Jett’s season has been marked by strong starts, but after turn 1 in the first 450 moto, he sat in ninth place (one behind teammate Sexton). With his moto-win streak in jeopardy, and on a track where passing was difficult, the recently crowned champ was up to sixth at the end of lap 1, in the top three by lap 7 and in the lead by lap 8, with more than half the race still to be run. Jett held on to win comfortably aboard his CRF450RWE. Meanwhile, a few early miscues by Sexton put him outside the top 20, but he was able to mount a charge through the pack to secure a ninth-place result. An incredible holeshot kicked off moto 2 for Jett. Despite starting a few positions back, Sexton moved up to second but tipped over while he was challenging for the lead. He remounted and once again caught Jett near the end of the moto but came up less than a second short at the finish.
The first 250 moto ran nearly half its distance before being red-flagged, at which point Hunter Lawrence sat in fourth place. The Australian did well on the restart and ran in the top three before finishing second to title-rival Justin Cooper. Hunter started much better in moto 2 aboard his CRF250R, and he was in front by the completion of lap 1, never to trail again. His 2-1 performance earned him the overall win and kept him 22 points ahead in the title chase.
Jett Lawrence #18
“I’ve been super consistent with my starts this year, but I gave myself a pretty big disadvantage in the first moto. It was definitely something different, but I just had to be calculated on such a hard track to pass. The second moto started off a lot easier, but Chase really pushed me toward the end. I really started to make mistakes as we got toward the finish, but I gave myself just enough to push it over the line. I’m happy with my day overall, but time to go back to work and see if we can keep this thing going at Ironman.”
Chase Sexton #23
“I’m leaving Budds Creek with a 9-2 for fourth overall and some mixed feelings. Even though I never crashed hard, I definitely fell a lot today. I feel like in the second moto, I found another gear, and if I can bring that into Ironman, it would be a huge positive. Super-tough day overall, but I’m happy to end it on a good note.”
Hunter Lawrence #96
“It was definitely a weird day, with the first moto having two starts. It really was like doing two short sprints back-to-back. I’m happy we were able to take advantage of it and finish on the podium, but I prefer long motos. Going into the last race of the season, we know where we stand, and we know we won’t be changing anything drastic. We have a gameplan, and we’ll focus on running that out to the end. I’m looking forward to finishing this series strong and focusing on SuperMotocross.”
Lars Lindstrom - Team Manager
“It was another fantastic weekend for us, taking both overall wins. It’s getting difficult to realize how special this is, and we really need to step back after this season and celebrate it, which we plan to do. We’ll keep our heads down though for the upcoming weekend, where the gameplan is basically business as usual, and try to help Hunter wrap up the championship.”