excited to go racing. You know Jett Lawrence will bring it all today as he looks to get back the points lead and redeem himself after a tough go here last year when he collided with Jalek Swoll. The font First-time winner from last weekend Jo Shimoda sits third in the standings, 36 points behind the Australian brothers. Shimoda earned his maiden overall podium finish here in 2021 with 3-4 moto finishes. He said he has a raised confidence level after qualifying fastest last week, getting a good (first) gate pick, his maiden moto win, and charging through the pack in moto two. Ty Masterpool rode well at the RedBud National and could be a rider to watch here today.

As mentioned, the 450 Class will be first today as the first moto will be broadcasted live on NBC. Check out the full broadcast/streaming schedule below.

Who will take home the big trophies today? Let us know in the comments section below!

First Qualifying Sessions

450 Class

Max Anstie had the first fast lap with a 2:09.086 but Eli Tomac barely took over P1 with a 2:09.019. Ken Roczen was the only other rider to get under the 2:10 mark with a 2:09.712.

250 Class

In the first 250 Class A session, it was four Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing riders at the top of the board: Justin Cooper, Nick Romano, Levi Kitchen, and Nate Thrasher lead Jalek Swoll on the board. A few moments into the session, Jett Lawrence and Michael Mosiman jumped to second and third behind Cooper. On the fifth lap, Jett Lawrence laid down a 2:09.153, which topped the session over his brother Hunter's 2:10.525 and Justin Cooper's 2:10.802.

Second Qualifying Sessions

450 Class

In the second 450 B session, local Benjamin Robinson took the top time of the session with a 2:19.706 on his Suzuki RM-Z450.

With the rough track continuing to evolve, the times from the first session stood faster than the times in the second session. In this session, Ryan Dungey was fastest early on with a 2:10.357. Ken Roczen (2:10.220) and Ken Roczen (2:10.091) put down heaters. Near the end of the session, Jason Anderson put down a 2:09.525, which topped the session. But, as expected, Eli Tomac’s 2:09.019 from the first session stood as the top time of the day. That is Tomac's second consecutive fastest qualifier this in a row. We could be in for another dominating, beast mode day from ET3. Max Anstie’s 2:09.086 from the first session stood second-best ahead of Anderson (2:09.525), Ken Roczen (2:09.712), and Chase Sexton (2:10.024).

Henry Miller had a get off, near the back section by the finish line, slamming down on his shoulder. He eventually got up and rode off on the side of his track on his own power. A few laps later, local Chris Canning suffered a get off of his own in the rough final turn. Canning was thrown off the track and got caught in the fence on the side of the track. Fans helped him get his bike unstuck and he got going again. Canning qualified sixth overall. Check out Canning's get off below:

Privateer Tyler Stepek also qualified inside the top 15 as he finished 14th with a 2:12.569. Massachusetts local Justin Cokinos qualified an impressive 21st on his GasGas MC 450F with a 2:14.439 and Connecticut’s Travis Delnicki qualified 28th overall after a 2:15.271. Luke Renzland qualified 32nd overall on a Husqvarna TC 250.

250 Class

In the second 250 A qualifying session, Jett Lawrence took the top spot by over a second: a 2:11.063 to Justin Cooper’s 2:12.475. Levi Kitchen was third in the session with a 2:12.524 ahead of RJ Hampshire (2:14.357), Nick Romano (2:14.376 6), Jo Shimoda (2:14.390), Seth Hammaker (2:14.514), Hunter Lawrence (2:14.547), Max Vohland (2:14.594), and Stilez Robertson (2:14.923). Similar to the 450 Class, the times from the first session did not improve because of the beat up track. Jett Lawrence’s 2:09.153 stood as the top qualifying time, and he now becomes the first repeat fastest qualifier after the first five rounds saw five different overall qualifiers.

First Motos

450 Class

The gates dropped on the first 450 Class moto of the day and it was Ken Roczen doing his typical first-lap beast mode, pulling the holeshot and early race lead. Behind him was Christian Craig, Ryan Dungey, Chase Sexton, and Chris Canning as Eli Tomac was around tenth early. In turn one, Jason Anderson, Alex Martin, and a couple of other riders all went down in turn one. Anderson got up and began charging. He would eventually make it to eighth at the checkered flag. Roczen led the first two laps before Craig took over the lead. Tomac made is way to third and then suddenly on the next lap came through in the lead! Craig and Roczen were both bumped back on spot as Dungey and Max Anstie rode solid behind them. Canning dropped back several spots before eventually finishing 12th. Justin Barcia was up to eighth before he went down and then accidentally got clipped by Joey Savatgy as he tried to get up. Barcia remounted, knocked his hand guard back into place and charged to a 13th-place finish. Roczen came through sixth, Aaron Plessinger seventh, Anderson eighth, Joey Savatgy ninth, and Benny Bloss rounded out the top ten. Cullin Park rode to a solid 15th-place finish after a good start allowed him to follow the front group for a majority of the moto. Martin charged to a 16th-place finish and Tyler Stepek came through 17th. Shout-out to Marshal Weltin, who went down in the beginning stages of the race, then went down again while dead last before finishing strong and coming through in 26th. It does not appear to be a good ride but given being dead last and stuck under his bike, his finish was solid. Jerry Robin was inside the top ten early but only completed eight laps, officially scoring 38th.

