Image: Octopi Media.

Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Justin Cooper notched a pair of second places that took him to the overall victory at round two of the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at Thunder Valley.

Despite a fourth place in the opening moto, Jett Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) took the win in moto two to retain the points lead, as moto one winner Jeremy Martin (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) would DNF moto two after taking the moto one win.

Lawrence now leads the championship by nine points over Cooper as the series heads to High Point in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania.

In the opening moto of the day, Martin grabbed the win after running teammate Cooper down at the 16-minute mark to take the lead and set out for the win in a Star Racing 1-2.

RJ Hampshire repeated his moto one performance from last week by taking a hard-fought third place as he chased the Star Racing duo at the front for much of the moto to no avail.

As the gate dropped for moto two, Cooper grabbed the lead while Martin got sideways out of the gate and rounded the first lap in 17th.

Things went from bad to worse early in the moto for Martin as he charged through the pack. He’d crash hard and wind up in the mechanic’s area, eventually going on to DNF the moto and take eighth overall on the day.

At the front meanwhile, Lawrence made an aggressive move on Cooper for the lead and would sail on to win by over 15 seconds.

Cooper’s second-place would lock in the overall for the day, with Hunter Lawrence’s (Team Honda HRC) 5-3 scores giving him third place overall on the day.

Fourth overall went to Jo Shimoda (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) who charged through the pack in both motos to secure 6-4 on the day, with Colt Nichols (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) taking 9-5 scores for fifth overall.

Garrett Marchbanks (Club MX Yamaha) had a solid day with sixth overall. While starts seem to be holding him back from better finishes, he charged to 7-7 on the day.

Jalek Swoll continues to have a solid start to the season aboard his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna, the Floridian notching 10-6 in the two motos.

Perhaps the ride of the day went to Dilan Schwartz who finished ninth overall. The BarX Chaparral Ecstar Suzuki rider putting up 8-12 scores.

Hampshire went on to finish 10th overall after his third place in moto one. His second moto took a turn when he hit the ground hard, eventually finishing 19th in the moto.

The championship now heads to Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania in two weeks’ time, as riders are set to take on the iconic High Point Raceway on Saturday 19, June.

Detailed results