Saturday Night Live: Thunder Valley

Hunter Lawrence came up short in the second moto, but his 1-2 was a career day. On top of his maiden 450 moto win, the #96 leaves round three with the points lead. He will head to High Point Raceway in Pennsylvania—where he earned his maiden 250 moto win in 2019—with the extra red on his #96 Honda CRFR450R. Hunter Lawrence becomes the third different rider to leave with the 450 red plates in three rounds this summer. This Lawrence duo is starting to become a two-headed monster for the rest of the 450 field…

It was a huge day for the Lawrence family, but they still know there is a lot of racing left.

“Our mentality is so, head down, thumb up, and just keep working,” said Hunter Lawrence during a post-race interview with Will Christien. “We have so much longer to go in the season, so it’s tough to really enjoy stuff now because it’s just the beginning. But we’ll have a nice dinner tonight and once midnight clicks over, then Sunday, then Monday’s work time again. So, it’s short lived, little enjoyment. But yeah, really pumped.”

Justin Cooper has been solid to start his rookie 450 Pro Motocross season, but he was great today. He was bested late in both races by the Lawrence duo, but leading well over half of both motos and getting two third-place finishes will send the New York native home with his first 450 overall podium Pro Motocross trophy. The big thing here is that Cooper has always been great at Thunder Valley but does doing well here on a 450F give him confidence heading to the rest of the tracks this summer? This could be the turning point for Cooper’s season. His great starts from his 250F days were back and he took another step. Although this weekend did not get as rutted as it typically does, Cooper tends to do well on the more East Coast-style rutted tracks. The #32 is trending in the right direction and to think he really is the third rider on the team (behind Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb) and is a rookie. Impressive stuff so far this summer from J-Coop.

“It was an awesome day," Cooper said. "I got both holeshots and led for 25 minutes. I tried my best, but they [the Lawrences] were riding too good. I gave it everything I had and I’m really happy with today’s performance.”

The other big question from last weekend was could Chase Sexton replicate that unbelievable ride from last weekend? Well, we kinda. The speed seemed to be there, but the mistakes were there, too. And according to the TV crew, Sexton and KTM went away from his Hangtown setup earlier in the day. Then a huge crash—that knocked his goggles off—and sixth place finish in the first moto caused for the team to go back to the Hangtown settings. His speed was almost immediately back and he was challenging Cooper for the early race lead when he crashed trying to double onto the turn before the finish line. Check out some incredible photos of Sexton’s crash from Mike Emery of Align Media!

He fought back to fifth in the second moto, giving him fifth overall. You’d have to imagine whatever that specific Hangtown setup KTM has found they need to keep rolling with it from here on out. Expect Sexton to be right in the thick of this title fight against the Lawrence brothers.  

With the premier class going first today, the 250 Class had a more beat-up track than normal. Different lines and a generally more worn in track proved difficult for the field, but those who put the work in rose to the occasion. In the first 250 Class, Haiden Deegan struck first, taking the race win after a wild battle with Tom Vialle that came down to the last lap. Deegan was winning, then crashed, then got up and fought back into the race lead as the two took the white flag. Vialle came back and tried to make a pass, but he went down, giving Deegan breathing room on the final lap. And although he did have that crash in the first moto, Deegan backed it down in the second moto and thought big picture. Deegan has won four of the first six motos this summer and has won all three overall wins. Again, a lot of racing left, but the second generation-rider now leaves with a 23-point advantage over Vialle and Chance Hymas. Deegan has always had speed, and it seems he has the rest of his program pieced together as well: starts, fitness, technique, mentality, and confidence. Watch out!

“I got a good start [in moto two] but Chance was ripping," said Deegan. "I had to look at the big picture. We had the overall and now we have three [overall wins] in a row. The hard work is paying off.”

Speaking of Hymas, the Honda HRC rider has basically had three career days in a row now. At the opener he pulled off his best pro race to date, then backed it up leading laps at round two before finishing 2-4 just off the podium in fourth overall. Then, he takes his first ever Pro Motocross moto win, and his 4-1 gets him second overall on the day for his first career overall podium finish. It was confirmed on the TV broadcast that he did re-tear his ACL in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and he has decided to ride through the injury instead of immediately getting surgery. As we know, each weekend riders are dealing with lingering injuries, but this is pretty incredible to know what he is riding through while making such steep progress. Huge signs of growth for the Idaho native as he heads to the East Coast track he first led laps at last year. It took Hymas a little longer to show that speed he was known for as an amateur, but now both the speed and results are at another level. He was on rails today. Oh, and with his fantastic day, he is now tied with Vialle for second in the championship standings.

“I’m speechless right now," said Hymas. "I went over the finish line and just broke down. There was a point in time where I didn’t think this was possible. I’m just grateful to be here.”

Vialle rounded out the overall podium in a 2-4 for third overall day. He had a crash in the second moto that cost him some time, but he was putting in good lines and good laps. His battles with Deegan in the first moto were great, but coupled with Levi Kitchen’s 3-7 day, Deegan now has almost a full-race lead on the field. This was not the day Vialle nor Kitchen wanted or needed.

"Overall, the speed was good, just too many mistakes," Vialle said. "I crashed in the second moto, then I was catching again and I tipped over in a corner, so I was really mad. But that's racing and the track was really good, a lot of fun today, so it was pretty nice and I'm excited for next weekend."

For Kitchen, our Jason Weigandt chatted with the Washington native, who was really looking forward to this race. Until he got here this morning and found out they did not rip the track as deep as normal. His usual, stand-a lot technique would not work on this higher speed version of the track, which forced him to have to make do with what he could. In 2022, Kitchen went 1-5 for third overall here and in 2023 he went 5-2 for third overall here. Today though, off the overall podium with a 3-7 for fifth overall. He had a few good lines but by the time he made his way to third in the first moto the lead duo was gone. Like Vialle and the rest of the field, the #47 needs to piece together some strong motos here to keep up with Deegan. Kitchen sits 25 points down in fourth, with moto finishes of 2-2-3-3-3-7.

Jo Shimoda said he was confident heading into the day but his 5-3 for fourth overall was not what he was hoping four. After round three, Shimoda is 45 points back from Deegan (no, that is not a typo). Expect a fired-up Shimoda as we head into these East Coast rounds, where he has won races before (i.e.: RedBud). Jalek Swoll (7-5 for sixth overall) and Ty Masterpool (8-6 for seventh overall) put in solid days battling for top-fives. Masterpool said he popped a rib out of place last Saturday as he continues to learn his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki KX250.