First Qualifying Session

As bikes hit the track for the first time on Saturday, the speed was even more exaggerated with a fresh track. Due to that wall jump being added in the rollers though, the times were definitely a little bit slower than what we were seeing yesterday as Preston Kilroy ended up topping the session with a time of 1:56.926.

Times would remain a little bit slower than yesterday’s free practice even after the Seeded 250 riders hit the track. Jo Shimoda and Seth Hammaker were setting the early pace as the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki riders went full attack from the moment the green flag waved.

But as the session continued on, it would be Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire that shot to the top of the board with a 1:52.205. In free practice yesterday, Justin Cooper dipped down to the 1:51’s so we’ll see if the track speeds up a little bit in the second session. Times are close though as just two seconds separate P1-P12 on a nearly two-minute track.

Next up was the seeded group for the 450 class and we finally got our first taste of guys dipping back down to the 1:51’s. First it was Jett Lawrence who went to a 1:51.982 but Ken Roczen had something to say about it as he laid in a 1:51.562 toward the end of the session. Similar to the 250SMX class though, times were pretty close with just two seconds separating the top eight.

Grant Harlan had a scary moment in the seeded group when his bike suffered some sort of failure on the second double jump just after the mechanics area. He nearly went over the bars all the way in but somehow landed it and pulled off to the side of the track. Luckily, he was okay and pushed his bike off back to the pits.

The final session for the big bikes came with the 450 unseeded group and this one saw Jeremy Hand end up on top with a 1:54.234. But it wasn’t without a little bit of weirdness as he came in too hot to the wall jump one lap and elected to let go of the bike in mid-air. Amazingly he and the bike landed totally fine, and he just jumped right back on it and kept going.

The Supermini World All-Star class rounded out the first round of qualifying and today all the riders looked better as clearing some of the big stuff whereas there were a lot of cases on the finish line double yesterday. Kawasaki’s Carson Wood topped the times with a 2:03.465 but KTM’s Seth Dennis was right on his heels at a 2:03.728.

Second Qualifying Sessions

Rain began to fall lightly just before the second round of unseeded qualifying for the 250SMX class. The track was mostly unaffected for their group though as Cullin Park topped the sheets this time around with a 1:55.646.

Times did start slowing down a little bit more for the seeded 250SMX group compared to the first session as the rain kept falling and the track was getting slicker. Seth Hammaker again was quick early on with a time in the 1:54’s but then a few guys dipped down to the 1:53’s.

RJ Hampshire found himself on a 1:53.628 before Justin Cooper lit up the board at the very end of qualifying to go down to a 1:53.238. Still though, his time was not enough to knock off Hampshire’s low-1:52 from the first session as he remained up top to qualify P1.

Ken Roczen shot right back to the top of the board when the final seeded 450SMX group hit the track again, but the slick conditions did keep the times slower. Roczen came in early in the session with a 1:53.708 and he was the only rider in the 1:53’s for quite some time.

Chase Sexton was able to dip down to a 1:53.808 in the second half of the session but then it was Jett Lawrence who fired off a 1:52.940 right at the end. It seemed like that would be the top time for the session but then Jason Anderson moved to the top right at the very end with a 1:52.770. Even so, Roczen’s time from the first session was still more than enough to hold up.

Jeremy Hand would once again top the final unseeded session for the 450SMX class with a 1:58.038. The rain was starting to subside a little bit by the end of qualifying but the track held up very well throughout qualifying regardless.

The final Supermini qualifying session saw Canyon Richards lay down the top time early on before KTM’s Max Shane moved into the top spot with a 2:07.995. Vincent Wey followed right after that though to go down to a 2:06.907. All of these times were a good bit off Carson Wood’s 2:03.728 so the Kawasaki mounted rider would remain in the top spot at the conclusion of qualifying.

