First Qualifying Sessions

There was a light rain overnight and a dense fog settled into the racetrack early in the morning. The track crew ripped the track fairly deep but the moisture was really shining through in the early sessions. By the time the A group hit the track, it was still sticky in some spots but most of the main lines were developing.

This week the AMA pushed all the riders out one by one in qualifying in order of their standing in the championship so riders who usually like following the whole field around in qualifying like Hunter Lawrence were left to lead them around. Levi Kitchen decided to just wait and let everyone go anyway so he was at the back of the pack but quickly started putting quick times down.

A few areas of the track have been cut shorter with no switchbacks coming off Godzilla and the first U-turn after the long back straight away is now right after the last tabletop instead of another 150 feet later. Levi Kitchen's time of a 1:49.119 was one of the faster fast laps this year with the shorter lap time. Haiden Deegan was second fastest about seven tenths behind while Hunter Lawrence was down in sixth place, 1.6 seconds back.

The 450A group hit the track then for their first qualifying session as Jett Lawrence led the field around. Times were dropping even more in the 450 class with Chase Sexton and Jett Lawrence both jumping down to the 1:47's.

Jett and Chase had a bit of a lap time duel going on for much of the session as Sexton would put a hot lap in and go to the top and then Jett would nestle in right behind him. Eventually, Sexton put down a 1:47.774 and right after that Jett laid in a 1:47.821. They both had about a second and a half back to the third place man Jason Anderson.

The sun is starting to poke through though and the track will begin to dry out as we move into our second sessions shortly. Expect the times to drop even more in about an hour when the A groups hit the track again.

The track was starting to dry out as the sun came beaming down onto the racetrack but it still wasn't quite faster in the second round of qualifying for the 250A group. This time around it was actually Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Seth Hammaker who went fastest in Q2 with a 1:50.274. 

Kitchen spent most of the session trying out some different lines and working on a few things but still backed up his first session time with a solid 1:50.929. Thanks to his low 1:49 from the first session, Kitchen would remain fastest overall as he topped qualifying heading into the motos.

Next up was the final 450A qualifying session of the year and Jett Lawrence looked eager to knock Chase Sexton's 1:47.774 down from the first session. As opposed to the first session, Lawrence was able to wait for everyone to go ahead of him as he looked for clear space at the back of the field to run his hot laps.

Sexton himself though was keen to nab the top qualifying time as he put a 1:47.163 down on his third flying lap and it seemed like today might be the day at least qualifying would fall his way. Two laps later, Jett Lawrence's name popped to to the top of the board with a 1:46.131 to go a whole second faster. 

Despite Sexton running another 1:47 right at the end, Lawrence's time would remain fastest as he wraps up qualifying on top again. Sexton looks to have his times in a spot where he could do them consistently though so who knows what could happen in the motos. Gate drop coming up in a couple of hours!

250 Moto 1

As the gates fell and the first 250 class moto of the day fired into the first corner, it was Ryder DiFrancesco who grabbed the holeshot. Everyone made it through the first turn clear but there was a pileup into the second corner and Justin Cooper ended up part of the melee along with Casey Cochran and Daxton Bennick.

Hunter Lawrence didn’t get off the gate as well as he hoped either with about a 20^th place start and he was tucked into the middle of the pack. Fortunately for him, Cooper was behind him and if he could finish in front of Cooper by three places, he would clinch the title in this moto.

The battle out front started to heat up as DiFrancesco led early on from Tom Vialle and Seth Hammaker. Jo Shimoda caught his teammate Hammaker and was able to slot around him a few laps into the race. Haiden Deegan was coming with him and within a matter of a lap, Deegan was also around into fourth place.

Vialle seemed to sense Shimoda and Deegan closing down on him and he went to work on passing into the lead. By about the 10-minute mark, Vialle snuck around Ryder D to take over the lead but Shimoda also found his way through and was not going to let Vialle get away. By the next lap, Deegan was also through into third and the trio out front started to inch away as they battled each other.

Shimoda spent about six minutes working on a move to get into the lead around Vialle and he finally made it stick around the halfway mark. Deegan then spent about three laps trying the same and he too was able to get around Vialle. By the time those passes completed though, Shimoda had the upper hand and was pulling away out front.

Attention then turned to Hunter Lawrence down the order a bit as he sliced into the top 10 positions. He was able to continue working forward getting all the way to sixth place while Cooper struggled and was only able to get to 13^th.

As such, Hunter Lawrence crossed the line in P5 as the checkered flag waved and with it, secured the 2023 250 class Pro Motocross title! Jo Shimoda would take the win ahead of Deegan and Vialle out front, but the celebrations began as Lawrence was hugged by his team immediately after crossing the line.

450 Moto 1

It was time to see whether Jett could take the perfect season to the end, and he left it on just a bit longer than the rest of the pack into the first corner to power through and grab the holeshot. Aaron Plessinger was originally fighting him a bit for the lead, but Lawrence started to inch away at the front.

