In 450 action Chase Sexton is coming off a spectacular performance in Birmingham, where he won, cutting Cooper Webb’s 15-point lead down to eight points after Webb took fourth. Both Sexton and Webb need to have strong rides tonight, as this round has the potential to make a huge impact on the championship as we enter the back stretch of the season.

Considering the amount of rain that came down during the week, the dirt is actually in pretty good shape. The jumps were covered, and they brought in more dirt after the majority of the rain stopped to help with the low spots on the track. Yes, it’s soft, and yes, it’s pretty muddy in places. There’s even standing water in a few spots, but that will all work in once the bikes hit the track for qualifying, which has been cut to two sessions (the untimed session isn’t taking place today). The track has also been modified from it’s original design quite a bit to help with moisture. Originally there supposed to be an over-under and a sand section, but those features aren’t present. Don’t worry though, the whoops are still here!

Qualifying is set to being shortly, so check back soon for a report on who’s fast in Seattle.

Qualifying - First Sessions

250SX

The untimed practice session was cut today to help combat the wet conditions, so the racers were forced to learn the track in a hurry while also trying to record fast laps. And with the ever-present threat of rain, it was important to get a fast time from the first session because the track may not be in good shape for the second session. It didn’t seem to affect Haiden Deegan at all though, who rode like he was running from the cops from the get-go. He looked like it too, on account of his striped gear that looked like old school prisoner apparel, which is no doubt a nod to Deegan getting arrested last week for doing donuts in his Audi. About halfway through the session Deegan recorded a 47.956, besting Cole Davies’ time of 49.213. Deegan wasn’t done though, and went on to lower his time to 47.774.

There was one rhythm option that the guys were having a bit of trouble nailing down. Riders had to jump in and land on a downside of a table, then go triple-triple-triple to finish the section. The only two riders we saw do it were Deegan and Davies, but it’s worth noting that when Deegan set his fastest lap, he opted to enter the section by going on-off on the table at the beginning of the section.

450SX

One rider who was missing from this session was Jason Anderson, who isn’t racing today. We’re hearing he’s dealing with a family emergency, but at this time we don’t have any further details.

Cooper Webb was fastest in this one, setting a 48.307, which he lowered to a 48.060 toward the end of the session. Chase Sexton was way off the mark, finishing seventh-fastest with a 49.090. Toward the end he went to throw down some heat, but made a mistake in the first corner after the finish line and almost went over the berm and into the safety net. He had one more lap to get a fast one in, but it didn’t look as though he was pushing very hard. Afterward Race Day Live reported it was Webb's best qualifying session of the season so far, and Sexton's worst.

The track is going to be tough tonight. It’s breaking down pretty quickly, and big ruts were already starting to form after the first set of qualifiers.

Qualifying – Second Sessions

250SX

No surprises in the final 250SX qualifier, as Deegan was fast again. On his fourth lap he posted a blistering 46.993, which would stand as the fastest lap in 250SX qualifying. Beaumer was much better in this one, setting a 47.286 in his sixth lap, with Michael Mosiman being the only other rider to dip below the 48-second mark with a 47.783.

Shoutout to Derek Kelly, who qualified fifth-fastest! He was in the B group, which goes out before the A group, so he benefitted from a groomed track, but still, that’s a solid time!

Josh Varize had a big crash toward the end of this session, which prompted a red flag. He was down hard, and unfortunately had to leave the track on a stretcher in the back of the Alpinestars Medical Mule.

450SX

Chase Sexton kicked off the second 450SX qualifier by getting stuck in the gate when the field lined up for a practice start. Hopefully for him it’s the only time it happens today! Sexton was much better in this one than the first one though, and finished second-fastest with a 47.121. Justin Cooper was extremely fast early, clicking off a 46.899 in just his third lap, which actually stood up to be the fastest lap.

Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful session. Check back soon for coverage of tonight’s racing, as the gates will start dropping at 5:00 pm PST.

250SX Heat One

The first race of the night kicked off with Gavin Towers jumping out to the early lead, but he was quickly swallowed up by Coty Schock, Jo Shimoda, TJ Albright, and Julien Beaumer. As the race played out Beaumer moved into third, and the top three of Schock, Shimoda, and Beaumer broke from the field and a great battle for the lead ensued. Shimoda was all over Schock, but wasn’t able to make anything stick. Beaumer, meanwhile, was all over Shimoda, putting Shimoda in the predicament of having to defend while also trying to get by Schock. Beaumer was substantially faster than Shimoda in the whoops, and was able to get Shimoda. Shimoda fought back and tried to throw it back in Beaumer, but Beaumer stubbornly refused to give up the spot and was eventually able to gap Shimoda. On  the last lap Beaumer had closed nearly to the back of Shock, but ran out of time to make a move. Schock won, with Beaumer, Shimoda, Hunter Yoder, Towers, Brad West, Dylan Walsh, Parker Ross, and Brandon Ray all transferring to the main.

