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Morning Report

Good morning, and here’s hoping you’re ready for a day of great racing, because that’s what we’re in for here at Thunder Valley. In addition to all the intriguing storylines we’ve already got going, like the battle of the Lawrence brothers, Haiden Deegan’s first season in the premier class, the power vacuum in the 250 Class, and much more, we’ve also go the MXGP MX1 and MX2 points leaders racing today at Thunder Valley. That’s right, Lucas Coenen (MX1) is racing a 450 today, with his brother, Sacha, lining up with the 250s. It’s extremely rare to have a points leader, let alone both of them, come over to compete in Pro Motocross in the middle of their own season, and it’s going to be extremely interesting to see how things go for them today. They’re two of MXGP’s best, but there are a lot of unfamiliar things they’ll have to deal with, like a one day format and the track’s mile high elevation.  

Elsewhere, in the 450 Class we’ve yet to see a rider who isn’t a Lawrence win even a moto, although Hunter and Jett have both swapped overall wins, with Hunter going 1-1 at Pala and Jett doing the same at Hangtown. Will someone be able to throw a wrench in the Lawrence streak at Thunder Valley? Deegan was third last week, if he holeshots can he improve on that result? One rider we won’t see today is Chase Sexton. The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider crashed hard yesterday on press day when he went over the bars while coming down from a big jump. Justin Cooper and Nate Thrasher, who both crashed hard last week at Hangtown, will also miss the action today. For a complete look at who’s in and who’s out for tomorrow, go here.

In the 250 ranks it’s been all Pro Circuit, with Seth Hammaker winning the season opener and Levi Kitchen going 2-2 to win the overall at Hangtown. Hammaker leads the series by seven points over Kitchen in second, but there are a slew of other riders, like Jo Shimoda, Julien Beaumer, Cole Davies, Chance Hymas, and more, who are itching to insert themselves into this championship picture.

We mentioned the Coenen brothers above. Well, they aren’t the only ones from MXGP paying us a visit today. Dutch racer, Lotte Van Drunen, is also here racing the WMX. She was fourth in the first WMX moto of the weekend, which took place yesterday. Lala Turner won, and for a full recap of yesterday’s WMX action, go here.

As far as the weather goes, the mild conditions continue. After race weekends that weren’t nearly as hot as they could have been at the first two rounds, that trend continues here in Colorado, where highs in the mid to upper 70s are expected today. Talk about perfect conditions for the third round!

The first round of qualifiers is set to begin shortly, so check back soon for a look at who’s leading the pack here at Thunder Valley.

Qualifying – First Sessions

The 450s went out first this weekend, and it was the Hunter and Jett Lawrence who streaked up the hill on the start straight to kick things off. Haiden Deegan followed them, and after the wheels-on-the-ground lap it looked like we might see Deegan try to go after Jett, as Deegan was a few seconds back and looking like he was putting a lot of effort in. Nothing came of it though, as Jett slowed up and cruised and Deegan uneventfully whizzed right by. Jett would later set a fast time of 2:03.749, which Deegan momentarily beat, but Jett was on another fast lap at the same time and retook the top spot just a few seconds later.  Deegan looked like he was having fun in this one and was throwing big whips off some of the bigger jumps on the track.

If you’re following MXGP star Lucas Coenen this weekend, he was solid, turning a 2:04.437, which was good enough for fifth. Check out the top three though. After them, there’s a pretty significant drop, with Deegan’s time being nearly a second-and-a-half faster than Garrett Marchbanks in fourth.

In the 250s, Sacha Coenen sat on the gate for quite a while after everyone else had launched, leaving him by himself, and with plenty of clear track, when he got going. His first fast lap put him in first, but after a few laps Cole Davies busted out a sizzling 2:07.120, which was well over a second faster than anyone else. As the session wound down nobody was getting close to Davies, and it looked like his fast time would stand. Coenen didn’t get the memo, however, and uncorked a 2:06.728 on his last lap, promoting him to first. We didn’t see Coenen do anything that looked crazy or mind blowing out there, but whatever he did on that final lap worked!

