Qualifying – First Sessions

Southwick isn’t considered one of Haiden Deegan’s better tracks, but you wouldn’t know it by watching this first round of qualifiers in Massachusetts. The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider set a fast time (2:05.228) early on and nobody was able to get close. Joey Savatgy was second-fastest, and set his fastest lap late in the session, but it was still about half a second slower than Deegan’s hot lap. Ty Masterpool, after winning High Point two weeks ago, was fourth-fastest in this one with a 2:06.177.

Max Anstie, in his debut with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, is credited with 13^th with a 2:08.247, but his actual fastest lap was 2:06.870. That time was taken away due to exceeding sound limits. Benji Robinson also had his fastest time taken away due to a sound violation. Interestingly enough, his fastest lap would have been the fastest in the session, but his second-fastest lap, which counts as his fastest due to penality, was 20th! Daxton Bennick and Ryder McNabb saw their fast times get stricken as well, for jumping in a red cross flag section.

The real story from this first set of 250 qualifiers is Tom Guyon. The Frenchman has the Southwick track dialed, and was able to turn in a 2:05.091 in the 250 B group, which, so far, is the fastest 250 lap of the day. We'll see how he does when the second round of qualifiers rolls around.

Jason Anderson was quick right out of the gate in the first 450 qualifier of the day, posting a 2:07.858, but after seeing the 250s get into the 2:05 range, you knew Anderson’s time wouldn’t last long. Before long a host of riders, including Anderson himself, would best that time and after three laps Chase Sexton was on top of the board with a 2:06.683. Jett Lawrence was just behind with a 2:06.703. Those times would hold for a few laps, but then Justin Cooper smashed the door down with a 2:05.228, the same exact time set by his 250 teammate, Deegan. Lawrence wasn’t having it though, and quickly shot to the top with a 2:04.507 at the very end of the session. With the checkered flag out it looked like Lawrence’s time would hold, but Sexton snuck in a heater on his final lap to log a 2:04.370. If we’re lucky, we’ll see these two duel it out later in today’s motos.

The track was slower for the second round of qualifying sessions, which made times inconsequential in terms of overall lap times. That didn’t prevent Tom Vialle from putting in an outstanding effort though! The Red Bull KTM rider was fast immediately and continued to pour on the speed throughout the session. When it ended, his 2:08.105 was the fastest lap of the qualifier. Deegan came close, recording a 2:08.309, and Julien Beaumer was great in this one too, turning a 2:08.931 on his fifth lap.

If you’re following the qualifying efforts of 52-year-old Tony Lorusso, his fastest time was fortieth overall, which means he’ll head to the consolation race. If he finishes in the top four there, he’ll transfer to the motos and become the oldest rider in history to qualify for Pro Motocross.

[Update: Lorusso took eighth in the 250 consolation race.]

In 450 action Justin Cooper was hot early in the second round of qualifiers, turning a 2:06.202, and nobody else would approach that time. Sexton was the closest, but his fastest lap was still about half a second slower. Jett Lawrence, who nearly collided with another rider in this session, only rode three laps before heading back to the pits. The track was much rougher than it was in the first session, which made improving your time nearly impossible, so Lawrence probably didn’t like the risk/reward of hammering down for very little payoff. In the end, Sexton’s time from the first session was the fastest lap of the day, a feat Sexton hasn’t accomplished since 2022.

250 Moto One

Haiden Deegan kicked off the action with a holeshot and immediately went to work on trying to get away from the pack. Max Anstie and Jo Shimoda, meanwhile went down in the first turn. A few minutes later Anstie’s bike would develop a mechanical problem that took him out of the moto. Up front, Deegan was flowing, and it wasn’t long before he’d gotten about five seconds on Chance Hymas, who was busy fending off pressure from Tom Vialle. Vialle was all over Hymas for a while, but Hymas was able to withstand the pressure and gap it out to about two seconds. Vialle, however, would later regroup and make a successful run on Hymas for second place.

Back in around tenth Nick Romano was having a tough time and had given up multiple spots. Then Ryder DiFrancesco dove to the inside of Romano in a right hander, which pushed Romano wide. Romano reacted by getting back on the gas hard, which caused him to fishtail into Dilan Schwartz, who was about to pass him. Schwartz went down, and when he was getting back up he got nailed right in the side of the head by Casey Cochran. Fortunately Schwartz was able to get back up and rejoin the race.

At the halfway point Deegan had about eight seconds on Vialle, Hymas was all by himself in third, and Levi Kitchen rode in a lonely fourth. At one point Vialle started to cut into Deegan’s lead, getting it almost down to five seconds, but Deegan responded, stretching it back out to over ten seconds, then later, fifteen seconds. There wasn’t much happening until the race was nearly over. Ty Masterpool was on the move and had caught Jalek Swoll for sixth, but right when it looked like a battle would materialize, Swoll’s bike quit running, handing the spot to Masterpool. In front of Masterpool was Joey Savatgy in fifth, but Masterpool wasn’t able to close on him before the checkers came out. Deegan took the win by 15.335 seconds over Vialle, with Hymas, Kitchen, and Savatgy rounding out the top five.

450 Moto One

Some motos are full of excitement, but the first 450 moto from Southwick wasn’t one of them. Jett Lawrence nabbed the holeshot with his brother, Hunter, right behind him. Chase Sexton was a close third, but not for long, as Jett immediately started getting away from everyone. After a couple laps he had about four seconds on Hunter, who had about three seconds on Sexton. Behind them the top ten were pretty spread out. For a moment Aaron Plessinger had closed up on Jason Anderson for fourth, but he had a problem and dropped back to eighth. He later pulled into the mechanics’ area for a goggle swap.

