First Qualifying Sessions

With some light rain falling overnight and overcast conditions remaining through the morning, the track was definitely going to hold some moisture in it. The track crew also dug it deep and watered it a lot going into the day. Jett Reynolds ended up in the B group as he is making his professional debut and was six seconds faster than anyone in the muddy conditions. But his 2:26 would end up being about five seconds off the top time overall.

When the A group hit the track, it was Levi Kitchen setting the early pace before Max Vohland shot to the top of the board with a 2:23. Then Justin Cooper immediately followed it with a 2:21 to set the top time. The track was starting to wear in but Cooper actually ran his time relatively early in the session and it held up the rest of the way. Vohland got a little closer into the 2:22s but Cooper thus far has set the tone to start the day.

Next up it was time for 450A to hit the track. Adam Cianciarulo was the man to set the early pace but even he was a few seconds off of what Cooper had put down. It wasn't long though before the first real hot lap of Jett Lawrence's 450 class career resulted in P1 in the time sheets, a spot he would hold for the rest of the session.

Kris Keefer, who is attempting to qualify today, crashed hard in the second lap of A qualifying and pulled off the track. It sounds like he will head back out for the second session though. We're hearing that Chase Sexton also bad a crash but he finished the session off and appears to be okay as well.

For now though, it's Jett on top as we roll into the second sessions.

Second Qualifying Sessions

As the second sessions began, the track remained in pretty solid condition. Even so, RJ Hampshire was still caught off guard slightly when he slid out while leading the field around on the first lap. He would get up right with the lead group though and continue on. 

Justin Cooper fired off a quick time in the 2:22s but his first session time in the 2:21s was still the mark to beat. Then Max Vohland laid in a 2:22.3 of his own to jump to the top of the board. He was immediately shuffled back by Hunter Lawrence going down to a 2:22.2 which would remain the mark for the rest of the session. With nobody getting down to Justin Cooper's 2:21.308 from the first session, he would remain the fastest qualifier for the day.

In the 450 class, about the same story from the first qualifying session happened again. Jett Lawrence took a few laps of rolling around before he jumped to the top of the board again with a low 2:22. Chase Sexton was closer this time around though as really the top five were tightly knit. 

Dylan Ferrandis looked better in the second session as he finally had some free air to put his laps together and found his way into the top five. As the checkered flag waved through, Jett Lawrence put down and unbelievable lap to really secure P1 with a 2:20.539. When the dust settled, Jett would qualify 2.5 seconds better than anyone in his very first go on a 450 in Pro Motocross. Incredible stuff!

250 Moto 1

Jalek Swoll grabbed the holeshot in the first moto of the year as Jeremy Martin fell in the first corner. By the fourth corner, Jo Shimoda had snuck inside of Swoll to take over the lead and Swoll's teammate RJ Hampshire was quick to follow suit to move into second.

Hunter Lawrence and Justin Cooper were both buried down the order early as they went to work together slicing through the field. Haiden Deegan was up in the top 10 early on but he tipped over two corners before the finish and fell back to about 15th.

Hampshire jumped into the lead around Shimoda around four laps in and opened up a small gap but neither rider were fastest on the track. Instead it was Max Vohland coming up from third place that was reeling both of them in to slowly turn it into a three rider battle. 

Shimoda actually found his way back through on Hampshire as Vohland closed in but Hampshire fought right back to take the lead as the race approached halfway. Then Shimoda went down while in second and picked it back up in fifth. Just when it seemed Vohland was about to make a charge for the lead, Hampshire started to inch away out front.

Behind them, Lawrence and Cooper found their way into the top five as they shuffled Ryder DiFrancesco and Tom Vialle backwards. Shimoda has regrouped and gotten around Ryder D and Vialle also to move back into third place.

Jalek Swoll's moto ended with an unfortunate twist when he went flying off the track into the barriers. He did ride back under his own power but was clearly in some pain. No update on his condition at this time.

As the laps winded down, Hunter Lawrence was able to pounce on Jo Shimoda amidst some lapped traffic to move into third place. He put tons of pressure on Vohland for second until the very end but the KTM man was just able to hold on.

RJ Hampshire took a rather convincing win in the first moto of the year and he was all smiles about it.

450 Moto 1

As the gates dropped to the ground for the first 450 class moto of the year, it was Jett Lawrence rocketing out to the holeshot. Dylan Ferrandis was in second place behind him early on with Cooper Webb in third and Chase Sexton in fourth.

