Jett Lawrence continues hunt for perfect season with a 1-1 at Washougal Nationals.
The Washougal Nationals and the eighth round of the Pro Motocross campaign saw the expected and unexpected as Jett Lawrence continued his march towards a perfect season.
At the start of the season there was talk that Lawrence would need a minute to get used to the power of a 450 bike, but after the first few rounds he was squarely in the conversation for the series championship. Now that the halfway point has been reached, everyone is talking about a perfect season in his rookie campaign.
Meanwhile in the 250s, the championship battle continues to wax and wane between Hunter Lawrence and the field. But “Danger Boy” Haiden Deegan's 1-1 finish might start to cement him as the main competition.
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450 Moto 1
Heading into the first 450 Moto, Lawrence had led the last 105 consecutive laps, which was the fourth-longest streak in motocross history and the first in the class to not (yet) be associated with a perfect season.
Pressure remained high for Lawrence at the start of Round 8 as he left Spring Creek in Millville, Minnesota last week, capturing his 13th and 14th moto, still on the quest of perfection.
When the gate dropped on the start of Saturday's 450 Moto 1, Dylan Ferrandis beat the field to the holeshot and stayed in front of Lawrence for the first lap. The Frenchman was the first rider to achieve this point in four rounds since the High Point Nationals in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania.
Adam Cianciarulo and Jason Anderson were close behind Ferrandis and Lawrence before the duo tangled and fell back leaving third, opening the spot for Chase Sexton who won back-to-back motos at the track last year.
Lawrence tracked down Ferrandis and took the lead, overtaking him on the inside with 24:52 remaining. Lawrence began to pull away from Ferrandis as Sexton challenged for second.
There's just been no stopping Jett Lawrence this season. Photo courtesy MotoCross/Dan Beaver.
Lawrence was the first and only driver in Moto 1 to place a lap time below 2:16 with his fastest lap coming on Lap 5 with at 2:15.496.
Between Lawrence’s speed and a few technical mistakes from Sexton, the teammates were within a one-second difference on Lap 5.
Sexton settled and restarted his march on Ferrandis, with 15:20 remaining. Sexton swung far to the outside of a corner and cut to the inside, taking second from Ferrandis.
It became clear Ferrandis would not be the one to run down Lawrence and it was now the reigning 2023 Supercross champion and 2022 Motocross champion’s turn. Sexton would start to battle against the 5.900-seconds gap that separated him from his teammate.
Lawrence led at the white by 8.068 seconds over Sexton as the teammates had a 10-second buffer between them and Ferrandis, who paced the remainder of the field.
The three stayed that way until the end, completing the first 450 podium of the day. After finishing second, Sexton failed to win a 450 moto at Washougal for the first time in his career.
“We need to make a few adjustments obviously,” Sexton said after the first moto. “We had a decent start. It took me a moment to get around Dylan and by the time that happened Jett was gone and I couldn’t close the gap. Looking forward to the second moto.
“This track is interesting. It's a lot different than it was last year with the sand they added. It’s a little bit of a different animal and something that we have to adjust to.”
Jason Anderson and Adam Cianciarulo completed the top five. Ty Masterpool, who recently made the switch into 450 from 250, narrowly missed the top five with his sixth-place finish.
Aaron Plessinger, Garrett Marchbanks and Fredrik Noren finished sixth through ninth, while Colt Nichols finished tenth, collecting much-needed points. Nichols surprised the outdoor competitors by showing up at Washougal in the hopes of reclaiming a spot in the top-20 of SuperMotocross points that he lost just last week to Marchbanks.
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450 Moto 2
As the riders lined up for the final moto of the weekend, there was a glitch with the gate drop, causing a red flag and a full restart of the field.
Once the race was successfully started, Aaron Plessinger rocketed to the lead and captured the holeshot.
Plessinger kept his lead through Lap 3, which is the longest any rider has stayed in front of Lawrence all season. On the next lap, Lawrence saw his opening and overtook Plessinger.
By the halfway point, Chase Sexton made up ground after a subpar start and passed Plessinger for second. As the two Honda teammates and leaders in the point focused on each other they pulled away from the field. Plessinger dropped eight seconds off the pace.
Sexton was able to keep Lawrence within 1.3 seconds until late in the field. As the clock ran down before the final two laps, Sexton was in striking distance of Lawrence.
This opportunity was lost as quickly as it was gained when Sexton crashed after accidentally hitting neutral in tight turn. Sexton’s lead on Plessinger was large enough to remain in second.
