Hangtown MX, Sacramento, CA — June 3, 2023
One week ago, Jett and Hunter Lawrence became the first siblings in more than 50 years to win on the same day in Pro Motocross, as Jett won his 450 Class debut and Hunter was victorious in the 250 Class at Fox Raceway last Saturday.
Jett Lawrence enjoyed a flawless afternoon in his 450 Class debut with a 1-1 sweep at Fox Raceway in Pala, CA. Lawrence became just the seventh rider in history to go 1-1 in their premier class debut. Chase Sexton finished second, and Dylan Ferrandis third to round out the podium.
Reigning Supercross Champion Chase Sexton found himself in the roost of his Honda teammate for the entirety of both motos. His 15th career 450 Class podium moves him into 35th on the all-time class podiums list, only one behind Tony DiStefano and David Bailey. He trailed Jett in Moto 1 by 10 seconds and by just a second in Moto 2.
Unfortunately, Sexton was involved in a practice crash on Tuesday of this week and suffered a concussion. He has been ruled out for this week’s event.
Hunter Lawrence scored his second career 250 Class victory in his 42nd start with a 3-1 finish at Fox Raceway. His last victory came at the 2021 Southwick National. He is currently the frontrunner for the 250 Class title and SMX Championship. The Australian now has 14 career 250 Class podiums in his 42 starts (33%), which sits 45th all-time.
Haiden Deegan became the 172nd different rider in Pro Motocross history to earn a 250 Class podium following his runner-up effort (6-2). It marked just his third career start and his full-time debut. His previous-best result was 13th in last year’s finale from Fox Raceway
Hangtown
The Hangtown Motocross Classic is the oldest event in American motocross and predates the championship, first held in 1969. The first Pro Motocross 450 Class National at Hangtown was on April 8, 1974, when Billy Grossi swept the motos on a Honda. It was the
season opener for all 3 competitive divisions – 125cc, 250cc, & 500cc. This event marked the first time in the history of the AMA that all 3 national classes were run on the same track on the same day. Husqvarna’s Marty Tripes went 2-2 and eventual champion
Gary Jones went 3-3.
250 Class Moto #1
Haiden Deegan(238) continues to impress. The 17-year-old is looking to add to his performance last week when he earned a podium. He fired out of the gate and quickly built a lead in Moto #1 over Justin Cooper(32) and Tom Vialle(128).
Hunter Lawrence did not have the best of starts, and at the end of lap one found himself in 7th place. However, by the midway point of the race, he had moved up to third. Still, he trailed Cooper, in second, by seven seconds and the leader by ten seconds.
At the ten minutes to go mark, Cooper had cut the lead to a second and a half. Lawrence was still 10+ seconds behind Deegan. In the next five minutes, Deegan had extended the lead by a second over Cooper, and Lawrence was eight seconds back. Guillem Farres(88), RJ Hampshire(24), and Jo Shimoda(30) ran fourth through sixth but will not score a podium position without one of the leaders having trouble.
Cooper made another run at the top spot, but Deegan answered every challenge to capture his first professional motocross win. Lawrence easily took the third spot.
250 Class Moto #1 Results
| Pos | # | Rider | Behind |
| 1 | 238 | Deegan | — |
| 2 | 32 | Cooper | 2.118 |
| 3 | 96 | H. Lawrence | 9.788 |
| 4 | 30 | Shimoda | 24.457 |
| 5 | 24 | Hampshire | 36.195 |
| 6 | 88 | Farres | 41.836 |
| 7 | 128 | Vialle | 47.090 |
| 8 | 75 | DiFrancesco | 49.405 |
| 9 | 38 | Swoll | 50.722 |
| 10 | 43 | Kitchen | 51.884 |
450 Class Moto #1
Can he do it again? Jett Lawrence(18) won twice last weekend, and this week, his main competitor is sitting out. Can any of the 450 CC riders step up and put a move on the young man who just moved up to the premier class?
Dylan Ferrandis(14) earned the holeshot, but it was not enough to keep Lawrence from moving from the third spot to first around the second corner. Aaron Plessinger(7) ran up to challenger Ferrandis. With Cooper Webb(2) in fourth and Adam Cianciarulo(9) holding down the fifth spot.
