PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Jett Lawrence grabbed the holeshot in Round 15 of the Supercross season and steadily built a gap on the field to earn his seventh win of the 2024 season. With this win accompanied by some trouble for Cooper Webb, he extended his points lead with two rounds remaining and can clinch the championship by standing on the podium in both of the final two rounds.
Finishing fourth, Webb no longer controls his fate. He is currently 12 points out of the lead.
Webb attempted to put as much pressure as possible in the early laps. Trailing Eli Tomac briefly for second and he knew that if it took too long to get around his teammate, Lawrence would ride off into the sunset. Webb moved into second on Lap 2, but the rookie points leader is dominant in clean air and he slowly stretched his advantage.
Meanwhile, Webb was falling back and he lost second to Chase Sexton on Lap 16 of the 24-lap race.
Sexton cut into Lawrence’s lead in the final eight laps of the race, but could not pressure the young rider into a mistake.
Sexton finished second.
Jason Anderson was also charging. He started fourth and fell back to sixth on Lap 10, but at that point he found his second wind and began to climb through the field. Anderson has narrowly missed the podium in the last two races, finishing fourth in both, so when he caught Webb, he was not in a mood to be patient. Anderson muscled his past Webb on the last lap to take the last spot on the podium. Webb hit the ground during the altercation but did not lose an additional position.
Tomac rounded out the top five.
After allowing Webb to close a 21-point gap and tie him in points entering Nashville, Lawrence has won back-to-back races and seems to be in the same dominant condition he had in the middle stages. Unless he makes a mistake at Denver next week or in Salt Lake City for the finale, Lawrence appears set to cruise to his third consecutive 450 championship after winning last year’s Pro Motocross title and the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship.
In an incident-filled race, Max Anstie scored the 250 East win in Philly over points contenders Tom Vialle in second and Haiden Deegan in third. This is Anstie’s first win of 2024 after coming close in the East season opener in Detroit by finishing second to Austin Forkner.
“I know you Philly crowd were cheering for Seth [Hammaker] and man it was so loud,” Anstie told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas from the top of the box. “It was crazy. I heard the crowd going wild and then I looked back and he wasn’t there. I don’t know what happened.”
For most of the race, the top four could be covered by a blanket as Hammaker kept pace with Anstie after losing the lead midway through the race. Seeking the first podium for Triumph, Jalek Swoll was in third with Pierce Brown pressuring from fourth.
As time wound down, however, Swoll overjumped in the sand section and sent himself and Hammaker to the ground. One lap later, Brown crossrutted off the finish line jump and crashed hard.
Those incidents helped the points contenders overcome a disappointing start.
Vialle ended Lap 1 in 10th-place with Deegan 12th and for the entirety of the race, they were not separated by more than two positions. Vialle worked traffic a little better and managed to create gaps by passing in zones where Deegan could not follow. Before the chaotic final laps, the two title contenders moved up to fifth and sixth by Lap 8. As other riders made mistakes, they climbed onto the podium.
“If this race right here didn’t make you a Supercross fan, I don’t know what will,” Deegan said. “That was gnarly. A lot of the good guys had a bad start, and we came through. ... Dudes were taking each other out.”
Vialle will head into the season finale at Salt Lake City with a 15-point advantage over Deegan. They are the only two riders with a shot at the title.
In third place in the title hunt, Brown is 34 points behind. His late-race crash relegated him to a 14th-place finish.
Fourth-place Daxton Bennick and Chance Hymas rounded out the top five.
In-Race Notes
It’s a brand-new market for the Monster Energy Supercross series — or at least the first time they have been in Philadelphia in 44 years.
Dylan Ferrandis is healthy and back to racing in the 450 division while Seth Hammaker made his way back in the 250 division for his hometown race.
It’s partly cloudy but an overall nice day: windy, with little to no chance of rain.
The crowd is huge in Lincoln Financial Field as Philadelphians celebrate Supercross’ return to the state.
The 450 division will be first up with their heats.
As Heat 2 begins for the 450s, a light rain begins to fall. So much for the minimal chance of precipitation.
Features
450s
Jett Lawrence has only the seventh gate pick after a disappointing heat.
It doesn’t matter; Lawrence gets the holeshot.
Tomac and Webb slot into second and third, but Lawrence is so good from the lead.
Webb passes for second on Lap 2. It’s up to him to pressure the points leader.
On Lap 4, Lawrence is building a gap of 2.7 seconds.
Sexton rides fourth one week after a viscous crash in Nashville. Anderson is fifth.
Nearing the halfway points, Lawrence builds the gap to 3.7 seconds. Sexton passes Tomac for third.
Webb is losing sight of Lawrence.
Sexton bobbles and loses ground to Webb.
It took a couple of laps, but Sexton makes up the distance and gets around Webb.
Webb no longer controls his fate as they run.
Sexton closes the gap slightly to Lawrence. It’s 3.1 seconds with two minutes to go.
Lawrence holds on and wins his seventh race of 2024.
Sexton closed the gap, but finishes second.
