Free Practice

The 250SX class hit the track first but after one session for Futures and both C and B sessions for their fellow 250SX riders. The track then was a little more work in with some nice ruts in all the corners which meant the pace would be high.

Nate Thrasher set the early pace with a 50.369 before Max Anstie took a huge leap and jumped down to a 48.961. Michael Mosiman and Coty Schock went down together in the whoops, but it was a rather slow speed crash, and both got up okay.

Hunter Lawrence put down a 48.432 but Thrasher was following right behind him and put in a 48.423. Lawrence responded on the very next lap to go to a 48.072. Jordon Smith was able to split them with a 48.284 as the clock rolled down to zero and the checkered flag waved. Smith started his final lap right before time expired though and was able to run a 47.964 to end up on top.

 A little news to kick off the day in 450SX before practice even started is that unfortunately Adam Cianciarulo will miss the racing tonight due to a aggravated wrist he sustained during press day. No timetable has been set on his return, but he is out for this evening.

His teammate Jason Anderson led the 450SX guys around early on and set the pace at a 49.249 but times were starting to drop down quickly. Ken Roczen was able to take over the top time at a 47.964 around the midpoint of the session as some of the guys were beginning to uncork a tricky roll-three-four-two line in the rhythm section before the finish.

Roczen’s time would just be pipped right at the end of the session as Christian Craig who put in a 47.427. Not everyone was able to get that line before the finish which seemed to create some separation within the top 10.

First Qualifying Sessions

The first Futures qualifying session of the day got off to a rough start as Evan Ferry went down on the dragons back and would need to be carted off, bringing out the red flag in the process. Daxton Bennick would go fastest after the restart with a 49.242 but just narrowly over Julien Beaumer who was just one tenth of a second behind him.

The A group for the 250SX guys hit the track next and it was once again Nate Thrasher setting the early pace at a 49.274. Just like in Free Practice though, Jordon Smith started to poke his name towards the top around halfway through the session.

Everyone ran a hot lap with about five minutes still on the clock as Thrasher went to the top on 47.914 ahead of Jeremy Martin and Hunter Lawrence who moved up to second and third, respectively. Haiden Deegan and Martin both had small tip-overs as well as Chance Hymas but no harm, no foul as they got up and kept going.

Hunter Lawrence shot to the top of the board with a. 47.440 right as the checkered flag started to wave behind him. Unlike in Free Practice though, Lawrence would not be undone from the top spot although Thrasher got very close with a 47.452.

Some more news also flew in between sessions for the 450SX guys as it was announced Eli Tomac had signed an extension with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing to continue racing after supercross into Pro Motocross as well as the SMX World Championship at the end.

Fittingly enough, his group was next to hit the track then as the 450A group headed out. Chase Sexton was fastest early on with 47.488 but Tomac was behind him on a 48.013. Sexton lowered his time even more down to a 46.339 which put him over a second faster than anyone as Tomac went down to a 47.364.

Jason Anderson was able to dip down to a 47.223 but Sexton remained the only guy in the 46-second range as he ends up in P1 for the first qualifying session of the day.

Second Qualifying Sessions

The final qualifying session of the day fired off as this time they did their usual practice start as well. Hunter Lawrence holeshot the fake start and went to work on bettering his 47.440 from the first session. First time through he put down a 47.654 but he kept it pinned and immediately followed it up with a 47.657.

Nate Thrasher started to put some pressure on for the top time with a 47.282 but Lawrence did him one better by dropping down again to a 47.113. Max Anstie moved into second next with a 47.251 before Lawrence lit up the board to become the second rider into the 46’s all way with a 46.747.

Thrasher was able to give it one last try and went down to a 47.145, but it still wasn’t enough to topple Lawrence off the top spot. So, Hunter Lawrence ended up fastest in qualifying today in the 250SX class with a 46.747.

Justin Hill holeshot the practice start in the final 450SX qualifying session of the day as he was looking a little froggy early on. It wasn’t long before Chase Sexton jumped back to the top of the sheets again though as he laid down a 47.246 but the pace wasn’t quite up to what we saw out of the first session just yet as time continued to click down.

Halfway through, boom, Sexton put down a 46.515 which was still about two tenths off his first session time but still seven tenths faster than Ken Roczen on a 47.306 in second place. Christian Craig and Roczen both were able to close the gap down significantly as they went down to a 46.6 and 46.7, respectively, but Eli Tomac, Joey Savatgy, and Jason Anderson were all in the 46-second range now as well.

Anderson then moved to the top with a 46.376 but was still just slower than Sexton’s first session time until Ken Roczen laid down a 46.335 to move to the top overall by just four thousandths of a second. Anderson fired right back though by putting in a 46.280. Both Sexton and Roczen could not put together their final laps and Anderson would hold on to qualify P1 heading into the night.

