Behind Jett was one heck of a mix-up. Webb was fairly comfortably second in the first moto with Adam Cianciarulo not too far back at the flag, but the real story seemed to be that of privateer Ty Masterpool. Masterpool had qualified third fastest in the morning and actually crashed in the first turn of the first moto before climbing all the way back to fifth. Then he started behind and straight up passed Cooper Webb, Dylan Ferrandis, and Adam Cianciarulo. He ran in third place for much of the race until Ferrandis capitalized on a late race mistake from Masterpool and nabbed third place back from him.

With all of that, Masterpool ended up putting a 5-4 day together amidst the true factory group out front to end up an odd sixth overall. Regardless of the end position, Masterpool rode unbelievably well and was very happy with the performance afterward.

“It’s been a rough couple of years,” said Masterpool. “But I’ve just been believing in my program, believing in my team around me, and believing in God’s plan. I’ve just been doing that and all the glory to him. I was bummed at first [to lose third on the last lap], but these guys are so good. They hold that pace the whole moto. A lot of respect for these riders, they’re unbelievable. A very good day and nothing to be bummed about. The track was really gnarly but I was loving it and I’m liking the 450 power.”

Second overall on the day would eventually go to Plessinger who actually had a remarkable comeback in the first moto after crashing early with Ferrandis. Plessinger picked it up behind Masterpool who was down in the first corner and followed Masterpool all the way through the field, eventually passing him for fourth place where he would finish.

Then in the second moto, Plessinger started with the main group and made quick work of Ferrandis, Webb, and eventually Cianciarulo to get into second place and take off with it from there. Speed-wise, Plessinger was pretty clearly the second best behind Jett on the day and the second overall result echoes that sentiment.

“I hated that happened in the first moto,” said Plessinger. “Mine and Dylan’s lines just came together. It was just a racing incident and I hate that it happened. That one hurt. He hit me pretty hard, and it was tough. I got roosted so bad. I took a couple rocks to the hands, so I had Jader [Jade Dungey, mechanic] put the handguards on and we ripped that second moto. Coop was putting up a battle and so was Dylan, and man Ty Masterpool was riding so good today. He kept me honest in that first moto and same with the end of that second moto. He was on rails. I could hear these fans every single lap and that’s what kept me going. I was sore in that second moto, but it was a good ride. I didn’t manage to stay off the ground, but we ended up on the podium. It’s not first but we’ll definitely take it. First podium of the season and I’m looking forward to getting a lot more of these.”

Rounding out the podium was Plessinger’s Red Bull KTM teammate Cooper Webb who seemed a little off in the second moto but did still put solid 2-5 scores together. Webb has been racing his way back into form coming off his concussion in supercross and back-to-back podiums this early in the season is certainly a welcomed sight. But Webb is very competitive and wants to be better than he’s been, which he hopes will start coming around as we head to some east coast tracks.

“It was definitely a struggle that moto,” said Webb. “We did the best we could, and we fought hard. I’m happy man. To be on the podium again is great. It’s not easy to be up here, obviously there’s a lot of things happening, but it feels good to be up here. I definitely struggled that moto but now we’re headed east and hopefully we can get some momentum going, get a little better, and get a little stronger.”

Dylan Ferrandis and Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top five overall. Ferrandis came from very far back in the first moto after his early tangle with Plessinger to end up seventh and then nabbed third late in the second moto as mentioned. We still haven’t quite seen the Dylan Ferrandis that won this championship two years ago but he’s showing more and more signs that it’s coming around.

For Cianciarulo, the second moto certainly would have left him frustrated as he slipped back through the front group early after starting up in second place. He was very strong at the end of the first moto and was happy about that and did actually pick it up late in the second moto too. Small positives to continue building off of as he’s been one of the few guys this year to show his one lap speed can compete with Jett.

Other notable days came from Grant Harlan who was all over Cianciarulo for much of the second moto. He ended up going 8-7 for eighth. Just ahead of him was Garrett Marchbanks who switched to the 450 this week and immediately went 6-8. Marchbanks actually rode his way to eighth from quite far back in the second moto and will take that as a good starting point to continue building.

Derek Drake was very fast all day but the motos turned into a struggle late. He ran fourth for a long time in the first moto but would end up going 9-12 for 11^th. Fredrik Noren and Lorenzo Locurcio had some quiet yet solid days to round out the top 10 as Locurcio remains an impressive P6 in the championship after three rounds.

While the 450 class continues to see much of the same riders at the front, the 250 class feels much closer. Despite Hunter Lawrence winning both of the opening rounds to start the year, Haiden Deegan and RJ Hampshire have both also won motos while Justin Cooper has been on strong form as well.

