In terms of the championship, the Lawrence brothers remain in control. In the 250 Class, Hunter Lawrence had a 1-DNF day last weekend in Michigan after a first turn crash in moto two. His strong start to the season left him with an 11-point buffer over P2 Haiden Deegan in the standings, as the Yamaha-mounted rookie picked up his maiden overall win. Hunter is in for today’s race, although he might be a little banged up still from that crash. He entered the season with a rib injury, and he took a pretty hard hit. We will see what kinda of condition "Hunta" is in today when he takes to the sandy circuit where he claimed his maiden Pro Motocross overall win at in 2021.

As mentioned, Deegan is coming off of his maiden win as he looks to keep the #96 within reach. A few other things to note in the 250 Class: Jo Shimoda earned his maiden overall podium here in 2021; Levi Kitchen (who won the second moto at RedBud last Saturday) rode an excellent moto here last summer as he challenged Jett Lawrence; Tom Vialle is a strong sand rider and could earn his maiden overall podium here; Jimmy Decotis is making his return to racing and competing in Pro Motocross for the first time since August 18, 2018; local native/GNCCer Josh Toth is looking to qualify for his first ever AMA Motocross motos aboard a #426 GasGas MC 250F. Here is the entry list for today's race.

In the 450 Class, Jett Lawrence has yet to lose a moto so far this year as he enters today ten-for-ten in his rookie premier class motocross season. He was challenged last race by both Chase Sexton and Dylan Ferrandis, both who have done well here in the past. Jettson enters the day with a 57-point gap over Ferrandis and a 76-point gap over Aaron Plessinger, so if Jett’s perfect season ends, he knows big picture the championship is more important than the win streak. So will today be the day his streak ends? Or will he leave with yet another 1-1 day?

Riders are taking to the track shortly as qualifying is about to begin. For an update on who is sidelined this weekend with injury, check out our injury report.

And to tune in from home, here is the broadcast schedule for today as we have the first motos airing live on NBC starting at 1 p.m. EDT/10 a.m. PDT.

Check out a couple laps from Jimmy Decotis during yesterday's press day riding session.

First Qualifying Sessions

250 Class

In the first session on track, Jimmy Decotis put down a 2:06.592 to top the board in the 250 Group B qualifying session. His time would stand as the top time at the end of the two 250 qualifying sessions as Justin Cooper's 2:06.810 topped the 250 Group A session. We do not expect times to get faster, as usually at The Wick 338 the first qualifying sessions (when the track is the smoothest) are more important.

450 Class

In the first 450 Class session, Jett Lawrence dropped a 2:05.422 to top the session by over two seconds over Chase Sexton's fast lap (2:07.630). In the 450 Group B qualifying session, Anton Gole topped the field with a 2:09.425.

Second Qualifying Sessions

250 Class

Once the 250 Class took to the track, Decotis again topped the 250 Group B session, although his time was a little slower than the first session—as we typically expect here. Still, his 2:14:610 topped the board over Jorgen Talivku’s 2:14.652 and Joseph Tait’s 2:18.821.

In the 250 Group A second session, Levi Kitchen lead the field around ahead of Hunter Lawrence and RJ Hampshire. On live timing and scoring though it was Jalek Swoll's 2:11.306 that was leading the session. Eventually, RJ Hampshire jumped to the top spot by the checkered flag, putting down a 2:08.549 on his Husqvarna FC 250 as he improved his time from the first session. Still, Jimmy "The Rippa" Decotis stood P1 overall with his 2:06.592. Even though this is the only race Jimmy D is doing this year and he said on the podium he will not race this event next year, it is good to see him healthy again after some struggles with Lyme disease effectively ended his pro racing career in 2020. It would be awesome to see the Massachusetts native get a holeshot in front of the home crowd as you know everyone would be loving it!

