CONCORD, North Carolina - Jett Lawrence returned from injury and immediately resumed his winning ways by finishing second in Moto 1 and winning the second race to take the overall win via the tiebreaker over Eli Tomac, who won the first moto.
Lawrence failed to lead many laps but he was never out of contention for a podium finish in the two motos and put to rest any questions experts may have had about the strength of his thumb, which he injured halfway through the Pro Motocross Championship.
“I surprised myself more than you guys, I think,” Lawrence told Peacock’s Will Christien. “That race pace was a little different than practice. I remember back in 2023, I was saying I really wanted to battle Eli. It was a really cool thing to do and I can say it was a goal checked off.”
Tomac made his own statement in the race with a win in Moto 1 and second-place finish in Moto 2. He led all of Moto 1 and the most laps in the second race, but gave up the position in the tricky sand section with a handful of minutes remaining on the clock.
Tomac lost the lead in the rhythm section heading into the sand, but he kept Lawrence in sight until the closing laps and fans finally got a glimpse of what two of SuperMotocross’ top talents would do head-to-head.
“I was too conservative and it cost me,” Tomac said.
Chase Sexton finished third overall with a fourth in Moto 1 and third in Moto 2. Sexton retains the points’ lead by four heading into Round 2 at Texas Motor Speedway, but with double points on the line for that race, he is well within reach of second-place Jett.
With a third- and sixth-place finish, Hunter Lawrence finished fourth. Hunter was as high as second place in Moto 1 before Jett slipped past.
Ken Roczen rounded out the top five with fifth-place results in both motos.
In the 250 division, Haiden Deegan started deep in the field in both motos and made his way to the front each time to win the 250 division and extend his SuperMotocross World Championship lead.
“We’ve got to go back to work this week when I get back,” Deegan told Peacock’s Jason Thomas. “We’re working because even though I went 1-1 there were a lot of errors made and I’m not happy about it.”
With this win, Deegan carries an eight-point lead in the SMX championship over Levi Kitchen.
With a second-place finish in Moto 1 and fourth in the second race, Julien Beaumer earned his first career podium with a second overall.
“Leading those laps and getting good starts like that is very important for confidence and I had a lot of confidence,” Beaumer told Will Christien. " I just made too many mistakes in those early laps.”
By benefit of his Moto 1 win and a fifth-place finish in Moto 1, Levi Kitchen took the final spot on the podium,
Jo Shimoda finished fourth overall in his first race since injuring his collarbone at Unadilla with a third in the first race and fifth in the second.
Tom Vialle rounded out the top five with a 4-7.
In-Race Notes
The second season of the SuperMotocross World Championship resets the points and opens the door for any of the top 20 to add one more title to their mantel.
Sexton enters the weekend with 25 points, the equivalent of a race win, and if he can repeat his feat from last year and win, he will double that number.
Jett returns from his thumb injury seeded sixth and needs to make up nine points to draw even. With very little time on the bike, he told the media on Friday he wouldn’t be surprised if he goes 8-8 in the motos.
In 250s, Shimoda returned from his collarbone injury and showed respectable speed in practice with the fifth-best time in the second session.
Justin Barcia crashed in Free Practice on Friday and will not race in the Saturday program. He expects to be fit for Texas Motor Speedway next week.
Jason Anderson also crashed on Friday. He showed up for qualification, but is too banged up to continue into the race programs.
450 Moto 2
Justin Cooper backs up his practice speed with an early lead in Moto 2.
Tomac is giving chase with Jett third.
Tomac takes the lead on Lap 2 and hopes to sweep the motos.
Sexton in fourth and Roczen in fifth reprise their roles from Moto 1.
Jett takes second from Cooper on Lap 4. He has time to catch and pass Tomac who leads by less than two seconds. This is the battle everyone has waited for since Jett climbed onto a 450.
Sexton moves into third on Lap 5.
At the halfway point, Tomac holds onto his tenuous lead. The difference is 1.4 seconds.
Jett closes the gap to one second with five minutes on the clock.
They haven’t lost Sexton in third; he’s another second behind.
Lawrence takes the lead on Lap 10 at the end of the rollers and entry to the sand section — and with it, he will have the overall on a tiebreaker.
Jett leads Tomac on the final lap, but he can’t get completely away.
250 Moto 2
Beaumer does it again. He leads Lap 1.
Levi Kitchen takes the spot quickly, however; pushing Beaumer back to second.
Max Anstie rounds out the top three.
Deegan gets another slow start in sixth.
Kitchen extends his lead over Beaumer to 5.7 seconds and Anstie still runs third.
The leader needs to keep pushing, however, because Deegan is so good on the long run.
Deegan now takes fourth from Shimoda.
Deegan catches Beaumer and this will be the battle for the overall win.
Beaumer can’t hold him off; Deegan takes second. He has 5.4 seconds to make up on Kitchen with six seconds remaining.
Deegan does what Deegan does: He passes Kitchen for the lead on Lap 9.
He holds off Kitchen in second and Anstie.
Beaumer holds on for a fourth-place finish and his first career overall podium in Supercross.
Click here for complete 250 Moto 2 results
450 Moto 1
Is Tomac back? The first laps suggests so. He leads early.
Jett washes wide in the sand section and hands second to his brother Hunter.
Three laps in and Tomac has built a four-second lead over Hunter. Jett continues to run third.
