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In terms of the 250SMX championship, Haiden Deegan (Yamaha) entered in the points lead and then won the first event after 1-1 finishes. So, Deegan enters today with the red plates still on his #1 Yamaha YZ250F. Even though Jett Lawrence won the 450SMX overall at the event in North Carolina last weekend, Chase Sexton enters today in the 450SMX points lead after his lead over the 2024 450SX Champion entering the playoffs. Jett Lawrence was able to jump from sixth entering the playoffs to second after his overall win last weekend. Sexton has a four-point advantage. So, will Sexton leave this weekend still in the points lead? Or will it be someone else? Hunter Lawrence enters the day down just five points in third as Eli Tomac starts the day down 12 points to Sexton.

Again, double points could really shake things up one way or another as a great day could catapult a rider multiple positions in the championship, just the same as a disastrous day could see a rider drop multiple positions as well.

Qualifying will start at 9:20 a.m. local time (Eastern). View the full race day and TV broadcast/streaming schedules below.

First Practice

During yesterday's riding sessions, many riders remarked on the dirt, which is hard and slick. This is dirt sourced from right here at Texas Motor Speedway, not the same stuff used for the Arlington Supercross. But what makes it even tougher is the weather, as Texas-based racer Grant Harlan tells us it's only rained one time here all summer, and this is going to be yet another hot, dry weekend. In supercross, the roof over AT&T stadium (or down in Houston) makes a huge difference. The track crews from Dirt Wurx and Pro Motocross are mixing in material and water to try to soften the track up, and this morning's sessions looked like early practice at the old Las Vegas supercross rounds. It’s wet and it’s getting rutty. Seemed tough for riders to get a flow with such slippery conditions, but that’s what it will take to have any moisture in the track by race time.

The start here is super short, so that will be something to watch. The track crew added more berms to the track after yesterday’s practices to try to open up more lines.

Ty Masterpool is familiar with this dirt, being Texas-based, and he logged a fast lap on his fifth lap to jump to the top, but Haiden Deegan and Julien Beaumer jumped up there on the seventh lap top take the first two spots. Deegan sitting with the fastest time is not a surprise but it’s interesting to see JuJu backing up his strong performance last week with another good run. He might be up at the front, permanently, now. Masterpool ended up third.

Bad news for a few riders. Jalek Swoll is already out due to last week’s concussion, Casey Cochran is out due to last week’s crash (he was already nursing a shoulder injury from Unadilla). Today, Chance Hymas pulled himself out of action due to lingering issues with his knee, which he aggravated last weekend. We hear Hymas will likely not race next weekend in Las Vegas, either, and focus on rehabbing for Motocross of Nations.

Carson Mumford went down hard in the unseeded practice, getting sideways in a rhythm lane. We hear he fractured his leg. Ouch. Get well soon, Mumfy.

In 450s, the Lawrence brothers rolled, with Jett and Hunter going 1-2. Cooper Webb had a good run going but got pushed back to third, and Chase Sexton was fourth. Hard to know how close these times will reflect in the actual racing because it’s so wet, but Jett did get into the 1:16s. Track will likely get much faster soon.

Second Practices

Jett Reynolds, as mentioned topped both Unseeded sessions in the 250s today, topping Cameron McAdoo. In the seeded session, Masterpool looked good again early, then Jo Shimoda took the top spot away. Finally Deegan logged a late flyer to take the top spot once again.

In the 450s, Hunter Lawrence grabbed the “holeshot” on the “fake start” with Cooper Webb right with him. Webb and Hunter looked frisky early, then Eli Tomac started hammering down and went to the top. He looked very fast. Jett Lawrence made a few mistakes early but then he finally put a clean lap together and went to the top spot, then, he uncorked a triple-triple in the rhythm lane and really linked together a fast time, into the 1:13s!

Last Chance Qualfiers

Due to injuries in the 250 ranks--Mumford, Swoll, Cochran, Hymas and more--the 250 LCQ today swelled to taking seven riders to fill the 22-man gates in the motos. There were only eight riders in the LCQ, which means all but one was going to qualify.

And that one rider was Matti Jorgensen, who was out dueled by Max Sanford. Sanford took seventh for the final transfer spot. Up ahead, Jett Reynolds wrestled the lead away from Talon Hawkins early, then Cameron McAdoo moved up to second to challenge Reynolds. Reynolds held on, and then McAdoo was penalized a spot for jumping from one lane to another in the split lane. The unofficial results below show McAdoo in second, but he will end up pushed back to third.

In the 450 LCQ, which only took two to the main .Jerry Robin grabbed the holeshot on his Yamaha, but Colt Nichols took over the lead. Now it was up to Dean Wilson to make something happen, and he did by catching Robin. Then Robin lost the back end in a corner and Wilson shot past. Robin stayed close but couldn't make another move, and Wilson took the final spot.