The final session of the day for qualifying was the final time the Futures would see the track before going racing a little bit later on this evening. By now, the riders had mostly figured out the track and the session went off with only a few tip-overs. Daxton Bennick ended up fastest overall heading into the night show with a 48.697.

250SX Last Chance Qualifier

Josiah Natzke grabbed the holeshot in the LCQ, but it was Hardy Munoz going to the lead early on after Natzke messed up the first rhythm section. Jack Chambers went down in the whoops on the first lap and was way back down the order ending his night early.

Brock Papi took over the lead from Munoz and Henry Miller also made the pass into second place. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Talon Hawkins was in fourth early on right behind Munoz as he was putting the pressure on the make the pass.

Caden Braswell was sneaking into the picture behind Hawkins for the fourth and final transfer spot as Munoz continued to hold on to third. Henry Miller worked around Papi up front to move into the race lead with two laps to go.

Miller would hang on for the win and all other positions would remain status quo as Papi finished in second behind him along with Munoz and Hawkins also going through to the main event.

450SX Last Chance Qualifier

Kevin Moranz holeshot the LCQ in the 450SX class and it was Kyle Chisholm up in second early on ahead of Justin Startling and Logan Karnow. Chase Marquier was back behind the lead four as Karnow was able to get around Starling and move up to third.

Fredrik Noren and Cade Clason both went do0wn in the first corner and were way back from the lead four riders. Starling was struggling a little bit at the halfway mark and allowed Chase Marquier into the fray for the battle for the final transfer spot, but it was a runaway for the front five riders.

Kyle Chisholm was able to steal the lead away from Moranz with a couple laps to go and from there he would take off to the win in the LCQ. Moranz finished up second behind him with Logan Karnow making his first main event of the year and Justin Starling nabbing the final transfer spot.

250SX Race 1

The first holeshot of the night went to Hunter Lawrence with Tom Vialle and Max Anstie right behind him. Coty Schock went down in the first turn and was dead last. Vialle and Anstie diced for second momentarily and that allowed Nate Thrasher through into second place, but it also have Lawrence bit of a gap out front.

Hardy Munoz had a big crash in the whoops on the second lap and got plowed into by Michael Hicks. Coty Schock also piled in behind them. Munoz would be down for quite a while with the medics as he tried to regroup in the corner after the whoops. He would eventually walk off the track with some help from the medics.

Up front, Thrasher was starting to reel in Lawrence for the race lead. The duo out front was pulling away from everyone else as Anstie was riding a lonely third about four seconds back. Tom Vialle was also all alone in fourth with Jeremy Martin moving into the top five around Jordon Smith around the halfway mark.

Haiden Deegan crashed in the whoops with four minutes to go which pushed him from 12^th all the way back to 19^th. He would remount and keep going but he was right in front of the leaders which meant the blue flag was waving.

Jordon Smith caught Jeremy Martin and passed him for fifth when Martin got sideways before the tunnel jump. Smith was on the move and closing up in a hurry to Tom Vialle ahead of him for fourth place in the closing stages.

Smith wasted little time to make the move as he was running laps three seconds faster than Vialle and made the move into fourth with about two minutes left to go. Michael Mosiman caught Christ Blose with two laps to go and made the pass up into seventh as Mosiman was recovering from another bad start.

Up front, Hunter Lawrence withstood the pressure from Thrasher behind to lead every lap and take the win in 250SX Race 1 with Thrasher finishing up in second behind him and Anstie holding on for third.

450SX Race 1

In the first 450SX race, it was Eli Tomac grabbing the holeshot as Jason Anderson went down in the first turn. Chase Sexton actually ran over Anderson while he was down which left Sexton with a pretty bad start outside of the top 10.

Justin Barcia was in third behind Roczen early on with Aaron Plessinger and Colt Nichols rounding out the top five. Tomac was starting to uncork a new line that basically hadn’t been done all day which was outside after the supercross triple, then double over the start straight into the 3-4-2 in the first rhythm section and it was helping him pull away a little bit.

Christian Craig had shuffled Nichols out of the top five while that was going on, but it didn’t last for long as Sexton’s charge forward saw him move around Craig with eight minutes left to go. Cooper Web was following Sexton through, and he also made the move stick on Craig the very next lap.

Tomac switched away from that rhythm line after an overjump on the quad got a little close and that allowed Roczen to start closing back up to him as the #94 inched away from Barcia behind him. Meanwhile, Sexton was absolutely flying as he caught and passed Plessinger in the blink of an eye for fourth as he continued to be the fastest rider on the track with four minutes to go.

Sexton caught Barcia for third with a minute and a half left and the battle commenced. Sexton squared him off after the whoops and tried to block the inside into the next corner and Barcia just pushed him into the corner and passed him back. Sexton was able to knife underneath him two corners later though to make the pass stick this time.

Eli Tomac would hang on for the win just narrowly defeating Ken Roczen who was on him the whole way as Sexton made it all the way back to the lead duo but would have to settle for third.

