The AMA Pro Motocross tilt shifts back to California for the final two rounds of the year. Saturday would feature a return to Fox Raceway in Pala which opened up the season back in late May. Dylan Ferrandis was at the finish line for his title hopes, needing to just gain a singular point to win his first 450 title. Jett Lawrence meanwhile looked to capitalize on a strong weekend at Ironman where he took the 250 red plate from Justin Cooper. On top of a slew of pre-national headlines, this is a huge week for the sport. A big story on the day would be the heat, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees in So-Cal. A big test for these elite athletes on Saturday.
Be sure to check out all of our Motocross coverage.
Pre National Headlines
The big news on Friday was that the United States would not be participating in this month’s Motocross Des Nations in Italy. Be sure to check out our story for additional details. Next up, another set of riders have found themselves on the mend for varying reasons. The most notable being Chase Sexton, announcing on his Instagram that he would miss this weekend with an enlarged spleen. The Rockstar Husky 250 to a big hit, as Jalek Swoll and Stilez Robertson, are being shut down. Swoll from his shoulder dislocation last weekend, Roberston due to Epstein-Barr Virus. Finally, Garrett Marchbanks of Club MX Yamaha is also done for the year. This due to Addison’s Disease, a condition that does not allow for the production of necessary hormones.
Next on the kit front, Jo Shimoda chose violence for this weekend. This is because he is running a 1999 Ricky Carmicheal throwback Fox kit.
明日のレースジャージ… @foxracing
1999 カーマイケルが使ってたデザイン pic.twitter.com/kqTGqXFmVv
— 下田丈 (@joshimoda) September 3, 2021
One of the best kits all year for certain. Shimoda’s teammate Austin Forkner will be sporting this kit as well. Finally, in some sad news, the FXR/Chapparal Honda team will not be returning for 2022. A shame for the second-year team, which had been making great strides as of late with Coty Schock.
250 Class
Moto 1
Max Vohland and Micheal Mosiman would be the first to the holeshot line on this reversed track layout. The GasGas rider would move to the point shortly after over Vohland, leaving him in the clutches of Lawrence. Mosiman, out front all the meanwhile, began to pull away from the number 18 and 115, pulling to a 3.5-second lead 10 minutes in. Five minutes later, Lawrence had managed to cut that deficit in half, clearly riding better than Mosiman. Meanwhile, Cooper, who desperately needed a good day was back in seventh place, not putting up the lap times to run upfront.
With Lawrence on the prowl, Mosiman seemingly cracked under the pressure and tipped over at the 16-minute mark. An extra bit of good news for Lawrence, who took the lead, and had his brother Hunter Lawrence pass Cooper for seventh. While trying to get the Mosiman wreck replay, the truck pulled up a clip of Forkner, crashing into a tree on the back half of the track. A rather odd incident for sure.
Back to Mosiman, he made a sensational run, getting by both Shimoda and Vohland for fourth and third in the span of about 10 seconds. A fantastic rebound for the GasGas rider, who looked great all Moto long. He even got by R.J. Hampshire for second in the late stages of the Moto, but the younger Lawrence picked up a big win here. Cooper meanwhile rallied to finish fifth here, it could have been much worse, but not the ideal result.
Moto 2
One of the great oddities in the sport would take place here, a gate malfunction. This has not happened since the opening 250 Heat Race of the 2019 Supercross season. It appeared Lawrence went on a flinch and flipped over his gate. Luckily the fix did not take too long and a restart took place shortly thereafter. Lawrence ironically enough got the holeshot here after causing the delay and proceeded to check out in short order. Around four minutes in, he was up nearly five seconds on Mosiman and Cooper.
A good story brewing was Josh Varize in fifth place 10 minutes in. The former KTM rider got the call from Rockstar Husky to fill in for the final two rounds of the year, and was making the most of it here. The final half of this Moto was rather cordial, with not many major passes down the stretch. Save for Shimoda getting by Mosiman coming to two laps to go. The good news for Mosiman is that his second place in the overall standings was still intact. At the front, however, Lawrence had just completed a run of four consecutive Moto wins, and is 3-0 lifetime at Pala. Now he can clinch this year’s 250 title after Moto 1 at Hangtown.
