In 250SX action things aren’t nearly as close. In fact, the championship is almost certain to be wrapped up by Hunter Lawrence today. Lawrence holds a commanding 49-point lead over Haiden Deegan in second. That means all he has to do is score three points and he’s the 2023 250SX east champ. In case you’re wondering, that’s 20^th or better. Lawrence has got this in the bag. That doesn’t mean the racing won’t be excellent, however. Deegan and Max Anstie, who won his first career supercross race last week, are separated by just a single point, with Deegan holding the advantage. Both have been riding great all season, and neither one of them wants to be the one who finishes the season in third. Keep on an eye on this one, it could get nuts!

The track here in Nissan Stadium looks good. The region had some rain in the last few days, and it definitely made its way into the dirt here, but fortunately they were able to build it quickly and get the lanes tarped before any real damage could occur. Yesterday afternoon on track walk there was plenty of standing water in places, and the transitions between jumps were quite muddy, but don’t expect that to be an issue today. They had mounds of dry dirt saved to spread where needed, and they worked hard to get today’s racing surface into good shape. There are still a few soft spots this morning, but expect the track to shape up as the day progresses. 

As far as the build, it looks fast. No wall jumps or anything of that nature anywhere and at first glance, it all looks pretty straightforward, and it looks like a layout on which the guys can get a good flow going. The whoops are short and don't look like they'll be giving the riders much of a problem, unless they break down weird. The sand section starts with a right-hander and leads into some rollers, but it doesn’t look especially tricky. It does, however, have a lot of very small pebbles mixed in with it, so you can bet that roost is going to be painful! Stay tuned, practice is set to begin shortly.

Free (Untimed) Practice

Not much to talk about in untimed practice sessions. The gushy parts of the track, especially between the jumps, quickly rutted up, and the whoops, as expected haven’t been much of a challenge for the guys so far. In the 250 Class Jordon Smith was fastest with a 56.298, but Haiden Deegan wasn’t far off with a 56.480. Times were substantially quicker for the 450s, with Tomac turning in the fastest time, a 54.454, followed by Justin Barcia, who recorded a 54.707.

250SX  Qualifying – Session One

Jordon Smith came out of the gate firing in the first 250SX session, posting a 55.959 early, which was about two seconds faster than anyone else would post for a few laps. Hunter Lawrence would bump Smith on his sixth lap though, bettering him with a 54.756. Jo Shimoda, who recently returned from a broken collarbone, took over the lead on his seventh lap with a smoking time of 54.092! That was fast enough to stand for the rest of the session, with Lawrence (54.190), Smith (54.400), Jeremy Martin (55.022), and Max Anstie (55.787) rounding out the top five.

He may not have been fastest in this session, but Smith looked very good. He was flying through sections, changing lines when necessary, and the ruts between the jumps didn’t seem to bother him in the least. Elsewhere, one of the rhythm lanes must have had a tricky spot because several guys crashed hard in the exact same spot, including Marshal Weltin and Tom Vialle. They got up and seemed okay, fortunately.

450SX  Qualifying – Session One

To the surprise of nobody, Sexton started setting fast laps right away, but it didn’t take long for Tomac to get going, and on the fifth lap he turned a 53.500. Two laps later he lowered his own time, this time reporting a 53.478. Just like that, the fastest lap of the session was set, and nobody else would challenge Tomac’s time. Sexton turned a 53.732 for second, with Barcia (53.820), Roczen (54.219), and Jason Anderson (54.266) rounding out the top five. Roczen ended the session by throwing a gigantic whip over the finish line. If he’s feeling good he could do some damage later today!

So far there hasn’t been much variation in the rhythm lanes, although several laps in some of the guys did start testing out a quad in one of the lanes. If everyone’s doing it in the second qualifying session, we’ll know they figured out it was faster.

250SX Qualifying – Session Two

Haiden Deegan rocketed out of the gate just ahead of Talon Hawkins to nab the mock holeshot and immediately started ripping and, not surprisingly, set a fast time of 54.839 right away. Jordan Smith, who’d been shadowing Deegan in the opening stages, quickly unseated him however, with a blistering 54.058. From that point the times just started falling. Chris Blose and Hunter Lawrence dipped into the 53-second range, but Max Anstie topped them all with a 53.670. Not to be outdone, Smith, who looks like he’s on fire today, threw down a 53.325, only to see Lawrence shove him out of the way with a 52.407. That time would final stand, with Smith’s 53.325 being good enough for second, and Shimoda (53.407), Deegan (53.576), and Anstie (53.670) rounding out the top five. Blose had a good session too, turning in a 53.976, which was the sixth-fastest of the session. Vialle had another crash in this one but popped up pretty quickly and rejoined.

