BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Jett Lawrence won the holeshot but Cooper Webb pushed him hard into the second turn. Unable to get alongside the points’ leader, Webb had to settle into second-place and settle for chasing Lawrence for the entirety of the race.
Lawrence won his fourth race of the 2024 season and second in a row to give him a 13-point advantage over the field as the series just now advances past the halfway point.
“I’m super pumped I was able to link two races together,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’ Will Christien. “That was a very difficult track, it could cost you. I felt like old Jett would have thrown it away like Arlington. Just had to be very, very patient and not just push this track, it could bite you pretty quickly. We tried going for a little sneaky corner over there; we came up very short. Thank gosh it’s soft so it stopped me. But no, it’s just an awesome, awesome weekend [and an] awesome race. Shout out to the team they’re awesome and now hopefully we can maybe click off some more, but we’ll have to wait and see… the races, they’re all pretty gnarly with all these great riders out here.”
No other rider in the field has more than two victories, which could signal a change in the complexion of the season if Lawrence is able to continue to keep Webb, Chase Sexton and Eli Tomac behind him.
Webb settled into second and kept Lawrence in sight all night, but each time he started to charge, Lawrence extended his advantage further. Webb now has four podiums and two fourth-place finishes in his last seven races but lost most of his advantage to Lawrence in the first two weeks when he finished outside the top five at Anaheim and San Francisco. As most experts expected this year’s battle to come down to Tomac and Lawrence, it is notable that Webb’s tough attitude is providing the greatest challenge to Lawrence.
“After that incident when I crashed in the Heat it was good to rebound and get a good start; and yeah, it was a great ride. I felt awesome, " Webb said “I made a few mistakes in the beginning and that gap [to Jett] got there and then I felt like I did a good job maintaining that. We played cat and mouse and I know what it takes now to run that pace, so [I’m] pretty happy with tonight, solid second. He’s a hell of a competitor, a great rider, so we’ll try to be better for next week… It feels great to be back up here on the box. [When asked what it’s going to take to close the points gap] Who knows! This season’s been crazy, so I think there’s still a lot of guys that are capable of getting in the mix. So for me, I’ve just got to keep having rides like tonight, but one position better.”
Ken Roczen took the final spot on the podium and he was the rider with the biggest hill to climb. He started the race sixth, climbed to fifth on Lap 1 and then followed Sexton for the next five laps. It took another six laps to get around Justin Cooper and by that time, the two leaders were too far ahead for Roczen to catch.
Sexton held on to finish fourth giving him back-to-back top-fives for the first time since the opening two rounds.
Cooper rounded out the top five, showing a steady progression during the past three weeks. He finished seventh in Arlington and sixth in Daytona.
Click here for complete 450 Main results | Points’ standings
For the first time in 250 history a rider has won his first and second races in back-to-back weeks as Tom Vialle dominated Birmingham one round after taking the victory at Daytona International Speedway last week.
Lat week in Daytona, Vialle kept a perfect record alive for French riders. The ninth racer from that country won his first Monster Energy Supercross race on a track that had a lot of motocross elements, so he felt it was important to win on a more traditional Supercross course.
“I didn’t expect it,” Vialle told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas from the top spot on the box. “I felt great all day and I had a great race.”
There is still a small asterisk attached to this race, however. To accommodate soft conditions caused by heavy rains on Friday, track designers removed the whoops section and replaced it with a set of four rollers.
Vialle’s win gave him the red plate.
For the third straight week, Cameron McAdoo finished second, which keeps him in the title hunt.
Seth Hammaker had to come through the Last Chance Qualifier after contact with Haiden Deegan in his heat race.
Pierce Brown broke his string of fifth-place finishes and improved by one spot to finish fourth.
Two weeks after returning from injury, Jeremy Martin spent the first half of the feature among the podium riders but lost a little pace in the closing laps and finished fifth.