250SMX Last Chance Qualifier

Joshua Varize gabbed the holeshot in the 250SMX LCQ and was just ahead of Preston Kilroy. Luke Neese almost went down going into the first corner and was a little way back but recovered to catch the tail end of the group. Chris Blose began to struggle a bit and fell out of a transfer spot on the first lap and Hunter Yoder and Luke Neese worked forward. Derek Kelley topped over on the second lap and slipped from fifth down to last. Six riders would make it through of the eight in this one.

After Blose fell back a bit, Kelley was able to reel him in but neither could quite get there. The top six ended up being Varize, Kilroy, Coty Schock, Cullin Park, Luke Neese, and Hunter Yoder.

450SMX Last Chance Qualifier

Phil Nicoletti nabbed the holeshot in the 450SMX LCQ and he had Romain Pape right on his tail. Jerry Robin was able to squeeze by into second right away as the duo out front worked on pulling away. Romain Pape was in third place early on and had Jeremy Hand right on his heels for the final transfer spot.

Pape almost went down exiting the sand on the third lap and handed the position over to Jeremy Hand who had Kevin Moranz now breathing down his neck. Hand was able to inch back out though to retain third when the flag waved. In the end, it was Nicoletti, Robin, and Hand transferring through to the motos out of the 450SMX LCQ.

250SMX Moto 1

Off the start in the first 250SMX moto of the night, it was Haiden Deegan who grabbed the holeshot just ahead of Hunter Lawrence and Tom Vialle. Justin Cooper went down in the first corner with Ryder DiFrancesco, Jalek Swoll, and Joshua Varize.

Vialle got around Hunter Lawrence for second place before they crossed the finish line on the first lap but then Lawrence got it back away from him halfway through the first full lap. RJ Hampshire moved around Jo Shimoda on the second lap into fourth place as the field remained freight trained together.

Shimoda then stalked him for a couple of laps and then got back by him into the four spot once again. Shimoda looked fired up in the mid-portion of the race as he started to close up on Tom Vialle for P3. The front seven riders were pretty much still in a line at the front.

Hunter Lawrence was starting to inch up to Haiden Deegan out front and suddenly the battle was on for the race lead. Deegan got sideways before the finish line jump going onto the seventh lap and couldn’t jump it which allowed Lawrence through into the lead.

Jordon Smith and Levi Kitchen suddenly found themselves in a battle for sixth place just a little bit behind the top five. Smith ended up going down in the back section of the track which let Kitchen through into sixth and pushed Smith down to 10^th.

Shimoda finally found his way through on Vialle into third and he was absolutely flying as he had his eyes focused on the front. Within a lap, he caught up to Haiden Deegan for second and took advantage of a small bobble from Deegan to jump through into second heading into the rollers.

Shimoda closed all the way up to Hunter Lawrence for the lead and even got a nose in on him a few times on the final lap of the race. But an untimely mistake going wide before the mechanics area would spell the end of his charge.

Hunter Lawrence took the win in the first 250SMX moto of the night ahead of Shimoda, Deegan, Vialle, and Hampshire.

450SMX Moto 1

The holeshot of the first 450SMX moto went to Jett Lawrence with Justin Barcia right on him and Chase Sexton battling it out in second place with Barcia. Jason Anderson appeared to have gone down on the first lap and he was in dead last. Sexton made his way around Barcia halfway through the first full lap and the race was on at the front between Lawrence and Sexton.

Ken Roczen the fastest qualifier started back in about fifth spot behind Dylan Ferrandis, but he was quickly moving forward as he passed Dylan Ferrandis to get into fourth place. Roczen then began closing up on Barcia for third as Jett Lawrence was inching away out front.

Jett kept inching away from Sexton out front as he was putting about a half second or so a lap on Sexton early on to inch out to about a five second lead. Phil Nicoletti was putting a strong ride in sixth place for about 15 minutes of the moto and only just with about five minutes to go he was finally caught and passed by Aaron Plessinger. Cooper Webb then snuck up on him and was also able to make his way around the #69 machine as well.

Roczen spent almost the entire second half of the race about three seconds back of Sexton and they just continued to match each other’s lap times over and over. They were putting a small gap on Justin Barcia in fourth and Barcia was instead starting to feel the heat from Dylan Ferrandis behind.

