That sound you hear is every 450SX factory rider sighing all at once as they watched Jett Lawrence become just the second rider to sweep a 450 Triple Crown event. The Honda kid went 1-1-1 on the night and it was shocking how easy he made it happen. Yes, Ken Roczen kept him close and even led laps in each TC race, but when Jett needed to make some time up, he did it rather simply by stringing together a couple of turns and bingo-bango, he was on the 94’s rear fender. 

He was also jumping the wall into the whoops (Roczen did this as well, but not as much), his starts were amazing and anyone who thought “Triple Crowns” were a weakness for Jett, well we can check that off the list.

Jett was on the PulpMX Show Monday night and mentioned yes, the first 450SX season, for him, was catching up to him but that he’s got “kid energy” so he should be good. He did mention that in the third TC he was content to sit behind Ken Roczen and take the overall until he saw Chase Sexton coming on fast. That caused him to push and get past the 94 which, yeah, he did.

Now he’s got a 21-point lead with seven races to go, five wins on the year, three in a row and yeah, the Jett Lawrence era is here everyone. Buckle up.

Roczen’s good in Indy, he won last year on his Suzuki, and he swept a TC event on the Honda to become the first guy to do this. So yeah, he likes Indy dirt and the Indy stadium, and heck, he probably loves the cow liver at St Elmo’s Steakhouse. Whatever it is with Indianapolis, Roczen’s got the feels going on. And he was great, only problem is, Jett was better. Roczen’s wide line in the sand cost him, his inability to double out of the right turn after the table-to-table hurt, but overall, he was great. I think Roczen can be stoked on his riding this year and he seems to have overcome a bit of a slow start (still had speed but didn’t have the results) to now move into fourth in the points, ten back of Sexton.

Cooper Webb looked great early on in the first race—he was third and looked to be set there. He was setting himself up nicely for a good night and then he hit Cade Clason, who was getting lapped and in a battle with Kyle Chisholm. Clason cased a rhythm (common mistake out there ICYWW) and took Webb out. Obvi, not on purpose. But it happens. That set the stage for Webb to get an eighth and then to me, he never looked the same after that. He charged hard but yeah, the crash seemed to take some wind out of his sails.

My group texts and social mentions filled up with “EFF CADE” but I mean, he was in 14^th, he was racing for position and he made a mistake that was easy to do out there. We’ve already established that the AMA officials MANY times wave blue flags at inappropriate times so the riders can’t always just slow up. I know Cade felt bad, he gets it, but to me, it’s a racing incident. Cooper Webb can be pissed, Cade can feel bad, and no one can be at fault. It’s racing, lappers happen.

“Be where your feet are,” is what Cameron McAdoo said during, and after, the race. Deep thinking from Cam but hey, it’s working as he won his first race in over two years. We were shaping up for a great battle between him and Haiden Deegan after they split wins and runner-up’s in the first two TC’s, but Deegs went down off the start in TC3 and McAdoo rode smart to a third to take the OA and the points lead. He did have some “RAM IT” moments out there for sure, but I think everyone had those moments so I’m not going to penalize him here. Generally speaking, Cam looks like a different dude this year. Cool to see him take the win.

As I said, Deegan squashed his chances for an OA with the third moto crash. Man was he fast after he got up though! He was basically last and before I knew it, he was in eighth! On that track, that’s impressive. He mentioned on the podium that he’s able to train and ride during the week after his wrist injury, so we’ll probably see a better Haiden Deegan after the break. His overall “flash” and raw speed hasn’t been there this year and it’s most likely because of the wrist. He’s 16 points down with four rounds to go.

Also, ICYWW, Haiden really flipped the script this week from his opening rounds where he came across a little cocky (Dallas) to full-on wrestling villain (last week) on the podium. This week he was a humble, God thanking good kid, so clearly his dad or someone told him to back it down. I just want to see the real Haiden Deegan and not the YouTube stuff but it’s probably too late for that. So, I’ll sit back and enjoy the show, I suppose.

Tom Vialle was a source of debate a bit after Birmingham when I said that I’ve seen enough, he’s a title threat with the two straight wins. JT wanted to see him get through whoops a bit better. Well, Tom crashed while running second in the first TC…in the whoops. He eventually got it figured out, won the third one and took third overall. He lost the points lead but he’s right in this thing.

We’re probably not giving Pierce Brown enough respect here. On the review pod and on PulpMX Show Monday night, myself, JT, Weege and Daniel Blair all thought that this title was coming down to the three riders I just wrote about above meanwhile Brown is 11 back of McAdoo and ahead of Deegan. He’s been very consistent so far and that’s not a sentence that we’ve written about Brown before. I guess it’s the 5-5-5-4-4 finishes so far that’s made us discount him.

It's a contract year for Brown and I spoke with someone inside TLD that told me they absolutely want him back for next year (dispelling some of the “Anstie to TLD stamp it” stuff out there) if he wants to come back. Now, PB may want to try something new but that’s where the TLD team stands on the #39.

Some other news and notes:

Eli Tomac was a non-factor all night long in a format where he excels. He looked to be pushing hard in qualifying and was second OA behind the kid. Then the night show came, and his starts were never any good. He was working hard trying to come up, but it really wasn’t happening for him. He crashed late in the third TC. As I said last week, it’s getting late early for Eli Tomac.

Look, I’m not going to say he’s not going to win (like I said he’s not going to win the title few weeks ago that got JT irate) but it’s hard right now to see the #3 standing on top of the box. Also, almost every year there’s some rider that we stamp for a win and then he doesn’t end up winning. Jason Anderson was that guy last year, Cooper Webb was that guy in 2022 and so on and so on. Eli Tomac might be that guy in 2024.

Hunter Lawrence came back from a cracked shoulder blade after one week off and was a tenth-place dude. That’s not too bad really, pretty impressive.

Lawrence brother’s teammate Chance Hymas had some sweet Fly gear but probably not the sweet results he wanted. It’s weird, am I the only one who thought that he showed more speed last year in his limited races? I know he tore the ACL again and that’s got to hold him back some, but it’s been a bit rough for the sophomore. Crashes…again.

Jalek Swoll got great starts on the Triumph and fought hard to stay with the front guys, and he would’ve done pretty well if the Triumph didn’t break on him right after the start of TC3. Bummer for Jalek, he probably had a fifth or sixth overall in the cards if he stays on the track. The Triumph looks good though out there, seems fast, right?

Jason Anderson had a lot going on in Indy. He got great starts, he got passed a lot, he passed guys back and overall, his fourth on the night doesn’t indicate the chaos that seemed to be around him all the time. Not sure if it was arm pump, or what, but Jason usually doesn’t go backwards like that but then he seemed to get a second wind? IDK man, it was weird.

In the Triple Crown format, it does seem that once you get a good result in the first race, you get some confidence, you get a good gate pick, get a start and everything sort of falls together you know? Well Justin Cooper, I feel, got this experience once he fell in the first main while he was moving up through the pack. That set him back, he never got one of his patented starts again and was tenth. He did qualify fastest in the first session which is still impressive.