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Welcome to the Racer X Race Day Feed, coming to you from Fox Raceway in Pala, California for the opening round of the 2022 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. From practice reports to the blow-by-blow from today's racing, you’ll find it all right here. Updates are posted in chronological order, so be sure to scroll down for the latest info. For even more updates be sure to follow us on Twitter, @Racerxonline.
Good morning race fans! Today, the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship is setup for race day here at High Pint Raceway in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, for the fourth round. This famous circuit—the “home” race for the MX Sports/Racer X crew whose headquarter is only away minutes over the West Virginia border—has been a part of the championship since the late 1970s. The track has had significant changes over the years, but since last year’s High Point National about this time in 2021, not much has changed on the course this year. Sawdust and mulch has been added as a top later to the track, which will still shape up to its typical rough and rutty form. The key to this course is managing the hills: sending it down them and carrying momentum in the over-camber turns.
The first East Coast race of the championship has brought a huge turnout as campers, tents, and RVs cover the rolling hills here in southwestern Pennsylvania, with fans coming in for both the national and amateur racing tomorrow.
For today, the weather could not be better. Sometimes this round gets hit with rain and become muddy, sometimes it is super hot and the rutted track and sun beating down make for a long day. But today, we are looking at ideal conditions today: sun and clouds and a high of low 70s. These conditions could make for some great racing on this historic track.
Speaking about the racing, the action on track has been great so far. In the premier class, we have seen three different overall winners in the first three rounds (Chase Sexton, Jason Anderson, and Ken Roczen)—could we see a fourth different winner today? The Honda HRC duo of Sexton and Roczen are leading the points standings, but Eli Tomac and Anderson, respectively, sit close behind. Yamaha’s Christian Craig sits fifth, ahead of a handful of riders under the KTM Group umbrella as Antonio Cairoli, Ryan Dungey, Justin Barcia, Aaron Plessinger, and Shane McElrath round out the top ten. Last week we were in for another Tomac vs Roczen battle—who will battle for the win today? Give us your predictions in the comments section below.
In the 250 Class, Jett Lawrence has not been perfect as there have been three other riders to win motos so far, but the defending champion has claimed all three overall wins. Entering today, Hunter Lawrence has been his little brother’s biggest competition this season, and yes, the season is still early, but the #1 is starting to build towards a title defense. But the rest of the field hopes to have something to say about that. Last weekend, Levi Kitchen broke out for his first career moto win and his maiden overall podium. Last year at this track, Jalek Swoll broke out for his maiden Pro Motocross overall podium finish, which was the overall win! Swoll's 2021 triumph was his first stop to High Point Raceway. We have a lot of young riders in the field who have not raced this trick course (as an amateur or as a pro). Could we see another rider have their breakout ride on this circuit today? Justin Cooper has yet to claim a moto win this season, although he did pick up his results after a rough opener. Cooper’s starts are on point so expect him to be battling up front throughout the day. Michael Mosiman picked up his maiden moto win at the second round but bike issues have hindered his results since. Mosiman, Jo Shimoda, and Seth Hammaker have shown speed this year and look to battle for podiums.
RJ Hampshire provided a late message yesterday that after an injury at the second round, he is in fact lining up this weekend. Remember, he was leading the first moto last year and appeared set to take the win until a broken chain ended his race with only a few laps to go. You can always count on Hampshire to give his full effort and the veteran could be battling for a podium finish here today.
And lastly, happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Enjoy the racing this weekend!
Below is today's broadcast/streaming schedule.
Hunter Lawrence led the field around early both on track and also on the live timing and scoring during the first 250 Class group A session of the day. Lawrence had a 2:08.608 but was shuffled back as Nick Romano jumped to the top spot after his first heater was a 2:06.894. Nate Thrasher (2:06.443), Pierce Brown (2:06.501), and Jo Shimoda (2:06.021) all took the top spot at one point until Hunter Lawrence returned to the top spot with a 2:05.180. Romano and Justin Cooper went sub-2:05 with 2:04.820 and 2:03.145 lap times, respectively, but the #96 returned to the top with a 2:02.714. At the very end of the session, it was Jett Lawrence who topped the board with a 2:02.664 on the sixth lap. And shout-out to Pennsylvania native Steve Roman as the veteran topped the 250 Class group B session with a 2:09.227.