450 Class

Jason Anderson led the field when the 450 Group A second session took to the track. Jett Lawrence did his typical wait until everyone is on the track before ripping off a nice slow wheelie and cruising through the first few sections as he started off his session. However, it was Jett Lawrence’s 2:08.218 lap time that soon topped the board over Chase Sexton’s 2:09.175 and Dylan Ferrandis’ 2:10.206. Kawasaki teammates Adam Cianciarulo (2:10.718) and Anderson (2:10.979) rounded out the top five. Overall, Jett’s 2:05.422 from the first session topped the 450 Class combined qualifying over Sexton’s 2:07.630 from the first session.

First Motos

250 Class

We learned of a last-minute scratch from Kawasaki-mounted Jett Reynolds. Not sure what happened but he was replaced by an alternate.

When the gates dropped on the first moto of the day, it was Justin Cooper who jumped out ahead of the field early as Jalek Swoll and Tom Vialle were close behind. Swoll went at Cooper a few turns in, but the #32 hold on as Vialle jumped into second. Vialle was fighting early, looking very comfortable with the track. Cooper, typically a great starter throughout his career, started to pull away slightly despite the strong start from Vialle. The early running order was Cooper, Vialle, Swoll, Hammaker, DiFrancesco, Deegan, Hampshire, Vohland, H. Lawrence, and Kitchen. Vohland tucked the front end entering a turn, which allowed Hampshire and Lawrence to get by, bumping Vohland to sixth. Hampshire and Lawrence both made a pass on Hammaker to take over third and fourth, respectively. Then about two turns later, Hammaker tipped over in a turn, which allowed Deegan to close on him. A few laps later, Deegan blasted by Hammaker in the long sweeping left-hand turn in the back corner before the finish line, bumping the #238 up to fifth and Hammaker back to sixth. With about five minutes left on the clock (plus two laps), Cooper tipped over in the turn before the Buckley Berm, which allowed Vialle to sneak by and into the race lead! Suddenly with two laps to go, Lawrence was off the track and walking away from his steaming Honda CRF250R! Deegan tipped over but got up quickly, as he took over fifth following Lawrence’s mechanical. Vialle took the race win—his first in the U.S.—over Cooper, Hampshire, Deegan, and Kitchen. One member of the Honda HRC team picked up Lawrence’s bike and started to run it back up the hill to the pits in order to start tearing it down ahead of the second moto. Hunter Lawrence entered today with an 11-point lead, but his 26th-place finish resulted in no points, while Deegan picked up 18 points in that moto, unofficially giving Deegan the points lead. We will have to wait to see what happens in the second moto, but what a tough two consecutive motos for the #96.

For Vialle's moto win, I believe this is the first moto win for KTM since the 2019 Budds Creek National when Shane McElrath went 1-1 for the overall aboard a then-Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM 250 SX-F.

And shout-out to Decotis for a 12th-place finish in the first moto! GNCCer Josh Toth claimed 26th in his first ever Pro Motocross moto.

450 Class

When the gates dropped on the first 450 Class moto, Jett Lawrence got a great jump going into the first turn from right inside the doghouse, but it was Chase Sexton who exited the first turn in the lead. However, it did not last quickly, as Lawrence blasted by his teammate going up the big hill/left-hand sweeper following the second jump! Behind the Honda HRC teammates was Ty Masterpool, who continues to put together good starts and strong riders. Behind Masterpool was Aaron Plessinger and Dylan Ferrandis. Ferrandis blew by Plessinger coming out of the U turn coming up towards the Doghouse on the top section of the track, and the #14 was suddenly on the rear wheel of Masterpool. Masterpool and Ferrandis with a little bump in the right-hand U-turn right by the fans! The #81 was not giving up third place easily, although Ferrandis did finally make a pass stick. In the long, left-hand sweeper in the back corner before the finish line, Ferrandis blasted away from Masterpool. Out front, Jett Lawrence and Sexton went back and forth, opening and closing the gap to one another. Sexton got the gap to within about a second, although he was never close enough for a pass attempt. Then, Jett dropped a few heaters and opened the gap up to about 9.8 seconds by the end of the tenth lap. The #18 started to point it on cruise mode and brough home his 11th consecutive moto win to start the season—by 7.003 seconds over his teammate. Ferrandis and Plessinger came through third and fourth, respectively, as Masterpool battled with Jason Anderson before bettering the #21 for fifth place. Adam Cianciarulo came through seventh, then local Chris Canning rode home a great eight-place finish in his first race of the season as Jose Butron and Garrett Marchbanks rounded out the top ten. The second motos will prove who is in shape and comfortable with their machine as the temperature is nearing 90 degrees—currently sitting at 88 with a 70 percent humidity.   

