The east coast slate of the AMA Motocross schedule came to a close on Saturday. Ironman MX, which had been the season finale from 2015 to 2019, played host to the third to last round in 2021. Dylan Ferrandis entered Saturday looking to give himself a shot to clinch the 450 title a round early. While his 250 teammate Justin Cooper looked to hold on to a three-point lead over Honda’s Jett Lawrence. Before the race recap, there was a good deal of pre-race headlines.
Make sure to check out all of our Motocross coverage.
Injury Report
Not one, but two riders were set on the shelf for Ironman due to positive Covid-19 cases. These were first, Max Anstie, who tested positive earlier in the week. Then Marvin Musquin, at some point in the last 48 hours most likely, also tested positive for Covid. The duo had been running in 11th and fifth in the points respectively.
Dean Wilson luckily did not contract the virus, but his season is officially done due to another. That being the dreaded Epstein-Barr Virus which has been frequent in the sport in recent years. The Scottsman took to Instagram to give some perspective as to what he was dealing with.
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Christain Craig is also out, due to a rough Moto 1 wreck last week at Budds Creek. Joining him and the rest is also Seth Hammaker, who suffered a head injury last weekend as well. Also out are Colt Nichols, Stilez Robertson, Garrett Marchbanks, and Canadian icon “Filthy” Phil Nicoletti. Finally, just minutes before 250 Moto 1, Jalek Swoll, who dislocated his shoulder in qualifying, had his shoulder pop out again and his day ended before it even began.
Motocross Combine
Yesterday, the first of two scouting combines sanctioned by MX Sports went down at Ironman. Three riders who were paired with guest rider coach Chad Reed swept the podium in a pair of Motos ran. Third place was Red Bull KTM prospect Daxton Bennick out of North Carolina. Second was “Team Green” prospect Chance Hymas, who scored a 1-2 day. Then the winner was his teammate, Ryder DiFrancesco, going 2-1.
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Make sure to check out more on the East Coast Motocross Combine.
250 Class
Moto 1
Cooper and Lawrence were both shot out of a cannon to start, with the former taking the holeshot. However, Max Vohland on the Red Bull KTM injected himself into the front pack and settled into second early before dropping to third. Lawrence, after a slew of laps in second place finally got by Cooper just under eight minutes in for the lead. On the lap Lawrence took the lead, he outran Cooper by three seconds and then continued to completely pull away. Cooper’s Moto began to really unravel afterward, as teammate Jeremy Martin soon after got by for second place.
Once Martin got to second, he began to run down the younger Lawrence brother. A gap that was upwards of four seconds was slashed in half in under two laps. It was not going as great for Cooper, however, as he gave up third to Jo Shimoda, and had Micheal Mosiman all over him for fourth. Then in a dramatic turn of events, Shimoda and Mosiman were shown passing a downed bike with a red cross flag out. That bike belonged to Martin who had a bad get-off and hurt his already injured wrist. His Moto, day, and season, all likely done now.
Lawrence then took up a 12 second lead over Shimoda and Mosiman, with Cooper 22 seconds out. A massive disappointment for the series points leader here, who was set to enter moto two in second place in the points. Lawrence meanwhile would take home the Moto win, with Shimoda and Mosiman rounding out the podium.
Moto 2
Shimoda ended up taking the holeshot over his former teammate Lawrence, with privateer Ty Masterpool in third. Shimoda’s holeshot was the first for Kawasaki in the 250 class this year. His lead lasted for a little bit, but Lawrence was able to navigate his way by Shimoda in the sand rollers before the finish line. Cooper meanwhile, was quickly losing pace, running three seconds back of Shimoda in third. Even worse was that R.J. Hampshire was hot on his tail just over 17 minutes in. The Husqvarna rider completed the pass at the end of that lap. At this point, Cooper, who entered the weekend three points up on Lawrence, was now 11 points back of the Australian.
