As for the 250-class championship, the red plate changed hands again last weekend at Southwick as Hunter Lawrence was only able to keep the championship lead for one round. Bad starts and crashes severely hampered the elder Lawrence brother, and the defending champion Jett Lawrence has reassumed the championship lead after a domination 1-1 performance at The Wick.

Just like Jett after his DNF in Moto 1 at RedBud, the focus this weekend is on how Hunter Lawrence will rebound following his worst round of the season. He went from seven points up to 15 points down in the blink of an eye and today could be pivotal for him to land back on the top step of the podium.

Racing will begin at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time and the 250 class will go first today as opposed to the 450 class running first the last two weekends. View the full broadcast schedule below to see how to watch today’s action.

First Qualifying Sessions

The 250 class hit the track first as bikes fired to life in the valley. The track was definitely damp as more moisture was put down into the track overnight and coupled with the rain we saw on Friday, it should keep the dirt nice and loose throughout the day.

Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas rider Pierce Brown led the field around for the first 250 A class session, but it quickly turned into a lap time war between Justin Cooper and Jett Lawrence. Lawrence had started behind everyone to allow some clear racetrack ahead of him and set the early mark.

But Cooper would fire back with a 2:08.584 later in the session to go over a second and a half faster than the championship leader. Lawrence tried a couple more hot laps on the last couple laps but Cooper’s time was just too much as he currently sits on pole position heading into the second qualifiers.

There was actually a lengthy break between the 250 A and 450 A groups as multiple bulldozers headed out to clean up some sections of the track. The off camber at the bottom of Mt. Martin and the small double before the finish line jump were two areas that they worked to clean up before the 450 class hit the track.

Eli Tomac led the field around early and put down the fastest lap at the end of the first lap. That set up an entire session where Tomac would never actually lose the top time as he continued to lower his times.

A few guys ended up getting close as first Honda HRC’s Ken Roczen fired in a 2:09.150 which was only three tenths off of Tomac’s session leading time. Joey Savatgy and Chase Sexton both dipped into the 2:09s with a 2:09.921 from Savatgy and a 2:09.972 from Sexton. But Tomac went even faster with time expiring in the session and dropped his time down to a 2:08.588. Amazingly, that’s four thousandths slower than his teammate Justin Cooper managed to run in the 250 class moments earlier. For now though, Tomac sits up top in 450 qualifying at Spring Creek.

Second Qualifying Sessions

The cloud cover remained in the air throughout the entire morning at Spring Creek which also kept the moisture in the track very well. Limited amounts of water were put down on the track between sessions and only some minor track prep was needed to keep the track in perfect condition.

As the 250 A group went out though for their second session, it appeared that the track may have slowed down as lined developed and certain areas of the track got rougher. A new trend developed though where times were extremely close as Justin Cooper went fastest again but only by a single tenth of a second over Jett Lawrence with the top seven riders all within one second of each other.

Cooper’s 2:10.341 was the top mark in Q2 but it ultimately doesn’t matter as his 2:08.584 was more than enough to hold up from the first session. So, it’s Cooper going to the line first today ahead of Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda.

In the 450 class, some minor track prep went on between sessions and Chase Sexton seemed to take note. The Honda HRC man rocketed out to the front of the pack when the green flag waved and immediately ran the fastest lap of the day at a 2:06.351.

That time was more than two seconds faster than anyone for quite some time before his teammate Ken Roczen finally dipped down to a 2:06.513. However, those two were the only two who remained in the 2:06s for the rest of the session and Sexton even backed his up with a 2:06.4 near the end of the session which was the second fastest lap of the day.

At a time when he maybe needed it the most, Sexton appears to be the clear fastest rider here today at Spring Creek. The motos are coming up here in a few hours so we’ll see if the sun which is just now starting to peak out dries out the track at all before the gates drop.

250 Moto 1

Jett Lawrence stuck his nose out over the line to grab the holeshot in the first 250 class moto of the day as he and Justin Cooper jostled for the position going through the first turn. Lawrence went on to lead the first half of lap one before Justin Cooper took the inside at the bottom of the beginning of Mt. Martin and took the lead.

Unfortunately, Cooper then laid it down from the lead just two turns later and Jett had nowhere to go and ran into him as well. Jett only ended up losing a couple position while Cooper was left to pick it up outside of the top 10. The chaos pushed Hunter Lawrence into the race lead with Seth Hammaker right behind him in second.

Hunter went to work on pulling away while Hammaker slipped back into the clutches of Jett Lawrence behind him. Within a couple of laps, Jett was able to make the move into second place and he was keen to catch his brother out front. Just two laps later, Jett was on him and made the pass for the lead going up Mt. Martin when Hunter made a small mistake on the inside.

It seemed like Jett might pull the gap out from there given how fast he caught and passed his brother, but Hunter went right back to work. Hunter watched the lines Jett was taking and started to mimic some of the lines his younger brother was doing ahead of him. They engaged in a battle once more and Hunter took the lead back away from Jett. He then opened up the lead out to a few seconds and actually had some breathing room as they settled in at the midpoint of the race.

Michael Mosiman had a crash early in the moto and would unfortunately need to pull out as he walked off under his own power. At this time, there is no update on Mosiman’s condition as to whether or not he will line up for the second moto or not.

Just past the halfway point, an epic battle for fourth place commenced as Seth Hammaker slipped back to RJ Hampshire, Nate Thrasher, Justin Cooper, and Jo Shimoda behind him. The real man on the move was Shimoda who was behind Cooper after Cooper crashed on the first lap and within a lap of catching the group, he was around all of them and into fourth place.

From there, Shimoda set sail to catch third place man Max Vohland. The Red Bull KTM rider has had a very up and down year, but he was extremely solid in the first moto of the day here. While Shimoda was hunting Vohland, Jett was hunting Hunter and caught him right as the two-lap board was displayed. Hunter was then caught out twice by lapped traffic as Jett pounced at the opportunity to take the race lead with a lap and a half to go.

Back to the Vohland/Shimoda battle and Shimoda pushed right to the end to finally make the pass on the downhill of Mt. Martin with just a few turns to go. Vohland tried to fight back in the next corner but made a small mistake and Shimoda was able to pull away for third.

Up front, the titanic battles between the brothers finished with just a half second between them as Jett Lawrence nabbed the 250 Moto 1 victory at Millville. A frustrated Hunter Lawrence was left to settle for second and he appeared none too pleased after the race.

450 Moto 1

The blue and black Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing fender of Eli Tomac emerged from a group of five riders who went into the first corner side by side as Tomac picked another holeshot in 450 Moto 1. So far this year, that has been bad news for everyone else and Tomac immediately went to work on pulling away.

Behind him, it was Joey Savatgy early on, but Savatgy coughed up the position right after the end of the first lap when he high sided onto the start straight. That shuffled Savatgy back to eighth while Chase Sexton found himself in second. From there, the chase was quite literally on for Chase as he worked to chip away the lead to Tomac.

Halfway through the second lap of the race, Ken Roczen swapped and crashed halfway up Mt. Martin which left him in a precarious position. He had to wait for the whole field to go by before he could turn his Honda around and finally got going in dead last.

Up to the front again, Sexton caught Tomac and then the two settled in as they just marked each other’s pace for the first half of the race. As the clock ticked into the second half of the race, Sexton wicked it up to close right onto Tomac and take the lead away from the Yamaha man.

Sexton would then lead for the next couple of laps and was actually pulling away from Tomac as they went through a slew of lapped traffic. Suddenly, Sexton’s front end pushed right over the inside rut at the bottom of Mt. Martin and down he went. The bike sort of slowly rolled onto his back and the rear tire hit his back while it was spinning. The tire ripped Sexton’s jersey open but didn’t seem to injure him as he quickly scrambled back to his feet.

Tomac slipped back by into the lead, and it took Sexton a while to get the bike picked up as it was upside-down in the off camber. Once he got rolling, Tomac was over 10 seconds in the lead and the battle was all but over.

It was all cruise control from that point onward for Tomac as he settled into a pace and went on to take home his sixth straight moto victory with the win in 450 Moto 1. Sexton was still able to bring it home in second while Jason Anderson rounded out the podium in third.

250 Moto 2

Off the start of the second 250 class moto of the day, it was Nick Romano who got out front early with Hunter Lawrence right behind him. Lawrence was able to take the lead and would lead over the line at the end of the first lap.

Behind him, Stilez Robertson and Jalek Swoll got together, and both went down which forced them both out of the moto. Moments later, privateer Thomas Welch also crashed and needed assistance from the medical staff. After a lap had gone by, the red flag was displayed to tend to Welch who would eventually take a ride back in the Alpinestars medical mule. Neither Welch nor Robertson or Swoll would make it back for the restart.