Second Motos

250 Class

Rider and teams regrouped for the second motos and luckily, they were treated to some clouds to help with the heat. The gates dropped and it was Tom Vialle who got a great jump as he led the field into and out of the first turn. Vialle picked up right where he left off in the first moto as he was joined out front by Jo Shimoda and Seth Hammaker. Shimoda was not close enough to attempt a pass, but he was close enough to eat a lot of roost off of Vialle’s rear wheel. Hunter Lawrence was outside the top ten early but found himself in tenth battling with Levi Kitchen and Haiden Deegan. Kitchen made his way up to seventh but tipped over, giving Lawrence a free spot. Some rain started to fall but would stop by around the halfway mark of the race. Out front, Shimoda managed to make a pass to take over the lead. Vialle’s 1-2 was setting him up for the overall win. Deegan made a mistake that cost him a spot to his teammate Kitchen. Justin Cooper made a pass on Vialle to take over second place, which would give the French rider 1-3 finishes and still have the overall win. RJ Hampshire was about two seconds behind Vialle, and if he could pass the KTM rider it would shift the overall win to Cooper’s favor. Cooper got close to Shimoda but had a late tip over that cost him a shot at the overall win. Cooper remounted just ahead of Vialle and had to fend off the KTM rider! Shimoda cruised to his first moto win of the 2023 season, Cooper came through second, and Vialle held on for third to claim 1-3 finishes and his maiden Pro Motocross overall win! Cooper and Shimoda round out the overall podium, respectively.

And now it is official: Deegan officially takes over the points lead. The Yamaha-backed rider leaves the sixth round with a five-point advantage over Hunter Lawrence.

450 Class

The gates dropped on the final moto of the day and it was Dylan Ferrandis who led the field out of the first turn. But just as he did in moto one to his teammate, Jett Lawrence jumped to the inside of the final roller up the hill and blasted up the left//inside of the #14 as he took over the race lead! Third-place Chase Sexton dropped a 2:14.288 on the second lap, the fastest first full lap of the moto, as he went after the 2021 450 Class Pro Motocross Champion for third place. As the duo came around through section in front of the mechanics area Sexton blew by Ferrandis on the outside to take over second place. Sexton would try to lead a charge, but it was too late as the #18 Honda had already blasted off to a nice gap and set the machine in management mode. Jett ended up coming through the checkered flag for his 12th straight moto win to start the season, as he held off Sexton by 14.711 seconds at the finish line. It was the sixth moto win of over ten seconds for Jettson as he continues his dominating season. Despite seemingly on “cruise” mode, after the race on the podium the Australian was tired, proving he is in fact human. Sexton finished 2-2 for second overall as Ferrandis came home third in both motos for third overall as Aaron Plessinger (4-4 for fourth overall) and Garrett Marchbanks (10-5 for fifth overall) rounded out the top five. Jose Butron charged through the finish of moto two, claiming sixth ahead of Chris Canning (another strong ride of his own). Adam Cianciarulo came through eighth, Grant Harlan dug out a ninth-place finish, and Masterpool claimed tenth.

We are officially halfway through the season (12 motos down out of 22), and Jett Lawrence still has his perfect streak alive as he remains in the points lead with 300 points, 67 over Ferrandis and 90 over Plessinger.