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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!