The Great Shakeup in the East

Saturday’s 12th round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross at Gillette Stadium was brutal. Difficult conditions saw riders doing what they could on a track that was unfortunately already gone. The shortened main events were simply a game of survival. Odd results, career-best, and top riders not performing well was the theme of the night in both the 250SX East Division and the 450SX Class.

The 450SX Championship is now a 15-point advantage for Cooper Webb (third in Foxborough) over Chase Sexton (sixth in Foxborough) in what has been the back-and-forth battle between the two. But the 250SX East Division Championship had quite a shakeup in the Massachusetts mud.

Quickly, Tom Vialle’s ten-point lead he entered the sixth round with is now gone after he finished the race but was two laps down and scored 22nd. Vialle got stuck on his fourth—and final—full lap (a total lap time of 4:36.589, the slowest by far in either main event) and although he did finish through the checkered flag, he was credited with 22nd place. RJ Hampshire, who entered second in the standings (down 10 points from Vialle), had a wild crash in the first turn and then finished 15th. Seth Hammaker, who entered third in the standings (down 13 from Vialle), scored ninth on the night. Hammaker also got a nice little bump by Vialle in their heat race, sending the Kawasaki rider to the ground. Add in a race win by Chance Hymas, a 19th by previous race East Division race winner Nate Thrasher, and the points had quite a shakeup in the first race of the series’ historic Northeastern swing.

This field has been anything but predicable, then you throw in a win from Hymas, who becomes the sixth different winner in six rounds of a 250SX championship for the first time in history! Hymas' win catapults him into fourth in the standings. He entered the day 33 points down (!) and leaves eight points down. Could Vialle rebound with a win in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this weekend? He was second to Hammaker in the Indianapolis 250SX East/West Showdown.

So, leaving Massachusetts, Vialle and Hammaker are tied at 99 points apiece as Hampshire sits third, now down only three points. Four 250SX East Division rounds remain—two of which are East/West Showdowns, including this weekend’s race in Philadelphia—and the top six riders are separated by 18 points.