Jett Lawrence entered Round 10 in Indianapolis, Indiana with one thing left to prove; he had only one Triple Crown win in the 250 class and struggled in this format in Anaheim, giving voice to speculation this might be his Achilles Heel. No one would have known about those struggles by the way he raced Saturday night.
With a perfect evening, Lawrence became only the second rider to ever sweep this format.
Ken Roczen was the first to sweep when he won the 2020 Glendale Triple Crown.
“It was pretty cool, and Lars [Lindstrom] told me after the race that the last person [to sweep a Triple Crown] was Kenny and it was on a Honda, too,” Lawrence said during the post-race news conference. “So it’s kind of cool to keep that ritual going with the Honda, going 1-1-1… That track was gnarly, it can kind of catch you at any moment. It was scary riding next to someone in the rhythm, because you’re just – you’re trying to stay as straight as possible and it just kind of, it could catch you off guard pretty quickly.”
Cooper Webb had trouble in the first race after he was involved in a crash with a lapped rider. He finished eighth in that race and then finished fifth and fourth in the next two, which placed him fifth overall. That allowed Lawrence to amass a 21-point gap on second in the championship standings.
Webb no longer controls his fate. He will need to Lawrence to finish worse than second in at least one of the final six races of 2024.
The three races had a familiar pattern with Ken Roczen getting the early lead in each with Lawrence patiently stalking him. Roczen was second overall with a 2-2-3.
“You kind of just play things by ear,” Roczen said from the podium. “Every time I jump a jump I look ahead and pick a rut, but that’s what makes it so hard. You just never know on the takeoffs.”
Chase Sexton finished third in the first two races and got around Roczen late in the third to finish second. He was third overall.
Sexton is now one full race back of Lawrence with a points’ deficit of 25.
Jason Anderson finished fourth with a 5-6-5.
In the 250 class, Cameron McAdoo finished first in Race 1, second in Race 2 and third in the final race to take the overall win. Having entered Indianapolis one point behind Tom Vialle, he earned enough points to grab the red plate.
“It means so much (to win),” McAdoo told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “It’s been a while since I got a win. They all feel so good. I don’t want to be redundant or repeat myself, but I’m so grateful to be in this position, to be this healthy, to fight for this.”
Equally important, McAdoo shook off the bridesmaid role after finishing second in three consecutive races. The 250 West riders return to action next week in Seattle, so McAdoo can revel in his success.
Vialle had a little too much ground to make up after finishing fourth in the first race. He podiumed in Race 2 and won the finale.
Haiden Deegan crashed unassisted in Race 3 but charged back through the field to finish sixth. Along with his second in Race 1 and victory in Race 2, he finished third overall.
“It’s a little unfortunate but it’s racing, it happens,” Deegan said of the crash. “I’m not exactly sure how I hit it and just got spit in a 180. … It’s unfortunate but you know we have three weeks off now. We’re going to work hard and I’m going to come back swinging. We’ve got a lot of rounds left, we’ve got an East/West shootout, which I’m excited for, and the pace is getting there, man. It’s my first full week of training back and the pace is getting there; we’ve just got to keep improving.”
Pierce Brown finished fourth overall with a 12-4-2.
Supercross’ toughest competitor of the week, Coty Schock finished fifth overall with a 5-8-8. He underwent surgery only five days ago to repair a broken collarbone. This is Schock’s second top-five of the season.
Click here for complete overall results.
Click here for complete 250 East points.
Click here for combined 250 East / West points.
Race Notes
Dylan Ferrandis is out of this round due to illness.
Jett Lawrence became the first rider this year with back-to-back wins and the field needs to keep him in sight if they expect to make a run for the championship.
Hunter Lawrence is back after a short time away for a shoulder blade injury.
The track is tight and technical.
Remember that Eli Tomac is the king of Triple Crowns with seven overall wins. For more stats, check out this week’s By the Numbers post.
Features
450 Race 3
In what has become a familiar pattern, Roczen takes the early lead with Jett chasing.
Lawrence isn’t racing with the same sense of urgency as he did in the first two features since he doesn’t need to win this one to take the overall.
Sexton has caught Lawrence and forces him to pick up the pace. They have both now caught up to Roczen.
Three minutes to go and Lawrence races Roczen side-by-side for nearly a lap before taking the lead.
Sexton is still third.
If Lawrence wins this feature, he will become only the second rider to sweep a Triple Crown. (Roczen swept Glendale in 2020.)
