Qualifying – Session One

In the 250 Class this session belonged to local hero Levi Kitchen. The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider rode hard for most of the qualifier, setting a 2:20.951 (the fastest of the field) on his final lap. His second-best lap, a 2:21.852, was excellent too, and was faster than the fastest lap of Julien Beaumer, who qualified second-fastest. So far so good for Kitchen!

If you’re a fan of Chance Hymas, who sustained a severe ankle sprain last week at Spring Creek and was questionable for today, you’ll be happy to know he did indeed give it a go in this first qualifier. He was 13^th-fastest with a 2:32.745, so he clearly wasn’t pushing it. We’ll see if he improves, or lines up, for the second qualifier.

In 450 action Jason Anderson looked great. He looked smooth on the treacherous Washougal soil, and topped the field with a 2:19.251, just ahead of Hunter Lawrence’s 2:19.985. Anderson and Lawrence were the only riders to dip under the 2:20 mark, and Anderson’s second-fastest lap (2:20.131) was still faster than Chase Sexton, who brought it home in third.

Don’t expect these times to mean much, however, as the track is breaking in and ruts are forming. As the track continues to develop it’s going to get faster, and lap times will fall in the second qualifying sessions.

Qualifying – Session Two

As expected, lap times were substantially lower for the second set of qualifiers. In the 250 Class Tom Vialle must have made some adjustments or really liked how the track developed because he was better in this one after finishing fifth-fastest and two seconds back of  Kitchen in the first one. Vialle set the fastest lap, a  2:19.236, on his third lap and no one could touch it. Well, nobody but Vialle, that is who, lowered his time to 2:18.580 two laps later. He ended up almost two whole seconds faster than Levi Kitchen, who was second-fastest!

Chance Hymas looked a lot better in this one, seventh-fastest with a 2:20.810, and was probably preserving his hurt ankle in the first qualifier, knowing the times would be faster in the second session anyway. Haiden Deegan, who put in a crazy, hero ride here last year, was third-fastest, but was only about a hundredth of a second off Kitchen. Other than Vialle, the times in the top seven are incredibly close—they’re all in the 2:20 range!

In 450 qualifying Jason Anderson looked really good yet again, and after watching him out there, it makes sense he’s been on the podium the last two times he’s been here. He fell just short of Hunter Lawrence, however, who also looked great. On his final lap Lawrence took his time down from 2:18.124 to 2:16.403. Anderson also turned in an extremely fast final lap, but it was about a tenth of a second slower.

Chase Sexton never really looked like he was pushing it out there, at least not in the parts of the track that were visible from out vantage point on the podium. The Red Bull KTM rider just seemed like he wasn’t flowing and seemed like he was making a lot of small corrections in his in some of the turns. His time wasn’t disastrous—he was fourth-fastest with a 2:17.526—but he’s usually very fast in qualifying. He’ll probably show us we’re making something out of nothing when the gate drops on today’s racing.

450 – Moto One

Aaron Plessinger kicked off the action at Washougal by ripping a big holeshot with Justin Cooper and Hunter Lawrence in tow. Lawrence would drop a spot to Jason Anderson early when Anderson made an aggressive move to take over third. Dylan Ferrandis held fifth early, but it looked like Chase Sexton, who didn’t get a great start, was about to start moving through the pack. Unfortunately for Sexton, however, he pushed the front and had a little tip-over, which would delay his charge. More on that in a minute.

Up front Plessinger continued to hold the lead, and was getting away from Justin Cooper in third. Behind them Lawrence had caught back up to Anderson and was applying pressure, but Anderson was able to stretch it back out. It wouldn’t last long, however, because a few laps later Sexton was on the move. The Red Bull KTM rider had caught and passed Ferrandis and had Lawrence in sight. That was all the motivation Lawrence needed to pull the trigger and zap Anderson. Sexton would follow suit, and it wasn’t long before Cooper, who still held second place, was feeling the heat from both Lawrence and Sexton. Cooper eventually succumbed to Lawrence, and a few turns later Sexton motored by too.

At this point it looked like we were going to be treated to another riveting battle between Lawrence and Sexton, but unfortunately Lawrence made a mistake and went down, handing second place to Sexton. Lawrence got up and rejoined the race, but he’d fallen back to fifth place and wasn’t able to mount a charge. Plessinger was still quite a ways up front at this point, but it was apparent that Sexton was catching him. The only question was, would he have enough time to make it happen? Well, we wouldn’t get to find out because Plessinger stalled the motorcycle when Sexton was a few seconds back, allowing Sexton to make an easy pass into the lead right about the time the clock expired. Sexton would take the win, but didn’t see the checkered flag and put in another hard lap at race pace before coming around and finally seeing the checkered flag. The comedy didn’t stop there either. Afterward on the podium Plessinger joked he was going to go buy a book titled, How to Use the Clutch, for Dummies, in reference to him stalling his bike while leading.

