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Morning Report

Good morning race fans! After our first weekend off this summer, we are back in action at one of the gnarliest tracks on the AMA Motocross circuit. Arguably the toughest track riders will face this summer, this narrow track shows who has the fitness and best sand surfing skills. This is no highway…this is The Wick 338.

After it appeared we might get a significant amount of rain today on race day, at the moment we are looking at a much better situation that it appeared just two days ago. The high temperature for today will be about 80° Fahrenheit and we are expecting some afternoon showers. Maybe if we get lucky the rain will come after the checkered flag has waved for the final time. Fingers crossed.

Expect the championship leaders in both classes to be out front as Haiden Deegan and Jett Lawrence have proved to be the class of the field thus far through four rounds. Deegan’s biggest competitor—the only rider to beat him so far this summer—Chance Hymas is out with a fully torn ACL in his right knee. The double moto winner at the Thunder Valley National had just gotten into a tie with Garrett Marchbanks for third in the championship behind Deegan and Jo Shimoda but now will miss this race and the remainder of the 2025 SMX season due to his injury. That is a tough blow to not only Hymas and the Honda HRC Progressive team but the series in general. You may not realize it, but Shimoda is sneaky good here at Southwick: he has won both the second moto here in 2023 and 2024 and has scored on the overall podium all four times he has raced here as a professional. Will he keep those streaks alive? Could he get his first Southwick win today? Levi Kitchen has also ridden well here before and his teammate Marchbanks has had blazing speed this summer. It will be tough to beat Deegan, who took an impressive step in his sand skills from 2023 to 2024. If someone is able to best Deegan, who is will it be?

As far as the 450 Class goes, Jett Lawrence is two-for-two in 450 Class overall wins here at The Wick 338, but he did get beat in a moto last year by Chase Sexton. Sexton is still sidelined with an undisclosed injury so if someone is to best Jett Lawrence this weekend, it will have to be someone other than 2024 450 Class Pro Motocross Champion Sexton. Could it be Eli Tomac? Tomac likes and has done well here in the past: three overall wins and five overall podiums in six 450 Class starts. Hunter Lawrence, Aaron Plessinger, and Justin Cooper have all shown speed and the ability to lead laps. Hopefully we get these front runners up front like we did at the Thunder Valley National a few weeks ago.

No changes here as Haiden Deegan and Jett Lawrence enter with the points lead once again...

Making his return to racing is Justin Barcia, who has not lined up for an SMX race since the East Rutherford SX in late April, when he suffered a knee injury. Barcia told our Tom Journet on Friday he has no expectations for this weekend except to have fun.

Related: TJ Albright Joins Phoenix Racing Honda as Fill-In Rider for Pro Motocross

One final thing to note this weekend: the 450 Class races first today. NBC has a one-hour window of live TV coverage starting at 1 p.m., so the premier class is racing first. This change in the schedule we often see could very well significantly impact qualifying. Typically, riders in the 250 group B qualifying session are the first riders on the track and have the best, smoothest track. But now, with the NBC window adjusting the schedule, the 250 group B first session will be the fourth session on track and the 450 group B session will be the first group on the track. It would not be surprising to see 450 B riders near the top in overall qualifying, similar to what Jimmy Decotis did in the first session on track here in 2023 from the 250 group B session. Progressive Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Racing’s Josh Toth and Michael Witkowski will be two riders to keep an eye on, as well as local legend Tony Lorusso, who will try to qualify again this year at a whopping 54 years old. You know the locals would be pumped to see that one happen!

Check out the full race day schedule. Again, the 450 Class is racing first today.

First Qualifying Sessions

450 Class

A slight rain began before the riders took to the track but it was so faint it was basically a mist as clouds shielded the entire facility, keeping the temperature cool around the high 60s.

In the first qualifying session of the day, it was Norway’s Cornelius Tondel who topped the board over locals Jason Brooks and Justin Cokinos. Tondel’s 2:01.550 was going to be tough to beat as the group B had the track at its smoothest and best form. Vincent Harrison suffered a crash that looked like a possible collarbone/shoulder injury as he rode off on the back of the Alpinestars medical cart.

