In terms of conditions, we are still dealing with perfect conditions with a beautiful, sunny (and not too hot) day. The track crew did some work and put down some water here during halftime. The track is becoming rough, so the first test of the summer will be these second motos. Here we go!
The fourth and final moto of the day was set to begin and everyone wanted to see battles all moto long—and luckly, we got just that! The gate dropped and it was Hunter Lawrence with the holeshot over Jorge Prado and Aaron Plessinger. Prado got into the race lead as they blasted through the rollers for the first time! So, it was Prado, Hunter Lawrence, Plessinger, RJ Hampshire, Dylan Ferrandis, Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb, Jett Lawrence, Mikkel Haarup, and Haiden Deegan rounding out the top ten. Then, the very next lap, Hunter Lawrence repassed Prado in the rollers the #26 passed him on the opening lap!
The battle from second to fifth was close, with Plessinger having his hands full with a handful of fast riders behind him. Sexton tucked the front end on the top of the Monster Energy double hill, handing over a few positions as he remounted in eighth behind Haiden Deegan. That moved Hampshire to fourth, Jett Lawrence to fifth, Ferrandis to sixth, and Deegan to seventh. That mistake by Sexton would put Jett Lawrence into an overall position as his 4-5 finishes ran third overall. Then, Jett Lawrence got by Hampshire to take over fourth, taking him to 4-4 finishes. Garrett Marchbanks made his way into ninth following a pass on Ferrandis in what was a great ride by the #36 (especially following that rough first moto following his collision with Tomac).
Jett Lawrence got into third and Deegan got into sixth, making the running order Hunter Lawrence, Prado, Jett Lawrence, Plessinger, Hampshire, Deegan, Sexton, Justin Cooper, Marchbanks, Ferrandis. The #1, the #38, the #32, #36, and more were moving forward, so at the checkered flag the order was Hunter Lawrence, Prado, Jett Lawrence, Deegan, Sexton, Cooper, Hapshire, Marchbanks, Plessinger, and Ferrandis. Jett Lawrence was just 0.463 seconds behind Prado at the checkered flag, and Sexton was just 0.922 seconds behind Deegan as he was pushing towards the #38 down to the checkered flag.
In terms of the overall, it was Hunter Lawrence’s 1-1 for the overall win, Prado’s 2-2 for second overall (his first overall podium and his new best moto/overall finishes), and Jett Lawrence’s 4-3 landing third overall. Jett Lawrence’s 8-for-8 streak here at Fox Raceway at Pala has come to an end, but it was still a very strong day when you consider he is returning from this serious foot injury.
Justin Cooper’s sneaky good 3-6 were fourth overall and Haiden Deegan’s 5-4 finishes were fifth overall.