Qualifying – Second Sessions

The track was more broken in for the second sessions, which resulted in faster times for both classes. Early in the second 450 qualifier Deegan once again tucked in behind Jett Lawrence and shadowed him for a few laps, but the two never really got close to each other. It took a little while for anyone to really start throwing down, but when they did it was Lucas Coenen who climbed to the top. Deegan quickly topped him, notching a 2:03.363, but then Hunter Lawrence somehow pulled out a 2:01.727! Deegan and Coenen would both improve on their own times, but neither was able to challenge Hunter’s time. Jett cruised around a lot in this one, but he did attempt a heater on his final lap. He looked good too, but he made a small mistake that slowed him up just a little bit. It was still his fastest lap of the session, and he ended up fourth fastest with a 2:03.806.

In the 250 ranks Sacha Coenen once again waited until everyone else was off the gate before practicing a start and entering the session. Hammaker and Davies were fast early, but Coenen was flying too, taking over with a 2:05.458. A few laps later he went on another heater. He was ripping, and you could tell his effort level was high. He even jumped slightly off the track to the inside, sluffing off the side of a jump landing, but deftly recovered without losing any time. It ended up being his fastest lap, a 2:05.217. The session was just about over at that point, and it looked like that would be the fastest lap. They even called him up on the podium to be interviewed as the fastest 250 qualifier, but Davies was still on the track. He was throwing down too, and when he crossed the line on his final lap they had to call Coenen off the podium and replace him with Davies, who’d just busted out an incredible 2:04.217! If these qualifiers are any indication of how the racing is going to go this afternoon, we’re in for some epic motos!

450 Moto One

This moto had everything you could want in a race. Jett Lawrence took the holeshot with Cooper Webb right behind. Hunter Lawrence held third, but wasted no time in displacing Webb, then immediately went after his brother Jett. Hunter was quickly on Jett’s rear wheel, and it seemed like he was attacking every chance he could. Time and time again Hunter was alongside Jett, trying to throw it in on him on the inside, but Jett held strong.

Haiden Deegan, who was in third, caught up to the lead duo and started applying all kinds of pressure to Hunter. This continued for several laps until a small mistake from Hunter allowed Deegan to leap by over a double. Deegan then went after Jett, but Jett wouldn’t let him get close enough to make a move. Jett then gapped Deegan a little, while Hunter closed to the back of his rear wheel. At the halfway point, however, Deegan closed back on Jett’s rear wheel. It was a wild three-way battle for the lead, and the crowd loved it. Just when it looked like he might be able try something, Deegan made a mistake and crashed all by himself. Two turns later he went down again, which took him out of the fight for good. Hunter tried to put another run together on Jett, but Jett was just too strong in the second half and was able to ride off for the win.

Lucas Coenen started just inside the top ten but was riding great. He reached fourth, then inherited third when Deegan went down, and went to work on catching the Lawrences up front. The gap was pretty big and it didn’t seem doable, but Coenen continued to push and soon it became clear he was indeed taking chunks out of the gap. Unfortunately, before a battle could develop between Coenen and Hunter, Hunter crashed all by himself, relegating him to third. Coenen kept charging though, and was able to get pretty close to Jett. When the checkers flew Jett still took the win, but only by 1.4 seconds over Coenen. The second 450 moto is going to be bananas!

Update, Deegan was penalized seven spots for cutting the track on the inside in a specific turn for multiple laps. He's officially credited with 11th. Jorge Prado was also penalized two spots for cutting the track, while Hunter Lawrence was penalized one spot for the same thing.

250 Moto One

Seth Hammaker kicked off the first moto with a holeshot. He had Julien Beaumer right on him early, but after about ten minues Beaumer gave up spots to Nick Romano and Levi Kitchen. It looked like Kitchen would make quick work of Romano, but Romano fought hard, refusing to let Kitchen get close enough to throw a move on him. Then Kitchen made a big mistake and almost crashed right before a double, which handed Romano a ton of breathing room. At roughly the halfway point however, Kitchen had closed the gap back down and was able to zap Romano for second. Kitchen then went after Hammaker, but Hammaker was riding great. Lap after lap Hammaker responded to Kitchen’s pressure, and the two yo-yoed around the track for quite a while. With two laps to go Kitchen closed right back up on Hammaker and applied immense pressure. Finally, Kitchen was able to squeeze by on the inside, and when he did, he instantly gapped Hammaker. Kitchen went on to take the win, with Hammaker maintaining second.

