He led 18 of the 19 laps on the results page—although it was really 18.99 of the 19 laps—but he didn’t lead the last turn. And that is the most important one. A late-race charge and last-turn pass from Hunter Lawrence had other plans for the night. The points leader was the fastest overall qualifier but was shuffling around in his heat some before finishing fourth. In the main event, Lawrence battled a few riders before making his way up to second place and running down the #29 out front. On the last lap, the two made contact—but both stayed up—exiting the sand turn and they went into the final turn with the race win up for grabs. Thrasher went to defend the inside, but somehow Lawrence snuck in still and managed to pick up the race win. The difference ended up being 0.134 seconds at the finish line. Thrasher did his best to defend the inside line, but Lawrence was still somehow able to make it happen.

“It’s tough,” Thrasher said on approaching a last-turn defense for the for the win. “Things are coming at you so fast, and you try to make the best decisions you can trying to win the race. We’ll go back to the drawing board and try to get better.”

Lawrence’s last-turn pass for the win had him ecstatic after the race. This was one of those, unpredicted, come-from-behind wins that will be memorable for Lawrence himself as well as fans alike.

“Obviously, I didn’t plan that,” the points leader said on the contact with Thrasher. “It was basically just a Hail Mary lap, and it worked out.”

“Very little decision making, I was just trying to be where he wasn’t on the track,” Lawrence said on his approach at the end. “I could kind of see him coming in the other lane and I just put in the best 15 minutes that I could. If I caught him great, if I couldn’t then I won’t.”

Lawrence starts the season off two-for-two in main event wins. He has an eight-point lead ahead of Max Anstie in the standings.

Anstie and the Fire Power Parts Racing Honda clicked off their second consecutive podium finish to start off the 250SX East Region Championship. For a small Austrailian-based team, this season has been huge for all involved. For the Brit, this season has appeared to make his return to the U.S. racing scene worth it, even if it’s on a 250cc machine.

“The last couple of seasons, I’ve done half the year of supercross on a 450,” Anstie said. “It gives me a lot of respect, that 450 class is so difficult. I feel good, the bike is working really well, but I guarantee if I jumped back in the 450 class that I would not be battling with those guys.”

Haiden Deegan was behind Anstie at the checkered flag. Deegan, who earned his maiden heat race victory in just his second pro AMA Supercross event, was riding well but late in the race was too far behind Anstie to make any attempt at a pass. The #238 finished fourth for the second weekend in a row.

“P1 in the heat race and p4 in the main, can’t explain how fun this is, the crowd was awesome!” Deegan posted on Instagram. “Thanks everyone 🤘🏻”

Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha’s Jeremy Martin rounded out the top five ahead of Tom Vialle and Michael Mosiman. Vialle and Mosiman ran into trouble on the night: Vialle’s was because of the sand and Mosiman went down with some help by Lawrence after a three-way battle that also included Deegan.

The third Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider—Smith—had ups and downs on the night as well. His night turned south quickly when he washed out his front end in the sand turn right before Vialle went over the dividing wall of sand separating the two lanes, causing him his machine to tip over as well. The two then found themselves battling several times throughout the remainder of the race. Eventually, Smith suffered a mechanical issue late, which caused him to drop to 15th. Vialle claimed sixth to start his U.S. racing career 7-6 in his first two AMA Supercross events.

“My day was pretty good overall and I had a good heat, where I finished P3,” Vialle said, via a KTM press release. “I didn’t get the best start in the Main, but I was running near the front through the first few corners before I tipped over when I tried to pass a rider in the sand. I was quite far back and managed to come back through to sixth. I’m quite happy with the last few laps of the race where I made up a number of positions. We’re now only a few points off third in the championship, which is good. We’ve got a short break now, so we’ll work on the bike and myself to keep improving before Arlington.”

