One is still the only number Jett Lawrence recognizes in the 2023 Pro Motocross season as the field crosses the halfway mark. Any slight vulnerability he showed in SuperMotocross Round 21 at High Point when he allowed Ken Roczen to get to his back wheel disappeared in a cloud of dust in the past two rounds.
As soon as Chase Sexton or Dylan Ferrandis closed in marginally at RedBud and Southwick, Lawrence reached into a seemingly unlimited bag of reserves and pulled away to comfortable margins in each moto. It will take a mistake for anyone in the field to beat him, and right now it doesn’t appear Lawrence will make one.
Sexton returned to the series at RedBud with a lot of confidence, telling NBC Sports that he was in better shape now than when he rode to second-place in the season opener. After a brutal Supercross season that injured several top riders, the concussion he suffered in practice gave him a chance to rest. With another second overall at Southwick, Sexton has a three-race sweep of the podium and a current streak of 11 top-fives stretching back to Detroit in the indoor season.
MORE: Jett Lawrence still undefeated as MX passes halfway point
Along with Lawrence, Ferrandis is the only other rider with overall top-fives in each of the first six rounds. He is walking a delicate line of training and riding hard without stepping over and crashing. Two concussions in the Supercross season will make one a little cautious.
Aaron Plessinger has bobbled only once since his return to action at Salt Lake City after missing three races to an injury. In the past seven rounds, he has failed to crack the top five only once, which is a stark reversal to his previous seven attempts. In that span, he had only one top-five. As Plessinger gets comfortable, he will soon be involved in the battle for the podium.
Garrett Marchbanks’ gamble paid off. He had a slow start to his 250 campaign and made the move to 450s beginning at Thunder Valley. Since then, he has not only been perfect in regard to top-10s, but he has gotten progressively better in each round and scored his first overall top-five last week at Southwick.
Rider (SMX points rank) 1. Jett Lawrence (7) 2. Chase Sexton (1) 3. Dylan Ferrandis (9) 4. Cooper Webb (2) 5. Aaron Plessinger (3) 6. Garrett Marchbanks (21) 7. Adam Cianciarulo (4) 8. Chris Canning (41) 9. Jason Anderson (8) 10. Ty Masterpool (20) 11. Fredrik Noren (12) 12. Gert Krestnikov (47) 13. Ryan Surratt (36) 14. Grant Harlan (14) 15. Phil Nicoletti (34) 16. Marshal Weltin (37) 17. Lorenzo Locurcio (22) 18. Derek Drake (28) 19. Jose Butron (23) 20. Jeremy Hand (36) | Power Average 93.33 89.00 88.07 87.11 85.40 80.92 79.20 79.00 77.83 74.60 71.33 69.00 67.67 66.55 66.22 65.60 65.40 64.58 63.53 60.22 | Last Week (gain/loss) 1 (0) 2 (0) 3 (0) 4 (0) 6 (1) 8 (2) 5 (-2) NA NA 7 (-3) 13 (2) NA 14 (1) 11 (-3) 22 (7) 19 (3) 10 (-7) 12 (-6) 18 (-1) 20 (0) |
250 Rankings
With two DNFs in the last four motos, Hunter Lawrence lost his top spot in the rankings, plunging to seventh on the chart. His four overall wins in the opening rounds underscores his strength, but no one is immune to an accident in heavy traffic like he experienced in RedBud and mechanical failures like the one he suffered at Southwick are often out of the rider’s control. Finishing out of the points in two motos has seriously hurt his NBC SuperMotocross Power Average, however, and it’s going to take some time for him to work his way back up the chart.
Justin Cooper is wondering what might have been if not for High Point. A crash in prelims sidelined him for that round but he’s been perfect in regard to top-five finishes every other week and has a current four-race streak of podiums. Cooper is only 22 points behind the current points’ leader Haiden Deegan and if not for his accident, he would almost certainly have the red plate affixed to his bike.
