Streaks Survive at the Hangtown Motocross Classic

Tomac got out of the gate well and a few laps into the moto he found himself in second, a ways back from Aaron Plessinger (who’d gotten around holeshot artist Justin Cooper early)  in first and a comfortable distance from Lawrence in third. As the moto wore on Plessinger maintained his lead and Tomac seemed powerless to close on him. But finally, in the later stages of the moto, Tomac started reeling Plessinger in and it looked like that was going to be it for Plessinger. But Plessinger responded by going into a sprint and stretching it back out on Tomac! It wouldn’t last, however, and after the two-lap card came out Tomac was back on the rear wheel of Plessinger, who just didn’t have the energy to maintain the fight. Tomac went by, dropped Plessinger, and took the moto win.

Lawrence nearly caught and passed Plessinger for third in the last turn before the finish line, but Plessinger held on. Afterward Plessinger said he’d gotten confused about how much time was left on the clock, and he thought there were two laps left when there were, in reality, four laps left. That’s why he sprinted early and had nothing left for the final two laps.

In the second moto any hopes Tomac had of going 1-1 vanished when he got cut off on the start and had to come from just about dead last. Making matters even more dire for Tomac was the situation up front—Lawrence had gotten a great start and had moved into the lead and was running away from the field. And since the motos were shortened to 25 minutes plus two laps instead of the usual 30 (due to extreme, triple-digit heat) Tomac would have even less time to salvage points. That didn’t deter him, however, and he was positively ripping the track to pieces in the opening laps. On the fifth lap he’d already charged up to eighth, but unfortunately on lap six he lost the front and crashed while working on a pass on Jorge Prado. That took a bit of the wind out his sails, and by race’s end the best he’d been able to muster was ninth.

Jett Lawrence rode to the uncontested win in the second moto, with Cooper knocking it out of the park with a fantastic ride for second place. Plessinger was in sixth early, but charged up to third. When he got there Cooper was gone, and even if he wasn’t, he may not have been able to catch him because Cooper was crushing it. Check out the postrace press conference to hear what these riders had to say about their day.

In the 250 ranks there really isn’t any other way of describing it other than the Haiden Deegan show. The Monster Energy/Yamaha/Star Racing rider didn’t seem bothered at all by the extreme heat of Hangtown, and he put in yet another beatdown at round two. It didn’t come without work though—he didn’t holeshot either moto and had to work his way forward in both.

Chance Hymas started up front in the first moto, but he’d make a mistake, go off the track, and hand the lead over to Casey Cochran before eventually fading back to 13^th. He didn’t end up lining up for the second moto after being medically advised not to. Turns out he’d had food poisoning earlier in the week and the exertion in the extreme heat wasn’t a good match. Safety first, kids.

Tom Vialle was also running well early but got together with Ryder DiFrancesco and they both went down. Vialle banged his hand up and didn’t rejoin the moto, although he did come back for the second moto. Deegan, who was roughly seventh place off the start, benefitted from the misfortune of his competitors, but he was so locked in there probably wasn’t anyone with enough speed to prevent him from winning the moto anyway.

In the second moto Deegan got a bit of a better start, and after he worked his way past Cochran, who’d holeshot, he went after Lance Kobusch, who’d also went around Cochran. And yes, that’s right, Lance Kobush logged laps led in the second 250 moto at Hangtown! He didn’t just roll over for Deegan either, and the two battled for a while, putting on a great show for the crowd. Deegan would inevitably take command of the lead and take off for the win though, and just like that, he now has four moto wins in a row to start 2025. Afterward he revealed he’d been sick earlier in the week, and his throat, possibly due to allergies, was starting to close up during the second moto, which restricted his breathing. Gritty performance from Deegan!

Jo Shimoda had another great ride to take second in this one. He started a few spots back but rode strong to work up into second. If you’re counting, that’s four second-place finishes in a row for Shimoda this season.

Rounding out the podium with a 3-3 was Levi Kitchen, who’d retired early at Fox Raceway after having mechanical problems. To hear what these riders had to say afterward, check out the postrace press conference.