Another few things to note: Phoenix Racing Honda’s Caden Braswell made his maiden AMA Supercross event after not qualifying into last weekend’s points-paying race. The 2022 Nicky Hayden AMA Motocross Horizon Award recipient claimed 12th. Like most riders, Talon Hawkins ran into some trouble with the sand before coming home 19th on the night.

“It started off pretty good. I know what I need to work on...I've got to work on some sprint laps, “Hawkins said. “I put it into the main right away out of the heat race, so I was pumped on that. I was feeling super-good on the start of the main event. I was pushing and trying to stay up there. I just made some mistakes in the sand and one thing led to another. I've got a lot to work on and I'm excited for the next race.”

The 250SX East Region will have next weekend off as the 250SX West Region returns to action for the rescheduled Oakland Supercross. The East Region Championship will resume at the Arlington Supercross on February 25.

In the premier class, things were going Chase Sexton’s way. He topped both the qualifying sessions of the day (continuing to build a streak of doing so), claimed his heat race win, and quickly found himself in the lead by the second turn of the main event. However, it was yet another time of Sexton being the fastet and leading, but not taking the checkered flag in first place. He is pushing so hard, it just happens. But he knows he has to continue to work on it.

“I feel like my riding and racing keeps getting better,” Sexton said. “Tonight was some of the best main event riding I’ve had aside from Anaheim 2. Cooper and I kept going back and forth and the lappers were getting the best of both of us, especially in the sand. I’ve been having fun and overall doing good, so I’m happy with how I was riding.”

Similar to the 250SX main event that took place beforehand, Webb had a late run up to the rear of Sexton, albeit in less dramatic, not as last-second fashion. A better start gave Webb a clearer track from the start, and he rode rather consistent. He had one close call in the whoops, but otherwise he was clicking off lap after lap. Coupled with his consistency and Sexton’s mistake, Webb was able to jump into the lead. He broke through and got his first win of the season. It was also Webb’s first win since…May 2021!? After racking in 19 450SX main event wins and two 450SX championships from 2019 through 2021 and making it into the top 15 on the all-time premier class wins list, Webb went main event winless in 2022 as the defending champion. His first win in 2023 came in the fifth event, meaning Webb’s made 21 main event starts since his previous one in May 2021. He claimed it was “too damn long” since he was last P1 to end the night.

“Yeah, [the whoops] were tough,” said Webb. “I had a big moment and had to change my line. I was doing the line Chase was and it had a really big V that kicked you left and right. It was tough to judge with the lappers tonight in that sand section. It was a hard-fought race for sure. The mistake [from Sexton] helped me, but those last five laps were going to be good.”

Last week, Aaron Plessinger finished in fourth after arguably the three fastest riders in the championship at the moment in Tomac, Sexton, and Jason Anderson. This time around, Plessinger finds himself on the podium after a solid ride all evening long. Second in his heat race and then third in the main event had the Ohio native pumped afterwards. This was his second 450SX podium with the Red Bull KTM team (his first coming at the 2022 Oakland Supercross last January).  

“It’s a big confidence booster for sure,” said Plessinger. “I’ve been working on my starts and it’s definitely showing. It felt good to get out front and run with these boys. It’s a shame I made a couple mistakes to keep me from really latching onto these guys. I’m pumped on this, and this just gives me more confidence to come back out in Oakland and do that again.”

Behind Plessinger was a ten-second gap back to Ken Roczen. Roczen was in that no-man’s land without anyone right ahead of him nor anyone right on him. But the #94 said the team put in extra work and there were positives to take away from the night even though he did not land a podium finish.

“My night ended up really good,” Roczen said afterwards. “..when it came to the night show, we really turned it around. And I’m really happy to get away here with a fourth place. It was huge. Just after one of those tougher weeks over the last few months, you know what I mean, it’s just one of those weeks where I was really scratching my head, so I really didn’t have the greatest feeling coming in here. But we only get points for the main event, and that’s what really matters. So I think we did very well here and we turned it around. So I was pretty stoked about it.”