The restart of the moto was a full restart as not enough time had elapsed in the race to have different restart rules than a full restart. When the gates dropped again, it was Justin Cooper this time who jumped out to the lead with Jett Lawrence filing into second quickly.

Hunter Lawrence was negatively impacted by the restart as he went from leading before the restart to getting a mid-pack start in the second gate drop. Jett Lawrence had essentially a similar start but was behind Cooper instead of behind his brother like the first start.

Jett went after Cooper quickly and was able to make the pass within the opening laps as he worked to sprint away at the front. Cooper slipped back into the clutches of Jo Shimoda behind him, but the duo actually held touch with Lawrence ahead of them for quite some time.

Shimoda eventually worked around Cooper for second place, but they had faded to about five seconds off of Jett Lawrence out front by the time he got there. Hunter Lawrence worked his way into the top five but was left with a huge gap between he and fourth place RJ Hampshire by the time he got there. Hunter would eventually have to settle for fifth place in the moto and even more points lost to his brother in the championship.

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Nate Thrasher and Nick Romano ended up having a big crash together in the second half of the race. Romano’s rear tire just clipped Thrasher’s front tire in the air of a jump and Romano was pitched into a big crash while his bike continued down the track and forced Thrasher off the track and down as well. Thrasher would eventually continue on, but Romano pulled out of the race after he was able to walk to his back and ride off.

Up front, it was all Jett Lawrence who completed the moto sweep for the second week in a row and now has five moto wins in a row as well. Suddenly, his championship lead has ballooned out to 27 points on his brother and he’s looking to be well in control of this title moving into the second half now. Jo Shimoda would end up second overall with 3-2 scores while Hunter Lawrence’s 2-5 was enough to round out the podium on the day.

450 Moto 2

The final moto of the day roared off the gate and this time it was Joey Savatgy who grabbed the holeshot, but he had the Honda HRC teammates of Chase Sexton and Ken Roczen right on his heels from the beginning. Sexton moved around his teammate Roczen through the sand whoops and then immediately attacked Savatgy for the lead to take it over before the Chadapult.

Savatgy then slipped behind Roczen moments later and Tomac was also able to make the move just after the end of the first lap as Tomac was keen to not let Sexton get away at the front. Christian Craig then moved into fourth place ahead of Savatgy with Jason Anderson, Justin Barcia, and Ryan Dungey all right in the mix as well.

Tomac clicked into another gear early in the race as he blitzed around Roczen to take over second place and got right to Sexton for the lead just moments later. Sexton tried to up his intensity to match Tomac’s pace, but Tomac was just going too fast and forced his way but Sexton by the mechanics area just eight minutes into the moto.

Behind them, Roczen was slipping away from the lead battle and Christian Craig was next to catch him as the Yamaha man closed up from fourth. Craig had Jason Anderson closing on him from behind so you could see the urgency in which Craig wanted to get around Roczen and he was able to make the pass with about 17 minutes of the moto still remaining.

Anderson then got around Roczen as well with Barcia also catching Roczen from sixth. Remember Roczen had to come from the back of the pack in the first moto and may have had a little less in the tank for the second moto than he normally does. Just beyond the halfway point, Barcia made the pass to move into the top five.

Roczen’s day would go from bad to worse as right after Ryan Dungey caught and passed him, Roczen high-sided and crashed right in front of the mechanics area. He would eventually remount outside of the top 10.

Max Anstie had a big crash while running in eighth spot as he came down Mt. Martin was coming down Mt. Martin and was left on the side of the track with his helmet off. Fortunately, he was sitting up and seemed to be reasonably okay as the medical team checked on the Brit’s well-being.

The battle out front has intensified down the stretch as Sexton was pushing to get to Tomac and then Tomac put it back into full sprint mode within the final three laps. The duo took the white flag with just a second between them as Sexton was trying everything to make the pass for the win, the overall, and the chance to retain the championship lead.

It was close, but in the end, Tomac held on for the moto win and the overall win as he takes the championship lead as well by five points. Sexton followed him over the line a close second with Christian Craig rounding out the podium for the moto. Jason Anderson would take the podium overall though just ahead of Craig with 3-4 finishes to Craig’s 5-3.