Jett Lawrence’s perfect record of moto wins ended spectacularly when he landed badly on a downhill jump on Lap 1 of the Hangtown Motocross Classic in Rancho Cordova, California, and crashed. For the second time in his 450 career, Lawrence appeared to be injured in the accident, but he remounted and finished the moto one lap off the pace.
Lawrence was slow to remount and could not work his way into a points position, and suffering effects from the Moto 1 incident, he failed to crack the top five in the second race. Lawrence’s streak ended at 24 consecutive moto wins and in a tie with James Stewart for third in the record book.
According to WeWentFast.com, there have been 15 winners at this facility in 26 races, with Bob Hannah taking the first event in 1979 and Lawrence winning most recently in 2023.
Lawrence’s crash last week at Hangtown opened the door for Chase Sexton, and he took advantage. Sexton led barely four laps in the afternoon after taking the lead from Hunter Lawrence with three laps remaining in Moto 1 and from Aaron Plessinger with three turns remaining in Moto 2. However, Pro Motocross only pays points for the final lap, and Sexton was there when it mattered most.
Lawrence finished 12th overall last week on the strength of a sixth-place run in Moto 2. This is only the fourth time in his 450 and 250 career since he joined motocross as a full-time rider in 2020 that he’s been outside the top 10.
Sexton’s worst-to-first run in Moto 2 is the first time a rider has done that since Jeffrey Herlings at Ironman in 2017. Like Sexton at Hangtown, Herlings was also on a KTM for that race, and as with Sexton’s pass on Plessinger, it was a teammate in Marvin Musquin that Herlings passed for the lead. Both Sexton and Herlings turned what may have been disastrous motos into 1-1 finishes.
Sexton has the red plate in Motocross for the first time in nearly two years. It was last affixed to his bike following Round 9 of 2022 in Unadilla.
Sexton has an eight-point advantage over Hunter, with Jett nearly one full moto (24 points) behind. Sexton and Hunter are the only two riders to sweep the top five in the first four motos.
Meanwhile, Plessinger has to wait for at least one more round to win his first Pro Motocross National. He’s finished second three times, including last year’s run on this track and a runner-up result at Fox Raceway in 2021.
The race will be wide-open as only four active riders have stood on the podium in the past five years, and each has only one top-three finish to their credit. Jett’s victory in this race last year tops the list, with Plessinger finishing second. Sexton finished third in 2022, and Dylan Ferrandis was second in 2021. In that span, Cooper Webb, Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Adam Cianciarulo, and Zach Osborne were the other podium finishers.
However, 450 rookies Hunter Lawrence and Justin Cooper have a history of success in the 250 division. Hunter won this race last year, finished second to Jett in 2022, and was third in 2021. Cooper was second last year and won the 2020 and 2021 races.
Haiden Deegan was the 250 overall winner in Hangtown and has won three of the first four motos this season. He would have been perfect in both rounds if not for a vicious crash in Moto 2. Deegan is off to a better start in this division than Jett, with twice as many overall wins as Moto wins in their first 15 starts.
If Deegan stumbles, Levi Kitchen is prepared to pounce. He finished third in the last two Thunder Valley rounds, and all the riders who finished ahead of him are now in the 450 division.
Previous Thunder Valley Winners
450s
2023: Jett Lawrence (followed by Aaron Plessinger, Cooper Webb)
2022: Ken Roczen (Eli Tomac, Chase Sexton)
2021: Ken Roczen (Dylan Ferrandis, Adam Cianciarulo)
2020: Eli Tomac (Adam Cianciarulo, Zach Osborne)
2019: Ken Roczen (Eli Tomac, Zach Osborne)
250s
2023: Hunter Lawrence (Justin Cooper, Levi Kitchen)
2022: Jett Lawrence (Hunter Lawrence, Levi Kitchen)
2021: Justin Cooper (Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence)
2020: Justin Cooper (Dylan Ferrandis, Jeremy Martin)
2019: Adam Cianciarulo (Justin Cooper, Michael Mosiman)
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