While Jett went to work on sneaking away from the field, Sexton started to close in on and eventually pass Webb for third. Even so the five rider group behind Jett of Ferrandis, Sexton, Webb, Aaron Plessinger, and Adam Cianciarulo were all staying pretty close together while Jett was pulling away out front.

Aaron Plessinger was the next rider to catch fire as he passed his teammate Webb and then rather quickly closed up to the rear tire of Sexton. It was momentarily a three rider battle with Ferrandis, Sexton, and Plessinger nose-to-tail, but Plessinger had an unfortunate crash in the back of the track which pushed him about 10 seconds back and behind Webb again.

While Plessinger was there pushing Sexton though, Sexton was able to skirt around Dylan Ferrandis and move into second place. The early stages of the race seemed to be a bit of a struggle for Sexton, but once he was by Ferrandis he was able to open up the gap and actually close it down a bit on Lawrence ahead of him.

Derek Drake was the man who ended up behind all the factory guys out front as the BarX Suzuki rider was solid all day and worked through a lot of guys to get into seventh. Unfortunately for him, late problems would see him not finish the moto after such a strong run.

For the rest of the way, it was all Jett as the 19-year-old rookie cruised to the 450 Moto 1 win on debut. Sexton followed him through in second with Ferrandis in third, Webb in fourth, and Plessinger rounding out the top five.

250 Moto 2

Off the start of the second 250 class moto, it was all Hunter Lawrence in and out of turn one to grab the holeshot. RJ Hampshire got tied up going into the second corner and was shuffled all the way to the back of the pack once he got the ship righted. He would be joined back there by Jeremy Martin who had two rough starts to the motos on the day.

Lawrence immediately began pulling away from Tom Vialle and Haiden Deegan who were in second and third behind him. Jo Shimoda and Max Vohland both started outside of the top 10 in this moto and they would find each other a few laps in and begin freight training forward.

Justin Cooper was just outside of the top five and before he started working forward, he went off the track a few laps in and ripped through a bunch of banners. He was lucky to not get any of the banners wrapped up in his rear wheel as he continued on and passed his teammate Guillem Farres to move into the top five.

Hampshire was making decent progress through the field but it just wasn't coming together fast enough as he moved into the top 20 by about halfway. As he kept clicking guys off though, he amazing moved himself back into podium contention overall as the other riders shuffled around the results.

Deegan would go catch and pass Vialle for second while Cooper was going up fast from behind them both. By the end of the moto, it was becoming almost a three rider battle for second as Vialle worked on closing back up behind Deegan again.

Behind them, Shimoda continued to make progress getting all the way up to sixth, but Vohland had a crash with a lapped rider as he was trying to get around Michael Mosiman that pushed him a ways back.

Hunter Lawrence would cruise home the victory in the moto which was more than enough to claim the overall. Haiden Deegan's second place finish in the race would earn him second overall, while amazingly RJ Hampshire moved into 11th on the final lap to just barely take third overall by one point.

450 Moto 2

Jett Lawrence rocketed out to the holeshot once again in the final 450 class moto of the day but this time Chase Sexton was right with him. Dylan Ferrandis, Cooper Webb, and Aaron Plessinger were right up front off the start as well but Adam Cianciarulo fell going into the second turn and was nearly ran over as he got up in essentially dead last.

Amazingly, Cianciarulo made quick work early on to get into 16th by the end of teh second lap and then into the top 10 only two laps after that. The field missing some key factory riders certainly helped AC's charge but he was weaving through traffic unbelievably well.

Aaron Plessinger was keen to make amends for his few crashes in the first moto as he worked around Webb relatively early on to get onto Ferrandis. But then Ferrandis did a masterful job of just keeping him at bay behind for much of the moto as the gap never really extended more than just a couple of seconds.

But the real battle on the track was really down to Jett Lawrence vs. Chase Sexton. The Honda duo slowly pulled away from everyone while Sexton sat right in the shadow of Lawrence the whole moto. Every time it felt like Sexton would make a run to get close to Jett, he would either then make a mistake or Jett would pull it back out ever so slightly.

With two laps to go, it looked like Jett might have started to put it to bed but then he made a big bobble in the back on the off-camber and Sexton was once again right on him as they came to the white flag.

The battle went all the way to the flag but in the end it would be Jett Lawrence taking the win and the overall in his 450 class debut. Chase Sexton would go 2-2 for second while Dylan Ferrandis put together a 3-3 day to round out the podium.