Saturday Night Live: Spring Creek

Of course, Jett Lawrence is currently not part of that 450 field, but Sexton can point to winning their final moto against each other at Southwick, and the injury to Jett is simply another part of that aforementioned rollercoaster ride of a season. At the moment, Sexton is establishing himself as the man right now.

"These last two races, I really wanted to capitalize on, because in the past I've been sluggish in the middle of the season, so I have been focused on keeping the momentum going," said Sexton. "I had a pretty good start in both motos, just got pushed wide in the second one, so had some work to do. Overall though, I had a really good flow, the track felt a lot better in that final moto for me, and I was able to put in some good laps. Thanks to the whole group behind me – this is fun, so let's keep it going!"

Hunter Lawrence, a rookie in 450 racing, is giving it all he has to stay in the championship fight with Sexton, but ended up 2-2 for the day, admitting, in some Australian slang, that he was simply too tired to fight Sexton to the end. Sexton is now the byproduct of compounding work, while he has had his own ups and downs, he’s consistently made it to all the races, continually building strength, fitness and overall craft on a 450 for several years. Lawrence and fellow rookie Justin Cooper tried to take it to him, but couldn’t hold it to the end. Cooper went with a knobby tire in moto one instead of the Dunlop MX14 “scoop” tire in moto one, and it cost him off the start. He switched to the scoop for moto two, grabbed the holeshot and salvaged his day. Sexton and Lawrence got him, but he regrouped and nearly picked off Lawrence in the end. Lawrence regrouped to hold him at bay.

“I think we’ve just been building slowly the whole season,” said Cooper. “I expect to be on the podium each weekend, that’s my goal. We’ve been making progress the last few weekends. We switched to the paddle (in moto two) and that helped, I got yanked in the first moto (off the start). I got away with it at RedBud and I thought I could here today. It was much better on the track today, it seemed like you could pick up more momentum. Yeah that was a good change for me, and the team worked really hard with me today on suspension, and that worked out well for me, too.”

The rest of the 450 class is fighting for those podium spots, also, with Jason Anderson logging the fastest qualifying time and going 4-4 in the motos, and Aaron Plessinger going 3-5 after a crash in moto two.

“Millville started off really awesome,” said Plessinger. “Moto 1, I got off to a great start and Chase went around me, then I kind of just stayed in third. Second moto, we got a mid-pack start and I was riding so good, but unfortunately, I lost the back-end around one of the corners and lost a few positions. I got back up and was on it again, before I kind of hit a wall there towards the end. I wish I could have caught those guys, one more position would have landed me on the podium because I was tied for third, but ended up fourth. It was a good weekend though, we're coming out healthy, and I'm excited for Washougal."

What was that about rollercoaster rides? Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen started the Pro Motocross campaign battling Haiden Deegan for the win, and then quickly fell off from that pace, going at one point six-straight motos without a podium. He was back in Spring Creek, winning a spectacular race in moto one where it appeared four or even five riders could have won it. Haiden Deegan holeshot the race, then went too high in a berm and crashed, leaving Kitchen to take the lead. He started to pull away until he crashed in the same spot! Jo Shimoda and Tom Vialle put the pressure on Kitchen at times, but he successfully fended them off to net his first moto win of the year.

What was different?

“The bike, in all honestly,” he said. “I don’t even like saying that, but round one was pretty good because Pala is probably the slowest track on the circuit. On there faster tracks it was way too soft. Finally getting more comfortable. It seems like I’ve been on the bike a long time, and I have, but not outdoors, and it does feel different from the Yamaha.”

Moto two turned crazy. Heavy rain and a lightning storm delayed the proceedings, then chaos really broke out in the first turn when Chance Hymas appeared to have the holeshot but then appeard to be losing traction with his front tire. He stuck his leg out to catch himself, and his foot caught Deegan’s front wheel, and down Deegan went. Worse, Hymas injured himself, going from the lead to out of the moto instantly. Honda HRC reports a foot or ankle injury for Hymas, second in 250 points coming into the race, but x rays turned out negative. He’ll have more tests this week to look for ligament damaged, as he was unable to put weight on the foot.

With Deegan down on the ground, it appeared a huge opportunity for rivals to make up points, but Hymas, for one, was not able to. Same, soon, for Vialle, who was in third and also in position to win the overall until he crashed in the sand whoops. His moto unravled from there, with two trips to a mechanics’ area and a 17^th place finish.

Kitchen had also tipped over early, but started making tracks toward the front. Who did he have to catch? How about Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rookie Casey Cochran, who took the lead from Hymas and absolutely checked out to the tune of 10 seconds. Finally, Kitchen caught him and then made the move a few laps later. Cochran held on for second, giving him 9-2 scores and third overall, the first podium of his career.

"I can't even explain the feelings right now!" Cochran said. "I got a great start, amazing first laps, got a good lead, and I was just shocked... I'm looking back, like, 'Where did everyone go?'. To cross the finish second, I was stoked, and then to come in third overall, it's an unreal feeling. All the hard work is paying off, so I'm ready to keep building and to keep progressing."

Deegan’s incredible comeback left him second overall with 3-4 scores. He tried to mount one of his comebacks in moto one, but couldn’t quite summon that due to arm pump.

“I was like, I can catch these guys but I can’t because I had arm pump! I’ve never has such bad arm pump in my life! I don’t know what it was, maybe it was the hills?”

Deegan had some pointed podium comments at Hymas in the podium regarding the second moto first-turn incident, but in the press conference would only say he looked at some photos of the crash and said “it is what it is.” He’s extended his point lead to 51 points, working well through some bad luck at the last two rounds.

“It’s hard, though, because no matter what the points gap is, I still want to win every weekend,” said Deegan. “I felt comfortable in the first moto, I feel most comfortable when I’m out front, but I tipped over. But I have the ability charge from the back and make passes, like I did in that second moto. But overall, you just want to be up front.”

Shimoda, great in moto one but eventually third, also had front wheel problems as part of the massive first turn crash and eventually went two laps down after multiple stops in the mechanics’ area. A week ago, Honda went 1-2 in the second moto at RedBud. This weekend they scored two DNFs. Such is the roller coaster ride of the sport.