Saturday Night Live: Denver

The benefactor, of course, was Sexton, who worked his way forward during the race, passing Adam Cianciarulo for the lead, and raced to yet another victory, this time taking the points lead in the process. It’s not official yet, but with  a disabled Tomac being the only other rider in contention, Sexton is now the 2023 450SX champion.

“It’s definitely tough, not to swallow, but to comprehend. I didn’t know what was going on, I didn’t know if his bike was broken, or maybe he broke a wheel, I didn’t know. I just heard after the race that he hurt his ankle, I know there’s a lot of speculation on what actually happened as far as muscle damage wise, but for me, I just wanted to capitalize when I saw him going backwards,” Sexton said afterward. “It’s just not the way you want to see someone go out, especially not Eli, he’s been super gnarly, especially these last couple years he’s been so tough. Obviously he’s a great competitor and I love racing him. For me, my gameplan remains the same and that’s what I’m looking at right now.”

Somewhat overshadowed in all of the commotion was an incredible performance from Ken Roczen, who was down in the first turn and got going again in last place. Roczen was able to keep the bike running when he crashed, and started slicing through the pack like a prep chef bracing for the dinner rush. Incredibly, on lap 12 (of 28), he’d worked his way the way up to third! On lap 20, he went around Cianciarulo and disappeared, taking second place on the night.

“I took a little bit of risk going so inside on the gate, but all of the ruts were horrible, and that kinda had one of the better ruts, out of the gate,” Roczen said afterward “I knew that if I got the jump and just clicked gears and held it wide open, I would have a good start, and I really did. I think I just didn’t have enough of a wheel [inside] to pull it off. Didn’t get run into by anyone, didn’t stall. Then the second turn there were a couple guys down and I ran right in there. I had to pull my bike out and then kind of got going again. After that I went caveman style and I charged forward, I had fun with it, I really had nothing to lose. I had a lot of fun out there. It was honestly the best I’ve ridden in a long time. I think if I had a better start I could have been closer to win and battle Chase. Not today, but I have to take the positives. Bike was great. I’m happy.”

What a night for Cianciarulo. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider inherited the lead when Tomac exited the race, led laps, and although he gave up spots to Sexton and Roczen, hung on for his first podium of the season. Afterward he was emotional, but still managed to find some levity during his TV interview.

“They say winners are just losers who don’t give up. This one’s for the losers!” Cianciarulo quipped. Things got a little deeper in the postrace press conference when he was asked if he could talk about his emotions.

“No, I can’t describe my emotions. Not right now. It’s been a wild, wild couple of years for me. Just battling a lot of health stuff. I’ve just had to dig so deep. So many times I was ready to quit or I thought I was done. I really, really mean that. This off season it wasn’t looking good for me. December time, I was stressing it big time. I’m used to having pace and being up front, but I haven’t had pace, and that’s hard to swallow for me. It was discouraging to start the year. Around Indianapolis I had a come to Jesus with myself. I said, this is no way to live. I was being so hard on myself. I wasn’t saying nice things to myself and wasn’t having a lot of fun. I started noticing the positive things in my life and the great things in life that I have. Obviously, that’s terrible that Eli went out, you never want to see that happen to anyone. Look, I know there are a lot of guys out right now, hurt. But I do not care, man. I want everyone to be healthy. But for me to be back up here is a testament to everyone around me. Yeah, I’m just stubborn."

In the 250SX Class there was far less drama, if any, for the points leader. Lawrence didn’t get the best of starts and was running roughly tenth early on. That was fine though because that was still good enough to clinch the championship. And of course a rider like Lawrence isn’t going to stay in tenth place. By the time the checkers flew, he’d worked his way up to third place, and more importantly, clinched the 250SX west championship.

“In the main event, all the gates were just wrecked,” Lawrence said. “I found an okay one on the inside. I got, not a bad jump, but then I spun, and I was like ‘Well, we’re back here again.’ I knew I only needed tenth to get the championship. I got to third a little over halfway, and both of these boys [Levi Kitchen and RJ Hampshire] were out front, I’m like ‘You know what, we’re gonna wrap it up here.’ Track didn’t have that much traction. In the end, I’m happy.”

The winner of the race was RJ Hampshire, but it didn’t come easy. Then again, what does for Hampshire? Early in the race Max Vohland led, but Levi Kitchen and Hampshire were able to get around him. Kitchen had a decent lead on Hampshire, but Hampshire was slowly reeling him in. Just when it looked like Hampshire was going to go for it, he accidentally found neutral right before launching over a double. He cased it hard and went off the track, but somehow managed to keep it on two wheels. At this point it looked like Kitchen could cruise to a win, but Hampshire went on a rampage while Kitchen had trouble getting through lapped traffic cleanly. With just a few laps remaining Hampshire blasted through the whoops to set up a pass in the next section and executed it perfectly. Kitchen nearly retaliated on in a rhythm lane on the next lap, but Hampshire was able to hang on for the win.

“I told too many people this week that I was going to win tonight,” Hampshire said. “I knew I had a shot at it before I made a mistake. I think I actually had better [lap] times after I made that mistake. When I crossed the finish line after the mistake, Levi was already in that next righthander. I was like, ‘Man, I probably lost six seconds.’ I knew that next lap was important, I don’t know how much faster it was, but I knew I was able to close that gap back in and it kinda gave me hope. I was like ‘Oh boy, we still have a shot at this.’ That mistake made the main event more exciting than it should have been. Glad to end the main event on top.”

Afterward Kitchen was able to find the positives, despite knowing he’d let a win get away.

“It was definitely a solid night. Obviously I feel like I let that one slip away a little bit after RJ made that mistake, but I’m gonna take the positives,” Kitchen said. “I haven’t been in that position that much in my career. It’s easy to get tight and stuff like that. Overall, I’m excited how the year has gone so far. I think this was podium three and I won a Triple Crown, but I feel like I accomplished a lot for what’s my second year. Really, I’ve only raced like 10 supercross races total.”

Enzo Lopes was excellent in Denver, and even won a heat race. He was in a podium position for part of the race, but wasn’t able to hold off Lawrence. Afterward he told he’d been sick during the week, which was exacerbated by the elevation in Denver. The result was a lack of fitness, which hindered Lopes’ performance in the main event.