Anderson was strong in this one, riding strong and putting a ton of pressure on Cooper for third late into the race, but Cooper would eventually win that contest.

250 – Moto One

Tom Vialle shot out to the lead right away in the first 250 moto, but Haiden Deegan was so close behind him it was almost difficult to see who got the holeshot. The two were just about side-by-side going into the steep climb up Horsepower Hill, but Vialle would emerge with the clear lead after that. Behind them was a freight train of riders followed, including Ryder DiFrancesco, Jordan Smith, Jo Shimoda, Ty Masterpool Chance Hymas, and more.

The lead duo of Vialle and Deegan immediately started to check out, but Deegan made a small mistake and tipped over, handing second to DiFrancesco. Deegan was quick to retake the spot though, streaking past DiFrancesco in the whoops preceding the finish line. Deegan went to work and slowly started closing on Vialle, and with about ten minutes left in the race he’d cut Vialle’s lead to about four seconds. It looked like we might be in for a thrilling finish, but Vialle held strong and didn’t allow Deegan to close any further. As the race wound down, Vialle would start gapping Deegan and ended up winning by about 11 seconds.

Elsewhere Jordon Smith had a fantastic race going and had passed DiFrancesco for third, but had a crash and dropped back a few spots. He’d end up 11th. Jo Shimoda was ripping in the second half of this one, and after running around eighth, put in a strong charge to finish third in front of DiFrancesco, who took fourth for a career best. Max Anstie rounded out top five.

Crowd favorite Levi Kitchen didn’t have a good race. He got a bad start, and later had an off-track excursion. He spent most of the race hovering around fifteenth, and just wasn’t able to force his way forward. He ended up taking 12^th, just one week after a perfect 1-1 at Spring Creek.

450 – Moto Two

One of these days Chase Sexton is going to lose a moto, but not today. The Red Bull KTM rider was pushed wide on the start while his title rival, Hunter Lawrence, went up the inside of turn two to take the lead from Justin Cooper, who’d  nabbed the holeshot. Lawrence had the lead, but that’s now how the rest of the race would play out. Jason Anderson made some slick moves almost immediately to go from third to first in front of Lawrence, and did his best to check out. Anderson was absolutely ripping, and was getting away from Lawrence, while Chase Sexton, Cooper, and Aaron Plessinger held third, fourth, and fifth. Cooper unfortunately went down early, exiting the this group early on. Sexton, however, had no such problems, and caught up to Lawrence. The Honda HRC rider fought Sexton off as best he could, but Sexton was relentless, and despite a strong effort defensive from Lawrence, went around and took off after Anderson.

Just before the halfway point it seemed as though Lawrence lost just a little bit of steam. Plessinger was able to get around him and Lawrence just didn’t have any fight left in him and dropped off the pace to finish in a lonely fourth. Plessinger continued charging forward but wasn’t able to catch up to Anderson, who’d been demoted to second by a Sexton. When the checkers flew Sexton took the moto win, his seventh straight, by 13 seconds over Anderson. Plessinger took third, finishing three seconds behind Anderson, and after crossing the finish line, paused to allow a fan to pour beer into his mouth.

Malcolm Stewart and Dylan Ferrandis were great in this one, and put on a great battle for much of the moto. Ferrandis would edge Stewart for fifth, but Stewart kept him in sight to log his best moto of the season.

250 – Moto Two

Tom Vialle got the final moto of the day going with a holeshot, with Haiden Deegan and Ryder DiFrancesco close behind. Vialle and Deegan didn’t waste much time in starting to get away from the pack, although DiFrancesco kept them in sight initially. In the opening laps of the race Vialle was holding steady over Deegan, and after Vialle handled Deegan in the first moto, it was starting to look like he might do it again in the second. But Deegan had other ideas, and started coming on strong, getting up to Vialle’s rear fender and applying heavy pressure. The duo had to contend with a wheels-on-the-ground situation over a jump when a medical flag came out due to Talon Hawkins and Max Anstie crashing and going over the side of the jump and getting stuck in the fence, but it didn’t affect the battle much. Deegan was able to get by Vialle and immediately put in some hard laps to gap Vialle and take the win by 14 seconds.

Ryder DiFrancesco was fantastic early, and after taking fourth in the first moto was running third in the second. He seemed to gas out just a bit in the second half, however, and was passed by Jo Shimoda, Levi Kitchen, and Pierce Brown. Shimoda didn’t start up front, but he was super strong in the second half of this moto, and while Deegan and Vialle were way ahead of him at one point, he was catching Vialle at the end and only finished about three seconds back of him. Deegan, who went through a six-moto streak of not winning, broke that run today by winning the second moto, and the overall, to extend his points lead to 54 points over Vialle.