Lawrence wins to put to rest any thoughts that he has a weakness.
Sexton held on and finished second with Roczen third.
Webb finishes fourth in this race with Anderson fifth.
250 Race 3
Massive crash in Turn 1 — taking Deegan out. Deegan hit a Tuff Blox on his own.
Vialle takes the early lead.
McAdoo is riding fourth and would have the overall victory if that holds.
Jalek Swoll has bike issues and retires. He finished respectably in the first two races with a sixth in Race 1 and seventh in Race 2.
Deegan has moved up to 10th.
Schock has been having a hero run but he falls in this heat and drops to eighth.
Vialle holds on to win this race, but McAdoo finishes third and gets the overall win.
Pierce Brown finishes second.
Daxton Bennick in fourth and Nicholas Romano round out the top five.
Deegan recovered to finish sixth.
Click here for complete results from 250 Race 3.
450 Race 2
Lawrence has figured out the Triple Crown starts. He takes the holeshot but Roczen overcomes him and takes the lead.
Aaron Plessinger is challenging Lawrence for P2.
Just like Race 1, Lawrence regroups and charges back on Roczen, taking the lead with 6:40 remaining on the clock.
Best battle on the track right now belongs to Webb in fourth, Plessinger in fifth and Anderson in sixth.
With 1:30 on the clock, Roczen closes in on Lawrence.
Lawrence gets a second breath and sweeps the first two races of the Triple Crown. He controls his fate and will win the overall with a result of second or first regardless of what the field does.
Roczen enters Race 3 with a pair of runner-up finishes.
Sexton takes the final podium position.
Time is running off the clock and Sexton moves into second.
Plessinger resolved his battle in fourth with Webb fifth and Anderson sixth.
Click here for complete results from 450 Race 2.
250 Race 2
Swoll gets the holeshot but he will need to keep Deegan behind him and that is not easy feat.
Triumph leads their first lap as a manufacturer.
Deegan gets Swoll on Lap 2.
Racing for third, Seth Hammaker endoes and falls to 10th. Then, with 3:30 remaining, he crashes a second time.
Brown crashes hard, going over his handlebars. He remounts quickly and settles into fifth.
Deegan wins Race 2 and ties McAdoo as they head to the final race.
Vialle takes the final spot on the box.
Brown recovered to finish fourth with Chance Hymas rounding out the top five.
Swoll fell to seventh in the final rundown.
Hammaker ended the race as the final rider on the lead lap in 14th.
Click here for complete 250 Race 2 results.
450 Race 1
Lawrence has only one Triple Crown overall win in the 250 division.
Roczen takes the holeshot.
Lawrence is giving chase but sits 1.9 seconds behind with five minutes off the clock.
Roczen jumps wide with seven minutes remaining and Lawrence pounces.
The best battle on the track is for third between Anderson and Webb. With three minutes to go, Webb gets the position.
Webb goes down trying to lap Cade Clason; he falls to eighth.
Lawrence holds on for the victory and beats Roczen by 3.8 seconds.
Sexton inherited third with Webb’s fall.
Tomac in fourth and Anderson round out the top five. But Anderson had to work for it as Plessinger was charging hard in the final laps and was only .034 seconds behind at the line.
Click here for complete results from 450 Race 1.
Here is what happened to Webb while running 3rd 🫣
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 16, 2024
🎥 Monster Energy 450 Race 1 LIVE fueled by @kroger #SupercrossLIVE #SMX pic.twitter.com/FcG9SdWemT
250 Race 1
The first of three 10-minute features is underway with rookie Bennick taking the early lead.
Bennick bobbles and allows McAdoo to get the lead.
After losing his momentum, Bennick also lets Vialle and Deegan past — then Bennick falls and drops outside the top 10.
Max Anstie is having engine woes but keeps his bike rolling. He’ll start with poor finish in Race 1 and it’s going to be hard to get a good overall finish.
Deegan and Vialle are tooth-and-nail until Deegan brakes hard to keep from making contact.
Fourth-place Hammaker is more than 13 seconds behind his teammate McAdoo.
With less than a minute on the clock, Vialle goes down. He got off rhythm in the whoops.
McAdoo wins easily by five seconds over Deegan.
Hammaker takes the final podium position.
Vialle recovers to finish fourth but the ironman performance this race goes to Schock, who finished fifth five days after undergoing collarbone surgery.