250SX Heat Two

Haiden Deegan ripped out of the gate and nailed the holeshot, and the immediate assumption was that he’d disappear. Cole Davies had other ideas, however, and went by Deegan in a rhythm lane and took off. A moment later Deegan came in too hot on Davies coming into the turn before the finish line, made slight contact, and went down. Elsewhere on the first lap Michael Mosiman crashed, collecting Jordon Smith with him as he was going down.

As the race unfolded Davies continued to lead, but Garrett Marchbanks was slowly catching him, and Deegan had regrouped and was charging hard in third. Mosiman had rebounded too and had ridden up into a qualifying position. He had a get-together with a Tuff Block and it got stuck to his bike, but he didn’t crash and was able get it dislodged without dropping out of a qualifying position. Davies would go on to win, with Marchbanks, Deegan, Enzo Lopes, Cole Thompson, Avery Long, Mosiman, Derek Kelley, and Max Miller all taking transfer spots.

Not a great race for Smith, who crashed two more times after going down on the first lap. He ended the race in 18^th.

450SX Heat One

Aaron Plessinger took the holeshot, but a few spots behind him there was a bit of carnage. Kyle Chisholm made a mistake and started crashing, and several other riders piled into him, including Malcolm Stewart, Justin Hill, and Tristan Lane. Chase Sexton narrowly avoided getting caught up in the miss. Fortunately they all got up and rejoined the race. Plessinger continued to lead in the opening laps, and had a sizable gap over Mitchell Oldenburg in second. Oldenburg was riding great, but he was in the unfortunate position of having Sexton on his tail and it wasn’t long before Sexton went around him and took off in chase of Plessinger. Sexton would close to the back of Plessinger on the final lap, but a couple of mistakes from Sexton prevented him from putting himself in a position to make a move for the lead.

Late in the race Grant Harlan was in tenth, but was all over Hunter Schlosser. In a sweeping righthander Harlan dove to the inside of Schlosser, ran him wide, and claimed the final transfer spot. Then, on the final lap, Harlan crashed in the same turn all by himself, handing ninth to Hill. Qualifying spots went to Plessinger, Sexton, Stewart, Colt Nichols, Oldenburg, Benny Bloss, Mitchell Harrison, Jerry Robin, and Hill.

450SX Heat Two

Cooper Webb claimed the holeshot in the final heat race of the night, with Justin Cooper right behind. A terrific battle ensued, with Cooper less than a bike length behind Webb for what seemed like forever. Finally he had an edge in a rhythm lane and used it to rail around the outside of the ensuing righthand sweeper and pass Webb on the outside. If it was a main event, Webb probably would have shut that door pretty hard, but he let Cooper get away with it this time. Cooper was riding extremely well, and after taking the lead he checked out and left Webb by himself. Behind Webb the guys were pretty spread out and there weren't many battles happenign. Justin Barcia and Ken Roczen battled briefly, but Barcia would emerge victorious and leave Roczen behind. Cooper won, with Webb, Barcia, Roczen, Shane McElrath, Dylan Ferrandis, Christian Craig, Kevin Moranz, and Justin Starling filling transfer spots.

250SX LCQ

Lux Turner nabbed the holeshot, and the top four of Turner, TJ Albright, Stav Orland, and Jordon Smith quickly started separating themselves from the field. Orland was riding very well, and used tremendous whoop speed to get around Albright for second. Orland proceeded to close on Turner for the lead too, showing him a wheel here and there, but Turner was able to hold him off. Smith, meanwhile, bided his time in fourth before going around Albright and closing on the back of Orland and passing him in a rhythm lane. Smith was content to bring it home for second at this point. Turner, Smith, Orland, and Albright filled the final 250SX transfer spots for the night.

Slade Varola was riding well on the opening lap but had a huge crash exiting a rhythm lane and went over the bars, taking him out of the race.

450SX LCQ

Freddie Noren shot out to the lead in this one, followed by Grant Harlan, Anthony Rodriguez, Austin Politelli, Hunter Schlosser, Tristan Lane, and Kyle Chisholm. There was no way Chisholm was going to stay that far back though, and it wasn’t long before he started moving up. At one point he’d passed Politelli for fourth, but Politelli came back in the next corner and blocked his way back into the final transfer spot. Chisholm was all over Politelli after that though, and eventually went around him for fourth. Noren, meanwhile, was leading, but stalled his bike and dropped back to fourth. Then, on the last lap, chaos erupted. Anthony Rodriguez hit a Tuff Block in a rhythm lane and his bike cartwheeled and the front wheel hit Harlan in the side of the helmet as he was attempting to go by. That knocked Harlan down, and he had to scramble to avoid getting landed on by Noren! In the end Chisholm won, with Noren, Lane, and Schlosser filling the final transfer spots.