250SX Race 2

The second 250SX race of the night saw Jordon Smith grab the lead early on with Haiden Deegan right alongside of him. Nate Thrasher parked Hunter Lawrence twice and made it stick with some authority after the whoops to move into third behind Deegan. Jeremy Martin went down on the first lap and was way behind the field in dead last.

Thrasher was on a mission early on as he passed his teammate Deegan on the second lap as he was trying to keep Smith out front close. Lawrence meanwhile was going to work on Deegan for third place and was bringing Max Anstie with him. Lawrence made the pass stick under the tunnel at the start of the fourth lap and then Anstie followed up getting around Deegan two laps later.

Behind them, Chance Hymas was just kind of hanging out in sixth while a close battle for seventh was going on between Michael Mosiman, Tom Vialle, and Chris Blose. Vialle got Blose, then Mosiman got both of them as the battle between all three of them continued.

The battle for the lead tightened up as Thrasher caught Smith and Lawrence was just lurking behind them. As they worked through lappers, the battle really got wild as Lawrence started to show a nose here and there. Thrasher got sketchy on the tunnel jump and came from far left to far right in front of Lawrence and Lawrence landed on the back of him, going down in the process.

Thrasher continued on but he lost a lot of time to Smith in the process which gave Jordon a three second lead with the while flag coming out. Hunter Lawrence was able to remain in third as Anstie got close but wasn’t able to make a pass happen before Lawrence stretched the gap back out.

Jordon Smith would take the win in 250SX Race 2 in the end ahead of Nate Thrasher and Hunter Lawrence rounding out the podium.

450SX Race 2

Cooper Webb grabbed the holeshot in 450SX Race 2 right ahead of Jason Anderson and Ken Roczen. Chase Sexton made the quick pass on Roczen on the first lap then almost went down before the whoops, nearly bringing Roczen with him. That moved Tomac up to third as Sexton remained in fourth right behind him.

Anderson snuck up and made the move on Webb for the race lead on the second lap of the race just before the whoops as the #21 was hoping to make up for his eighth-place finish in the first one.

The battle of the race became a heavy battle between Sexton and Tomac as Anderson walked away out front. Sexton caught Tomac around the halfway mark and went to work on making a pass. At first, Tomac did well to respond to the pressure as he continued to keep Sexton behind, but Sexton finally found a way through with just a slightly better run off the dragons back to pass Tomac on the inside before the whoops.

From there, Sexton went to work on trying to close down to Cooper Webb ahead of him with Anderson five seconds out front. Sexton caught up to Webb in a battle for second place with about two minutes left on the clock but Webb turned it up.

Jason Anderson would take the victory in 450SX Race 2 and Webb was able to keep Sexton behind him in the end as he held on for second. Sexton rounded out the podium with Tomac in fourth and Plessinger in fifth just ahead of Roczen.

Supercross Futures Main Event

Daxton Bennick grabbed the holeshot in the Supercross Futures main event ahead of Casey Cochran. Preston Boespflug was in third place early on behind them as Bryce Shelly and Cole Davis rounded out the top five.

Julien Beaumer did not get a great start as he knifed through the mid-pack and got to Davies on the second lap. Beaumer made the move on Davies into fifth on the second lap and then picked off Shelly on the third lap to move into fourth place.

The rest of the race remained status quo from there as even though Beaumer made a run on Boespflug, he never quite got there. Daxton Bennick took home the victory ahead of Casey Cochran and Preston Boespflug in the end. It was Bennick’s second win in two tries of Futures in 2023.

250SX Race 3

In the final 250SX race of the night, it was Nate Thrasher grabbing the holeshot as Hunter Lawrence crashed in the first turn with Max Anstie running into him causing them both to be way back.

Michael Mosiman was in second with Jordon Smith in third, Tom Vialle in fourth, and Haiden Deegan in fifth. Deegan was dealing with some pressure early on from Jeremy Martin behind him as the top six guys were pulling away from everyone else.

Lawrence was making some progress through the field as he moved up to 14^th with seven minutes left to go. With about four minutes to go, Lawrence moved into the top 10 as he and Max Anstie were working together to move forward.

Suddenly, Mosiman tipped over in second and brough Jordon Smith down with him which actually moved Jeremy Martin up to second ahead of Tom Vialle. Deegan moved to fourth as Smith remounted in fifth and Lawrence was then all over Blose for sixth with just two minutes to go.

Then out of nowhere, Thrasher crashed in the whoops from the lead and slipped back to third just ahead of Deegan and Smith. That moved Jeremy Martin into the race lead with Vialle in second as Thrasher tried to regroup and close in.

Then Jordon Smith crashed on the last lap in the whoops and lost a spot to Deegan in the process but was able to stay ahead of Lawrence which also retained second overall for him. In the end, Martin would take the win in the final race, but it would be Thrasher who held on for third who would win the overall for his first win of 2023.