There wasn’t a whole lot happening out there, although Justin Cooper did provide some brief excitement. He didn’t get a great start and was moving up through the pack, and with about twenty minutes remaining he’d charged up to fifth. At that point he was facing about a 13-second gap up to Anderson and he seemed to settle in. Dylan Ferrandis went down in this one and had to come from quite a ways back, but he put his head down to salvage seventh.

Jett Lawrence led every single lap to take the win by about six seconds over Hunter Lawrence, with Sexton, Anderson, and Cooper rounding out the top five. Phil Nicoletti ran as high as fifth and ended up ninth in the moto.

250 Moto Two

Levi Kitchen got a great jump out of the gate to get the holeshot, and the usual suspects—Chance Hymas, Tom Vialle, and Haiden Deegan—were right behind him. Unfortunately Julien Beaumer went down hard on the first lap, prompting a red flag and a gate reload. On the restart Kitchen nabbed another holeshot, but Deegan was right on him and scrubbed his way past almost right away. Deegan immediately started putting in sprint laps in an effort to distance himself from Kitchen and Vialle. It looked like it was working at first, but after Vialle got around Kitchen about four minutes in, Vialle started closing up on Deegan. He got right up on his rear fender at one point, but then made a small mistake and Deegan stretched it right back out. Undeterred, Vialle went back to work and closed back up on Deegan. It looked like the crowd would be treated to a battle royale, but then Deegan tucked the front in a berm all by himself and went down. Vialle was so close behind he almost ran into Deegan but was able to save it by riding over the berm.

In second place Jo Shimoda had gotten around Kitchen and was riding well, all by himself about five seconds back of Vialle. Kitchen, however, was feeling the heat from Deegan, who was absolutely charging after his crash. Deegan didn’t waste much time waiting to go by Kitchen, either, making the move just after the halfway point of the moto. Deegan’s pace was blistering at first, but he wasn’t taking huge chunks out of the lead like he was two weeks ago at High Point. In fact, after initially turning a few laps faster than Vialle, the gap stabilized and Deegan seemed to settle in for third.

As the moto wound down Shimoda started cutting into Vialle’s lead, and with two minutes left on the clock, Shimoda had gotten Vialle’s lead down to about two-and-a-half seconds. Then Deegan started surging again and caught up to both riders! With two laps left it was an absolute three-way dogfight for the lead. Shimoda had some serious fight in him and took the lead away from Vialle. The Red Bull KTM rider tried to respond, but Shimoda was just too strong. Vialle then had to focus his efforts on fending off Deegan, who was now on his rear fender. On the final lap Shimoda held the lead, but Vialle was all over him, and Deegan, whose bike was beginning to smoke, was all over Vialle! It was all leading up to a thrilling finish until Vialle pushed the front and went down. Just like that, the furball was broken up. Deegan relaxed and Shimoda brought it in for the moto win. Vialle remounted and took third.

450 Moto Two

Aside from a light rain that started coming down before the gate drop, the second 450 moto started out just like the first, with Jett Lawrence taking the holeshot, followed closely by his brother, Hunter. Chase Sexton ran third, but this time he didn’t let himself stay behind Hunter and made an aggressive move to slice by on the first lap. Sexton then went after Jett up front and closed on him fast. He put in a couple pass attempts but couldn’t make anything stick. Then Hunter came back on Sexton and took second place back. Hunter wasn’t done there though, and he caught and passed Jett and tried to duck out. He got the gap up to about three seconds, but with about 18 minutes left Jett had closed back up on him. There was a lot going on up front in this moto! Sexton, meanwhile, was about two seconds back of Jett, and Aaron Plessinger was about two seconds behind Sexton.

Just past the halfway point Sexton’s pace seemed like it was diminishing somewhat. Either that or Hunter and Jett Lawrence upped their pace, because after being all over the back fender of Jett, Sexton suddenly found himself eight seconds behind him. Hunter, meanwhile, had started to get away from Jett, but then a mistake allowed Jett to close right back up on Hunter. With nine minutes left, Jett was threatening to take the lead away, but once again Hunter squirted back away, only to make more mistakes, which allowed Jett back in the fight again!  This time Jett took advantage, made the pass, and started getting away.

Hunter’s trouble didn’t end there, either, as Sexton had suddenly come alive and was throwing down some serious heat. Sexton went around Hunter with about four minutes left, and he wasn’t done there, either. Sexton could see Jett ahead of him and seemingly in an instant, was all over him. A fantastic duel ensued, with the two side by side at times, with Jett managing to fight off every attempt Sexton made. Then a lapped rider went down in front of them, and Sexton had to get on the brakes and swerve to avoid getting collected. That gave Jett a little breathing room, but not for long. Sexton was back on him within a couple turns, then outjumped Jett over a table to take the lead. Jett didn’t seem to have any fight left in him and in the blink of an eye, Sexton was gone with the lead and took the win. Jett would bring home second, with Hunter, Plessinger, and Ferrandis rounding out the top five. Afterward in a podium interview Jett mentioned he’d been having to use his legs more to compensate for a hurt shoulder (from his crash at Hangtown), and that his legs were tired.

Check out the point standings in the chart below. Jett and Sexton are tied for second, and they're only three points behind Hunter!