There was talk last weekend of him being ill (he produced a negative Covid test for what it’s worth), but he had looked off all day. A gigantic collapse, all things considered, but you wonder how off from 100 percent he is. With Lawrence having the 1-1 all but wrapped up, the battle for second was on. Hampshire had passed Shimoda, but Shimoda was not giving up on the runner-up spot. Hampshire however did enough to take second, Shimoda would take a career day of a 2-3. Cooper on the day would finish 4-4, which on paper is fine, but may have been the coup de grace of this title race.
Top 10 Overall in 250 Class
No. 18 Jett Lawrence 1-1
No. 30 Jo Shimoda 2-3
No. 32 Justin Cooper 4-4
No. 42 Micheal Mosiman 3-6
No. 38 Austin Forkner 5-5
No. 24 R.J. Hampshire 13-2
No. 75 Ty Masterpool 6-7
No. 39 Carson Mumford 8-8
No. 41 Hunter Lawrence 12-9
No. 90 Dilan “Never Underestimate the Power of the” Schwartz 9-13
450 Class
No. 3 Eli Tomac– Monster Energy Kawasaki (2-1 for first overall)
It only took 10 rounds, but ET3 finally picked up his first Overall win of the year at Ironman. Even though his best performance of the year is still probably his second moto run at Washougal, this was the first time Tomac put a whole day together. Once he took the lead from Ferrandis in Moto 2, he completely dropped him along with the rest of the field in short order. A throwback to many of his rides during his championship three-peat seasons where a Moto was over 10 minutes in.
This was also Tomac’s 26th career overall win, putting him one back of Bob Hannah for third all-time. Tomac also sits third all-time in premier class moto wins as well. He had talked about wanting to nab at least one more win with Kawasaki, and he finally got it by the skin of his teeth.
No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis- Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha (2-1 for second overall)
Ferrandis continues to put up excellent results while also pulling away from Roczen in the points. Even better, is that he can now clinch his first-ever 450 AMA National Motocross title next weekend at Pala. All he has to do is gain a singular point on Roczen, that’s it. Based on his mind-numbing consistency his season, it would be hard to imagine he doesn’t at least come close to doing so. If not, he is all but guaranteed to clinch the title at Moto 1 at Hangtown in two weeks.
No. 2 Cooper Webb– Red Bull KTM (4-3 for third overall)
It is no secret that Webb’s outdoor campaign has not gone according to plan. Saturday however was a nice change of pace for his first podium since July of 2019 where he won at Millville. During his podium interview, he said that he swapped frames on his bike and that he thought ” Ian [Harrison] and Roger [DeCoster] wanted to kill me.” Based on his results, that was the right call on his end, and a 4-3 at this juncture is a great result for the defending Supercross champion.
No. 72 Coty Schock– FXR/Chapparal Honda (8-6 for sixth overall)
In the words of a certain Vermont Senator, I am once again asking for Schock to get a factory ride for 2022. He does split the year between 250s and 450s which may complicate things, but you don’t see runs like this from privateer riders often. Schock has real talent and he has rightfully earned an upgrade in equipment. For the third weekend in a row, he has picked up a career-best Overall result, doing so with a sixth on Saturday. Someone in a position of power has to be seeing this right?
No. 11 Kyle Chisholm– Team Chiz (11-10 for 10th overall)
Chiz chiz’ed and picked up his first 450 Motocross podium since mid-2018. There is not much else to say here. He’s a PulpMX Fantasy icon, a privateer icon, and was teammates with James Stewart. Based on Saturday, enough has been seen to consider him for Des Nations next month. Jeffery Herlings and Antonio Cairoli would have no answers for Chiz quite frankly.
Top 10 Overall in 450 Class
No. 3 Eli Tomac 2-1
No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis 1-2
No. 2 Cooper Webb 4-3
No. 94 Ken Roczen 3-5
No. 23 Chase Sexton 5-4
No. 72 Coty Schock 8-6
No. 17 Joey Savatgy 7-8
No. 19 Justin Bogle 10-7
No. 28 Brandon Hartranft 9-9
No. 11 Kyle Chisholm 11-10
Just two rounds remain, being Pala 2 and Hangtown. All eyes are now on Ferrandis as he can clinch his first 450 Motocross title in his rookie year. He would join Roczen (2014) and Ryan Dungey (2010) as riders who have won premier class Motocross titles as a rookie.
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