No matter what happens, we do know it’s going to be a physical test for every single rider who lines up. Temperatures here are expected to hover around 90 degrees today, and if you’ve ever been to Hangtown, you know those numbers feel like triple-digit heat when you’re standing on the sunbaked grounds of this historic racetrack. The track itself, which winds up and down a big hillside, typically gets extremely rough by the end of the day, which will add another challenge for the riders. This year a lot of sand was mixed in, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the racing surface shapes up.

Qualifying is set to begin shortly, so check back soon for a report on who’s throwing down heaters at Hangtown.

Qualifying – First Sessions

The first 250 A qualifier kicked off with a pack of Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha bikes up front, with Haiden Deegan leading the charge. It was pretty clear early on that Deegan was ready to go, too, as he immediately started throwing down hot laps. He was ripping everywhere and scrubbing jumps hard, and not surprisingly, he set the fastest time of the session three laps in, a 1:58.557. As the session continued to unfold nobody else was even dipping below the two-minute mark until Tom Vialle turned a 1:59.891 on his fifth lap. Joey Savatgy was the third and final rider to get below two minutes, cranking out a 1:59.974 on his final lap.

It wasn’t a great session for Levi Kitchen, who never really looked like he was pushing it too hard. He never really looks out of sorts anyway, even when he’s flying, so maybe he was indeed going for it, but you’d think if he was he’d have been a bit faster than 16^th-fastest with a 2:01.630. He also had a little tip-over in a lefthander on one of his hot laps. 

When the 450s rolled out the difference between the two classes was evident. In the 250 Class guys were immediately pinning it, but in 450 action it was, for the most part, a more controlled approach. Instead of twisting maximum grip right away, the guys eased into the session, observing lines and rolling sections for a few laps. When the fast times started coming, it was Justin Cooper who would initially post the strongest time, a 1:57.333. Jett Lawrence didn’t seem at all concerned with going fast in the opening laps in this one, but you just knew he had a fast one coming at some point, and in his fifth lap he uncorked the speed, recording a 1:56.408, which would stand as the fastest lap of the session. If you tried to pinpoint any particular section in which he was making up time you’d have a difficult time doing so. He just looked smooth everywhere and was hitting everything cleanly.

One of the downhill sections of today’s track is tricky and could play a pivotal role in the outcome of the race. There are a pair of doubles and the launch to the first one isn’t providing much loft at all. Guys are having a difficult time getting over it cleanly, and the majority of them are bouncing off the landing, making it extremely difficult to hit the next double cleanly. Riders who are able to consistently navigate this section cleanly will have a big advantage in today’s motos.

Qualifying – Second Sessions

With one session on the track already under their belts, the riders seemed to be a bit more comfortable in the second qualifier, and it was a bit more crowded at the top of the board this time around. Pierce Brown would set the initial pace with a 1:59.093. Haiden Deegan then put in a heater, but it was only good enough to put him into second. It would end up being Casey Cochran who would topple Brown, turning in a 1:58.552, but then Joey Savatgy squeaked by with a 1:58.492. As the session wound down it looked like Savatgy would be the day’s fastest 250 qualifier, but just like last week, Savatgy would see another rider steal the top spot late. This time it was Cochran, retaliating with a scorching 1:57.994 to close out the session. 

Ty Masterpool looks like he's getting along with his 250 a lot better this week than he was last week. He'd been riding a 450 until just before the season opener, when he got the call to fill in at Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Overall he was the fifth-fastest 250 rider today, and with the additional week of riding and testing, he could do some damage if he gets a good start.

Update: We later learned Deegan's shifter broke off in the second 250 qualifier and he pulled off the track early.

In the final 450 qualifier there wasn’t much action at the front. Jason Anderson was fastest for the first half of the session, but once again Jett Lawrence would strike. Lawrence was just cruising at first, and spent a fair amount of time in the mechanic’s area, but when he decided it was go time, it was go time! As soon as the HRC Honda rider exited the mechanic’s area you could tell he was going to top the board with this lap. He was flying and navigating the obstacles with the smooth touch of a seasoned brain surgeon, and when he crossed the line he shot to the top with a 1:56.671, which would stand for the remainder of the session.

The downhill jump section mentioned in the summary from the first round of qualifiers continues to be a separator. Plenty of guys are still struggling to get over the first double cleanly, and most guys aren’t launching the second jump. It will be interesting to see how this section affects the motos, because it has the potential to provide big swings in lap times.

250 – Moto One

Chance Hymas kicked off the first moto of the day with a holeshot, with Levi Kitchen and Julien Beaumer in tow. Hymas immediately started sprinting in an effort to put some distance between himself and Kitchen, and it was working. As the initial laps clicked off, Hymas found himself all by himself out front, with roughly five seconds on Kitchen.

Haiden Deegan started in about fifth or sixth, and by the time he’d worked his way into third he was roughly 13 seconds out of the lead. Undeterred, Deegan put his head down and started pounding, catching Hymas and Kitchen every lap. At roughly the halfway point Hymas was holding about three seconds on Kitchen, and Deegan was about seven back of Kitchen, but closing fast. For a while it looked a tremendous, three-way battle for the lead might materialize, but Deegan was just advancing too fast for that to happen. He caught Kitchen and rode behind him for a couple laps, trying all kinds of different lines to get by, and finally made a move by scrubbing a jump better than Kitchen, which gave him the edge to squirt by on the landing. Half a lap later he’d caught Hymas, and with three to go he went around the Honda HRC rider for the lead and took off to win the moto. Hymas survived pressure from Kitchen to take second, and Kitchen rounded out the podium.