In the first 10 minutes of the 30-minute timed portion of the moto, Lawrence had built a three-and-a-half second lead on Ferrandis. The interval never shrank as Jett is now three-for-three on the big bike at the start of the outdoor season. The top five never changed position after lap one.
450 Class Moto #1 Results
| Pos | # | Rider | Behind |
| 1 | 18 | J Lawrence | — |
| 2 | 14 | Ferrandis | 4.122 |
| 3 | 7 | Plessinger | 4.552 |
| 4 | 2 | Webb | 34.386 |
| 5 | 9 | Cianciarulo | 53.909 |
| 6 | 47 | Noren | 75.057 |
| 7 | 81 | Masterpool | 92.555 |
| 8 | 53 | Drake | 99.128 |
| 9 | 103 | Locurcio | 105.569 |
| 10 | 93 | Robin | 115.053 |
250 Class Moto #2
Justin Cooper got the jump on the start in Moto #2, and Hunter Lawrence got a much better start trailing Cooper by just over one second. Jalek Swoll ran third early. Haiden Deegan was seventh after lap one.
Five minutes in, Lawrence took over the top spot and quickly began to build the interval over Cooper. Tom Vialle closed on Swoll in a battle for third. Chance Hymas and Deegan were scrapping over the fifth spot.
Swoll ran off the track and lost two positions with Deegan right on his rear wheel. Jo Shimoda closed the gap from sixth and joined the battle with Swoll and Deegan at the midway point of the race.
Deegan collided with a lapper but stayed upright. Shimoda could not avoid the downed rider and went down as well. The crash dropped Shimoda dropped out of contention.
Once in the lead, Lawrence never looked back. Cooper easily finished in the second position. Vialle finished third and Deegan fourth.
Lawrence took the overall title (3-1), Cooper finished second (2-2), and Deegan joined the event podium in third (1-4).
250 Class Moto #2 Results
| Pos | # | Rider | Behind |
| 1 | 96 | H Lawrence | — |
| 2 | 32 | Cooper | 3.111 |
| 3 | 128 | Vialle | 20.634 |
| 4 | 238 | Deegan | 25.553 |
| 5 | 24 | Hampshire | 27.059 |
| 6 | 832 | Hymas | 36.058 |
| 7 | 43 | Kitchen | 38.661 |
| 8 | 88 | Farres | 43.393 |
| 9 | 52 | Mumford | 45.293 |
| 10 | 30 | Shimoda | 55.595 |
250 Class Points Standings
450 Class Moto #2
This is the fourth 450 CC moto of the outdoor season, and Jett Lawrence has led every single lap of racing. The top five in Moto #2 from Hangtown featured the same riders, just in a different order. Cooper Webb, Aaron Plessinger, Dylan Ferrandis, and Adam Cinciarulo held spots two through five over the first half of the timed portion of the moto.
The real race was for second. With Lawrence growing the interval out front and Cinciarulo fading back toward the pack. Webb, Plessinger, and Ferrandis were all over each other.
With 11 minutes to go, Plessinger moved into second and took one second out of Lawrence’s lead. At the same time, he began to pull away from Webb and Ferrandis. With Lawrence wrapping up the overall, it is a dogfight for the overall podium among the other four riders.
Lawrence got the word that his lead was shrinking. Not willing to give up a single lap, he built it back up to over five seconds. Then, the bad luck bug bit. Plessinger went down and had trouble re-firing his bike. It appeared the clutch might have gone away. Even with the huge lead over most of the field, Plessinger began to fade, one position at a time, dropping to the sixth position and out of the overall podium contention.
For the second week in a row, Lawrence (1-1) takes the event’s overall title. Ferrandis (2-3) takes second, and Webb (4-2) locks in the final overall podium position.
450 Class Moto #2 Results
| Pos | # | Rider | Behind |
| 1 | 18 | J Lawrence | — |
| 2 | 2 | Webb | 5.041 |
| 3 | 14 | Ferrandis | 12.747 |
| 4 | 9 | Cianciarulo | 60.185 |
| 5 | 107 | Burton | 75.882 |
| 6 | 7 | Plessinger | 87.071 |
| 7 | 81 | Masterpool | 89.669 |
| 8 | 53 | Drake | 94.651 |
| 9 | 93 | Robin | 105.468 |
| 10 | 444 | Pape | 110.461 |
450 Class Points Standings
