SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Chase Sexton won the season finale by three seconds over Justin Cooper in second and Cooper Webb in third, but Jett Lawrence’s massive points’ lead entering the race was enough to overcome a seventh-place finish and win his third straight 450 championship. With his 250 success added in, he now has seven consecutive SuperMotocross titles.
While Sexton dominated the race at the front, Lawrence had a much more complicated night as he climbed as high as fourth, was briefly embroiled in a battle with Jason Anderson that may have eventually resulted in contact and ultimately decided that discretion dictated a more cautious approach.
Sexton won the holeshot but had to fend off Cooper in the early laps. Once Sexton rode to a third-second advantage, he maintained that spot and cruised to victory.
“I had to kind of claw myself back to where I felt like I was riding good,” Sexton said. “It’s been a tough journey. The team and I have put a lot of work in. It’s taken us about, I don’t know, 16 rounds to get it good, but we’re in a good spot now. Today was a big day for me. I feel like I had really good speed and a really good start in that Main Event.”
Cooper’s second-place finish capped off a season in which he progressively improved. In two of the previous three races entering Salt Lake City, Cooper narrowly missed the top five with sixth-place finishes, providing him momentum entering the weekend. He saved his best for last and scored his first 450 podium.
“I was looking for this podium all year and it just happened to come at the last round. We saved the best for last,” Cooper said. “I just have to give it up to the whole team. Yamaha, they gave me a chance this year and really took me under their wing and worked hard with me. I had some great teammates this year and they pushed me the whole way. I’m glad to end on a high note.”
Webb entered the finale as the only rider capable of taking the title from Lawrence. He finished third, but it was revealed in a pre-race conference that he has been riding with a broken thumb in the last few rounds. That is the same injury that sidelined Eli Tomac for the final rounds. Webb will undergo surgery and most likely miss the opening rounds of the Pro Motocross series that begins in two weeks at Fox Raceway in Pala, California.
“Second in the championship’s not what you want, but as we can see Jett’s a once-in-a-generation guy and he’s the real deal,” Webb said. “I’m proud of my year, I’m proud of my team, I’m proud of my family. I truly know what we’ve been dealing with these last few races and rounds, I don’t know if there’s many guys that would’ve finished this season, so I can hang my head high on that.”
Just off the podium, Jason Anderson scored his fifth consecutive finish of fourth or better. He ended the season tied in points with Tomac at 282.
Justin Barcia rounded out the top five, which was his fourth consecutive finish of sixth or better in as many weeks.
Click here for complete 450 feature results
Click here for complete 450 points
In the 250 division, Haiden Deegan scored his third Eastern division win of the season ahead of RJ Hampshire and Jordon Smith, but the divisional titles went to Hampshire (West) and Tom Vialle (East), who finished eighth in the rundown.
“That was sick. That was my first East / West Shootout win,” Deegan said. “I came into this race, I’m like, ‘You know what, I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m just going to go out there and execute what I do,’ and that’s what I did today. I was top of the board all day long, so that was perfect. I kind of feel like I’ve come around now.”
Vialle entered this round with a 15-point advantage over Deegan and needed nearly all of it to keep the challenger from taking the East title. Vialle struggled on a slippery track in his heat before finishing eight, which gave him a terrible gate pick. He got a strong start in the feature and slotted into ninth. He needed to finish 11th or better to win his first 250 title in his second attempt. He improved by one spot and finished eighth,
In the 250 West division, Hampshire needed only to finish ahead of Levi Kitchen, who crossed under the checkers in fifth.
“I had a bad race,” Vialle told Peacock’s Will Christien after finishing four points ahead of Deegan in the championship standings. “Today was really hard but I was like this is the moment. I have to do the start. The last five laps, I was really nervous, but I made it. I’m really happy, coming from Europe to the US and getting the Supercross [championship] in only my second year.”
Deegan won his heat and grabbed the early lead in the feature as the rider he chased in the 250 East struggled early.
In the 250 West division, it was a winner-take-all affair and Hampshire rode a safe race at the end to finish in the runner-up position in the feature and five points ahead of his title challenger.
Jordon Smith challenged Deegan for most of the race, but an aggressive pass in the closing laps went awry and he hit the ground to give Hampshire second.
Jo Shimoda briefly got around Smith, but fell to fourth in the final rundown.
Levi Kitchen rounded out the top five. He will have to wait until next year to make another Supercross run.
