We’ve made it to the elevated heights of Thunder Valley Motocross for round three of the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship. Both Lawrence brothers, Jett and Hunter, come into the weekend leading their respective points chases. Check out what happened today.
450MX
Moto 1
Jett Lawrence grabbed the holeshot in the first 450 moto ahead of Cooper Webb and Adam Cianciarulo. From there it was game over for the rest of the field as Jett led every lap of the race and checked out with the lead. This makes his fifth win in five starts.
Cooper Webb held on for second, matching his best result of the year so far. He started close to Jett but lost the pace after a few laps. Webb fell with two laps to go but his gap to third allowed him to hold onto the second spot.
Adam Cianciarulo logged his highest finish of the year in moto one with a third. A good start and strong pace led AC to the front of the field in the early stages of the race. Cianciarulo got close to Webb after Webb fell in the final few laps, but couldn’t manage to overtake him on the box.
Aaron Plessinger and Ty Masterpool put on a show for fourth and fifth. Masterpool, who fell in turn one, remounted and charged back to catch Plessinger who was also working his way up. Small mistakes from Masterpool ultimately allowed Plessinger to hold the spot.
Moto 2
The rain started to come down just as the gates dropped for the second 450 moto. Jett Lawrence grabbed his second holeshot of the day and absolutely annihilated the rest of the field. He led every lap of the 15-lap race and won by over 11 seconds. Jett’s now six for six to start the season and is undefeated in 2023.
Aaron Plessinger battled his way to a second place in moto two. He fell in the first race with Ferrandis but bounced back with a strong result in race two. Plessinger fought with Ty Masterpool and his teammate Cooper Webb but ultimately came out next behind Lawrence. 4-2 for AP puts him second overall.
Dylan Ferrandis took third in moto two. The Yamaha rider was overtaken by Masterpool early in the race but Ferrandis stayed close for the remaining laps. On the final lap, Ferrandis battled back and re-passed Masterpool for the final spot on the podium. 7-3 for Ferrandis gives him fifth overall.
Cooper Webb ran up front in moto two but ultimately fell back to fifth in the race. 2-5 finishes still earned Webb third overall and made him the second KTM on the podium.
450MX Overall Results (Top 10)
| 1. | Jett Lawrence | (Hon) | 1-1 |
| 2. | Aaron Plessinger | (KTM) | 4-2 |
| 3. | Cooper Webb | (KTM) | 2-5 |
| 4. | Adam Cianciarulo | (Kaw) | 3-6 |
| 5. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Yam) | 7-3 |
| 6. | Ty Masterpool | (Kaw) | 5-4 |
| 7. | Garrett Marchbanks | (Yam) | 6-8 |
| 8. | Grant Harlan | (Yam) | 8-7 |
| 9. | Frederik Noren | (Suz) | 10-10 |
| 10. | Lorenzo Locurcio | (GG) | 12-9 |
250MX
Moto 1
A big crash kicked things off for the start of 250 moto one. A bunch of big names found themselves on the ground including Jo Shimoda and RJ Hampshire.
Haiden Deegan took the holeshot and found himself controlling the early lead. About half a lap in, Deegan fell over in a deep rut which dropped him somewhere still inside the top five. He got up unscathed and went on to finish fourth.
Justin Cooper was gifted the lead after Deegan fell but he commanded the top spot for the duration of the race. Cooper set the best qualifying lap and showed his speed as the moto wore on. This is Cooper’s best result of the year and his first moto win of the season.
Hunter Lawrence again found himself working through the pack after a bad start. Lawrence was tagged off the start but stayed up and began his march towards the front. He found himself going back and forth with Deegan but Lawrence ended up getting the spot. Second place sets him up nicely for the day’s overall.
Jo Shimoda took third in the first moto after going down on the start. The Kawasaki rider made passes for the entire race and also managed to get Deegan late in the race. This might’ve been the ride of the race simply due to the amount of riders Shimoda passed en route to a podium finish.
Moto 2
Justin Cooper kicked things off after his moto one win with a holeshot in moto two. Unfortunately, he fell just shy of the finish on lap one and dropped to 11th position. Cooper needed to work his way back up in order to have a shot at an overall podium He caught fire in the second half of the race and clicked off a number of passes en route to a fourth place finish. A 1-4 on the day kept him on the box with second overall.
Hunter Lawrence grabbed the lead once Cooper hit the deck. As he’s done all season, Lawrence took over the top spot in moto two and checked out with the race win. He led every lap of the second moto and claimed the overall with 2-1 scores. This is his third overall win in three rounds.
Levi Kitchen kept it upright to snag second in moto two. He started second behind teammate Cooper but moved up a spot once Cooper fell. From there, he stayed close to Lawrence while fending off the other Honda of Chance Hymas. A second is Kitchen’s best result of the summer as is third overall with 5-2 finishes.
250 rookie Chance Hymas claimed the final spot on the box, his first professional podium. Hymas found himself in a battle with Levi Kitchen during moto two but held off the other hard chargers like Shimoda and Cooper. 11-3 scores gave Hymas fifth overall.
250MX Overall Results (Top 10)
| 1. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 2-1 |
| 2. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 1-4 |
| 3. | Levi Kitchen | (Yam) | 5-2 |
| 4. | Jo Shimoda | (Kaw) | 3-8 |
| 5. | Chance Hymas | (Hon) | 11-3 |
| 6. | Maximus Vohland | (KTM) | 7-5 |
| 7. | Jordon Smith | (Yam) | 6-6 |
| 8. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 4-9 |
| 9. | RJ Hampshire | (Hus) | 8-7 |
| 10. | Jalek Swoll | (Hus) | 10-10 |
Qualifying
450MX
No real surprises here as Jett Lawrence topped the qualifying times again for the third time in three tries. The 450 rookie set the time to beat and was the only rider in the 2:16 range. Adam Cianciarulo was third, about half a second back, and Ty Masterpool clocked the third best time.
450MX Combined Qualifying (Top 10)
| 1. | Jett Lawrence | (Hon) | 2:16.487 |
| 2. | Adam Cianciarulo | (Kaw) | 2:17.107 |
| 3. | Ty Masterpool | (Kaw) | 2:18.555 |
| 4. | Derek Drake | (Suz) | 2:08.736 |
| 5. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Yam) | 2:19.084 |
| 6. | Cooper Webb | (KTM) | 2:19.193 |
| 7. | Aaron Plessinger | (KTM) | 2:19.320 |
| 8. | Garrett Marchbanks | (Yam) | 2:19.955 |
| 9. | Grant Harlan | (Yam) | 2:22.315 |
| 10. | Jeremy Hand | (Hon) | 2:22.593 |
250MX
As with the 450’s, the usual suspects found themselves up front in the 250MX class. Justin Cooper was fastest of the small-bores with a 2:16, actually a thousandth faster than Jett Lawrence. Hunter Lawrence and Jo Shimoda were second and third, a second back from Cooper.
250MX Combined Qualifying (Top 10)
| 1. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 2:16.477 |
| 2. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 2:17.489 |
| 3. | Jo Shimoda | (Kaw) | 2:17.586 |
| 4. | RJ Hampshire | (Hus) | 2:18.223 |
| 5. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 2:18.822 |
| 6. | Chance Hymas | (Hon) | 2:18.890 |
| 7. | Guillem Farres | (Yam) | 2:19.013 |
| 8. | Maximus Vohland | (KTM) | 2:19.444 |
| 9. | Ryder DiFrancesco | (Kaw) | 2:19.793 |
| 10. | Jalek Swoll | (Hus) | 2:19.950 |
