Overall

Jett Lawrence ended the longest winless streak of his career, two races, with an emphatic 1-1 performance for his 23rd career victory, 17 of which have come via moto sweeps. His championship triumph comes a little more than six months removed from surgery to repair a torn ACL suffered at the Glendale Supercross in February. Hunter Lawrence captured his fifth runner-up finish of the season (2-2), while Tomac earned the 79th podium result of his career (3-3).

While Jett Lawrence’s 53-point lead is insurmountable, Hunter Lawrence’s 45-point margin over third place, Tomac, in the standings has the elder Lawrence poised to complete the first 1-2 championship finish for siblings in series history.

1st Place: Jett Lawrence, Honda HRC Progressive (1-1)

“It didn’t seem possible [to be here after my ACL injury]. You work so hard for this and then it’s taken away from you in an instant. I manifested this moment every time I was at a low point in my recovery to keep believing that I could get back where I needed to be. All the pain I endured in getting the strength back in my knee was to get back to this point right here. It truly feels amazing to accomplish this.”

2nd Place: Hunter Lawrence, Honda HRC Progressive (2-2)

“I’ve always considered myself as a top contender, so it’s good to be here [in the runner-up spot]. I gave it my all both motos, but it wasn't good enough. Congrats to Jett [Lawrence], he’s been riding awesome all season. We’ll see if we can get him in the [SMX] playoffs.”

3rd Place: Eli Tomac, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing (3-3)

“For Unadilla it was a pretty good performance for me. This place can be my Achilles heel, it’s just so challenging. Other than being outridden by the Lawrence brothers, I would say that it was a pretty good day. I gave it all I had; it just wasn’t enough to catch those two.”

250 Class 

Moto 1

The first moto of the afternoon started with the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine of Tom Vialle leading the field to the Pro Motocross Holeshot ahead of Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Julien Beaumer. Behind the lead trio, title combatants Deegan and Shimoda slotted into the top five as the Japanese rider went on a tear on the opening lap to claw his way into the lead. Vialle continued to lose positions and dropped out of the top three as Hammaker and Deegan moved into second and third, respectively.

The clear track allowed Shimoda to open up an advantage of nearly seven seconds on the field as Deegan made the move on Hammaker to take control of second. Shimoda continued to build on his lead, which soon grew to nearly 15 seconds over Deegan, who himself settled into a firm hold of second, nearly 10 seconds ahead of Hammaker in third.

Shimoda didn’t relent and added more time to his advantage and wrapped up the most dominant moto of the year in the division. The Honda rider took his fourth moto win of the season by 39.7 seconds over Deegan, while Hammaker held solid to finish third. Vialle followed in fourth, with Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Garrett Marchbanks in fifth.

Moto 2

The second and deciding moto got underway once again with the Frenchman Vialle at the head of the pack aboard his KTM, leading the field to the Pro Motocross Holeshot just ahead of Hammaker and Shimoda. Like Moto 1, the Honda rider was aggressive on the opening lap and went on the attack, making a quick pass on Hammaker before finding a way around Vialle just before the completion of the opening lap. Hammaker settled into third. Behind them, Deegan started deep in the top 10 and was forced to make a lot of passes early on. Meanwhile, the clear track allowed Shimoda to move out to a multi-second lead over Vialle.

As both Shimoda and Vialle were able to firmly assert their hold on the top two positions, Deegan methodically marched his way forward. The Yamaha rider passed riders, one by one, and soon enough made his way into podium position with a pass on Hammaker for third. However, he faced a double-digit deficit to the top two with little time left in the moto.

Shimoda continued to lay down fast laps and soon saw his lead surpass 10 seconds in the late stages of the moto, effectively ending any threat from Vialle. The rider from Japan wrapped up a sweep of the motos by a winning margin of 13.4 seconds over Vialle, followed by Deegan in a distant third.

Overall

The second 1-1 effort of the season netted Shimoda his third win of the summer, a new single-season record for the Honda rider, and the sixth win of his career. Deegan earned a runner-up finish (2-3) for his ninth podium result of the summer, while Vialle rounded out the top three (4-2) for the fifth time this season.

Deegan entered Unadilla one-point clear of the 50 point-advantage needed to clinch the title on Saturday, but in losing eight points to Shimoda the remaining title contenders will head to the finale separated by 43 points. Marchbanks, who finished sixth, remains third.

1st Place: Jo Shimoda, Honda HRC Progressive (1-1)

“Two good motos for me [today], and I got two more good starts. I just kept with the consistency. I’ve been riding much better [lately]. This was a good one today.”

2nd Place: Haiden Deegan, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing (2-3)

“It’s hard to push the edge when you have a championship to win. I think that’s how I got to where I am, being patient. I never felt very comfortable today, but credit to Jo [Shimoda], he was ripping. We’ll go take care of business next weekend.”

3rd Place: Tom Vialle, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (4-2)

“My speed was a lot better in the second moto. I also was able to get two holeshots. That was good for today and hopefully we can keep that speed for the last race of the season.”