Aaron Plessinger and Chase Sexton led the field around for the first, slow, lap as yellow and red cross flags waived for the opening lap. After some shuffling, Sexton (2:04.133) sat P1 over Christian Craig (2:04.715), Joey Savatgy (2:04.866), and Eli Tomac (2:05.012). Sexton dropped into the sub 2:04 mark with a 2:03.046 towards the end of the session but a heater from Tomac the next lap—a 2:02.692—gave ET3 the top spot.
Levi Kitchen jumped out ahead of the group early in the second and final 250 Class group A qualifying session. Soon, it was Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas’ Pierce Brown and Michael Mosiman leading the field as several Monster Energy Yamaha Star Yamaha riders Justin Cooper, Nick Romano, Matthew LeBlanc, Nate Thrasher, and Kitchen were putting in heaters as well as Jo Shimoda and Seth Hammaker. The Lawrence brothers were slow off the gate and got going late to give themselves some clear track. Jett’s 2:03.715 ended up topping Hammaker’s 2:04.205, but it was Jettson’s 2:02.664 from the first session that topped the 250 Class overall qualifying. Jett's first overall qualifying spot of the 2022 season means he is the fourth different rider to top the board through the first four rounds.
When the 450 Class took to the track for the final time, it was the Honda HRC duo of Ken Roczen and Chase Sexton on top early. While the 250 Class times did not get faster, Jason Anderson put in a 2:02.662, just ahead of Jett Lawrence’s 2:02.664 from the first 250 Class group A session to become the fastest overall time on track today. Anderson takes the top qualifying position of the season as he now ties Sexton with two apiece. Antonio Cairoli finished the session in fourth, fifth overall.
After the final qualifying session of the day, Honda HRC announced Hunter Lawrence has signed a two-year extension with the team for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Honda confirmed in a press release that Jett is signed with the team through 2025.
Breaking news at the High Point National: Hunter Lawrence has signed a two-year extension with Honda HRC. @ProMotocross#ProMotocross#Motocross#2022HighPoint#MX2022pic.twitter.com/acFCSIk2Kp
The gate dropped and it was none other than Seth Hammaker grabbing the holeshot in his home state race! Hammaker clicked off the first handful of laps in the lead by Michael Mosiman caught and passed the #47 to take over the lead. Mosiman led a couple of laps before he went down on the inside of the finish line turn. Mosiman’s mistake gave the lead to Hunter Lawrence as behind him, Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda were battling. Hunter got into the lead as Jett shuffled into third behind Hammaker. On the first lap, Stilez Robertson and Levi Kitchen both went down in separate incidents, and both had to fight back through the pack. On the 13th lap, Jett caught and passed Hammaker, who was still running great in third place. On the last lap, Shimoda made a pass on his teammate coming through the wall section around the first turn. Hunter held on to take his second consecutive moto win after winning the second moto last weekend in Colorado. Jett finished second as Shimoda held off Hammaker and Mosiman at the finish. Max Vohland finished a quite sixth ahead of RJ Hampshire, Justin Cooper, Nate Thrasher, and Pierce Brown. Privateer Josiah Natzke finished an impressive 11th. Robertson, who was down early, finished 14th, one spot ahead of Kitchen.
