Supercross Finale at Salt Lake City Sees Champions Celebrate

Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, UT — May 13, 2023

The Monster Energy AMA Supercross season wraps up tonight with Round 17 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. The drama of the 450SX points race has disappeared with Eli Tomac’s injury. Chase Sexton will wrap up the championship when Tomac does not make the start.

The finale will feature the Lawrence Brothers going head-to-head in the East/West Showdown. Both Hunter and Jett clinched their respective division championships before heading to Utah.

250SX East Heat

Haiden Deegan(238) jumped out quickly to the lead in the 250SX East heat. Hunter Lawerence(1E) followed Deegan as the duo separated themselves from the rest of the field.

Joe Shimoda((30) held down the third position but was consistently losing touch with the leaders. When the timed portion of the event expired, Deegan led Lawrence by two and a half seconds. Lawrence could not catch “Danger Boy,” who captured the second heat victory of his professional career.

250SX West Heat

Jett Lawrence(1W) started farther back than his brother in the 250SX West Heat. Levi Kitchen(43), RJ Hampshire(24), and Carson Mumford(52) held the top three spots as Lawrence tried to get into a podium position.

Rain started to fall during the moto making the track a little slick. Lawrence moved ahead of Mumford but could not close on the leaders as Kitchen took the checkered flag.

450SX Heat One

Ken Roczen(94) did not get the holeshot in the first 450SX Heat, but it did not take long for him to establish the lead. And once out front, no one was going to catch the rider from Germany. Dean Wilson(15) and Kyle Chisholm(11) held down the second and third positions. The top three finished in that order.

450SX Heat Two

The new points leader and now 450SX Champion, Chase Sexton(23), came to the starting gate with nothing to prove in Heat Two.

Aaron Plessinger(7) grabbed the holeshot, Sexton was fifth across the line. However, Sexton moved through the riders ahead of him and caught Plessinger with just under three minutes to go.

Sexton pulled even through the whoops section and looked like he might take over the top spot. Plessinger held off the challenge. With two laps to go, Plessinger could not make a corner and ran off the course. He recovered quickly but fell out of the top nine positions.

Sexton took the Heat win, and Plessinger made a hard charge on the final lap to pass the Spaniard Joan Cros(848) for the final automatic qualifying position.

250SX East/West Showdown

RJ Hampshire earned the holeshot, and Jett Lawrence sat solidly in second. Meanwhile, Haiden Deegan and Hunter Lawrence were mired back in the 13th and 14th spots to start the 250SX East/West Showdown. Levi Kitchen ran third, and Joe Shimoda sat fourth. But, intervals between all the top riders were well established.

Just prior to the midway point of the moto, Lawrence made the pass for the lead. Deegan had moved up to seventh, and Hunter Lawrence ran in the eighth spot.

With four minutes to go, Hunter Lawrence caught and passed Deegan for seventh place. Jett continued to pull away in the top spot, he led his brother by 28 seconds.

Lawrence, Hampshire, and Kitchen took the podium spots. Hunter Lawrence finished sixth, and Deegan came home in the eighth position. Deegan finished second in the 250SX East division standings topping Max Anstie(63) by a single point.

This is the last time fans will see Jett Lawrence in the 250SX class, he is moving up to the 450 premier class.

250SX East/West Showdown Results

450SX Main Event

As expected, Chase Sexton rode away from the field to celebrate his championship with a win in the final event of the season. Ken Roczen appeared to injure his right leg when his bike slipped in a corner on the first lap. Roczen’s foot hit hard, and the leg twisted at an odd angle.

Out front Adam Cianciarulo(9) ran in the second spot, losing time to Sexton on every lap. Aaron Plessinger, after crashing while in the lead during his heat, did not have a good gate selection. It did not stop him from riding into the third position and putting pressure on Cianciarulo.

Ultimately Cianciarulo gave up the second spot to Plessinger and lost a podium position to Justin Hill(46).

With five minutes to go, Sexton led Plessinger by 15 seconds. It appears AP will have to wait until next year to earn that first premier class victory.

Plessinger and Hill joined Sexton on the podium to watch Chase hoist the Championship trophy.

After a two-week break, Pro Motocross starts the second half of the inaugural Super Motocross World Championship season with the outdoor opener from Fox Raceway at Pala, California.

450SX Main Event Results

450SX Points Standings