Chase Sexton started in about sixth spot but was urgent to make passes right away and he was into third place before the end of the first lap. Then on the second lap he was able to set up and pass Aaron Plessinger to move into P2 and set sail after Lawrence out front.

Initially he stayed right with him as the duo started to inch away from Plessinger. Plessinger then started to feel the heat as Jason Anderson was closing down on him. Anderson had worked his way around his teammate Adam Cianciaurlo and quickly dropped him to catch Plessinger. Within a few laps and about 10 minutes into the moto, Anderson was also through on Plessinger into third.

Justin Barcia had crashed on the first lap of the race and spent the whole moto playing catchup as he crawled all the way up to 11^th place. He would finish just behind Jess Pettis who made it two Canadians in the top 10 as Dylan Wright finished up in eighth just ahead of Harri Kullas.

The man on the move for much of the moto was Dylan Ferrandis who clawed his way from outside of the top 10 up to Jason Anderson for third place. With about five minutes of the race remaining, Ferrandis nabbed the final spot on the podium away from Anderson.

Up front, Sexton just couldn’t quite keep pace with Lawrence out front as Jett just inched away at what seemed like about half a second each lap to open up about a 10 second lead. He would cruise it home on the final lap of the race to take the win. He now sits on 21-straight moto wins and is just one away from the perfect season.

250 Moto 2

The final 250 class moto of the season launched off into the first corner and it was once again Ruder DiFrancesco who grabbed the holeshot. This time he had his teammate Jo Shimoda right on his tail right from the get-go, but DiFrancesco held strong for quite some time. Part of what helped DiFrancesco early was that Levi Kitchen worked around Shimoda into second and while they battled, DiFrancesco was able to hold them off.

But Shimoda worked his way back around Kitchen on the next lap and within a few laps had also made his way through on DiFrancesco to take over the lead. Kitchen was still lurking right there though and soon he too made the pass on Ryder D to move into second place. That trio held a bit of an advantage on the next group of riders behind them which soon was Justin Cooper, Tom Vialle, and Haiden Deegan as all three of them worked around Julien Beaumer.

Hunter Lawrence with the title in hand started in about 12^th and spent much of the race slowly inching his way into the top 10. He eventually just started following Max Vohland and Daxton Bennick as they battled it out behind Jalek Swoll. It fully looked like a cruise moto though for Hunter as he simply just didn’t want to risk much more from another so-so start.

As Kitchen stuck close to Shimoda for nearly half the race, they pulled away from the rest of the field. Justin Cooper eventually found his way into third and brough Vialle and Deegan with him as they shuffled Ryder D further back. It seemed like it would be Kitchen versus Shimoda for the moto win until Kitchen crashed heavily out of the moto with about 10 minutes remaining in the race. He would take some time to gather himself before eventually getting up and riding off under his own power, but it would spell the end of his day.

From there, Shimoda put it in cruise control as Cooper slotted into second and sat about five or six seconds back the rest of the race. Jo Shimoda finished off his 2023 season strong becoming just the second rider this year to sweep the motos in the 250 class as he won the Ironman National. Haiden Deegan was able to sneak up and steal third from Tom Vialle late which gave him second overall on the day with 2-3 scores while Vialle completed the podium with a 3-4 day.

450 Moto 2

Dylan Ferrandis jumped out to the holeshot in the final 450 class moto of the year as Jason Anderson flinched and hit the gate causing a bit of a hiccup for sone guys. Jett Lawrence still came out in second place alongside Aaron Plessinger in the first corner bit through the third corner of the race, Dylan Ferrandis crashed heavily out of the lead. Ferrandis limped off the track, gutted to have thrown away one of his best opportunities of the year, but he did get back on the bike and ride back to the pits under his own power.

Sexton wasted little time getting around Aaron Plessinger for second as he shuffled him back and latched right onto Lawrence for the lead. With the perfect season on the line for Lawrence, Sexton was going to make him work for it as Sexton was also trying to break through for his first moto win and potential overall win of the year.

Jason Anderson had recovered well from hitting the gate to get into the top 10 by the end of the second lap and then he sliced by his teammate Adam Cianciarulo and then passed Phil Nicoletti and Justin Barcia to get all the way to fourth. By the time he was up to fourth, Plessinger held a good advantage in third over Anderson. Anderson’s charge seemed to stifle there as he remained in fourth the rest of the way.

All eyes were on the battle out front as Sexton never let Jett get more than about four seconds ahead of him as the fight for the win was on. Lawrence went off the track at one point and lost a little bit of time but then Sexton made the exact same mistake two laps later and it evened out. Sexton was also caught out a few times in bad spots by lapped traffic so as he got as close as within two seconds many times, it kept pushing back out to that four second mark.

The checkered flag flew, and history became reality, Jett Lawrence completed the perfect season! He won both motos at Ironman, he won all 11 overalls on the season, and he won every single one of the 22 motos in 2023. An unbelievable season is now one for the history books. Congratulations Jett Lawrence!