250 Class

The gate dropped on the first 250 Class moto of the day it was the #1 who grabbed the holeshot and the early race lead. The Honda HRC rider led Justin Cooper, Nick Romano, RJ Hampshire, Jalek Swoll, and Jo Shimoda. Hunter Lawrence found himself out of the top ten off the start. Jett Lawrence started to open up a gap on the field—six seconds over Cooper as it appeared he was going to run away with an easy race win. But at the end of the third lap, Jett tipped over in the turn before the finish line, erasing his six-second gap as Cooper went past to take over the lead. A lap later, Cooper with a mistake while riding on the edge of the track, which allowed Jett Lawrence to reclaim the race lead.

Hampshire managed to get around Romano to take over third as Shimoda moved up to fifth after a pass on Swoll. Hunter Lawrence had gotten up to eighth until he got cross rutted and went down in the middle of the track on a blind jump landing. When he went to get up he got hit by two riders, but barely avoided getting clobbered! He grabbed his bike and got going again! He remounted, sans visor, and was in 16th.

Around the halfway mark, Jett Lawrence opened the gap on Cooper back up to three seconds. Shimoda dropped a 2:16.316—the second fastest lap of the race behind the #1—and he passed Hampshire to take over third place. Then, Shimoda sent it and got around Cooper to take over second place! The #30 kept pushing and pushing and closed the gap to the #1 down to about 2.2 seconds as Hampshire moved around Cooper. Shimoda got within two seconds of Jettson, but not close enough to make a pass attempt. Hunter Lawrence with a great move around Max Vohland to move up to eighth. Jett Lawrence claimed his sixth moto win of the season. Michael Mosiman came from far back to finish fifth. Levi Kitchen was outside of the top 15 early but eventually finished eighth. Late, Hunter Lawrence passed Robertson to claim seventh, although his younger brother claimed the moto win and points lead.

Second Motos

450 Class

The second 450 Class moto was a duplicate of the first moto as once again, Ken Roczen gabbed the holeshot ahead of Christin Craig. Aaron Plessinger was in third but quickly took over second. Eli Tomac was charging but his teammate Craig accidentally moved over in front of the #3, who clipped Craig’s rear fender while landing but somehow stayed up. The next lap Tomac made a pass stick as they came to the top hill turn closest to the paddock. Anderson made his way up to fourth as he continued to rip around the course at full throttle. Sexton followed the #21 past Craig as well.

On the seventh lap, Tomac got by Plessinger to take over second and then went after Roczen, who was only about half a second ahead of him at that point. ET3 made quick work of Roczen and started to click off laps out front with clean air. Plessinger pushed to the inside of Roczen, moving into P2. Sexton moved into fourth ahead of Anderson. With about two minutes left in the race, Tomac had a near ten-second gap over Plessinger, as Sexton finally made a move around his teammate Roczen to take over P3 as they came through past the mechanics’ area. Sexton was not doing though. With three laps to go, Sexton put in a 2:18 to Tomac’s 2:21.4 and Plessinger’s 2:22.4, starting to put pressure on the #7 and limit the points loss from Tomac. Sexton used the long, sweeping left-hand turn back in the section ahead of the finish line to finally make a move on Plessinger! The move from the #23 was big because it allowed him to keep the points lead by just a single point over Tomac! Tomac, who has excelled at this track in the past, dominated the day with 1-1 finishes to claim his fifth consecutive moto win in a row and his third consecutive overall win in a row. Roczen claimed fourth ahead of Anstie, Anderson, Dungey, Craig, Barcia, and Bloss.

250 Class

The gate dropped on the final moto of the day as Jett Lawrence just edged out Justin Cooper for the holeshot. Jettson took over the lead as Levi Kitchen snuck into second on the inside of Cooper in the third turn. Jett was on it but Kitchen was all over the rear fender of the #1! Kitchen put down a 2:18.228, which was the fastest first full lap of the field. Jettson started to open up a slight gap on the #59, as they ran with about a second and a half between them.

Jo Shimoda began charging at Stilez Robertson, who had another great start on his Husqvarna FC 250. Shimoda pulled off a successful pass on Robertson to move into fourth.

Matthew LeBlanc must have gone down because he was being carted off on the back of the Alpinestars medical cart.

After battling for a few laps, Shimoda finally pulled the trigger on a pass on the #32, which moved him to third in the race and second overall on the day.

RJ Hampshire took advantage of a lapped rider to get by Hunter Lawrence to take over sixth. Then, the #96 had pressure from Nate Thrasher. Hampshire got around his teammate Robertson in the turn before the finish line as he moved his #24 machine into fifth.

Late in the race Thrasher made a move on Robertson to take over sixth as he blasted past the #50 as they swooped past the mechanics’ area and following two rollers.

Out front, Jett Lawrence claimed the moto win and his 1-1 scores gave him the overall win, his fifth overall win in the first six rounds. Jett Lawrence will now reclaim possession of the championship lead as he leaves the day 15 points ahead of his older brother.

Kitchen held on for second place (8-2 finishes for fourth overall), as Shimoda claimed third in the race (2-3 finishes for second overall), and Cooper claimed fourth in the race and third overall on the day. Hampshire’s 4-5 gave him fifth overall. Hunter Lawrence came through eighth in the moto.