450SX Qualifying – Session Two

Roczen looked great right away in this one and quickly shot to the top of the board with a 53.052. Barcia would later take over, posting a 52.890, but it was Sexton’s eventual 52.580 that would end up ruling the day. Cianciarulo had a good session too, ending up in second. Jason Anderson crashed in the whoops in this one. He damaged his rear fender in the crash and had to deal with it flopping around and slapping his backside for the rest of the session.

The dirt isn’t as wet and soft as it was earlier today, and after deep ruts developed between the jumps in the first qualifier, the track crew flattened them with tractors. Since then the drier dirt hasn’t rutted up nearly as bad, and we saw fewer crashes in rhythm lanes. If things shape up well we could have an epic track for today’s racing.

Weather Update: It's 12:45 and rain has been coming down for about 15 minutes. It's fairly light at the moment, but it's enough to have sent many of the fans from their seats and looking for cover. The dirt seems like it's withstanding the rain for the time being, but it's also starting to look shiny in places due to the moisture. According to the weather service It's expected to continue to fall until roughly 1:30. We'll keep you updated as the afternoon progresses.

Update: It's 1:00 pm and for now, the rain has ceased.

250SX Heat One

Haiden Deegan and Jordon Smith came barreling into the first turn at the same time, with Smith getting the edge and taking the lead. Chris Blose held third, and for the most part, was sticking with the lead duo pretty well. As the race wore on, however, he started to lose touch with Deegan, who was losing just a little bit of time to Smith each lap.

Toward the back of the pack the battle to watch was between Jace Kessler and Jack Rogers for the final transfer spot. The two had been going at it, but Kessler ended up standing Rogers up in the turn right before the finish line and made the pass shortly before the lead duo of Smith and Deegan lapped them. Speaking of Smith and Deegan, Deegan had caught back up to Smith at the end and tried to dive to the inside and make a pass in the final turn, but wasn’t quite close enough. Smith took the win, followed by Deegan, Blose, Tom Vialle, Luke Neese, Brock Papi, Jeremy Hand, Culling Park, and Kessler in the final transfer spot.

250SX Heat Two

Max Anstie shot out to the lead just ahead of Caden Braswell to kick this one off. Hunter Lawrence quickly went around Braswell and went after Anstie up front. As the two blasted through the whoops, Lawrence achieved a superior drive and as the two came into the ensuing turn Anstie went high and Lawrence dove in and past for the lead. The next battle to watch was for third between Braswell, Jeremy Martin, and Jo Shimoda. Getting it from both sides, Braswell eventually relented, allowing Martin and Shimoda by. Shimoda went after Martin, but right when he got within striking distance he got mixed up with a Tuff Block on the inside of a turn and went down. He didn’t lose any spots, but it was all Martin needed to squirt away and ride without worry in third place. Lawrence took the win, Anstie finished second, and Martin, Shimoda, Jace Owen, Braswell, Coty Schock, AJ Catanzaro, and Josiah Natzke took the remaining transfer spots.

450SX Heat One

This one got off to a rough start. Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb were battling for the lead, and as the two came into the third turn Webb went down. Then Adam Cianciarulo came by and it looked like he made contact with Webb’s head on the ground. That put Webb out of action immediately, and when he was finally able to get up he had to be helped off the track. No official word yet, of course, but he may not be back for the LCQ after that.

Up front Tomac continued to lead, holding a comfortable margin over Cianciarulo, who was cruising about three seconds ahead of Justin Hill. Hill rode by himself for a while, but Colt Nichols was closing on him toward the end. Nichols ran out of time, however, and had to settle for fourth. Kyle Chisholm, Grant Harlan, Cade Clason, Kevin Moranz, and Tristan Lane rounded out the transfer list. Freddie Noren was close to qualifying but crashed when he tried to put a block pass on Lane on the final lap.

450SX Heat Two

Ken Roczen kicked off the final heat race of the night with a holeshot, but he had Justin Barcia all over him. Roczen was able to inch out just a tiny bit of breathing room, but Barcia was relentless in his quest to reel him back in. After a few laps Barcia had erased Roczen’s small lead and jumped to the inside after a rhythm lane to take over the lead. The crowd roared when Roczen tried to retake the lead in the next turn, but Barcia didn’t allow it to happen. Chase Sexton, meanwhile, lurked in third, and as Barcia slowly got away at the front, Sexton started applying pressure to Roczen. Sexton made the move on Roczen in the same place as Barcia, but two turns later Roczen dove to the inside and nearly got the spot back. Sexton was able to squirt around the outside in a brilliant move, however, and held on. Sexton then went after Barcia and nearly got him, but ran out of time

Max Miller was in tenth on the final lap but was pressuring Josh Cartwright for the final transfer spot. In an attempt to defend his spot as the two entered the final turn, Cartwright looked back to see where Miller was going and slowed down to try to block Miller. Miller responded by maintaining his momentum, going outside, and passing Cartwright. As the two went over the finish line it was Miller by inches, and the two looked at each other in the air as if to say, “Did that really just happen?”

