Saturday Night Live: Denver

Up front, of course, was Lawrence, but not the one you'd expect. Hunter Lawrence holeshot the main and led for a bunch of laps before succumbing to pressure from Jett Lawrence.

“Yeah, it’s pretty easy to see obviously I’m not going to race him pretty hard, even though [to win] tonight would have been awesome," Hunter Lawrence said afterward. "This championship’s not about me right now. I’ll have my time next year as well, or maybe even next weekend so. Yeah, just great night overall. Cool to lead some laps. The start was really good, that’s something we’ve been struggling to execute in the main events the past few weekends. So, happy to just put it together.”

“It did cross my mind for most of it, just to kind of stay there [behind him],” said Jett Lawrence on settling for second and not passing his brother. “Then, once it got a little bit closer, I was like, ‘Uh, it would also be nice to get the few extra points just to have that bit of extra cushion for next weekend so it’s not as stressful of a weekend.' No, it was cool to follow him. It felt at home almost, felt like at the Dog Pound [training facility] just kinda of logging laps. But yeah, it definitely crossed my mind quite a few times to stay behind.”

Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jason Anderson rode brilliantly yet again for third place.

"I think at the beginning I was able to keep pace, maybe even close in but
nothing too crazy," Anderson said afterward. "Then I missed that rhythm section across the start straight a few times, then there were some lappers. There were some ruts and I didn’t want to jump the triple in them. I didn’t want to go over the bars or anything like that. I lost tow from Hunter, and kind of lost site of Jett,
obviously we both did. But at the beginning I was riding good and was able
to keep pace with them, but at the same time these boys have been getting
good starts the last few weekends. I feel like that’s what I need to make it a
little harder on them."

Chase Sexton was fast all day, but a crash on the start, then another crash in the main event, hindered his results.

"Denver, not a great Main Event, but we had a pretty solid day up until that point. I fell in the first turn, came from pretty much last to fifth and then fell again, so I rode it in from there for eighth. I pretty much have every piece of the puzzle, so I just have to put them together now, and that's encouraging for us at least heading into the final round next weekend."

One rider whose result doesn't show just how fast he was in Denver is Malcolm Stewart, who was extremely fast in qualifying but got caught in a first-turn pileup in the main event. Even so, he was fighting with Justin Cooper for sixth until he went down.

"I had a really good time here – for some reason, I always ride really good here in Denver," Stewart said. "Practice was amazing, the track was hard-pack and a little technical. We got third in the Heat, which was actually okay, and then in the Main Event unfortunately we were in a first turn pile-up. I went down again with a lap or two to go, then finished strong and ended up seventh. The result wasn't what we wanted, but the riding was really good and keeps the motivation up going into Salt Lake City. We'll try to finish this season off on a high note! We've had some flashes, which is what I need and what the team needed, so I'm excited."

In the 250 Class RJ Hampshire came into the weekend just two points ahead of Levi Kitchen, and somehow the two ended up leaving Denver even tighter in the points. In fact, they're tied heading into the finale next week in Salt Lake City after a thrilling race that saw Hampshire trailing Kitchen in second, but every so slowly reeling him in before running out of time.

"We're leaving with the red plate still and it's all tied up heading into the final round," Hampshire said. "It's awesome to be in this position and going for a championship. We had really good speed all day and I needed some things to go my way in the Main Event, but they didn't. I need to focus on getting out of the gate better, put myself in a better position, and we can win this championship next weekend. I'll be ready to go in Salt Lake."

"There were a few points in that main event where my brain was all over the
place," Hampshire added later. "Chaos behind me. I told the team God puts me in these situations where I have to decide if I want to go for it, and 99 percent of the time I go for it and it doesn’t play out. Yeah, if I was .2 closer on that last lap, it would have gotten pretty exciting. But it’s cool heading into the last round being
tied in points, and winner take all."

Kitchen took the runner-up spot, roughly half a second behind Jo Shimoda. It didn't come without some drama though, as his boot came unbuckled during the race.

"It happened in the first turn. The first couple of laps it ran through my head, I
didn’t know what to do," said Kitchen, regarding his boot malfunction. "I skimmed the whoops, early, and I felt like my boot almost came off. I went to jumping. I don’t really think it would have come off. After a few laps I was able to forget about it."

"For me it was pretty much a race between me and him [Hampshire]," Kitchen said. "Obviously it would have been nice to catch Jo but he was riding phenomenal anyway, so I was just trying my best to keep RJ behind me."

The big winner on the night, quite literally, was Shimoda, who took his first win of 2024.

"For sure it feels good, finally got a win for me and for them," Shimoda said. "I want to get another one so we will keep working. I’ve made steady progress since the 
start of the year, but definitely, the holeshot. You can run a steady pace from
the start. That’s probably the biggest thing."