Apologies from Jett Lawrence and Chase Sexton
Things got a little testy in the 450 main event from Monster Energy AMA Supercross in San Diego, with Jett Lawrence and Jason Anderson having words after the race, and Cooper Webb unhappy with both his teammate Eli Tomac and championship-rival Chase Sexton for their role as lapped riders.
First, the Lawrence/Anderson situation. Kellen Brauer wrote the following in our Saturday Night Live report after the race:
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.
Another angle of the post race altercation 🍿
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) January 21, 2024
🎥- @CultMoto #SupercrossLIVE #SMX pic.twitter.com/nxYhDLVuN8
Brauer's report continued:
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.
We have since heard through the AMA's Penalty Report that both Lawrence and Anderson have been fined an undisclosed amount by the AMA.
Anderson shrugged off the situation in his post-race social media.
On track TV reporter Jason Thomas spoke with Lawrence's father Darren and Anderson's Team Manager Dan Fahey after the race and filed this report.
Social media is ablaze with discussion on the Lawrence/Anderson argument, but the only thing that really matters (outside of that AMA fine) is if this carries forward. Both the Lawrence and Anderson camps, according to Thomas, "both feel like the riders lost their cool, but all is forgiven now." We will see if that holds up in what has become a very hotly-contested 450 championship fight.
In other news, Cooper Webb was less than happy while lapping Tomac and Sexton, who both had early crashes and issues in the 450 main. Most notably, Sexton made a mistake coming out of a corner when Webb approached him, and moved right into Webb's line with some slight contact. Webb and Sexton were seen having words after the race. Webb also made a mistake when near Tomac. At the time, he was closing on race leader Aaron Plessinger. Webb said afterwards:
"It was a little bit weird, you know, late in the race I was racing my teammate who was a lap down and that was a bit of a bummer and yeah, I had to trade some paint with the #1 there [Chase Sexton], with two to go."
Watch Webb bobble behind Tomac, and then make contact with Sexton, starting at 2:00 below.
Webb said about Tomac and Sexton:
"It was a very weird thing with Eli, for a bit I thought maybe he was [actually] in second. I had to look at the board. Then with two to go, from my perspective, I felt like the [number] one [Chase Sexton] got out of AP's [Plessinger's] way and then charged forward to not be out of my way is my personal opinion and we hit and we both about went down. So I was a little bummed on that. I was getting lapped last weekend and felt like I was pretty respectful. So, you know, it will come around, but it's tough when you're in that position. You don't want to be getting lapped by any means. But you just gotta have respect for yours."
Sexton apologized for the incident on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Not the night I wanted in San Diego, but I left it all on the track coming from the back.
— Chase Sexton (@_chasesexton) January 22, 2024
On a separate note, my apologies to Cooper on our collision. My intentions were to move out of the way the next corner and not to impede the race that was going on that I was clearly not in pic.twitter.com/7PdSFFmlkb