Click here for complete 250 East / West Showdown results
Click here for complete 250 East Rider Points
Click here for complete 250 West Rider Points
In-Race Notes
It’s a beautiful day at Rice-Eccles Stadium with bright blue skies. Clouds are forecast for the start of the race, but no rain is expected until the middle of the night.
So much for the forecast. As the 450 riders line up, dark skies are on the horizon even as sun shines on the track.
Three championships are on the line this week with the closest belonging to the 250 West division. Hampshire and Kitchen are tied in points. In 250 East, Vialle has a 15-point lead on Deegan.
In 450s, Lawrence is 20 above Webb.
There are bright skies over the stadium but lightning has struck nearby so the evening program is under weather delay.
As we wait out the lightning delay, rain has rolled in. This could change everything. If Lawrence has any weakness, it is that he does not race well in the mud.
Rain barely clipped the track, so the course will be fine for the Features.
Features
450s
Lawrence will win his third straight 450 title with a race finish of 17th or better.
Sexton gets the holeshot but Cooper passes him quickly.
Webb is third.
Lawrence crosses under the flag seventh, which is enough for the championship if he stays there.
In the first two minutes, Lawrence moves up to fifth.
Lawrence moves into fourth briefly, one spot behind Webb. He almost crashes, gives up the position to Anderson, retakes the spot and then thinks better of racing this hard. He falls to sixth.
The race settles down and Sexton gains a three-second advantage over Cooper.
Webb continues to ride third with 14 minutes on the clock.
Even if Lawrence finishes last, Webb does not have enough points in third to win. Lawrence will protect his position on the track, but he won’t press the issue.
Right now no one is close to the points leader.
Ten minutes to go and Malcolm Stewart pushes Lawrence back to seventh.
At the front of the pack, Cooper won’t let Sexton check out. Cooper is fast, but still needs to make up three seconds with six minutes remaining.
After losing a lap, Hunter Lawrence rides into the side of fourth-place Anderson.
One minute on the clock and Sexton leads Cooper and Webb.
Sexton hangs on to win.
250s
It’s a clean start and Deegan takes the lead.
Nick Romano and Smith slot into second and third.
In the 250 West challenge, Hampshire in fourth leads Kitchen in seventh.
Vialle overcomes his bad gate pick and slots into ninth, which is enough to take the championship unless he fades.
With 12 minutes to go, Vialle moves up a spot to eighth.
Nine minutes to go and Vialle is seventh.
Deegan still leads the race.
Hampshire (fourth) leads Kitchen (sixth).
One minute later, Hampshire moves into third around Jo Shimoda.
Kitchen passes Nate Thrasher for fifth with sixth to go, but is he running out of time? There is six minutes remaining.
Smith is catching Deegan for the lead. In third, Hampshire is willing to be patient.
Deegan and Smith make contact racing for the lead as time is running off the clock. Smith hits the ground and this battle is over for the moment.
This puts Hampshire in second and Shimoda moves to third.
Deegan wins.
Last Chance Qualifiers
450s
Grant Harlan takes the lead early and holds it till the end.
Devin Simonson and Fredrik Noren finish second and third.
In the final turn, Kevin Moranz comes from way back to take the fourth and final transfer position.
250s
This includes both East and West riders. Four will advance.
Coty Schock got the holeshot in his heat before crashing. He gets another good start and leads the LCQ.
Schock yards the field and beats Anthony Bourdon, Preston Boespflug and Max Miller. They will go into the Main.
Heats
450s
In Heat 1, Jett Lawrence gets pushed wide by Webb and hangs onto the spot. Barcia showed a wheel, but Lawrence has the lead.
Webb settles into third.
The top five are spread out: Lawrence, Barcia, Webb, Dean Wilson and Vince Friese with two minutes on the clock.
Lawrence wins his heat over Barcia.
Webb may have shown his hand in the contact with Lawrence. His only hope to win the title is if Lawrence hits the ground in the feature.
Wilson holds onto fourth and Justin Hill rounds out the top five.
Friese, Shane McElrath, Jeremy Hand and Malcolm Stewart also advance.
Click here for complete 450 Heat 1 results
In Heat 2, Cooper gets the early lead but Sexton hangs tight and they swap the lead.
Hunter Lawrence slots into third.
Sexton lands short on a table top. He loses momentum but retains the lead.
Fast qualifier Sexton hangs on to the lead by nearly five seconds over Cooper.
Lawrence takes the third position with Anderson and Dylan Ferrandis rounding out the top five.
Mitchell Oldenburg, Colt Nichols and Kyle Chisholm also advance to the Feature.
