The Spring Creek national is upon us as the series heads to Millville, Minnesota for round seven of the championship. Chase Sexton starts the day with the points lead, just one over Eli Tomac, and continued his streak of fast qualifiers. Sexton and Cooper clocked the fastest times of the morning, but it was Eli Tomac and Jett Lawrence who claimed the day’s overall wins. As always, be sure to scroll all the way through to see our qualifying report as well as some action from the pits.
450MX Moto 1
A close start to the 450’s saw Joey Savatgy narrowly take the holeshot over Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton. Tomac quickly found his way to the lead which spelled trouble for the rest of the field as he broke away. Savatgy stayed close for the first lap but crashed just after the finish line. This moved Sexton to second and the Dungey, Anderson battle to third and fourth.
It looked like it was going to be all Eli Tomac for the first half of the race, but Sexton had other plans. The Honda rider stalked the three and finally made the pass down the steep Mount Martin just after the 15-minute mark. Sexton began to open up a lead but tucked the front a few laps later. This mistake put him on the ground and handed the lead back to Eli Tomac.
With Tomac re-inheriting the lead, the race was practically over as he won by a 14 second margin. Sexton brought home second place ahead of Jason Anderson and Ryan Dungey.
450MX Moto 2
Joey Savatgy took his second holeshot of the day in 450 moto two. Ken Roczen, Chase Sexton, and Eli Tomac played chase. Sexton took the lead after the first lap and looked to take advantage as the rest of the field battled it out.
Eli Tomac had other plans though has he worked his way through to the first place position. He moved past Roczen en route to Chase Sexton who led. Tomac ran through both Honda riders in the matter of two laps and found himself in the top spot. Sexton latched on and the two matched each others laps for the remaining time on the clock. In the end, Tomac held off Sexton just enough to take the victory and the overall. This is Tomac’s seventh straight moto win as he now takes the championship points lead.
The front two completely checked out from the rest of the field, but Christian Craig found himself in the third spot about 30 seconds back. He made his way around Ken Roczen near the half-way mark of the race and settled into the third place pace.
RESULTS
| 1. | Eli Tomac | (Yam) | 1-1 |
| 2. | Chase Sexton | (Hon) | 2-2 |
| 3. | Jason Anderson | (Kaw) | 3-4 |
| 4. | Christian Craig | (Yam) | 5-3 |
| 5. | Ryan Dungey | (KTM) | 4-6 |
| 6. | Justin Barcia | (GG) | 6-5 |
| 7. | Aaron Plessinger | (KTM) | 7-7 |
| 8. | Benny Bloss | (KTM) | 9-10 |
| 9. | Shane Mcelrath | (Hus) | 10-11 |
| 10. | Joey Savatgy | (Kaw) | 17-8 |
250MX Moto 1
The first moto of the day kicked off with Justin Cooper grabbing the holeshot and the early lead over Jett and Hunter Lawrence. Cooper held the lead for the first half-lap but tucked the front end and fell at the bottom of Mount Martin. His crash collected Jett Lawrence momentarily while Hunter Lawrence moved to the lead.
With Hunter Lawrence in the lead, he pushed the pace and extended his gap. He made a big mistake in the sand rollers which shot him off the track and allowed Jett to close back up. Hunter did hold off his brother for most of the race but with two laps to go he got caught up with lapped traffic. The lappers spoiled Hunter’s race and Jett managed to make a pass in the final stages of the race. These two fought hard all the way to the finish and finished just 0.5 seconds apart.
Jo Shimoda rode strong all race to secure third place in moto one. He started outside the top ten but pushed for the entirety of the moto and worked his way past some of the fastest racers in the class. The Red Bud winner found himself locked in a battle with Max Vohland late in the race with Shimoda taking the final podium spot on the final lap. Vohland finished fourth.
250MX Moto 2
The second 250 moto started with Justin Cooper up front again with team mate Nick Romano hot in his heels. The Lawrences made their move to the front within the first lap. A huge pile up along with a rider down on the start straight forced a red flag restart.
The restart went the way of Cooper, but not in favor of Hunter Lawrence. Cooper grabbed the holeshot just ahead of Jo Shimoda and Jett Lawrence, but Hunter Lawrence was buried outside the top five. Jett made his way to the lead around Cooper and that was all she wrote for the top spot. Jett proceeded to check out from the field en route to 1-1 finishes on the day.
Behind him, Jo Shimoda and Justin Cooper locked themselves in a battle for most of the race. The two dogged each other back and forth for about half the race until Shimoda managed a pass just after the 15-minute mark. From there, Shimoda got away with second while Cooper logged a third on the day.
Tough day for Hunter Lawrence. After the restart, he was forced to work through the pack. He clawed his way up to fifth by the time the checkers flew.
OVERALL RESULTS
| 1. | Jett Lawrence | (Hon) | 1-1 |
| 2. | Jo Shimoda | (Kaw) | 3-2 |
| 3. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 2-5 |
| 4. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 6-3 |
| 5. | RJ Hampshire | (Hus) | 5-4 |
| 6. | Max Vohland | (KTM) | 4-6 |
| 7. | Seth Hammaker | (Kaw) | 8-7 |
| 8. | Ryder Difrancesco | (Kaw) | 13-8 |
| 9. | Pierce Brown | (GG) | 12-9 |
| 10. | Carson Mumford | (Suz) | 16-10 |
QUALIFYING
450MX
Points leader Chase Sexton clocked the fastest time of the 450’s this morning. His Honda team mate Ken Roczen qualified second, just 0.2 seconds back. Jason Anderson qualified third and was almost two full seconds back from Sexton.
QUALIFYING
450MX Combined Qualifying (Top 10)
| 1. | Chase Sexton | (Hon) | 2:06.351 |
| 2. | Ken Roczen | (Hon) | 2:06.513 |
| 3. | Jason Anderson | (Kaw) | 2:08.220 |
| 4. | Eli Tomac | (Yam) | 2:08.257 |
| 5. | Joey Savatgy | (Kaw) | 2:08.281 |
| 6. | Ryan Dungey | (KTM) | 2:08.941 |
| 7. | Aaron Plessinger | (KTM) | 2:09.205 |
| 8. | Christian Craig | (Yam) | 2:09.327 |
| 9. | Max Anstie | (Hon) | 2:10.873 |
| 10. | Justin Barcia | (GG) | 2:10.904 |
250MX
Justin Cooper grabbed a podium last week and carried that momentum into today’s qualifying. He put down the fastest time, about a second and a half over Jett and Hunter Lawrence.
250MX Combined Qualifying (Top 10)
| 1. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 2:08.584 |
| 2. | Jett Lawrence | (Hon) | 2:10.115 |
| 3. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 2:10.708 |
| 4. | Nathanael Thrasher | (Yam) | 2:10.969 |
| 5. | Michael Mosiman | (GG) | 2:11.000 |
| 6. | Ty Masterpool | (KTM) | 2:11.240 |
| 7. | Stilez Robertson | (Hus) | 2:11.304 |
| 8. | Jo Shimoda | (Kaw) | 2:11.331 |
| 9. | Max Vohland | (KTM) | 2:11.444 |
| 10. | Seth Hammaker | (Kaw) | 2:11.487 |
Pics From The Pits
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