Jo Shimoda took third, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. After a mediocre start Shimoda was working his way forward when he crashed and lost a ton of spots early in the moto. Shimoda went to work and methodically started picking off riders until he’d worked his way up to the final podium spot.

Michael Mosiman had a good one going and ran as high as third, but it looked like he got a little tired at the end and coughed up spots to Shimoda and Romano. Cole Davies had a lot of speed, but was never a factor up front after a horrible start to the race forced him to come from way, way back. Another rider who wasn’t a factor was Sacha Coenen, who crashed twice early and never recovered enough to work his way forward. He finished 14^th.

450 Moto Two

Jett Lawrence got a fantastic jump out of the gate, and as the pack raced up the start hill it was clear Jett was going to take the holeshot. Hunter Lawrence was right behind him, but went down about a quarter of the way through the first lap. That handed second to Aaron Plessinger, but Lucas Coenen was able to get around him pretty quickly for second. He then found himself about four seconds back of Jett, but he wasn’t able to get any closer. Jett maintained that gap until about the halfway point, at which point he started putting time on Coenen. Jett would take the uncontested win by about nine seconds.

Haiden Deegan held fifth early, but at about ten minutes in he was able to get around Plessinger for third. Maybe five minutes later Hunter went around Plessinger, but Deegan had built a decent gap by that point. Hunter lost a little more time when a lapper went down right in front of him and he had to slow up to get around him. Undeterred, Hunter stayed in it and started reeling in Deegan. In the closing stages of the race Hunter had made it all the way to Deegan’s rear wheel, and was able to go around him. But shortly after that Hunter crashed again! That handed third to Deegan for good, with Hunter and Jorge Prado rounding out the top five.

250 Moto Two

If you were hoping for another fantastic battle for the win in this moto, you’d have left disappointed. Sacha Coenen pulled a holeshot and immediately started pulling away from Nick Romano in second. Before you knew it, he had about five seconds on everyone and he only got better from there, winning the moto unchallenged

Ryder DiFrancesco held second most of the moto before getting passed by Jo Shimoda, who ended up winning the overall with 3-2 scores. Julien Beaumer didn’t get a great start, but was ripping late, passing Romano for fourth late in the moto. Speaking of Romano, his fifth place in the second moto helped propel him to his first ever career podium with third overall.

Tough moto for the Pro Circuit boys, other than Romano. After going one and two in the first moto, Levi Kitchen and Seth Hammaker went down on the start had to come from way, way back. Kitchen didn’t give up and charged, getting up to about fifteenth after about ten minutes, and ended up eighth. The finish delivered him second overall. Hammaker would get up to 12^th, and the math just happens to work out that they’re now tied for the points lead heading into High Point next week. 

WMX Moto Two

LaLa Turner shot out to the lead immediately in this one, with Charli Cannon giving chase. Turner started gapping the field right away, but went down, handing the lead to Cannon. Turner was quick to remount though, and was able to run Cannon back down and make the pass for the lead. This time she’d hold onto it, winning her fourth straight moto of the season. If you’re counting, that’s all of the motos in the 2026 WMX season thus far.

Behind Turner Cannon rode a lonely second, with Taylah McCutcheon holding third all by herself. A little ways back though, a huge battle for fourth was playing out between Piper Bell, Mikayla Nielsen, Jordan Jarvis, and Lotte Van Drunen. Nielsen was the first to break away from this group, then Jarvis. Bell held strong for several more laps against Van Drunen, but late in the race Van Drunen was able to take over the spot.

Elsewhere, Nielsen was able to run down McCutcheon, who was racing with a bad case of tonsilitis. After a brief battle Nielsen was able to make a pass stick on the final lap.