Jalek Swoll fell early in the race while he was also contending for a podium. He overcame the incident to finish just outside the top five in sixth. This is the third time in four races he has finished either sixth or seventh while riding for a brand new manufacturer.
MORE: Coty Schock’s Cinderella Season ended by aggressive Haiden Deegan pass
Haiden Deegan is struggling with soreness after last week’s qualification crash. He crossed the finish line seventh but was penalized two positions for gaining position while off course and will be credited with ninth instead.
Max Anstie finished 21st after a mechanical issue and fell all the way to eighth in the standings.
Click here for complete 250 East results | 250 East points’ standings | Combined points
MORE: Hunter Lawrence to miss Birmingham with shoulder injury
UPDATE: On Race Day Live, Steven “Lurch” Lane announced Hunter Lawrence’s scapula break was too small to show up on an X-Ray and it required an MRI to detect. It is not out of the question that he could return as early as next week in Indianapolis.
Features
450s
Jett Lawrence gets the holeshot.
Webb goes tight in the turn before the finish line and runs over the card girl, who was too close to the track. She seems to be okay.
Cooper closes in on Webb but if he wants to have a shot at Lawrence, he has to get around quickly.
Dylan Ferrandis crashes with 16 minutes on the clock. He will retire.
Lawrence is stretching the lead over Webb and Cooper. When he gets this kind of rhythm early, he is hard to beat.
Roczen and Sexton round out the top five.
The best contest on the track is for sixth with Aaron Plessinger, Justin Barcia and Eli Tomac.
With eight minutes on the clock, Roczen gets around Cooper for the final podium position.
Copper fights back with five minutes remaining. There are challenges throughout the field.
Lawrence has a three-second lead when time runs off the clock.
Roczen is nine second further back. He was flying at the end but ran out of time.
250s
Jeremy Martin gets the holeshot but Vialle takes the lead early.
On the start, Deegan gets pushed wide; he’s back to 13th.
Red plate holder Max Anstie also gets a poor start and is 11th with 12 minutes on the clock.
Vialle, McAdoo and Martin are the top three.
With a new manufacturer, Swoll moves into third with nine minutes on the clock.
Vialle’s win last week at Daytona was on a track with motocross elements. He thinks it’s important to get a win on a more traditional Supercross track.
Swoll tucks his front wheel and won’t give Triumph their first podium.
Now Hammaker, who had to come through the LCQ, has the final spot on the box.
With five minutes on the clock, Anstie’s bike breaks. He will lose the red plate but it was good while it lasted for this non-factory aided team.
Chance Hymas gets sent to the ground by Swoll on the final lap, which may have been payback for an incident in the heat.
Vialle wins two in a row with McAdoo and Hammaker rounding out the podium.
Last Chance Qualifiers
450s
Fredrik Noren pushes John Short out in Turn 1 to take the early lead.
Short takes over the top spot halfway through.
Aaron Tanti is safe in third, but the final transfer spot featured a contest between Anthony Bourdon and Hunter Schlosser. Bourdon got it.
Click here for complete 450 LCQ results.
250s
Before the 250 LCQ, Hammaker provides an update on the incident. He had to edge to the right to go around a slowing Daxton Bennick and cut off Haiden Deegan’s lane. (In the post-race news conference, he underscored he wouldn’t have done anything different.)
Hammaker gets the jump on the start with Deegan on his back tire. Unsurprisingly, these two riders stretch a huge gap on the field.
Deegan slips but doesn’t go down. He loses a ton of ground.
Hammaker wins with Deegan second. Dominique Thury and Logan Leitzel also advance. This is the first Main for Leitzel.
Click here for complete 250 LCQ results.
Heats
450s
a Light rain has returned but the track is still holding a lot of moisture, so it won’t take much to make this a mudder.
In Heat 1, Sexton gets the early lead over Ty Masterpool.
Masterpool jumps off course, handing second to Jason Anderson.
Sexton wins easily by 10.7 seconds over Anderson. Malcolm Stewart takes the final podium spot.
Barcia and Ferrandis round out the top five.
