Saturday Night Live: San Diego

Within a few laps, it was clear that Plessinger’s heat race winning speed had transferred right to the main event and the SuperMotocross cowboy was ready for a showdown. Having never won a 450SX main event, Plessinger looked even more determined as he flew past Barcia into second place and locked his eyes on Roczen for the lead. The crowd came to life as Plessinger inched up to the back wheel of Roczen’s Suzuki and began looking for a way through. Suddenly, the doors parted as Roczen cross-rutted on a double-in and ejected off the bike in wild fashion. He quickly remounted and only lost a few places, but Plessinger was into the lead and the crowd roared in approval.

From there, the second half of the race became a battle of the two former teammates. Plessinger led by about seven seconds from Cooper Webb (who had departed KTM for Yamaha at the end of 2023) as the two friends pulled away from the rest of the pack. In an odd twist of fate, Plessinger actually lapped Eli Tomac who was running just inside of the top 10 and was slowly catching his teammate Chase Sexton to also put him a lap down as well. Tomac ran between Plessinger and Webb for several laps, though never really getting in the way, before letting Webb through to go battle it out for the win. With two laps to go, Plessinger lapped Sexton. When Webb dove to the inside of Sexton to go by as well, their two lines ended up coming together and the slight collision cost Webb a lot of time.

Thanks to that contact, it gave Plessinger ample time to take a victory lap more or less in the final trip around the circuit. He waved to the crowd as he hucked the supercross triple one more time and even fist pumped as he rode by his mechanic Jade Dungey. The storm had been weathered and history was made as Aaron Plessinger crossed the line to win his first ever 450SX main event. With Webb finishing second, and Barcia rounding out the podium while Sexton could only manage to get to eighth place, Plessinger also managed to grab hold of the championship lead as well.

“It feels really, really good,” said Plessinger. “I guess it feels like it should. I got off to a good start and just rode a good race. Kenny was out front, I ended up just applying a little pressure and he ended up going down. Coop was right there behind me; he was keeping me on my toes. It was a really good race. I just got a good lead and just rode my own race.”

Webb crossed the line just 2.1 seconds behind Plessinger and had some words for Sexton after they crossed the finish line. At first both riders stopped to briefly talk and then Webb rode away only for Sexton to jump back in front of him and say something. Either way, it was a huge race for Webb to get back on track after an 11^th in San Francisco. Aside from those muddy conditions in San Francisco, Webb looked like a guy who could maybe have won at both San Diego and even Anaheim 1, which certainly could be dangerous for the rest of the field if the two-time champion figures out his new Yamaha this quickly.

“It was much needed,” said Webb of the podium result. “I’ve had a great season so far, but on paper, it hasn’t been. Anaheim 1 was great, but last weekend was not. I’m hoping that was the bad one and I can charge on from here. Tonight was great. To get those points back and get in the mix, I felt great on the track, and I felt great all day. I really wanted that win, but it was overall a really good bounce back for me just to know that I’m in this thing for sure.”

Rounding out the podium in what was ultimately a distant third was Justin Barcia. Once Webb snuck away from him, Barcia rode a lonely race in third place trying to work through the lapped traffic. This was a marked improvement from San Francisco where Barcia was dealing with an illness, and it certainly looked like it affected him all day long. Tonight’s version of Justin Barcia is the one we’ve come to know when the rain falls.

“The sickness last weekend was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever experienced,” said Barcia. “I had a crazy rash and wasn’t well. I don’t know how I raced last weekend. I mean you guys saw me going down the start straight almost tanking it because I couldn’t even hold on. The rebound this weekend was absolutely awesome. I felt really good just staying in my lane. I didn’t feel the greatest, but I ride well in those conditions, and this is a really cool podium.”

Behind the podium may be where the real drama from San Diego lies as fourth and fifth ended up being Jett Lawrence and Jason Anderson. But they didn’t get to those positions without a little cat and mouse action. The two began battling with just over five minutes to go in the main event when they ended up making contact. Anderson went on to seemingly brake check Jett in the next corner and they spent a whole lap playing a game of covering each other’s lines. It ended when Jett parked Anderson for fourth and took off. Or so we thought it was over.

After the checkered flag waved, Jett waited for Anderson who rolled up alongside him. Lawrence began gesturing towards some corners where they battled, and Anderson said some things and was about to ride away when Lawrence grabbed Anderson’s helmet. Anderson then grabbed Lawrence’s helmet and batted his hand away from his own helmet. It was clearly a contentious discussion and ended far from amicably.

Later in the evening, Lawrence took to Instagram with a story explaining that he let the emotions get the better of him and apologized to Anderson. He also offered to pay Anderson’s fine, assuming Anderson will receive a fine for batting Lawrence’s hand away. Either way, the back and forth was certainly the talk of the night.

In the end though, the real story is that of parity and a 450SX class that feels even more wide open than it did before Anaheim 1, if that is somehow possible. Aaron Plessinger is your points leader by one point over Chase Sexton and four points over Jett Lawrence, but it seems like five other guys have reasons to believe they could win the triple crown next week in Anaheim. What a night!