“It was a bummer for us to not be on the podium, but again, for what it all was, to end up with a fourth place…there’s a lot of positives to take away,” Roczen continued.

About eight more seconds back of Roczen at the checkered flag was Tomac. The defending champion did not have anything special tonight, as he finished 31.9 seconds back of the race winner. Maybe we can chalk it up as having an “off” night and not feeling great, but it seemed to be an odd ride after how well he had started the season off.

Following his collision with Justin Barcia on the opening lap, Jason Anderson was able to climb from dead last and make his way up to sixth. An impressive charge, but another one of those incidents that did not seem necessary. Even after last week when he acknowledged the run-ins have been costly for him. Barcia climbed back up to finish eighth behind a solid seventh-place finish behind Justin Cooper.

"I was stoked to have a home race in Florida, and it was nice to be back this week,” Barcia started in a post-race press release from GasGas. “I felt good on the track, and the bike was feeling really good. I was riding in a good position and making passes, unfortunately, I had a little incident. I came from the back of the pack up to eighth. It’s definitely not the result I wanted, but I was riding well and I'm looking to redeem myself in Oakland.”

Joey Savatgy and Christian Craig rounded out the top ten. Savatgy had a crash in his heat race while in a transfer spot, which he was not pumped about. This forced him to the LCQ—which he won—before he finished ninth. Craig earned his first top-ten finish of 2023.

“Overall, Tampa was a step in the right direction,” Craig said in a team release. “I just need to execute my starts in the main event. I felt like I did everything positive throughout the day. I put myself in good positions. Qualified good, and the heat race was solid. I just didn't execute in the main event. I came from behind, had a small hiccup and fell over early on, and that kind of took the wind out of my sails. But I just tried to put my head down, click some laps off, and ended up tenth. I know I have more in me, we're improving and I just need to do it when it counts.”

Adam Cianciarulo was feisty all day, qualifying well in fourth and finished second in his heat race behind his teammate. Qualifying was better, his heat was better, but some frustrating mistakes cost him positions in the main. He finished 12th.

“Yeah, much better day for me overall, probably my best day practice wise so far,” Cianciarulo said. “I felt like I had a lot more pace and it didn’t feel super fast to me kinda like it has the first few races. You know, you take a long time off of these events and the intensity feels like everything’s coming at you pretty fast. So, it’s starting to slow down for me a little bit.”

“Obviously, main event, started out front,” AC continued. “I was stoked where I was at. I think I was P4. Just was a little indecisive in the whoops in terms of jumping and skimming. I felt pretty dialed skimming the whoops today and just started to jump and got in there a little hot and a little forward and crashed. And, yeah, it dropped me back. Then made another little mistake and ended up crashing in the whoops again from the other lane. Obviously that was not part of the gameplan, just sometimes the mistakes compound like that. And I definitely don’t feel like it was from like overly pushing or anything like that. It’s just like, shit happens sometimes. It’s unfortunate but much better day overall. And a lot more of those to go. …I’m disappoint in myself there [two crashes in main event]. Obviously, it’s not from a lack of effort or lack of intention. But overall, I think I am much more pleased with my day overall and my riding overall.”

I did not catch it when it happened, but in the last turn, Justin Hill apparently rammed into Dean Wilson and took the #15 out. Wilson grabbed his Honda and finished in 15th place as smoke poured out of the bottom of his machine. Hill was battling with his older brother Josh throughout the main event before the two finished 13th and 14th, respectively.

As we leave the fifth event of 2023, Tomac (113 points) continues to lead the 450SX standings by just two points over Sexton (111 points). Had the #23 taken the race win, he would have had the points lead. Webb sits four points behind Tomac and just two points behind Sexton as the lead trio have started to separate themselves from the rest of the field. Anderson (93 points) sits 20 points down from Tomac in fourth and Roczen (92 points) sits 21 down from Tomac in fifth.