The 450 group A session got going and as usual, Jett Lawrence went out last. The field got the green flag and began putting down some heaters. Justin Cooper put down a 2:01.330 to top the field, with series points leader Jett Lawrence putting in a 2:01.445. both times barely beat out Tondel to take the top two qualifying spots. Jorge Prado put in a heater, and it was a 2:01.616 to sit fourth.

250 Class

The 250 group A session started and Jalek Swoll and another rider made some contact in a slower go through the first turn, putting the #22 down. Haiden Deegan was leading the field both on the track and in the results. His 2:04.748 was the best by over two seconds as Tom Vialle's 2:06.952 was second best. Michael Mosiman, Seth Hammaker, and Mikkel Haarup rounded out the top five. Gage Linville ran into a bike issue early in the session and had to have his KTM 250 SX-F taken off the track on the back of an MX Sports Pro Racing tow quad. Somehow, the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki riders have seemed to find each other what feels like every session so far this summer and this first session was no different. 

Local Aston Arruda topped the 250 group B qualifying session.

Second Qualifying Sessions

450 Class

The second session began and as expected the times did not improve from the first session. Local Ben Robinson (2:06.675) topped the second 450 group B session over Cornelius Tondel (2:07.781).

Eli Tomac was on a heater when he hit a berm that looked like it had blown out, causing the #3 to tip over. he got up and going again. Jorge Prado had a 2:04.493, which led the session. Second fastest lap was a 2:07.967 by Justin Cooper then a 2:07.995 by Coty Schock. By the end of the session, Prado and Cooper remained first and second as Joey Savatgy and RJ Hampshire snuck in ahead of Schock.

With 450 overall qualifying was completed here are a few notes: Justin Cooper topped the session over Jett Lawrence and Cornelius Tondel as Prado and Hunter Lawrence rounded out the top five. Eli Tomac was sixth, local Jason Brooks was seventh, Joey Crown 16th in his first Pro Motocross race in a handful of years, Justin Barcia 26th in his first event of the summer, GNCC Racing’s Mike Witkowski was 34th and into the motos as his fellow GNCC’er and local Josh Toth was 36th and will have to go to the LCQ, and local legend, 54-year-old Tony Lorusso qualified 41st overall.

Update: Jeff Walker was penalized one position from the first session, which will bump Toth into the motos and Walker to the LCQ!

250 Class

Not surprising but Haiden Deegan once again topped the second 250 Class group A qualifying session with a fast lap three-seconds faster than second place Seth Hammaker’s 2:09.432 to Deegan’s 2:06.891. Casey Cochran went down, and it looked like some sort of right arm injury, as it seemed a member of the Alpinestars medical crew was trying to get his right shoulder back into place. Tom Vialle had the fourth-best time in the session, but he ran into a bike issue late and did not finish as he was forced to push his bike off the track. His teammate Julien Beaumer was third fastest that session as Levi Kitchen showed signs of life rounding out the top five behind Vialle. Deegan’s 2:04.748 from the first qualifying session topped the field overall.

First Motos

450 Class

After a jet fighter fly over above The Wick 338 facility, it was time to go racing. The gates dropped on the first 450 Class moto and it was Jett Lawrence out front with the early race lead exiting the first turn. We missed the jets due to clouds during the fly over, but we still got to see one Jett flying! The running order was Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence, Aaron Plessinger then a battle between Cooper Webb and Jorge Prado! Prado and Eli Tomac both got around Webb and began to battle one another. Their battle brought them up to the rear fender of Plessinger. A few laps later and the duo both got around Plessinger. Tomac was not close enough for a pass attempt but was close enough to be catching roost. On the tenth lap, Prado went down two turns from the finish line jump and Plessinger got back by. Jett Lawrence scored the moto win with Hunter Lawrence and Tomac rounding out the podium as Plessinger and Prado rounded out the top five. Joey Savatgy was down in the first turn and charged to 13th in a strong comeback ride. Coty Schock and Malcolm Stewart also went down in the first turn and charged to finish 18th and 13th, respectively. Jason Anderson did not finish due to apparent illness, per the broadcast team. Report is he was throwing up. “I just couldn’t keep going,” he said.