Click here for complete 450 Heat 1 results.
In Heat 2, Tomac gets the early lead.
Webb and Lawrence challenge for second.
Webb goes down as time is running off the clock. Lawrence passed him and Webb tried to get the position back in the next turn.
Tomac wins.
Lawrence holds onto second with Roczen taking the final podium position.
Webb and Aaron Plessinger round out the top five.
Making his return to the 450 class, Colt Nichols advances directly into the Main and will get both Beta bikes in. Benny Bloss was eighth.
Click here for complete 450 Heat 2 results.
MORE: Paige Craig updates fans on Christian’s condition
250s
In Heat 1, Deegan chops off Hammaker in Turn 1 and they both go down. Hammaker retires from the heat.
Here’s what happened to Deegan and Hammaker 🫣 #SupercrossLIVE #SMX pic.twitter.com/0ZOfnW83oZ
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 10, 2024
And now on Lap 4, McAdoo lands on top of Nicholas Romano’s bike when that rider’s bike jumps out of gear. He survives and maintains second.
Deegan hasn’t recovered; he’s 18th and the last rider on the lead lap. Only nine transfer directly to the Main.
Coty Schock wins his first heat win over McAdoo, Daxton Bennick, Henry Miller and Marshal Weltin.
Deegan and Hammaker will have to go through the LCQ. This is the first LCQ for Deegan, who is indeed suffering pain after last week’s crash in Daytona.
Deegan confronts Hammaker in the pits.
Click here for complete 250 Heat 1 results.
In Heat 2, there is a much cleaner start with Vialle getting the holeshot.
Vialle gets a little bit of a gap, but second through fourth are in a heated contest: Swoll, Chance Hymas and Pierce Brown.
At the halfway point, Hymas clips Swoll and gets the position.
Vialle follows up last week’s Main win with a heat victory. Brown and Hymas take the other two podium positions.
Anstie and Swoll round out the top five.
Click here for complete 250 Heat 2 results.
Qualification
Qualification is underway. Ruts are forming but it appears the moistures is getting worked into the track.
We’re starting to see little puffs of dust on the top of the jumps.
450s
Combined 450 qualification results
Track crews are grooming the track between the 250 and 450 sessions.
Lawrence (56.482) follows last week’s win with the fastest time in Qualification 1. Roczen, Sexton, Tomac and Cooper round out the top five.
Nichols, who returned this week with Beta Motorcycles, posts the second fastest time to Mithcell Harrison in Group B.
Click here for complete results from Group A Qualification 1.
Qualification 2 has gate drops - and Anderson runs into the back of Lawrence. They both hit the dirt.
It took half the session, but Lawrence makes his way to the top of the board. Anderson is 10th.
And Lawrence ends up on top (52.777) over Sexton and Tomac.
Cooper and Webb round out the top five.
Plessinger wound up ninth.
Click here for complete results from Group A Qualification 2.
250s
Combined 250 qualification results
Early in Qualification 1, Deegan is flirting with the one-minute mark.
But it’s Romano who is first to dip into the double digits. McAdoo, Bennick and Anstie follow him as the speeds start to pick up with sun starting to bath the track.
Hammaker (56.522) ended the board on top with Deegan and last week’s winner Vialle following him across the line.
“It’s definitely going to be a challenging track when it’s soft like this,” Hammaker tells Haley Shanley on Race Day Live.
Click here for complete results from 250 Group A Qualification 1.
Qualification 2 reveals a track that is rapidly changing color as it dries. Expect ruts this session, but the track will firm up before the evening show.
McAdoo slots into fourth and Deegan may still be feeling the effects of last week’s qualification crash in Daytona. He’s 10th.
Click here for complete results from 250 Group A Qualification 2.
Anderson and Jett come together at the start of 450 Q2 👀#SupercrossLIVE #SMX pic.twitter.com/AXfE950NeM
— Supercross LIVE! (@SupercrossLIVE) March 9, 2024
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