A few things to note: Ken Roczen is making his Pro Motocross season debut today. Roczen said yesterday he asked his son Griffin if he would rather go on the boat or go racing this weekend, and racing won, so the Roczen squad decided to spend their Father’s Day weekend at High Point Raceway. The #94 is prepping for the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) that kicks off in July, although he will be back to an AMA starting gate in a few months’ time as he is set to race the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) playoff rounds.

Phil Nicoletti is making his return to racing following a wrist injury in February. Nicoletti said yesterday his goal was to return to racing at the RedBud National, but he is able to give it a go this weekend. This track is not an easy one to make your return from injury at, but the #69 will benefit from racing today and getting a race in for both himself and the all-new Yamaha YZ450F. Then, a weekend off before the RedBud National will help him as he looks to finish out the Pro Motocross season in full.

For more injury updates, read our fully injury report.

Read our fully injury report.

Qualifying

First Qualifying Sessions

250 Group B Qualifying

In his pro debut, Matti Jorgensen topped the first 250 Group B qualifying session. The KTM-mounted Jorgensen put down a 2:21.018. Behind Jorgensen was Pennsylvania’s own Steve Roman with a 2:22.521. The track was pretty damp following rain the previous two days and riders came off pretty muddy. There is no rain expected today, though hopefully the track comes around for the motos later today.

250 Group A Qualifying

In the first Group A qualifying, Jo Shimoda had the top time with a 2:22.014 but on the very last lap, Haiden Deegan snuck into P1 with a 2:22.014. Ryder DiFrancesco went down in the second turn and his right leg was stuck under his bike, but I believe it was Caden Braswell who saw it, stopped, and lifted the bike off of his fellow competitor. Championship leader Hunter Lawrence was third-fastest with a 2:22.265. Justin Cooper (2:22.545 on the last lap) and RJ Hampshire (2:23.451) rounded out the top five.

450 Group A Qualifying

There was some brief track maintenance took place before the 450cc machines took to the starting area. When the 450 Group A got the green flag, it was Adam Cianciarulo and Cooper Webb leading the field around. Fredrik Noren and a few other riders tangled in the second turn and got their fresh gear muddy in a hurry. Cianciarulo led the field both on track and on the board, as his 2:24.858 was P1. Ken Roczen waited until the field took off before he put down a heater of his own, a great lap that resulted in a 2:21.066 that took over the top time. Garrett Marchbanks (P2) and Dylan Ferrandis (P3), respectively, slid into their spots late in the session, bumping Adam Cianciarulo and Jett Lawrence back to fourth and fifth. I did not get a glimpse of Jett Lawrence until late in the session and his 2:24.936 was fifth in the session behind AC. 

Vinny Luhovey topped the 450 Group B session with a 2:37.828 over fellow Pennsylvania natives Bryce Shelly and Lowell Spangler.

Second Qualifying Sessions

250 Group B Qualifying

Times did not improve in the second qualifying session as the track remained muddy and deep, giving a bunch of riders trouble. Matti Jorgensen took the top spot in the second 250 Group B qualifying session, with a 2:38.870.

250 Group A Qualifying

When the 250 Group A riders took to the track, the mud and deep ruts continued to create problems. Derek Kelley and Talon Hawkins both had separate crashes on the section after the mechanics area on the starting straight. Chase Yentzer—as well as a handful of other riders—ran into issues in the second turn. As the Suzuki rider’s bike came to a halt in the deep, right-hand turn, Yentzer was tossed forwards over the bars. Somehow keeping his left hand on the grip and somewhat landing on his feet, Yentzer got an applause from the nearby crowd. He was slow to get going as his bike was lodged in a deep rut and he then had to kickstart his machine and get going again. Hunter Lawrence topped the board with a 2:21.734, but it was Deegan’s time from the first qualifying session stood as the top time of the day.

The AMA results have yet to be updated with session two data, but I believe Jorgensen’s time from the first 250 Group B session (2:21.018) gave him second overall behind Deegan. Great start for the #245 today!

450 Group A Qualifying

Jett Lawrence topped the board with a 2:23.675, but it was Roczen’s 2:21.066 from the first session that gave the #94 the top qualifying spot on the day. Jett Lawrence’s time gives him the second overall qualifying spot. The track could benefit from some sun, but at the time it has yet to arrive. Hopefully the track comes around by the time the first moto kicks off.

Motos

First Motos

250 Class

Following a hard crash in the final qualifying session, Yamaha’s Justin Cooper was transported to a local hospital to undergo some testing as his day ended early. Bummer news for the #32 as he was second in the championship entering the day.