Elsewhere, Jordon Smith was having a great race and had passed Tom Vialle for fourth. Then, with just a few laps remaining, his bike expired. Joey Savatgy suffered a similar fate, although it happened to him earlier. He was behind Deegan early and looked to be charging forward with him, but his motor let go and that was that. A visit to the Triumph Racing pits shortly after revealed a team of mechanics performing an engine swap on Savatgy’s bike. Julien Beaumer ran as high as third early, but was passed by a few riders and later crashed when Jo Shimoda got into him.

450 – Moto 1

Jett Lawrence nabbed the holeshot to get this moto going, but half a lap later he made a very uncharacteristic mistake in a downhill jump section and crashed hard. He was clearly shaken up and didn’t get going again right away. When he finally got back on he ended up pulling into the mechanics area before rejoining the race way, way back.

Up front it was Hunter Lawrence leading, with Jason Anderson in second a few seconds back, while Sexton was by himself in third. As the race progressed Sexton was reeling Anderson in, but just couldn’t get quite close enough to put a move on Anderson. Then Sexton made a mistake in a lefthander, narrowly avoiding going off the track, which gave Anderson a few seconds of breathing room. Sexton went to work on catching Anderson again, but Anderson made it easy on Sexton by going down all by himself at the top of one of Hangtown’s hills. Anderson lost the spot to Sexton, but got going again before Justin Cooper and Aaron Plessinger could pass him.

At this point Lawrence had about seven seconds on Sexton, but with about five minutes left in the moto Sexton really started cutting into Lawrence’s lead, and just like that, Sexton was all over Lawrence. It was obvious a pass was coming, but Sexton wasn’t pushing the issue either. Then, right after the finish line jump, he expertly cut to the inside of Lawrence, riding a razor’s edge of traction side-by-side with Lawrence, and completed the pass in the next turn. Sexton didn’t immediately gap Lawrence, but steadily got away from him to ride away with the win. Afterward Sexton said he was happy to win, but that he wished he could have done it without Jett Lawrence crashing.

As for Jett Lawrence, he seems to have avoided any major injuries, but he also finished 24^th, so clearly he was feeling the effects of his brutal crash. Afterward HRC Honda team manager, Lars Lindstrom, said Lawrence had taken a big hit to his right leg and hip area and was experiencing numbness in his leg. As of now, he’s in for the second moto. After the end of the 450 moto the track crew went out and completely flattened the section of the track where Lawrence went down.

250 – Moto Two

The holeshot in this one went to Haiden Deegan, followed by Ty Masterpool and Levi Kitchen. Masterpool did a great job of staying on Deegan’s rear wheel during the opening laps, but it didn’t last. Kitchen was able to get Masterpool and went after Deegan. He closed the gap just a little bit at first, but then Deegan picked up the pace and started getting away. As the race wore on it looked like Deegan was going to check out, but just before the halfway point Tom Vialle, who’d held around seventh place early on, really started pouring it on. After getting around Kitchen for second, Vialle was facing a six-second gap to catch Deegan, and  accepted the challenge. After hunting down the leaders in the first moto, Deegan found himself feeling pressure from behind as Vialle was taking huge chunks out of Deegan’s lead. It looked like a battle would materialize, but before it could Deegan went down hard when he hit a kicker and got ejected from his motorcycle. That handed the lead, and eventual win to Vialle, but Deegan was somehow able to remount and get going before Kitchen could pass him.

Deegan would end up taking second, which gave him the overall, while Vialle’s 4-1 resulted in second. Kitchen, who said he simply wasn’t comfortable with the lead pace today, took 3-3 for third overall.

450 – Moto Two

What a moto! If you were to look at the results, they wouldn’t tell the story of just how nuts this race was. Let's get into it. On the start it was all Justin Cooper, but Aaron Plessinger quickly took the lead and took off, building a sizable gap. At that point, even that early, Plessinger looked like he had the moto won, and the crowd was going nuts for him all around the track, every single lap. Chase Sexton, meanwhile, was around fifth when he went down in the second or third turn. He remounted, but he was in last, and after winning the first moto, it looked like he’d be forced to turn moto two into a salvage ride. 

Hunter Lawrence ran third, with Jett Lawrence just behind him in fourth. Behind them Jason Anderson was absolutely flying in fifth, but it didn’t seem to matter to Jett, who seemed unaffected early on by his brutal crash in the first moto. Lawrence was making moves and ran as high as second before the pain started hitting him and he started fading. Anderson, meanwhile, was still flying and had passed Hunter. Then, inexplicably, Anderson’s pace slowed and Hunter passed him back, then completely dropped him.

So where was Sexton in all of this? Well, after going down on the first lap, Sexton found something special, somewhere deep inside him, and started flying. Around the halfway point he was up to roughly sixth place, but the gap was pretty big up to Anderson. It looked like a great salvage ride at that point, but Sexton was far from being done. As the laps clicked off, Sexton just seemed to get faster and faster, and with ten to go, it looked like there was an outside chance he might even be able to catch Hunter, which would be good enough for the overall. Within a few laps Sexton had erased a huge gap, passed Hunter, and kept going! Sexton went by Cooper, but then, with just two laps to go, there was just no way he was going to pass Plessinger, who still had a decent lead. No way Sexton had enough in the tank, right? Wrong! Sexton put in the charge of his life, catching Plessinger and making the pass with three turns to go to earn a perfect 1-1. It was an incredible ride that is going to be talked about for the rest of the season.

Phil Nicoletti ran third early, but had a nasty crash and looked to be hurt. We’ll update you on this situation when we have more information.