Saturday Night Live: SMX Playoffs Round 2

Even though it was still second overall for Roczen on the night, the German was still overjoyed with his performance and his positioning heading into the finale next week. His son Rafe was born just three days before this race, and it was obvious Roczen took great pride in delivering a moto win to cap off his evening.

With the second-place overall result, Roczen picked up 44 points and sits just 10 points back of points leader Sexton with a massive 75 points still on the table at Los Angeles next week.

“It was a dream race really,” said Roczen. “I had to make a couple of passes early on and then me and Jett just went at it. We were really close there for a bit and kind of just yo-yoing. He was better than me in one part of the track and then I’d reel him back in on the other half of the track. I think I got better towards the end because I was able to close the gap on the first part and then stay close on the back half as well. I just really had to figure that one out and I ended up doing it.”

Sexton would ultimately be left to settle with third place on the evening as his 2-3 scores left him on the final step on the box. The points leader didn’t look particularly comfortable all day and Sexton himself would echo that after the race, admitting he chased setup all day with some major changes throughout each session. Ultimately, he would have preferred to switch over to a full-motocross setup based on the high-speed nature of the track, but he tried to make a soft supercross setting work and it just didn’t.

Despite all that, he’s still the points leader by two and holds the red plate into the final winner-take-all (essentially) race of the year next week.

“It was nice to come home and race,” said Sexton. “But from yesterday to today, I didn’t really have much speed. I don’t really know what it was. I was changing bike setup every session a lot, like big changes. I just straight up was slower today. I was not happy to be on the podium but it definitely was somewhat of damage control when I just wasn’t really comfortable.”

Seldom talked about tonight but certainly deserving of an honorable mention was Aaron Plessinger who’s 5-4 scores netted him fourth overall. The Red Bull KTM rider was one of the fastest riders on the track in both motos but struggled with two bad starts. He even was reeling Sexton in during the final moto and probably just ran out of time as he crossed the line only a few seconds off of the #23 machine ahead of him. Plessinger sits 16 points back and anything can happen at the finale, so you never know.

A similar mindset will be held by Dylan Ferrandis who ended up fifth overall on the night. Ferrandis looked maybe a bit off of what we saw out of him at the opening round of SMX last week in Charlotte, but it was still a solid night overall. His 6-5 scores had him just behind Plessinger in both motos and he now sits 19 points off the lead.

It really does all come down to next week at the Los Angles Memorial Coliseum. Like the double points tonight, triple points will be awarded over the two-moto format and things could get wild. Almost the whole field of riders are still technically mathematically alive for the championship and with one race, a lot of money, and a title on the line, it certainly will be one you won’t want to miss.

In the 250SMX class, it was a dead head between Jo Shimoda and Haiden Deegan coming into the night as they both has the red plate and were just three points up on Hunter Lawrence. Due to the double points, this round would prove pivotal for the 250SMX class as well.

Hunter Lawrence admitted that he missed the mark a bit with setup last weekend in Charlotte but was fired up to rebound just like his brother to make it happen. During qualifying though, it was newly announced member of Team USA, RJ Hampshire, who would set the tone going into the evening with the fastest qualifying time.

In the first moto of the evening, Hunter Lawrence got the start he was looking for from the first round, but he was just pipped by Haiden Deegan who railed around the outside and came out with the lead. Lawrence stayed right in tow with him though, and by the halfway point of the moto, Hunter Lawrence had found his way into the lead.

Haiden Deegan eventually slipped back to the clutches of Jo Shimoda who was absolutely flying forward and was into second place with about four laps to go. Lawrence looked like he had enough of a gap in hand to hold off Shimoda, but the #30 Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki had a different plan.

Shimoda caught Lawrence on the final lap of the first moto and even got alongside of him a couple of times. But Lawrence would do just enough to hang on and win the first moto of the evening.

The second moto saw Justin Cooper rip the holeshot from the outside and he had Shimoda and Lawrence right with him. Lawrence was initially in second, but Shimoda snuck around him and set sail after Cooper. Within a lap, Shimoda was into the lead and opened up a small gap.

Hunter Lawrence found his way into second place pretty quickly as well and the chase was on from there. If Shimoda could hang on to win, he would win the overall and with it the crucial 50 points on the night. Lawrence was sticking close but couldn’t quite get close enough to think about a passing opportunity.

Suddenly, Shimoda seemed to slow a bit and Lawrence shot by into the lead. Shimoda was looking down but only going a little bit slower than he was as Lawrence inched the gap away by a few seconds. It was a heartbreaking turn for Shimoda, but Lawrence took full advantage of it to take an emphatic victory. The 1-1 performance was not only Hunter Lawrence’s first sweep of the season, but it also puts him back in the points lead by three points heading into the finale next week.

“The starts obviously helped a lot,” said Lawrence. “A bit of a unique situation in the second moto with Jo and what was going on with his bike. So that one was a little unique. The track was different for sure. It was very high speed. There were a lot of sections where you couldn’t really see. The vision was really tricky to see because the dirt was so dark and there were some areas out the back where there weren’t really lights. It was kind of sketchy, especially with how high speed we were going. But yeah, it’s SuperMotocross.”

Shimoda stepped onto the podium and admitted it was a bike issue he was nursing down the stretch of the second moto. It really was a situation of what could have been for Shimoda who had a chance to win his third race in a row and hold a comfortable nine-point lead in the championship heading into the finale.

Fortunately for him, he can control his own destiny in Los Angeles next week as a win would give him the 250SMX championship.

“I just felt like the first two races, if you can be in the top three or four, everybody is going to have a chance at the end,” said Shimoda. “So, whoever takes an overall [win] at the end basically takes it all. I knew it was going to be like this.”

Haiden Deegan ended up third on the night after his third in the first moto was backed up with another third in the second moto. He was very solid but ultimately just a bit off of what Lawrence and Shimoda were putting together out front.

He also chose to change his rear tire right before both motos and it looked like it helped with his starts, but he still fell just a bit short on pace compared to Lawrence and Shimoda.

“[I did that] just to make sure I had the maximum traction,” said Deegan of his tire swaps. “In that first start, I somehow pulled the holeshot from the very outside. I wheelied all the way into the first turn which was super cool. Second moto, I had a really good start also. I came out fourth and I was just working on not getting pinched off on the inside. This is just stuff we’re learning this year, so we decided to put it to use.”

Likely the most unfortunate moment of the night from a championship perspective was Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle suffering a DNF in the second moto while running in third place. The Frenchman has finished fourth in the first moto and was potentially on his way to his second consecutive podium result when he suddenly exited the track and headed straight back to the garage area. Turns out he had actually broken his shift lever off clipping a Tuff Block and was left stuck in second gear only. On this high-speed racetrack, it was simply impossible. He ended up 14^th overall and now sits a huge 35 points down in the championship.

With one round of this thing to go, it sort of looks like it’s going to come down to Hunter Lawrence, Jo Shimoda, and Haiden Deegan who are all separated by just 7 points. The gap from first to second overall next week is 9 points so it truly is a winner take all situation. Who will it be? We have to wait a week to find out.