Image: Octopi Media.

Despite the disappointment of losing out in the final moments of the 250SX East main event at Tampa, Nate Thrasher delivered a promising second round to miss out on victory by a slim 0.134s.

In what was a tight finish between Thrasher and Team Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence, the latter would strike on the last corner to steal the win and maintain his perfect two-from-two record to open season 2023.

“I felt like my pace was good,” reflected Thrasher. “I felt like I was keeping him pretty good, but the lappers definitely didn’t help me tonight. It’s not their fault, it’s always harder when you’re coming through them first – that’s kind of what it comes down to, they’re in a race of their own.”

Thrasher lead from the drop of the gates, running away to a sizeable lead by the midpoint of the race whilst Lawrence battled his way through the pack following a sub-par start. By the time the red plate-holder made his way into P2, the gap to Thrasher in the lead was over five seconds. Thrasher answered the Lawrence charge for the most part, keeping the margin between himself and the Honda rider comfortable.

As time ran down, Lawrence started to close rapidly as the number 29 found it difficult to make his way through the lappers. Coming into the sand for the final time, Lawrence was within striking distance. The two met at the exit of the penultimate turn, coming together before a perfectly executed move saw Lawrence slide his way under Thrasher in the last turn to steal the win.

“I just had to be a little better tonight, if I had another second on my lead that wouldn’t have happened,” said Thrasher. “It’s a tough pill to swallow, leading 17 or 18 laps, whatever it was, then to not win the race. We’ve raced together for a while now though, [Hunter] is a good clean racer and I feel like I am too, so we always have good races, so if you’re gonna get beat, at least he didn’t clean me out.”

Following a disappointing 15th place at the 250SX Eastern Regional opener in Houston, finishing in the runner-up position in Tampa sees Thrasher jump up to seventh in the championship standings.