On the final lap, Anderson gets into Webb as they battle for third. Webb hits the dirt and Anderson takes the spot.
250s
Pro Circuit gets off to a strong start in their bid for a 300th win with Hammaker taking the early lead.
The championship contenders Vialle and Deegan get poor starts, riding 10th and 12th respectively at the end of Lap 1.
Anstie sits in second with Swoll in third.
With 10 minutes on the clock, Anstie is not letting Hammaker get away.
Vialle and Deegan are in fierce competition’ they move to sixth and seventh.
Vialle is getting through traffic better and stretches a gap on Deegan.
Hammaker and Anstie are still 1-2.
Swoll is 1.8 seconds ahead of Brown for the last podium spot.
With four minutes on the clock, Anstie passes Hammaker for the lead. That has brought Swoll into the mix.
Points leader Vialle has moved into fourth with a minute remaining.
Racing for second, Hammaker and Swoll crash in the sand section.
Anstie walks away from the field to win.
Vialle finishes second and edges Deegan. Bennick and Hymas round out the top five.
Last Chance Qualifiers
450s
Justin Cooper fell in his heat, which is why he’s in the LCQ. He grabs the holeshot and immediately starts to yard the field.
Cooper wins by more than 11 seconds over Shane McElrath.
Kevin Moranz and Cade Clason also advance to the Feature.
250s
Two big crashes on the first lap of 250’s LCQ, including a hard crash for Luca Marsalisi. He limps off the track as Hardy Munoz gets the early lead.
Marsalisi got crossed up and went down and was run over by another rider.
Munoz holds on for the LCQ victory with Marshall Weltin in second.
Crockett Myers in third and Vincint Luhovey also advance.
Heats
450s
Jett Lawrence crashes in Turn 1 of Heat 1.
Tomac takes the early lead with Webb in second.
It will be exciting to watch Lawrence come through the field. At the end of Lap 2, he moves into 11th.
On Lap 56, Lawrence makes his way to ninth and will move directly into the feature unless he falls again.
As time runs off the clock, Lawrence is in fifth. He has one more lap to improve his gate pick.
Tomac wins Heat 1. Lawrence climbed to fourth.
Click here for complete Heat 1 results
Webb is second with Justin Barcia on the final step on the box.
Lawrence gets to fourth with Adam Cianciarulo founding out the top five.
Sexton and Hunter Lawrence highlight Heat 2.
Ferrandis makes his return.
Sexton goes down in Turn 1. He’ll have to come from the back like Lawrence in the first heat.
Anderson has the lead on Lap 3 with Lawrence in second and Ferrandis third.
Anderson hangs on for the win with Lawrence and Ferrandis still on the podium.
Colt Nichols on the new Beta is fourth with Malcolm Stewart rebounding from a crash mid-race to finish fifth.
Sexton moved up to sixth.
Click here for complete Heat 2 results
250s
In his hometown race, Hammaker takes the early lead in Heat 1. Remember: Pro Circuit is still looking for win No. 300.
Deegan is second and Bennick is third.
Deegan clung to Hammaker’s back wheel but cannot make the pass on the white flag lap.
Bennick remains in third with Preston Boespflug in fourth.
Nick Romano rounds out the top five.
Click here for complete Heat 1 results
In Heat 2, Swoll and the new Triumph team get the holeshot.
Swoll is being chased by points leader Vialle. Coty Schock is third on Lap 3.
As time runs off the clock, Vialle continues to race Swoll hard.
Swoll is determined to give Triumph their first heat win.
Swoll wins. It’s his first heat career victory.
Vialle is one second back at the checkers.
Anstie moved into third and stands on the bottom step of the podium.
Brown and Schock round out the top five.
“We’ve been busting our butts to get to this point,” Swoll said from the podium. “It’s just a heat race, but it means a lot.
“A lot has gone into this bike and just me as a whole. Not being able to do Supercross last year because of the injury; yeah, this one feels good.”
Qualification
450s
Group A in the class has taken the track.
Jett Lawrence takes the early lead with Webb .6 seconds back.
One lap later, Webb finds some speed and tops the chart.
Lawrence ends the session on top ahead of Tomac and Cooper.
Webb is fourth on the list.
Click here for 450 Group A Qualification 1 results
In the second session of qualification, Sexton leads halfway through with Webb and Lawrence second and third respectively.
Sexton crashes in the sand section with two minutes remaining but hops up with no harm.
Hunter Lawrence jumps to the top of the board on the last lap ahead of Webb and Cooper.
Jett Lawrence is fourth fastest in this session, but laid his bike down on his last lap.
Click here for 450 Group A Qualification 2 results
Click here for 450 combined qualification
250s
Vialle is fastest in Qualification 1 for the 250 East division and can clinch the title if Deegan has a bad race.
Unfortunately for Vialle, Deegan is third fastest in this session.
In his return, Hammaker slots into second.
Click here for 250 Group A Qualification 1 results
Anstie leads the field in qualification 2 by .152 seconds over Hammaker and Vialle.
Deegan is fourth.
Click here for 250 Group A Qualification 2 results
Click here for 250 combined qualification
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