As the Pro Motocross series rounds the halfway point, Deegan joins Jett Lawrence as a rookie points’ leader. His Southwick race was anything but perfect, however, and after pushing too hard in Moto 1, he ran out of energy in the second race and finished 10th. With that modest result, Deegan lost a great opportunity to make up even more ground on Hunter Lawrence, who finished only eighth.
With both Lawrence and Deegan experiencing issues at Southwick, RJ Hampshire closed the gap to eight points on second and 13 to the leader. Last week was his best performance of the season with a third in Moto 1 and fourth in Moto 2, but he’s going to have to eliminate mistakes if he wants to earn the red plate before the end of the season.
Jo Shimoda has been inconsistent for most of the 2023 season and has not yet swept the top five in a round. That’s the bad news. The good news is that he returned to victory lane in Southwick for the first time since the season-ender last year at Fox Raceway. Now that he has a taste of champagne, his results may improve.
A win at RedBud in Moto 2 created a lot of hope in Kitchen, but fifth- and ninth-place finishes at Southwick left a little to be desired. As with Shimoda, he has to work on consistency if he wants challenge for the podium on a regular basis.
Rider (SMX points rank) 1. Justin Cooper (10) 2. Haiden Deegan (3) 3. RJ Hampshire (2) 4. Jo Shimoda (7) 5. Levi Kitchen (4) 6. Seth Hammaker (36) 7. Hunter Lawrence (1) 8. Max Vohland (6) 9. Tom Vialle (5) 10. Ryder DiFrancesco (19) 11. Jalek Swoll (6) 12. Mitchell Harrison (34) 13. Jordon Smith (8) 14. Daxton Bennick (49) 15. Carson Mumford (24) 16. Talon Hawkins (15) 17. Dilan Schwartz (23) 18. James Decotis (64) 19. Caden Braswell (17) 20. Jorgen Talviku (66) | Power average 90.64 86.57 84.86 84.36 81.14 80.33 78.80 77.29 77.00 71.29 69.86 69.67 69.00 67.40 67.00 62.79 62.71 62.00 60.64 60.33 | Last week (gain/loss) 1 (0) 2 (0) 4 (1) 5 (1) 6 (1) 7 (1) 3 (-4) 8 (0) 9 (0) 11 (1) 17 (6) 13 (1) 14 (1) NA 12 (-3) 19 (3) 18 (1) NA 20 (1) NA |
* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner in Supercross and overall winner in Motocross. It awards 90 points for each Moto, Heat and Triple Crown win. The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of starters in the field until the last place rider in each event receives three points, (five in fields of 22 riders). The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days.
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 21 HIGH POINT: Lawrence brothers still perfect in overall finishes
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 20 THUNDER VALLEY: Lawrence brothers dominance continues
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 19 HANGTOWN: Jett Lawrence pulls away from the field
POWER RANKINGS AFTER MX OPENER AT FOX RACEWAY: Jett Lawrence debuts in first place
POWER RANKINGS AFTER SX FINALE AT SALT LAKE CITY: Chase Sexton ends with win
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 15 AT NASHVILLE: Eli Tomac back on top
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 14 AT NEW JERSEY: The top 20 settle in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 13 AT ATLANTA: Justin Barcia leapfrogs the Big 3
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 12 AT GLENDALE: Eli Tomac gains momentum
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 11 AT SEATTLE: Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac overtake Chase Sexton
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 10 AT DETROIT: Chase Sexton narrowly leads Webb
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 8 AT DAYTONA: Chase Sexton unseats Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 7 AT ARLINGTON: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 6 AT OAKLAND: Perfect night keeps Eli Tomac first
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 5 AT TAMPA: Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb close in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4 AT HOUSTON: Eli Tomac rebounds from A2 crash, retakes lead
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3 AT ANAHEIM 2: Consistency makes Ken Roczen king
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 2 AT SAN DIEGO: Ken Roczen moves up, Chase Sexton falls
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM 1: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage
