The seventh round of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross brought things to Millville, Minnesota. A literal backyard home event for the Martin Brothers, Alex, and Jeremy (on commentary this weekend), and the defacto home event for the returning Ryan Dungey. This also marked the second half of the season beginning and two rounds before the final off week of the season. Chase Sexton entered the weekend with just a one-point buffer over a scorching hot Eli Tomac, who is 5-for-8 in Motos the last four rounds.
Down in the 250 Class, which was up first for the first week in a bit, Hunter Lawrence’s points lead was relatively short-lived. With a pair of poor Motos at Southwick, younger brother Jett Lawrence was on the right side of a couple dozen point swing to retake the red plate. Now, here is how things went down at Spring Creek, spotty timing/scoring and all.
Be sure to keep up with all of our Motocross coverage.
250 Class
No. 1 Jett Lawrence – Honda HRC (1-1 for First Overall)
Not as good as a run for the Jett as last week, but they don’t pay you on style points. His Moto 1 run began with his brother Hunter getting by him early, before leading the bulk of the race. It wouldn’t be until the final moments when lappers got in the way in the sand rollers, that Jett retook the lead and win. Especially in the second half of a season, win Motos however you can. Moto 2 was an overall better showing for Lawrence, as he led every lap but the first, which went to Justin Cooper. Additionally, for those keeping track, this is the Jett’s 11th career 250 National win. That ties him with Jeff Ward for 13th all time.
No. 30 Jo Shimoda – Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki (3-2 for Second Overall)
Don’t look now, but Shimoda has now rattled off four consecutive Overall podiums. Additionally, he hasn’t finished worst than fifth in a Moto in that same span. Shimoda ended up as the only rider in 250 Moto 2 to finish inside 10 seconds of Jett Lawrence. Which looks good considering Cooper, R.J. Hampshire, and Hunter Lawrence were in tow. Furthermore, with this 3-2 run on Saturday, Shimoda has a real shot to finish second in points. With just five rounds to go, he is only 18 points out, and great runs like he just had will only help with the cause. On another note, we have to get Shimoda a better nickname than ‘Sushi’, simply have to.
No. 96 Hunter Lawrence – Honda HRC (2-5 for Third Overall)
Hard not to feel bad for Hunter these last few weeks. He finally broke through to get the 250 Class points lead at RedBud and since has had everything go wrong. This week, it was lappers at the end of the Moto 1 forcing him out of the lead and win. Then in Moto 2, Lawerence had to try and recover from a start back in ninth and only managed a net gain of four spots. Now the points gap to his younger brother has stretched to 27 points with five rounds to go. Outside of the bad start today, none of anything from Southwick or yesterday has been on him, has to be beyond frustrating.
No. 523 Ryder DiFrancesco – Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki (8-8 for Seventh Overall)
This was Ryder D’s last tune-up session heading into what should (not 100% set in stone) be his last trip to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch, safe to say this was a success. Going 8-8 while technically being an amateur still at Millville is no joke and something that DiFrancesco should be happy about. Keep an eye on him at the Ranch, he missed last year due to injury but won Supermini 1 and 2 back in 2020. On the whole, DiFrancesco is an eight-time Champion there.
No. 49 Nate Thrasher – Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha (7-30 for 12th Overall)
Thrasher ultimately had a good day ruined by the hands of one of his teammates. That would be none other than Nick Romano, who got tangled with the No. 49 after cross-jumping him. Romano’s rear tire ended up catching traction on Thrasher’s front, and both went down, with Romano getting the worse end of things. Although both riders ended up being done afterward, and Thrasher seemed rather upset, justifiably so. The pair even came together on the same lap as well.
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Millville National 250 Class Top 10
1st No. 1 Jett Lawrence 1-1
2nd No. 30 Jo Shimoda 3-2
3rd No. 96 Hunter Lawrence 2-5
4th No. 32 Justin Cooper 12-3
5th No. 24 R.J. Hampshire 11-4
6th No. 38 Max Vohland 10-6
7th No. 523 Ryder DiFrancesco 8-8
8th No. 44 Pierce Brown 7-9
9th No. 47 Seth Hammaker 14-7
10th No. 74 Derek Kelley 9-12
250 Class Point Standings After Millville
1st No. 1 Jett Lawrence 311 Points
2nd No. 96 Hunter Lawrence 284 Points (-27)
3rd No. 30 Jo Shimoda 266 Points (-45)
4th No. 32 Justin Cooper 226 Points (-85)
5th No. 59 Levi Kitchen 180 Points (-131) (Out with broken wrist)
450 Class
No. 3 Eli Tomac – Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha (1-1 for First Overall)
Just like that, the bad man has ahold of the red plate in Motocross for the first time since late 2019. With no signs of slowing down just yet, Tomac has now won five straight Motos, which is his best stretch since late 2018, and three straight Nationals for the first time since the beginning of 2018. Sexton gave him a run for his money, but on top of the Honda rider crashing out of the lead midway into Moto 1, no one had anything for ET3. He officially took the points lead after Moto 1 but ended the day with a five-point advantage going into Washougal.