250SX Main Event

Cole Davies holeshot this one, but Julien Beaumer knifed by on the first lap. Moments later Deegan went down all by himself in the turn before the whoops. Up front Davies came back on Beaumer when Beaumer left the inside open, which allowed Davies to dive in, block him, and take the lead back. Davies put on a burst of speed and quickly got four seconds on Beaumer, who now had his hands full keeping Garrett Marchbanks at bay. Coty Schock was a few seconds behind them in fourth. With ten minutes remaining Marchbanks pulled alongside Beaumer in a rhythm lane but Beaumer held him off in the next turn. Marchbanks finally made a move stick when he went by Beaumer in the whoops. A few laps later though Beaumer passed Marchbanks back for second!

Deegan was running sixth at this point and was having a great battle with Jo Shimoda. Deegan got him, but then Shimoda ran it back in on Deegan hard in a lefthander! Deegan jumped by Shimoda in a rhythm lane, but Shimoda refused to let Deegan escape, staying close for several laps. Deegan eventually motored away, but it wasn’t for lack of effort on Shimoda’s part!

Next up for Deegan was Schock. Deegan shadowed Schock for quite a while but couldn’t get close enough to make a move. It didn’t matter though because Schock ended up crashing when he jumped off the track all by himself in a rhythm lane.

Late in the race the battle to watch was between Beaumer and Marchbanks. At one point it looked like Marchbanks had relented, but as the two battled through traffic Marchbanks closed back up on Beaumer and went by. It was a tense situation for Beaumer because Deegan was coming at this point, and try as he might, Beaumer just couldn’t get back by Marchbanks. Then Beaumer made a huge mistake and almost went over the bars, losing a ton of time. Two turns later Deegan came in hard on Beaumer and absolutely drilled his front end. How Beaumer kept from crashing is anyone’s guess.

Davies went on to win, with Marchbanks, Deegan, Beaumer, and Shimoda filling out the top five. Afterward Beaumer and Deegan had words, and it didn’t look too friendly.

450SX Main Event

Aaron Plessinger got a great start but came in hot in turn one and ran wide, handing the holeshot to Cooper Webb. Ken Roczen held second, with Justin Cooper, Dylan Ferrandis, and Chase Sexton holding down the top five. As the laps started to click off Webb wasn’t getting away from Roczen, and about four minutes in Roczen pulled alongside Webb in the whoops, causing the crowd to erupt. Webb got him back a few turns later by diving inside, but then Roczen immediately jumped back by in the ensuing rhythm lane. The crowd was going nuts at this point. Behind them Cooper was right there, waiting for an opportunity to make a move. Sexton was about half a second back of Cooper, watching the whole thing play out.

Roughly eight minutes in Sexton started turning up the pressure on Cooper. At the same time Webb had closed back up on Roczen. At this point the top four were only separated by about two seconds! Sexton finally pulled the trigger on Cooper and went after Webb. Lapped traffic was getting pretty thick  now too. Webb was in a precarious position because he had to guard his rear from Sexton, making it hard to make a move on Roczen. Then Sexton struck, slicing by Webb and jumping by Roczen in a rhythm lane in rapid succession. At this point Roczen seemed slightly deflated, likely feeling the pain from the AC separation in his shoulder, and he gave up spots to Webb, Cooper, and Plessinger pretty quickly.

With five minutes left Plessinger started coming on strong and was starting to put some pressure on Cooper, but Cooper ended up giving up the spot when he crashed in a rhythm lane. Up front Sexton continued to lead, but he missed a few triples in rhythms, which allowed Webb to close back up to about a second behind him. Sexton responded by hitting the long rhythm perfectly on the next lap, which give him a bit of breathing room. Undeterred, Webb kept pushing and got right back up on Sexton’s rear wheel. Webb was able to make a move stick right before a rhythm lane, but Sexton fought back. Unfortunately he missed his line in a rhythm lane again, maybe due to a lapper being somewhat in the way, and lost a bit more time. On the last lap Webb made a small mistake, letting Sexton jam his foot back in the door. Sexton went for his triple-triple line in the next rhythm lane, but wasn’t able to hit the second triple. If he had, it would have given him an opportunity to pull alongside Webb. As the two flew down the straight stretch and into the final turn, Webb wisely guarded the inside extremely tightly, leaving Sexton zero room to put a block pass on him. It’s a good thing for Webb he did, because Sexton came in hot with the intention of doing just that. Webb took the win by less than a second over Sexton, with Plessinger, Roczen, and Ferrandis rounding out the top  five.