The 250SX class was a tale of highs and lows through two rounds entering San Diego. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire won the opening round taking the red plate in the mud of San Francisco last weekend, only to hand it right off to Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Jordon Smith who picked up the win in the bay area. But those are the highs of the 250SX class. The lows featured DNF’s from Smith’s teammate Nate Thrasher at Anaheim 1 who crashed out while battling for a top five spot, and then Honda HRC’s Jo Shimoda who suffered a mechanical failure in San Francisco. Both were expected to contend for the title, and both were left looking at a mountain of points to hurdle coming into San Diego. On top of that, news broke on Thursday that Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Max Vohland crashed at the test track and suffered a hip injury that left him on the sidelines for San Diego and likely the foreseeable future.

A lot of the attention coming into San Diego centered on Smith and Hampshire, but Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen had two podiums to start off his season, and Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha’s Garrett Marchbanks also found the box last week in San Francisco to throw another name in the hat of potential winners.

With that rain falling in the afternoon, it seemed like some of the guys who rode well a week ago were lighting up with anticipation again. Kitchen and Marchbanks both won their heat races which were wild to say the least. The groomed track coupled with slick conditions from the rain meant massive margins between the leaders with only three riders actually finishing on the lead lap in the first heat. But the fun had only just begun.

RJ Hampshire snagged the holeshot in the main event, but he had Levi Kitchen hot on his heels. Kitchen sat right in Hampshire’s shadow for a couple laps before he crashed awkwardly two corners after the finish when he landed sideways on the double-in and slid down the backside of the double landing. That gave Hampshire a momentary breath out front before Marchbanks came cruising along to challenge for the lead. He was bringing Nate Thrasher along with him who looked much more comfortable this week than he did in the mud of San Francisco.

Before long, Marchbanks had found his way by Hampshire for the lead while Thrasher quickly pounced as well to get into second. The lead trio began battling while the next trio behind them of Jordon Smith, Levi Kitchen, and Jo Shimoda were all duking it out for fourth through sixth. Marchbanks looked in control out front, but Thrasher was keeping him honest. Then the lapped riders came into play as Marchbanks had to come to a complete stop at one point behind Matti Jorgensen and that allowed Thrasher through into the lead.

Coming to the checkered flag, it was still a three-horse race out front with Hampshire right in the mix. Marchbanks was trying everything he could to get by on the last lap, but Thrasher was simply too good. A week after an 18^th place finish in the mud, Thrasher captured the victory in San Diego. It was quite a turnaround from the first two rounds for the #57 machine and he was thrilled with the performance.

“It definitely feels good to be back up here after a long year for sure,” said Thrasher on his fifth career victory. “I felt good at A1, but just an unfortunate crash. We’re feeling good now and ready to fight for some more wins.”

Second across the line nearly right behind Thrasher was Garrett Marchbanks who waited just after the finish for Jorgensen to cross the line. Instead of a contentious discussion, Marchbanks seemed to speak calmly with Jorgensen and even patted him on the back. But it was a win that just slipped through his grasps, which would have been his team’s first ever victory. So close, but so far as well.

“Honestly, once I passed RJ for the lead, I’d say the first lap I was like, ‘Holy crap, I’m leading!’” said Marchbanks. “It’s been a really long time since Daytona where I led some laps. I’d say after that, it was just putting my head down and treating it like I was at the practice track doing some normal laps at ClubMX. It is what it is. I got caught up with some lappers trying to change some lines up and it wasn’t the best I could do. Nate got around me and Nate was riding good. It is what it is.”

Behind Marchbanks on the final lap was RJ Hampshire who was putting the heat on for another step higher on the podium when he landed the double after the supercross triple and immediately high-sided just two turns before the finish. Hampshire was amazingly unhurt as he remounted the bike, but Smith, Shimoda, and Kitchen were right behind him as he crashed, and they all went by. As such, Hampshire went from gaining points on Smith in the championship to losing another handful of points with a sixth-place result. Smith took advantage to jump onto the podium late and bookend a Yamaha podium sweep to keep the red plate heading into Anaheim 2 next week.

“It means a lot,” said Smith of his retention of the red plate. “It means everything we’ve been doing in the offseason has been working. Two mud races in the first three rounds, I wouldn’t necessarily have expected them to go that well for myself. I’ve definitely grown as a rider over the last couple of years and I think it’s showing in situations like today and last week.”

Smith now leads the points by eight marks over Levi Kitchen who is just two points up on Marchbanks. Hampshire sits another three points behind that as the top four are just 13 points apart through three rounds. It’s slowly becoming that four-rider race at the top as Thrasher is 12^th in points despite the win and Shimoda’s DNF looms large as he’s just seventh in the points.

Next week will be the first Triple Crown race of 2023 as Anaheim 2 is also expected to finally be yet another dry race. What will happen next in this championship? That’s why we drop the gate in seven days’ time to find out!