Lawrence paced the field and came away with his sixteenth win of the season, just six motos away from a perfect season. If completed Lawrence will be only the third rider to accomplish the feat after Ricky Carmicheal and Jimmy Stewart, and the only one to do it in their rookie campaign.
Sexton and Plessinger finished second and third to complete the podium followed distantly by Jason Anderson and Dylan Ferrandis.
450 Overall Podium
1. Jett Lawrence 1-1
2. Chase Sexton 2-2
3. Jason Anderson 4-4
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250 Moto 1
For the first time in the 250 class this season, it showed a rider going 1-1, and it wasn’t a Lawrence brother. Haiden Deegan -- younger brother of NASCAR star Hailie Deegan -- bounced back from his 5-8 finish at Millville where he lost his red plate.
Deegan took the lead in Moto 1 and never surrendered it. His first moto win would bring him to within six points of the leader Hunter Lawrence.
“I’m over rolling around in fifth. It’s time to step up,” Deegan said. “Today was the day. I was like you’ve got to stop being a little baby; you got to send it. We got up front, rode up front and it was a good race.”
Lawrence has repeatedly had bad starts between the gate and the hole shot and had to battle through the field. With 19 minutes remaining in Saturday's moto, Lawrence battled up to fourth competing against Washougal local Levi Kitchen and Seth Hammaker.
Wedged between this battle and the lead was Deegan’s Yamaha teammate Justin Cooper, who protected the position until three minutes remained. Lawrence overtook Cooper who settled for the final podium position in Moto 1.
Cooper capitalized on his strong run in the first moto as he captured the holeshot in 250 Moto 2 of the Washougal Pro Nationals, leading the way in front of his teammates Kitchen and Deegan.
As the three Yamaha teammates raced amongst themselves, Lawrence, who again had a poor start, worked his way up to fourth behind the trio with 21 minutes remaining. Lawrence pressured Cooper for third and Kitchen pressured Cooper for the lead. A third of a way through the moto and the top four are separated by 3.330 seconds.
While riding around the track, riders entered and exited shadows constantly at extreme speeds. The nature of the track blinds the riders as they quickly transition their vision between light and dark, which can spell catastrophe if you don’t mind the areas.
Going into a shaded section of the whoops, Lawrence tips his bike with 19 minutes remaining. He lost one spot to Seth Hammaker due to the spill and restarted in fifth.
Now that Deegan was not focused on his largest competitor behind him, he could focus on passing his teammates ahead of him.
Just past the halfway point, Deegan passed Kitchen and zeroed in on Cooper. With the clock running down, Deegan threw down the best lap of the day across both 450s and 250s at 2:15.502.
As the laps carried on, Lawrence moved back into fourth and he began to pressure Kitchen, who was racing his first professional motos in front of his hometown crowd. Washougal MX is accessible to Kitchen via an off-road path from his childhood home and if you stop to talk to locals, they’ll be happy to tell you how beloved he is.
With two minutes and two laps remaining, Deegan started his hard push on Cooper. With 1:21 on the clock, Deegan passed Cooper to lead for the first time in the second moto.
Hayden Deegan won his first 1-1 on Saturday and closed to just three points of the standings lead in the 250 Moto class. Photo courtesy MotoCross/Dan Beaver.
Often rookies have ensured the endurance and strength needed to run 30-minute motos, but Deegan has continued to prove that it’s not a steep learning curve for him.
“Those last few laps I put my heart into this thing, baby,” Deegan responded about his late-race speed, “Man, it’s nerve-racking and I’m sure it’s nerve-racking for Hunter too, he’s supposed to be winning these things. I’m glad that I could put the American up front for all the fans.”
Obvious shade has been cast by the young rider on his Aussie competitor, but this was not the most troublesome shade of the day.
“The shadows are tough,” Lawrence agreed, “But it’s the same every year. I've just got to be better. This is a tough track when you don’t get a great start."
As for the upcoming two-week break, Hunter said, “First and foremost, [I need] to get back to a hundred percent, just keep riding and getting more laps in, a little work on the bike and we’ll come back swinging.”
Lawrence retained the points lead over Deegan by three after entering the weekend with a 10-point buffer. Deegan’s 1-1 came after two straight weeks of the rider failing to stand on the podium in a single moto.
250 Overall Podium
1. Haiden Deegan 1-1
2. Justin Cooper 3-2
3. Jett Lawrence 2-4