This one was in some ways particularly special, as the young Australian had to overcome a stiff challenge from Cameron McAdoo, who overtook Lawrence on lap 5 and led for five laps, even building a slight margin. After regrouping and making some midrace adjustments to his lines and technique, the Team Honda HRC rider recovered the top position and competently managed lapped traffic through the remaining 11 laps, notching the victory with a margin of nearly six seconds. Fellow CRF250R-mounted riders Mitchell Oldenburg (SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda), Jordon Smith (Fire Power Honda) and Cullin Park (Phoenix Racing Honda) finished fifth, eighth and 10th, respectively.
After strong showings in premier-class qualifying and his heat race, Chase Sexton completed lap one of the main event in sixth place and latched on to the leading freight train. He capitalized on crashes by Jason Anderson on lap 11 and Malcolm Stewart on lap 23, then held off Cooper Webb to collect a solid fourth place, less than 10 seconds off the leader – not his objective but a nice recovery following a hard crash out of last week’s Detroit main event. Also collecting a top-10 result was MotoConcepts Honda rider Vince Friese, in ninth.
Chase Sexton #23
"Overall, Indianapolis was a nice race for me to build on after Detroit, especially because I had good speed throughout the day. It was also fun to race close to where I'm originally from, and to get to see some family and friends. The lap times were super-short, so the track got to be pretty tricky over the course of the day, but I handled it well and stayed on two wheels. A podium would've been good, but I wasn't far back at all. Now we'll take what we've learned, do some testing this week and come back ready in Seattle."
Jett Lawrence #18
"Cameron [McAdoo] was on a lot faster pace after the start, and every turn I could feel him there. I was like, ‘Okay, he’s obviously doing something,’ and it was pretty clear he was skimming the whoops; I was very scared and was jumping the whoops at the beginning. Cameron got me and gapped me a little bit, and I didn’t like that; I followed his line through the whoops and then started skimming. We had a really good battle, and I had fun with that because we both had the respect for each other to race clean. The lapped riders were pretty gnarly tonight, and I think we both had some good luck and bad luck with that. The track was so rutted, and we were following each other in a couple of the turns. I think going down in my heat race earlier and coming through kind of helped me find different lines and learn the track more. I like it with the track changing like that because it makes you think a little bit. Cameron rode phenomenal, and I think I’d have had fun even if I’d gotten second."
Lars Lindstrom - Team Manager
"It was another cold race for us working out in the truck, but it was nice at least having the canopies usable again and not having to contain everybody inside. The track was super-soft and rutty like we kind of know Indy to be, and it broke down a lot, which made it very difficult for the guys to ride. Feld and Dirt Wurx were well-prepared – they had more tractors than ever – and they did their best. Even then, the track was really short again, and lapped riders were a big issue for the top guys; Jett lapped up to fifth place. He was incredible tonight – winning his heat race was unbelievable after he crashed in the first turn of a seven-minute race. He got a holeshot in the main, which is something he’s been wanting, and he decided to play it safe and not take too many chances. Cameron McAdoo knows he needs to win right now, so he pushed Jett into a great, exciting race. It was impressive that Jett was able to come back and pull out another win. I think Chase had the speed to win all day. In the main event, he was right there with the freight train of the top five, and it could have gone any way. The track was deteriorating every single lap, and it was just really hard for him to pass on. He ended up losing his rhythm a little bit, and then Malcolm [Stewart] went down. Fourth is not a bad night, but we’re definitely looking to improve next weekend."