Click here for complete results from 250 Race 1.
Last Chance Qualifiers
450s
Kyle Chisholm advances into the evening show with a 2.6-second lead over Justin Starling.
In third, Devin Simonson also moves on.
On the final lap, the race for the final transfer spot was intense with Fredrik Noren narrowly beating Ryan Breece.
Click here for complete 450 LCQ results.
250s
Jeremy Martin advances into evening show after winning the LCQ.
It was a tight battle for the final spot in the features with Jorgen Talviku and Preston Boespflug until Talviku fell on the last lap.
Ryder Floyd in second and Hardy Munoz in third also advance.
Click here for complete 250 LCQ results.
Qualification
Qualification takes on added importance this week because it largely decides who makes the night show. The Triple Crown format does not have heat races so riders really want to be one of the 18th fastest to head directly into the features. Four more will come from the Last Chance Qualifier.
450s
In Qualification 1, Webb had a slight tip over halfway through the session but comes back to post the 11th-fastest lap the next time by.
Race Day Live reports Roczen also fell briefly in the sand.
With most of the riders setting fast times late, Justin Cooper (48.671) landed on top. Cooper says the concrete is beginning to peak through at the bottom of some of the ruts.
Sexton (48.805) and Tomac (48.820) round out the top three.
Lawrence was fourth with Roczen fifth.
Mitchell Harrison (52.573) is 18th in Group A. Group B riders were unable to crack the 53 second mark. Clason is 19th so he needs to find a little more speed in Qualification 2.
Click here for complete 450 Qualification 1 times.
Lawrence (48.523) finds the rhythm and jumps to the top of the board in Qualification 2 and overall.
In this session, Tomac is second fastest with Webb third.
Roczen is fourth in Qualification 2 and third overall with Anderson rounding out the top five on both lists.
Down on the bubble, Harrison took the 18th position in the combined session with Kyle Chisholm and Anthony Rodriguez just below the line.
Click here for completed 450 Qualification 2 times.
Click here for combined 450 Qualification times.
250s
In Qualification 1, Anstie (49.492) and Vialle (50.065) posted their fastest laps at the end of the session to top the chart.
Brown (50.263) had the fastest speed for much of the session but landed third. He picked up the pace on the final lap, but not quite enough.
Hammaker and Deegan round out the top five.
Remarkably, Schock is back on track only five days after surgery. He’s fast enough for now to make the evening program with the 11th fastest time.
Ryder Floyd is 18th with Preston Boespflug on the outside looking in.
Click here for complete 250 Group A Qualification 1 times.
In Qualification 2, Hammaker crashes over his handlebars after clipping the base of a stanchion.
Halfway through the session, the morning qualification times are the fastest.
Now times are starting to pick up with three minutes on the clock. Vialle ties Anstie’s Q1 time.
Vialle (49.492) ends on the top of the chart with Brown (49.719) and Hymas (50.332) taking the top three spots,
Hammaker and Deegan round out the top five.
Schock landed ninth in this session and is fast enough to go directly into the features.
Click here for complete 250 Group A Qualification 2 times.
Click here for combined 250 qualification times.
Free Practice
450s
There’s a reason Roczen (49.329) loves to come to this track. He’s fastest in the first practice session over Anderson (49.510) and Justin Barcia (49.660).
Remember that Barcia has a great record in Indy also with second-place finishes in each of the last three years.
Cooper and Tomac round out the top five.
Jett Lawrence is well down in 11th, but no one expects that to last.
Hunter Lawrence was 15th on the chart in his return.
250s
It appears Deegan (50.121) is putting controversy aside. He tops Free Practice by a margin of .129 seconds over Vialle (50.250).
Anstie (50.316) rounds out the top three.
McAdoo and Bennick land fourth and fifth.
Indianapolis by the Numbers
More Supercross News
Check up on some recent Supercross coverage as we wait for tonight’s mains.
Michael Mosiman joins Star Yamaha
Robbie Wageman reprises retro gear
5 things to watch for in Indy
Haiden Deegan penalized for second time at Birmingham
Jett Lawrence extends points lead with Birmingham win
Haiden Deegan ends Coty Schock’s Cinderella season
Colt Nichols returns with a top-10 on his mind
Hunter Lawrence out of Birmingham with scapula injury
Paige Craig updates Christian’s condition on social media
Hannah Hodges wins first relaunched WMX race