250 Class

Following the podium interviews and some brief track maintenance, it was time for the first 250 Class moto. The sun came out moments during the break between motos, taking the temperature up to about 80° Fahrenheit as fans were anticipating the next moto. The field blasted off the gates and into the first turn and Haiden Deegan came out with the early race lead as about a dozen riders went down in turn one. Deegan was basically uncontested the remainder of the moto, as he took the moto win by 25.191 seconds. Michael Mosiman and Levi Kitchen were battling for second place, going back and forth with Kitchen unable to get close enough for a pass. Late in the race, Mosiman lost two positions, to both Kitchen and Tom Vialle, who rode well and made some passes. Mosiman came through fourth as Mikkel Haarup rode home a strong fifth place finish. Garrett Marchbanks charged to finish sixth ahead of Jalek Swoll, Ty Masterpool, Seth Hammaker, and Jo Shimoda. Shimoda was down in the first turn and was dead last, so scoring tenth was a great ride. He might have even gotten higher had it not been for a mid-moto tip over a handful of laps in. He got ran into by a competitor, directly into his bike, but got up and got going again, his jersey ripped from the turn one pileup and continued to charge. Nate Thrasher was around the top five early before finishing 12th behind Maximus Vohland, who rode home a strong 11th. For those counting at home, that is seven moto wins in nine total 250 motos so far this season. And do not forget, Shimoda won both the second motos here the previous two years in 2024 and 2023. Could he rebound and keep that streak alive? Or will Deegan land his fourth 1-1 day of the season?

Second Motos

450 Class

After the brief halftime break, the second motos were up. Spoiler alert, the second 450 moto was more of the same from the first moto. Jett Lawrence again exited turn one in the lead and again got to the holeshot stripe first. But this time, he had Jorge Prado right behind him. Prado kept Jett honest for the first few laps until he crashed in the section that follows the Buckley Berm. That dropped him from second back to sixth I believe, which is where he would finish. Out front Jett was uncontested from there, while his brother Hunter Lawrence and Eli Tomac battled. The #96 passed Tomac to take over second and that is where they would finish. Both motos and the overall would see Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence, and Eli Tomac finish one, two, three, respectively.

Jett took the race win to land another overall win via 1-1 moto finishes. RJ Hampshire charged to finish fourth in the moto, which was a sneaky good ride. Justin Cooper rounded out the top five in the moto as he landed fourth overall with 6-5 finishes. Prado’s 5-6 day for fifth overall was easily his best race of the summer so far, not surprising it came at a sand track where he got good starts. Without his crashes maybe he lands on the overall podium, who knows. Hampshire’s 8-4 was sixth overall as Aaron Plessinger had the opposite (4-8 finishes) for seventh overall. Cooper Webb, Justin Barcia, and Malcolm Stewart rounded out the top ten overall.

There is not much more to say on Jett Lawrence. Two great starts, two great motos, his speed was just faster than everyone else. 

250 Class

And just like that, it was already time for the final moto of the day. The 30-second board went sideways, the gates dropped, and the final moto blasted out of the gates. Similar to the 450 Class, again it more of the same from the 250 Class first moto: Haiden Deegan out front off the start, and he ran away with the moto win. Levi Kitchen and Michael Mosiman were battling back and forth but towards the end of the race Mosiman dropped back and was even passed by Tom Vialle. [UPDATE: Mosiman confirmed in the post-race media scrum he had a bike issue, so he slowed up some.] Jo Shimoda was on the move and after a first turn pile-up to tenth charge in the first moto, he worked his way through the top five. Shimoda caught up to Deegan and made sure the championship leader could not really back it down too much, but the #30 machine did not get into the same section as Deegan, who came through with the race win by 8.985 seconds. Shimoda was second, followed by Vialle, then Kitchen, then Mosiman.

Again, similar to Jett Lawrence in the 450 Class, Deegan was simply untouchable because of great starts, great fitness, and great laps. These two championship leaders are absolutely rolling right now.

In terms of the overall, it was Deegan’s fourth 1-1 of the season as Vialle finished 3-3 for second overall, and Kitchen’s 2-4 was third overall.