Adam Cianciarulo was running 10th on the final lap, but he got the final transfer position on the last lap when Fredrik Noren crashed.
Click here for complete 450 Heat 2 results
250 East
The 250 East riders are first up on the grid.
Schock gets the early lead, blows a corner and hits the wall on Lap 1; he’s okay, but this will make it difficult to finish third in the standings.
Schock down hard in the 250SX East Heat😱#SupercrossLIVE #SMX pic.twitter.com/skzgszpLiL
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) May 12, 2024
That hands the lead to Deegan.
Vialle is riding eighth, which will give him a bad gate pick if he cannot pick his way through the crowd.
With time running off the clock, Vialle falls to ninth. Remember, only nine riders automatically advance to the feature.
Deegan wins over Daxton Bennick and Seth Hammaker.
Fourth-place Jalek Swoll and Pierce Brown round out the top five.
Romano, Max Anstie, Chance Hymas and Vialle also advance to the Feature — but Vialle is going to have a terrible gate pick.
Click here for complete 250 East heat results
250 West
The 250 West riders get off to a clean start.
Kitchen gets a great start but Hampshire is right with him. These riders are tied in points for the championship.
Hampshire doesn’t allow Kitchen to get away and stays withing a second.
Thrasher is third.
Kitchen holds on for the win over Hampshire.
Thrasher stays third.
Fourth-place Smith and Shimoda round out the top five.
Phil Nicoletti, Cole Thompson, Julien Beaumer and Ryder DiFrancesco also advance directly into the Main.
Click here for complete 250 West heat results
Qualification
450s
Jett Lawrence needs to finish 17th or better to clinch the 2024 Supercross title. He jumps to the top of the board early in Q1.
Lawrence remained fast, but he winds up second to Sexton, who set his fast lap of 52.139 on his final lap. Sexton won this race last year.
Cooper landed third on the grid.
Coming off his first 450 podium last week, Hunter Lawrence was fifth fastest.
Click here for complete 450 Qualification 1 results
Sexton picks up where he left off and paces the first half of Qualification 2.
Sexton hangs on for the fastest time of this session and the fastest time overall.
It’s hard to believe this is the first time he set Quick Time in 2024.
Lawrence is second fastest with Barcia rounding out the top three in Q2.
Fourth-place Stewart and Anderson complete the top five.
Overall, Cooper’s time from Q1 slots into third with Stewart fourth and Hunter Lawrence fifth.
Click here for complete 450 Qualification 2 results
Click here for complete 450 Qualification times
250s
With this as an East / West Showdown, the West division riders qualify separately from the East — and the West fittingly hits the track first here in Utah.
Shimoda is fastest early, but Hampshire is faster than Kitchen in the opening laps.
Hampshire ends up on top of the board ahead of Beaumer and Smith.
Kitchen lands fifth and Shimoda fell to sixth.
Click here for complete 250 West Qualification 1 results
Among the East riders, Hymas posts the fastest opening lap.
Deegan tops the board ahead of Seth Hammaker and points’ leader Vialle.
Hymas dropped to seventh.
Click here for complete 250 East Qualification 1 results
Qualification 2 begins with the East riders and midway through the session, Vialle and Deegan are trying to decide who will be fastest. Right now: It’s Vialle.
Seth Hammaker and Hymas jump to the top of the board, but Deegan is fastest overall from the first session. This is the first time Deegan has posted Quick Time.
In Q2, Deegan is third and Vialle is fourth.
Click here for complete 250 East Qualification 2 results
Smith is fastest halfway through the West riders Q2 session.
Hampshire saved his best for last and sets the fastest time in Q2 over Smith and Beaumer.
Kitchen land fourth with Shimoda fifth.
Overall, Deegan’s time stands.
Click here for complete 250 West Qualification 2 results
Click here for complete 250 West combined Qualification
Click here for complete 250 East combined Qualification
More SuperMotocross News
While we wait for the race, catch up on some recent news:
Haiden Deegan: Building character
Salt Lake City by the numbers
Eli Tomac extends MX, SMX contract | sidelined with thumb injury
Adam Cianciarulo is more than a dirt bike racer
Three SuperMotocross finales to air live in Spanish
Denver 450 results, points | 250s results, points
Jett Lawrence wins eighth rookie season race at Denver.
Benny Bloss out for remainder of 2024 SX
Jalek Swoll: Podium denied
Jett Lawrence wins Philadelphia and takes control.
Dylan Ferrandis returns for end of SX season