There were countless crashes on this one. Two riders, one of them Benny Bloss, went down violently in the rhythm lane on the first lap. One lap later Jason Anderson got mixed up with Tuff Block and DNF’d. John Short crashed hard off the dragon’s back, and several other riders went down as the race wore on. What’s going on in Nissan Stadium!?

250 LCQ

Talon Hawkins got it started right with a holeshot, but Michael Hicks was right on him. Hawkins quickly started stretching it out, however, and soon Hicks found himself under fire from Henry Miller, who quickly made the pass and set sail for Hawkins. The final transfer spot was held by Garrett Hoffman, who had a comfortable lead over fifth. The only action to really happen was at the end, when Miller nearly got close enough to Hawkins to make the pass. Had he had another lap, there’s a good chance he would have won the race. Hawkins, Miller, Hicks, and Hoffman all advanced.

450 LCQ

Chase Marquier led early, but Jason Anderson went by after about a lap and disappeared up front. At this point the top four were Anderson, Marquier, Josh Cartwright, and Joan Cros. With about a minute left Devin Simonson overtook Cros for the final transfer spot. He was able to hold onto it, but just barely, as Fredrik Noren, who’d gone down early, had closed the gap to almost nothing, losing out to Simonson by .498 of a second!

250SX Main Event

Hunter Lawrence took the holeshot in this one but Jordon Smith ran up the inside of him on turn two, pushed him high, and took over the lead. Lawrence didn’t waste any time in going right back after Smith though, and the opening laps were pretty tight between them before Smith started inching out a small lead. Jo Shimoda ran third, with Jeremy Martin and Haiden Deegan holding down fourth and fifth. Early on there wasn’t much action in this one, as the riders were spread out a little too far from each other for any type of bar banging to go on.

With ten minutes to go Smith bobbled in the sand section, brushed a Tuff Block, and nearly went down. He was able to save it, but he had to go off the track to do so. That allowed both Lawrence and Shimoda by, and just like that, Smith was out of the lead and in third. With seven minutes to go Deegan finally was able to throw a move on Martin coming out of the whoops and into a left-hander. Anstie would go around Martin a little later too, but other than that, there wasn’t a whole lot of action happening. There was an exciting moment on the last lap when Smith, who’d suddenly closed rapidly on Shimoda, pulled alongside Shimoda in the whoops, but Smith bobbled in the next turn and wasn’t able to capitalize. Lawrence took the win, and the championship, while Shimoda, Smith, Deegan, and Anstie rounded out the top five.

The charge of the night award goes to Henry Miller, who got a horrible start yet was able to rip through the pack all the way up to ninth.

450SX Main Event

Eli Tomac absolutely exploded out of the gate in the last race of the night and immediately started streaking away from Kevin Moranz in second. One lap into it and he already had about four seconds on Justin Hill, who’d passed into second. Hill soon felt the heat of Chase Sexton on his back, but he did a good job of withstanding the pressure. Finally, as the two exited the whoops, Sexton had the inside and took advantage. The question now was, could Sexton track down Tomac?

Behind a battle for third was raging between Hill and Justin Barcia, but it ended up being anticlimactic. Barcia went inside in a big corner, while Hill opted to take the far outside, giving Barcia enough room to easily take the spot. Unfortunately Barcia would go down several laps later, crashing violently off the dragon’s back. Grant Harlan had also crashed in the same spot a lap or two earlier, and both riders left the track in the back of the back of Medical Mules.

Up front, with about thirteen minutes to go, Tomac was already deep into heavy traffic, and Sexton was locked on, taking time out of Tomac lap after lap. With nine minutes to go, Sexton struck, motoring by Tomac as the crowd exploded. Tomac didn’t fight back either, seeming content to let Sexton have the lead. Tomac had zero pressure from behind, as Ken Roczen, in third was about fifteen seconds back.

The field was pretty spaced out at this point, with nobody doing any battling anywhere, and the remainder of the race was pretty much without action. Sexton took the win, with Tomac, Roczen, Nichols, and Hill rounding out the top five. If you missed the heats and are wondering what happened to Cooper Webb, he had a nasty crash in his heat race and had to pull the plug on his night.