Sexton has not lost touch with the Lawrence brothers and there is plenty of time with half the race remaining.
Tomac holds a five-second lead.
Jett finally gets around Hunter and Sexton has lost some ground.
Roczen runs fifth.
Jett closes the gap slightly, but does he have time to catch Tomac? The lead is four seconds with four minutes remaining.
Tomac rides comfortably and has a six-second lead with time running off the clock.
Tomac wins.
“I was able to maintain [the lead], so that was great,” Tomac said after the moto. “I obviously ripped the start there. Got inside my teammate and around that little roller and was able to ride that 20 minutes the way I wanted.”
Jett comes back from his thumb injury and immediately stands on the podium in second while Hunter rounds out the top three.
Sexton was stranded in fourth and Roczen took the final top-five position.
Click here for complete 450 Moto 1 results
250 Moto 1
On the start, Jalek Swoll goes down hard and is slow to get up. The red flag waves and we will have a full restart.
Replay shows Swoll and Deegan ran out of room on the inside line and Swoll got loose when he rode off track.
Beaumer backs up a fast time in practice with the early lead after the restart.
Shimoda didn’t want to get roosted and he rides second.
RJ Hampshire, Carson Mumford and Cameron McAdoo round out the top five. McAdoo had to advance from the LCQ.
Deegan got a slow start on the second gate drop and rides eighth.
Nearing the halfway mark, Deegan passes Mumford for fifth.
Shimoda accomplished one of his goals: he’s not getting roosted in second because he is four seconds back.
Now Shimoda gets squirrelly entering the sand section and loses spots to Hampshire and Deegan (in third).
Hampshire goes down hard from second. He landed on a Tuff Blox and slapped one of the concrete walls.
Deegan gains the spot. Hampshire remounts in 10th.
Deegan overcomes his early deficit and takes the lead on Lap 8.
Deegan wins by 3.4 seconds over Beaumer.
Shimoda takes advantage of some carnage up front and finishes third.
Tom Vialle and Kitchen round out the top five.
Hampshire gutted out a 10th-place finish.
Click here for complete 250 Moto 1 results
Last Chance Qualifiers
450s
With Barcia and Anderson out of the lineup, four riders will advance from this LCQ.
Colt Nichols falls and ends Lap 1 in eighth. He’ll have to press hard to get into the top four.
With two laps remaining, Dean Wilson puts his elbows out and gets fourth from Derek Kelley.
Jerry Robin led early and stretched his advantage to the end and win.
Justin Hill follows him across the line with Wilson getting one more spot to land third.
Nichols overcomes his early-race mistake and makes the final spot.
Click here for complete 450 LCQ results
250s
Four riders will advance from the 250 LCQ because two riders in the top 20 were not able to show up for this weekend’s race.
Mumford took the early lead and held it throughout the race to win.
McAdoo finishes second in his quest to make all three playoff races after returning from injury.
Lux Turner and Jett Reynolds also advance.
The is a chance Talon Hawkins could also make the big show if Casey Cochran, who crashed in qualification, is unable to line up.
Click here for complete 250 LCQ results
Qualification
450s
One of the big questions this week is the health of Jett as he returns to action. He tops the first qualification session with a time of 1:39.654. After the session, he told Peacock’s Jason Thomas that he was as “shocked as the rest of you.”
Sexton (1:40.646) is second, but he is a second off Lawrence’s pace.
Tomac (1:41.179) could be strong with a fresh lease on racing. He rounds out the top three.
Cooper Webb and Justin Cooper round out the top five.
Click here for complete 450 Qualification 1 results
Near the end of Qualification 2, Sexton was on a flyer in an attempt to catch Jett’s time. He hooked a tire in the sand and crashed hard.
But while the broadcasters were watching the battle between Lawrence and Sexton, Cooper (1:39.574) slipped in to take the fastest lap of the session and overall.
Lawrence (1:39.751) and Sexton (1:39.779) land in the top three.
Tomac and Hunter round out the top five.
Click here for complete 450 Qualification 2 results
250s
Deegan went to the top of the board early, was replaced by Ty Masterpool for a couple of laps and then resumed the lead.
On the final lap, Pierce Brown (1:43.339) jumped to the top by a tenth of a second over Deegan (1:43.412).
Masterpool (1:43.543) landed third.
Kitchen and Vialle round out the top five.
Needing to advance through the LCQ, McAdoo was fastest in unseeded Qualification 1 with a time of 1:44.283.
Click here for complete 250 Qualification 1 results
In Qualification 2, Hampshire posts the fastest lap in the session and overall at 1:41.618.
Deegan slots into second (1:42.102) and Beaumer (1:42.131) round out the top three.
Kitchen and Masterpool complete the top five.
Click here for complete 250 Qualification 2 results
More SuperMotocross News
Jo Shimoda posts fifth-quickest time in zMax practice
2024 SMX playoffs features first-ever Podcast Mashup
Nate Thrasher will race 250 SMX playoff races
Justin Barcia returns to SMX to ‘show what he has’
Jason Anderson, Jason Montoya and the bonds of trust
Cameron McAdoo returns for SMX
Chance Hymas named 250 MXoN rider
Chase Sexton, Aaron Plessinger named to MXoN Team USA
450 Results from Ironman | 250 Results
Ken Roczen races in Ironman 250s