First Motos

250SMX

After opening ceremonies, it was time to drop the gate. The temperatures were hot both from the weather and the racing on track. The gates dropped and it was Haiden Deegan who snuck up the inside and got the holeshot over Ty Masterpool and Jo Shimoda. Shimoda quickly got into second and then jumped into the lead ahead of Deegan in the first rhythm section, although Deegan tripled out of the over/under bridge and took over the lead. From there, Deegan ran away with the race win as he was uncontested as he took the checkered flag. That’s three straight moto wins to start the SMX Playoffs for the 2023 250SMX Champion. Peirce Brown finished ninth after going down in the first turn in a great charge. On the opening lap, Nate Thrasher had a hard crash on the over/under bridge, which saw his moto end early. Masterpool had a crash very similar to Thrasher while running third that dropped him a handful of positions. Luckily, Masterpool remounted and finished tenth. Jordon Smith took out his long-time competitor RJ Hampshire as the Yamaha rider moved into fourth behind Tom Vialle. Hampshire battled remounted and went after Levi Kitchen for a handful of laps before finally making a pass stick. Vialle closed up on Shimoda but could not make a pass into second before the checkered flag. Smith and Julien Beaumer rounded out the top five as Hampshire came through about a second behind Beaumer. Thrasher, Cole Thompson, Jett Reynolds, and Henry Miller all suffered DNFs in the moto.

450SMX

After an exciting 250SMX battle, the 450SMX Class gates dropped and wow, we might have just had our race of the year! It looked like Eli Tomac would emerge in the lead on the short start, but it was actually Hunter Lawrence who took the early lead over Cooper Webb as Tomac swung wide. Jett Lawrence slid into second after a few turns as the Lawrence brother duo took off out front. Chase Sexton was ninth and had to get to work. Tomac had to get around Roczen and Webb, using the same line to make both passes: squaring up the right-hander out of the sand turn. Once Tomac got into third, Jett Lawrence pushed to the rear wheel of Hunter and made a pass after Hunter made a mistake and cased the rhythm section. Jett quickly made a pass for the lead. Tomac kept charging and when Jett stalled his bike a few laps later, Hunter retook the lead and Tomac jumped by the #1 to take over second! We witnessed an extremely close three-way battle for the lead, but eventually Hunter pulled away and took the checkered flag in a huge ride by the #96! Tomac held off Jett at the finish line. Tomac came through second, just 0.87 seconds back. Sexton came through fourth but by the time he got into that position late in the race, the lead trio was already so far gone.

Even after that huge win over his brother and Tomac, Hunter Lawrence stays neutral, not getting too high off the highs or too low off the lows: “I can’t enjoy it though, we’ve got another one to go.”

Tomac said: “It was awesome out there. My bike is just really, really nice out there today. …Tough track out there but we’re making it work.”

Jett Lawrence said: “Jett Lawrence: "Silly mistake with the bike stalling. ...I have to step it up."

Hopefully we can get this same kind of action for the second 450SMX moto!

Supermini World All-Stars Main Event

Noxx Lewin got the lead off the start of the main event as 2023 Supermini winner Carson Wood was dead last coming out of the first turn. Caleb Martin was second as Wyatt Thurman was third. On the opening lap, a handful of riders got collected in a big pileup in the first rhythm section. After one lap, Wood was up to 11th. Lewin had about four seconds on Brody Moss, but Lewin went off track! Somehow, the #32 KTM machine stayed up and got back on track just ahead of Moss. About a lap later, Moss used Tomac’s inside turn in the sand to take over the race lead! Wood got up to seventh late in the race. Wyatt Duff joined the front duo as Wood moved into fifth with about a minute left on the clock. Duff took second from Lewin as Kane Bollasina got onto the rear wheel of Lewin, just as Wood got onto the back of Bollasina! Wood got by Bollasina as they took the white flag. Wood took over third from Bollasina in their final run through the sand turn! Moss took the race win over Duff as Wood held off Bollasina at the checkered flag to complete a dead-last to third-place ride!

Second Motos

250SMX

Haiden Deegan once again took the moto win, starting this SMX Playoffs with four straight moto wins and both overall wins. Levi Kitchen was second early but was passed by both Tom Vialle and Jo Shimoda. Pierce Brown again went down in the first turn. This time, Brown finished fifth. His dead last to eighth then dead last to fifth was easily the most underrated ride of the day. Deegan’s 1-1 gets the overall win as Vialle (3-2) and Shimoda (2-3) trade positions in the motos to claim second and third overall on the day.

450SMX

Dylan Ferrandis, Aaron Plessinger, and Jason Anderson were leading the field out of the first two turns as the lead trio from moto one—the Lawrence brothers and Tomac—were all outside of the top five. Ken Roczen went down off the start and was dead last. Roczen would eventually finish the race sixth. Chase Sexton worked his way into the lead from about fifth and ran away with the moto win with a huge gap. Brothers Jett and Hunter battled one another as they charged forward, Jett to second place as Hunter ran third after they both passed Cooper Webb. On the final lap, Hunter Lawrence had a big bobble and went off track, although he stayed up. He looked back, but luckily had enough breathing room on Webb to secure third and take his first 450cc overall win. Hunter Lawrence’s 1-3 took the overall win as Sexton finished 4-1 for second overall as Jett Lawrence’s 3-2 finished third overall. The first win for Hunter Lawrence gives the #96 the points lead heading into the final, literally winner-takes-all situation. Eli Tomac finished 2-5 for fourth overall as Webb’s 5-4 rounded out the top five overall.