Cooper did what Cooper does at Thunder Valley as he qualified fastest with a late heater in the session and set himself up well for the motos. Unfortunately, the first 250 class moto started with one of the biggest first turn pileups we’ve seen in a while. Guillem Farres and Jett Reynolds got the worst of it with both of them having their arms braced before taking a ride in the medical mule. Neither rider would race the rest of the day. But also down in the melee were the likes of Jo Shimoda, RJ Hampshire, Tom Vialle, and more.

Haiden Deegan led early but crashed on the first lap letting Justin Cooper into the lead. Cooper had his best moto of the year thus far as he consistently pulled away from there out to about a 10 second lead and coasted his way to his first moto victory of 2023. Hunter Lawrence ended up second behind him and was the fastest rider on the track for much of the second half of the race, he just happened to start in sixth and Cooper was gone by the time he got to second.

Cooper holeshot the second moto with Lawrence right on him and it appeared we were ready for the true test, but then Cooper crashed right at the end of the first lap and Lawrence squeaked by into the lead. Similar to Cooper in the first moto, Lawrence slowly took off from there, extending his lead over Levi Kitchen as each lap went by. When the checkered flag waved, Hunter Lawrence had his third straight overall victory to start the year with 2-1 scores and he now sees his championship lead balloon up to 16 points over Cooper.

“I just rode my own race,” said Hunter Lawrence after the second moto. “I definitely made my life a lot easier getting a better start. I’m stoked. So pumped for Chance [Hymas, who finished third in Moto 2]. That was an awesome ride for him. He’s been putting in a lot of hard work and it’s great for the team. It’s awesome to reward those guys with racing like this. That’s why they work so hard during the week.”

To Cooper’s credit, he picked it up just outside of the top 10 and got the train rolling in the second half of the race. He was able to slice through a lot of the top 10, passing Ryder DiFrancesco, Haiden Deegan, Jalek Swoll, and Max Vohland straight up. He then benefitted when Jo Shimoda crashed while in fourth on the last lap and Cooper would end the day with 1-4 scores. On a day where he potentially could have won, it was a frustrating result, but only losing four points in the championship after crashing the lead away is at least the silver lining.

“It was a great day,” said Justin Cooper. “I rode really well all day. I’m happy with the bike. I bent up my levers a little bit [in the crash]. I couldn’t use my front brake for a couple of laps. In the air, I had to bend that down a little bit. After a few laps, I started getting my controls back and found my flow again. I made a push to the front and did what I could. It’s a little bit bitter but I can’t take anything away from this weekend. It was pretty awesome.”

Rounding the podium off for the 250’s was Levi Kitchen who had a way better weekend than the opening two rounds. Kitchen won a moto at Thunder Valley last year but his Fox Raceway and Hangtown rides didn’t exactly look as though he was building towards race winning possibility at Thunder Valley. He wasn’t race winning speed but he wasn’t far off as his 5-2 moto results were very solid. If this is the Kitchen we get moving forward, there’s ample chance he contends for moto wins before long.

“That first moto, I feel like I left a little on the table,” said Kitchen. “I feel like I didn’t ride the greatest. That second one, I got off to another good start and tried to lock in there with JCoop and Hunter. JCoop went down and then a few laps in I got into some lappers and really lost some time. My buddy Chance was behind me keeping me honest. That was a fun race. I’m really stoked on how the day went.”

Shimoda crashing while in fourth late in the second moto didn’t end up costing him a podium as he was fourth overall to begin with, but a 3-4 day would look a lot better than a 3-8. Shimoda was part of that massive pileup in the first moto and came from very far back all the way to third. The second moto just wasn’t really the same as the first, but he was still comfortably in fourth when he fell. Today was an example though that 2022 Jo Shimoda is about to come back out again.

Chance Hymas rounded out the top five overall with 11-3 scores on the day. He too was down in the first turn crash and came all the way back to 11^th with a very strong ride. He built right off that to start up front, make a few passes, and nearly even get Kitchen for second in the second moto. It was by far the best Hymas has looked as a professional and certainly raises some eyebrows about what the next few rounds could be like for the young Idaho native.

RJ Hampshire and Haiden Deegan had days they’d rather forget. Deegan crashed the lead away in the first moto and then fell again in the second moto early, but also didn’t quite have the pace as some of the front guys. After his 1-4 performance at Hangtown, 4-9 scores are likely a tough pill to swallow but it was his first ever time to Thunder Valley and he’s still building every time he hits the track.

Hampshire was in the first turn pileup as well and came all the way back to eighth in the first moto. Then in the second moto he just had another bad start, and even crashed at one point, to bring it home seventh for a ninth overall on the day. Both riders will look for a reset next weekend.

Speaking of next weekend, we head to High Point Raceway in Pennsylvania for the first true east round of the season. Can Jett and Hunter Lawrence keep it rolling still? We’ll find out when we get there in seven days’ time!