Saturday Night Live: Southwick

Southwick might have been a problem last year as a rookie, it was no such problem this time.

“I look past those doubts [about riding in the sand]. I’m a motivated person and I’m willing to just put in the work,” Deegan said with his usual brashness.

As for the 450s, Jett did indeed roll the field in moto one, moving a win streak up to four-straight motos. He looked to have everything back in control following a weekend off, but he also looked to be hurting before moto two even began, still sporting a sore shoulder after his big crash at Hangtown. He got off to his usual good start but his brother Hunter and Chase Sexton were all over him early, and Sexton, a distant third in the first moto, was suddenly on fire, blasting past Hunter aggressively and then stalking Jett. Then Hunter stormed right back around Sexton! Then he started challenging Jett and eventually went to the lead. It appeared, for a bit, to be Hunter’s day to finally capture a 450 overall win with 2-1 scores, but he finally ran out of steam late in the moto. Jett came back to life enough to reel him back in and take advantage of Hunter’s mistakes to take the lead. Then Sexton came roaring back! In a huge late push, he went past Hunter and Jett to claim the lead, after being some seven seconds back at one point. Jett briefly returned fire and re passed him, but he didn’t have the strength to stay there, and Sexton set sail. His 3-1 held him to second overall, though.

So now the 450 title chase is ultra close heading to RedBud, with Hunter still leading, and Sexton and Jett Lawrence tied for second, three points back!

"I’ve been having to rely on my legs more [managing a shoulder injury] and wore them out,” said Jett Lawrence. “Chase was just riding too strong in that one [Moto 2]. I tried to give him a fight, but this was just one of those races that was his. We’ll need to go back and do some work and come back better.”

“I was definitely riding my heart out,” said Hunter Lawrence. “I was just going for it. This track is really gnarly and it’s tricky to get the bike set up for it. We gave it our all and that’s all I can ask for. We’ll keep working and come back stronger.”

For the second-straight race, Sexton bounced back from a disappointing first moto to battle both Lawrence’s hard in the second moto. At High Point, he crashed while leading. This time he hung on to win.

“I felt super good early, then I lost touch a little bit and had to reset to get my flow back,” said Sexton. “I didn’t expect to catch them that quickly, but I got my flow back and was able to make it happen. I’m glad we came back strong in that second moto to get the win. I’m really happy about that.”

The brutal Southwick track was different this time, as heavy rain a week ago washed away most of the sand and made the base harder and more slippery than usual. But it also led to choppy, high-speed bumps that made it rough, anyway. The lead trio broke away pretty well on this day, with just Aaron Plessinger, who suffered goggle issues in moto one, keeping them somewhat honest with a fourth in moto two, and he kept in touch for a good bit.

"Southwick could have gone better, but also could have been worse!” said Plessinger. “I actually qualified fourth and was really good in practice, then I got a good start in the first moto, but stalled the bike coming down a hill and laid it down. I picked it back up, got some dirt in my goggles, and had to stop for new ones, so finished up 12th. Second moto, rebounded and rode a really, really good race for fourth. I almost caught the boys on the podium and I can't ask for much more from that one! The first moto could have dictated the day, but it didn't, and we'll bounce back again for RedBud!"

Plessinger was actually sixth overall with a 12-4. Justin Cooper’s consistent day with a 5-6 gave him fourth, Jason Anderson went 4-31 after a first-turn crash in moto two, and Dylan Ferrandis went 7-5 for fifth.

In the 250s, Deegan and his team spent two days riding at Southwick during open practice sessions last week, and he told us he had learned a lot about lines on the track. No doubt he knew the good ones because he topped the A group riders in qualifying (Frenchman Tom Guyon had the fastest overall time, from the first B session when the track was fresh) and then rolling the field from wire-to-wire in moto two. Tom Vialle, last year’s winner, made a brief charge at Deegan in moto one but his charge stalled when he got held up by a lapped rider, and he decided to instead save his energy for moto two.

Kitchen nailed the second moto holeshot, but then the race was red flagged when Julien Beaumer crashed and got hit in the head by another bike as he went down. Luckily, he emerged relatively okay.

"It was a tough first moto,” said Beaumer. “I crashed in the first turn and then made a good comeback, but crashed late in the moto again and lost my goggles. In Moto 2, I made a bad start, then unfortunately got tagged by another rider as I went down, and was run over. I spent some time in the medical unit, but am happy to be healthy, so we will see the neurologist this week and see if we're able to race next weekend."

On the restart Kitchen again nailed the Motosport.com holeshot, but Deegan tried to scrub past him from second…only to slide out on the takeoff and nearly throw it all away. He barely saved it, and then powered through to take the lead. Vialle was ready, this time, though, and moved to second and began stalking Deegan. Then Deegan tipped over! Vialle opened up a sizable lead and looked to be in complete control, but Honda HRC’s Jo Shimoda was running strong in second (he came from an early crash to ninth in moto one). Late in the race, Vialle says he was held up by a lapped rider and lost a ton of time, and suddenly Shimoda was on him. Deegan, sensing his chance, put in one last push from third, which led to a wild final-lap battle! Vialle crashed trying to get Shimoda back, and that made the last lap easy on Deegan.

"I had a good first moto and when I got to second it was a big gap to the lead, but it was okay,” said Vialle. “In the second moto I was leading almost the whole race, before I got stuck a little bit with the lapped riders around three or four laps to go, so Jo [Shimoda] caught me really quick. I tried and really wanted to pass Jo again and fight for the win, but I crashed on the last lap – we were all pushing really hard, so it was a nice race anyway."

“I crashed in the first moto and had to do a lot of work,” said Shimoda, who says he started the Pro Motocross campaign with ligament damage in his ankle suffered at the Salt Lake City supercross.“ I came out okay on the restart [in Moto 2] and just never gave up. Vialle was getting away from me, but I kept pushing. The last three laps were just insane, but I’m really happy to get the moto win.”

“I was stalled out in third [in Moto 2], but then I saw those two guys [Shimoda and Vialle] and knew I had to dig deep at the end to try and make it happen,” said Deegan. “Tom went down and that’s what I needed for the [overall] win.”