Top 10 Overall in 250 Class
No. 18 Jett Lawrence 1-1
No. 42 Micheal Mosiman 2-4
No. 32 Justin Cooper 5-2
No. 30 Jo Shimoda 4-3
No. 41 Hunter Lawrence 6-6
No. 24 R.J. Hampshire 3-14
No. 90 Dilan Schwartz 10-8
No. 241 Josh Varize 9-9
No. 147 Levi “The Master Chef” Kitchen” 12-7
No. 38 Austin Forkner 15-5
450 Class
Be sure to check out some thoughts on your new 450 Motocross Champion Dylan Ferrandis.
No. 3 Eli Tomac– Monster Energy Kawasaki (2-1 for first overall)
It appears that ET3 saved the best for last in his swan song for Kawasaki. Now giving himself a chance for three in a row to close out his tenure with his longtime team. His Moto 2 performance was one of his classic “Landshark” runs, where he was simply better than anyone else. It was also a great showcase of his fitness, as temperatures peaked at 101-degrees on Saturday. The ability to put up consistently good laps in that kind of heat for two 30 minute races is indescribably insane.
By the end of Moto 2, Tomac had a 45-second gap to second-placed Ferrandis, and then only Cooper Webb finished under a minute behind him. This win has also put Tomac into a tie for the third-most wins in premier class history with the legendary “Hurricane” Bob Hannah. If he can pull off the trifecta to end the season, the only two men ahead of him are Ryan Dungey with 39 Overall wins and Carmicheal with 72.
No. 94 Ken Roczen- Honda HRC (3-6 for fourth overall)
By the looks of his riding down the stretches in both motos, Roczen was struggling big time with the So-Cal heat. Not to say other riders were not, but Roczen was the most notable of the bunch. To put a number to the eye test, on lap one of Moto 2, he ran a lap time of 2:14. On the final lap he ran a lap of 2:24. A shame as his title hopes officially came to a close on Saturday, but Roczen should hold his head high. He showed up every week and gave it his all, a much better performance than what he did down the stretch in Supercross. Plus he still has one round to go with no pressure, maybe he can secure one more overall.
No. 34 Max Anstie– Twisted Tea H.E.P. Suzuki (6-5 for sixth overall)
How about a season-best day in the for the Englishman in Pala? Anstie was even mixing it up with the likes of Tomac and Roczen and did well for himself on the Suzuki machine. It has been a less than ideal season for the Great Britan Des Nations hero, having just three top 10 Overall finishes all year and some rumored dissatisfaction with the team. Today however he rode extremely well and that should hopefully carry over to Hangtown.
No. 72 Coty Schock– FXR/Chapparal Honda (7-7 for seventh overall)
I am no longer asking politely, give Schock a factory ride for 2022. He has now given himself the opportunity to finish as high as 12th in the 450 class points next weekend. Also, Schock has now rattled off his fourth straight top 10, and his fifth straight top 15. It appears that he will drop down to the 250 class full-time next year, if so almost every single team should be vying to bring him on board.
Top 10 Overall in 450 Class
No. 3 Eli Tomac 2-1
No. 1 Dylan Ferrandis 1-2
No. 2 Cooper Webb 4-3
No. 94 Ken Roczen 3-6
No. 29 Christian Craig 5-4
No. 34 Max Anstie 6-5
No. 72 Coty Schock 7-7
No. 28 Brandon Hartranft 10-8
No. 17 Joey Savatgy 9-9
No. 43 Freddie Noren 11-10
Just one round remains in this year’s AMA Motocross season, being at the legendary Hangtown circuit outside of Sacramento, California. With Jett Lawrence looking to close out his first 250 Championship, becoming one of the youngest riders in history to do so.
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Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