The sun started to come out about an hour prior to the first moto, which helped the track some. It was still damp and deep, but not quite as bad as earlier. When the gates dropped on the first moto of the day, it was Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire who grabbed the holeshot and early race lead. Hampshire had his teammates Jalek Swoll and Talon Hawkins close behind him, and a tip over by Jo Shimoda in the second turn slowed up a large majority of the field. The front few riders escaped, but Hunter Lawrence was caught up in the Shimoda mistake, as was Jordon Smith, Tom Vialle, Levi Kitchen, Derek Kelley, Dilan Schwartz, Steve Roman, and many more. Out front, Hampshire was contested by Haiden Deegan, who took over the lead when the #24 made a mistake and slid out in the valley leading up to the massive quad. Deegan took over the lead, but Hampshire stayed close. Deegan had a close call when Kelley stalled, which allowed Hampshire to get right onto the rear wheel of the #238. Hampshire had two big saves in the rollers section, but he was able to stay right with the rookie. Hampshire took over the lead the final lap just a few turns from the finish line in the new section that replaced the Bradshaw Boulevard and was able to claim the race win just under three seconds over Deegan. Hampshire’s 2:19.879 on the second lap was the fastest of the race, and his last lap was a 2:24.116 compared to Deegan’s 2:27.456. Typical RJ ride, going down but fighting back all while giving it 100 percent effort. Hunter Lawrence came through third as Jalek Swoll and Ryder DiFrancesco rounded out the top five, as both the #38 and #75 both rode solid races.

450 Class

Jett Lawrence jumped out to the early race lead when the first 450 Class moto blasted out of the gates. The #18 led Cooper Webb, Ken Roczen, and Garrett Marchbanks. Jett had an endo coming out of the back woods section that then goes up the hill for what used to be Bradshaw Boulevard. He remounted without his visor, but was bumped back to third, as Roczen took over the race lead and Garrett Marchbanks shuffled into second place. Jett managed to pass Marchbanks and then he and Roczen battled back and forth. Roczen had the lead until Lawrence made a pass stick on the #94 going down the famous staircase rollers section. Then, Roczen was tossed from his Suzuki two turns ahead of the massive quad. He could not get his machine fired right away, which cost him some positions. He remounted and would eventually finish seventh. Despite his crash, Jett Lawrence still managed to claim the moto win—his seventh straight to start the season—as Cooper Webb made his way into third place. Adam Cianciarulo and Ty Masterpool took over fourth and fifth, respectively, as Dylan Ferrandis finished sixth ahead of Roczen, Aaron Plessinger, Derek Drake, and Romain Pape, who had a great ride. In his first moto of the season, Phil Nicoletti finished 12th. Fredrik Noren was back in the field early and managed to finish 14th. Matt Burkeen was riding alongside the track, and I saw him running through the pits after the race. He only did three full laps before pulling off and he said he had issues with the top end of his bike as it was running lean. The #820 was running back from fellow Yamaha YZ250 two-stroker Jared Lesher’s pits with a base gasket as the Burkeen camp was hoping to swap out a piston. With just about an hour, his camp went into full hands-on-deck mode as they began ripping the bike apart. Without the halftime between motos, there would probably be no chance to get the swap done. With the break, they still might be cutting it close!

Second Motos

250 Class

The gates dropped on the second moto, it was Levi Kitchen ahead of the field as they hit the Motosport holeshot line. Moto one winner RJ Hampshire, Haiden Deegan (second in first moto), as well as Hampshire’s teammate Jalek Swoll (fourth in first moto) all got collected in the first two turns, which threw out their chances at an overall win. Chance Hymas jumped ahead of Kitchen, who settled into second as Hunter Lawrence was outside of the top. Lawrence made a pass on Jo Shimoda and made his way into the top five. Eventually, the #96 made his way up to third, then second, then he took the race lead away from his teammate Hymas. Tom Vialle made his way into second with a pass on Hymas as well, as Deegan charged to sixth. Then Kitchen followed Vialle by Hymas to take over third. Ryder DiFrancesco, Deegan, Hampshire, Jordon Smith (who was down first lap in moto one), and Dilan Schwartz rounded out the top ten. Although he dropped a few positions by the end, Hymas had the fastest lap of the race—a 2:17.450 he put in on the second lap. Hunter Lawrence opened up a ten-second gap over Vialle. Hunter would open that gap up to an 18-second advantage back to P2 at the checkered flag, taking his fourth straight moto two race win of the season, as well as giving him his fourth straight overall win, too. Vialle came through second and Shimoda came through just 0.705 seconds behind the #128 after a made a last-lap pass on Kitchen to claim third. The gap from Shimoda back to Kitchen was just 0.955 seconds as the duo charged through the finish. Hymas came through fifth, followed by Deegan, Hampshire, DiFrancesco, Schwartz, and Smith. Swoll managed an 11th-place finish. Hampshire’s 1-7 ended up giving him second overall ahead of Deegan’s 2-6 for third overall. Shimoda (7-3) and Vialle (11-2) rounded out the top five.

450 Class

The final moto of the gate blasted out of the gates, and it was Roczen leading early, leading Cianciarulo, Plessinger, Jett Lawrence, and Ferrandis. Plessinger went down in the far back corner of the track. Marchbanks was in the top five off the start again, but he had to pit with a bike issue, which dropped him basically to dead last. He would come home eighth in a strong come-from-behind ride. Cianciarulo and Roczen were battling for the race lead, but Jett eventually got around AC to take over P2, and then he got by Roczen—who had had a nice lead—and the #18 was once again the lead. Lawrence claimed yet another win as his perfect moto streak continues on. Roczen and Ferrandis rounded out the podium. Jett claimed his fourth consecutive overall win as Roczen (7-2) and Cianciarulo (4-4) rounded out the overall podium. Ferrandis (6-4) and Webb (3-6) rounded out the overall podium.