After the gate dropped on the first 450 Class moto, it appeared Joey Savatgy was going to come through the holeshot stripe first, but he was just edged out by Chase Sexton on the outside. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, that was really the last time they would see Sexton as the #23 kept gapping the field. Behind him, Joey Savatgy and Jason Anderson shuffled into second. Antonio Cairoli went to make a pass on Christian Craig on the wall turn in the starting straight but went down himself. The mistake cost Cairoli not only a fall, but his bike was damaged, and he had to pull off early. He is expected to lineup for the second moto. Anderson would better his teammate and run second. Eli Tomac got around Justin Barcia, Savatgy, and then Anderson to take over second place after Anderson went down. Sexton continued to click off laps out front, having an advantage of over 15 seconds at one point. Eventually, Sexton came through uncontested to take the moto win by over ten seconds. After giving second to Tomac because of a mistake, Anderson was fighting back as he went at Tomac. ET3 did not budge though, as he held strong and finished second. Anderson came through third as a freight train of Barcia, Savatgy, Ken Roczen, and Ryan Dungey were coming in hot! Roczen got around Dungey for sixth at one point but Dungey was able to make a pass before the checkered flag to claim the spot. Privateer Vinny Luhovey was running inside the top ten in the early stages of the race before finishing 18th in his first moto of the season. The moto win was Sexton's third race win of the season. The #23's ride was flawless from start to finish.
Just as he did in the first moto, Seth Hammaker grabbed the holeshot! This time, he was in the middle of a Lawrence brother sandwich: Hunter was on Seth’s right on the outside and Jett was on the inside. Hammaker blasted out of the second turn and into the lead ahead of Hunter and Jett. Justin Cooper and RJ Hampshire were inside the top five. Hammaker was looking good out front until a tip over in the dark, shaded far corner of the track cost him the race lead. Hunter Lawrence inherited the lead as Jett took over second place, with a charging Justin Cooper gaining on the brothers. Suddenly, Cooper took second place away from Jett! Not long after though the defending champion reclaimed the position as he bumped Cooper wide in a rutted turn. The battle between Cooper and Jettson allowed the duo to catch up to Hunter out front! The #1 and the #32 were trading flying and constantly battling which allowed them to cut the gap to Hunter to under a second. Then, Jett took the lead down the rollers. Hunter kept on the rear fender of his brother though. Going down the huge hill, older brother Hunter send it down the inside most line and took over the lead! But after Hunter was unable to jump the tunnel jump into the staircase rollers, which allowed Jett to reclaim the race lead! The brothers then gapped Cooper in third place by over 15 seconds as they went back and forth. Hunter put in a last-lap charge, which Jett held off—just barely by 0.553 seconds! Jett’s 2-1 gives him the overall over Hunter’s 1-2. Quietly, Shimoda made his way into fourth place ahead of Michael Mosiman and Hammaker, but Mosiman got Shimoda late. Still, Shimoda’s 3-5 gave him third overall ahead of Mosiman’s 5-4.
The final moto of the day blasted out of the gates and Ryan Dungey—who has not raced here since June 13, 2015, took the holeshot! Riders battled and jostled for positions early but the first big move was when Ken Roczen passed Dungey for the lead as they jumped past the mechanics’ area. Chase Sexton, got by his teammate Roczen to take over second in the far wall jump. Sexton leaped ahead of Roczen and into the lead. After his flawless ride in the first moto, everything was lining up for a 1-1 day for Sexton. But Eli Tomac got off to a better start than he did in the first moto, and he mounted a charge to the front. Tomac went from third to first as he took Sexton away from Roczen by the mechanics’ area, squaring off the turn after the finish line jump to blast past the #94 and into P1. Late in the race while running inside the top ten, Aaron Plessinger caught his right leg in a rut in the turn after the finish line and immediately grabbed it a few times as he rode alongside of the track. He waved by Jason Anderson and eventually finished 16th. But the wave on from Plessinger was big in the overall podium: it bumped Dungey from third to fourth, giving Anderson third overall on the day with 3-5 finishes. It did not matter in the end as Roczen was able to pass Dungey on the very last lap to claim the final spot on the moto podium. Tomac pulled away out front to claim his third moto win of the season and his 2-1 finishes gave him the overall besting Sexton’s 1-2 finishes. After four rounds, Sexton continues to lead the points standings, but now second place is held by Tomac, not Roczen.