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No. 23 Chase Sexton – Honda HRC (2-2 for Second Overall)
Saturday started extremely well for both Sexton and Honda running mate Ken Roczen. The pair led qualifying by running two seconds faster than the rest of the field in an impressive showing. Despite losing the points lead, all isn’t lost for Sexton per se. Like every round this year he has been as good as he can be, but he has to not make mistakes as he did in Moto 1. He more than likely wins had he not gone down, and he would have still had the points lead as well. Also worth noting, via MX Reference (give him a follow, great content/stats), that Tomac had the second most points to not lead after six rounds. That unequivocally speaks to how good Sexton has been and should continue to be in these last five rounds.
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No. 5 Ryan Dungey – Red Bull KTM (4-6 for Fifth Overall)
Not a bad run whatsoever for Diesel for his first trip to Millville since 2015. Seven years ago, he won with a 1-1 over Justin Barcia, who ironically enough, finished right behind Dungey yesterday in sixth. he almost put the bike on the podium in Moto 1 but was just outran by former training partner Jason Anderson for the final spot. To no surprise either, he got a very nice reception in his home state of Minnesota.
No. 17 Joey Savatgy – Monster Energy Kawasaki (17-8 for 10th Overall)
Savatgy is another rider you have to feel bad for. Things were looking very good for him once again before he took a nasty spill after Mt. Martin in Moto 1 after starting in second. After picking himself up, the veteran fill-in rider took home a 17th place finish, before coming back in Moto 2 to pick up a strong finish in eighth. It wouldn’t be a stunning outcome if Savatgy ended up getting on the box before the season is out, he has been very good in his second tour with Monster Kawi.
No. 94 Ken Roczen – Honda HRC (16-12 for 12th Overall)
Things have now begun to unravel quickly for Roczen, who easily had his worst round of the year today. Two crashes, one happening on the ascent up Mt. Martin in Moto 1, did him in big time, having to carve out big runs just to try and salvage a good day. Now the former two-time National Champion is at real risk of falling back to fifth in points and has already fallen out of the top three.
No. 11 Kyle Chisholm – Team Chiz (19-16 for 19th Overall)
Chiz!!! He usually makes a few one-off appearances during Motocross and this weekend marked the first of those. He could have gone 12-14, 35-30, or in this case 19-16, the vibes are always immaculate when Chiz shows up. Additionally, 19-16 at Millville on a stock YZ450 for your first national of the year is sneaky super impressive.
No. 34 Max Anstie – Fire Power Parts Honda Racing (8-33 for 17th Overall)
It directly wasn’t shown on the broadcast, but Anstie took a nasty spill coming down Mt. Martin during Moto 2. Aaron Plessinger, who was behind him when it happened, told Steve Matthes that “He wouldn’t wish Anstie’s crash on his worst enemy“. Here is to hoping the Britain is ok, he was on a great run the three Motos beforehand.
Millville National 450 Class Top 10
1st No. 3 Eli Tomac 1-1
2nd No. 23 Chase Sexton 2-2
3rd No. 21 Jason Anderson 3-4
4th No. 28 Christian Craig 5-3
5th No. 5 Ryan Dungey 4-6
6th No. 51 Justin Barcia 6-5
7th No. 7 Aaron Plessinger 7-7
8th No. 73 Benny Bloss 9-10
9th No. 12 Shane McElrath 10-11
10th No. 17 Joey Savatgy 17-8
450 Class Point Standings After Millville
1st No. 3 Eli Tomac 317 Points (New Points Leader)
2nd No. 23 Chase Sexton 312 Points (-5)
3rd No. 21 Jason Anderson 245 Points (-72)
4th No. 94 Ken Roczen 241 Points (-76)
5th No 28 Christian Craig 220 Points (-97)
Week 7 PulpMX Fantasy Motocross Lineup
250 Class: Justin Cooper (All-Star, +4), Nate Thrasher (+2), Ty Masterpool (+5), Ryder DiFrancesco (+6)
450 Class: Chase Sexton (All-Star, +1), Tyler Stepek (+12), Garrett Marchbanks (+5), Jeffery Walker (+15)
FFL: Ken Roczen and Jett Lawrence (Unsuccessful)
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Main Image via KTM/Align Media