Plessinger finally got to Ferrandis on the final lap of the race and was determined to get by for fifth spot. He held it on just a little bit longer and scrubbed a little bit hard in the doubles after the mechanics area to make the pass stick with two corners to go.

Jett Lawrence would hold on to win the opening 450SMX moto ahead of Chase Sexton, Ken Roczen, Justin Barcia, and Aaron Plessinger.

Supermini World All-Stars

Carson Wood grabbed the holeshot in the Supermini World All-Stars race just ahead of Benjamin Moya and Vincent Wey. Max Shane was charging early in the moto and had made his way into second place but then crashed in the sand and fell down the order.

Then while Vincent Wey and Seth Dennis were battling for third, Wey went over the bars hard on one of the doubles in the back and Dennis went down trying to avoid him. Wey amazingly was able to remount the bike and continue on, but it was essentially the end of his race.

Canyon Richards then found himself in second place after the few crashes and as the white flag waved, he was closing right up on the leader Wood. But unfortunately, Richards then crashed hard on the finish line jump and was down for a long time.

Carson Wood would take the win in the end ahead of Max Shane and Benjamin Moya.

250SMX Moto 2

The final 250SMX moto of the night fired into the first corner and it was Justin Cooper grabbing the holeshot with Jo Shimoda and Hunter Lawrence right on him. Shimoda looked like he didn’t want to waste any time with trying to get into the race lead and he caught up to Cooper right away and was putting the heat on him at the end of the second lap.

Before you knew it, Shimoda had found his way around Cooper into the race lead and immediately started opening up the lead ever so slightly on Cooper. Haiden Deegan and Tom Vialle quickly shuffled Ryder DiFrancesco back as the moved up to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Tom Vialle kept the ball rolling and was able to get around Deegan for fourth as he worked on Justin Cooper for the three spot. Cooper seemed to be struggling though as Vialle quickly made the move around him and Deegan followed suit about a half lap later.

Out of nowhere, Tom Vialle pulled off the track from third place and B-lined right to the garage area with an apparent bike issue. A lap later, Lawrence caught Jo Shimoda for the lead and took it from him as Shimoda suddenly was falling off the pace. Lawrence took off with the lead from there as Shimoda tried to manage the gap back to Deegan from there so he could at least hold onto second place.

Hunter Lawrence would hold on to win the second moto and with it take home the 1-1 sweep for the overall victory and the 50 points that come with it. Thanks to this win, Hunter Lawrence now retakes the lead in 250SMX heading into the finale by three points.

450SMX Moto 2

The final moto of the night saw Phil Nicoletti grab the holeshot just ahead of Jett Lawrence and Justin Barcia. Chase Sexton got around Barcia early but then Barcia got him right back. Then Ken Roczen got around Sexton as well and quickly made the move on Barcia into third.

Positions were shuffling around like musical chairs on the first full lap as Lawrence took over the lead from Nicoletti and then Roczen followed suit into second place. Barcia got around Nicoletti as well and then he fell over in the sand section. Sexton snuck by into third around Nicoletti then.

The race from there turned into the Jett and Kenny show as they slowly pulled away from the rest of the pack out front. Chase Sexton was in third place pretty much all by himself and Aaron Plessinger was closing late in the race, but he was pretty much locked into third place in the race and for the overall.

Roczen closed slowly onto Lawrence out front and with a few laps to go the battle was on. Jett Lawrence seemed to let Roczen go by for the lead and it became apparent why. Jett Lawrence’s 1-2 scores would still earn him the overall win and the 50 points while Roczen taking over the lead netted him 3-1 scores. Roczen was already going to get second overall with 3-2 scores versus Chase Sexton’s 2-3 scores.

Ken Roczen would go on to take the win and the crowd was loving it, but it was still Jett Lawrence taking the overall win with 1-2 scores for the maximum 50 points. Roczen would finish second and earn 44 points while Sexton finished third and gathered 40 points on the night. Sexton still leads the championship by two points over Jett Lawrence heading to LA.