Follow the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship with direct updates from tonight’s 11th round of the season at Lumen Field in Seattle through Racefeed.

Image: Octopi Media.

250SX qualifying one:
Jett Lawrence concluded his five-week break from competition where he left off: atop the 250SX West division for Team Honda HRC. With a best time of 52.257s, the series points leader was 0.91s clear of his closest championship rival, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire. Mitchell Oldenburg was third fastest for Smartop MotoConcepts Racing Honda, while Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) and Cameron McAdoo (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) completed the top five. Pierce Brown (TLD Red Bull GasGas), Enzo Lopes (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha), Max Vohland (Red Bull KTM), Dylan Walsh (Revo Grindstone Kawasaki), and Anthony Rodriguez (Smartop MotoConcepts Racing Honda) comprised the remainder of the top 10 to start the qualifying sessions.

450SX qualifying one:
For the first time since last year’s St. Louis round, Eli Tomac topped a 450SX timed qualifying session aboard his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing-prepared Yamaha YZ450F. Tomac led the way with a 52.065s time — just under two-tenths of a second quicker than regularly fast qualifier Chase Sexton of Team Honda HRC. With Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki), Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas), Christian Craig (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), and Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) filling positions 3–6, no manufacturer appeared twice in the top six. Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki), Dean Wilson (Fire Power Honda), Justin Hill (Team Tedder Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports), and Ken Roczen (Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki) were the other four riders to land in the top 10. Last week’s near-winner Aaron Plessinger was only 11th quickest on his Red Bull KTM.

250SX qualifying two:
On an increasingly rutted track inside Lumen Field, Lawrence improved upon his Q1 lap time by 1.23s to secure top qualifying honors in 250SX West. Kitchen owned the fastest lap early before Hampshire and Lawrence both went quicker. Lawrence’s final flier, a 51.027s, put 0.812s between himself and Hampshire at the time of the checkered flag. Kitchen, McAdoo, and Lopes filled the top five, with Lopes 1.35s back from Lawrence’s chart-topping pace. With Oldenburg, Brown, Vohland, and Hunter Yoder (Partzilla PRMX Racing) next on the group A timesheet, nine different teams earned representation in the top nine. Stilez Robertson was 10th in group A but was pushed out of the combined top 10 by Carson Mumford. Making his Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki debut, Mumford was fast enough in group B for fourth on the combined timesheet.

450SX qualifying two:
Cianciarulo backed up his competitive speed in Q1 with an early fast lap in the second session, but a 50.704s time from Sexton put the Detroit winner on top heading into the night program. The championship-hopeful Honda representative was the only rider to reach the 50s range in qualifying. Half a second back on his best revolution of the degrading Seattle circuit, Cianciarulo held on for second, 0.43s clear of his Kawasaki stablemate Anderson. Barcia had the fourth-fastest lap ahead of Tomac, who executed a late effort to land fifth and avoid a poor gate pick for his heat race after a slow start to the session. Craig, Roczen, Hill, Webb, and Wilson filled the top 10, with Plessinger again outside the top 10. This time, he was 12th and 2.309s in arrears of Sexton on his best lap.

250SX heat one:
Solid starts for Yoder and Mumford translated into Yoder leading the first lap of the night. Hampshire, meanwhile, immediately began moving forward from a poor start while Mumford and Brown worked past Yoder on the second lap. Nearing the white flag, Brown leapfrogged Mumford for the lead and captured his fourth career heat race win and first of 2023. Mumford took the checkered flag 4.724s behind Brown. Hampshire passed Yoder for third on the final lap, with Josh Varize (AEO Powersports KTM) finishing behind those two in fifth. Contact with Varize put Lopes on the ground, limiting his ability in the race, but he still finished sixth behind Varize. Kaeden Amerine (Rocky Mountain ATV/MC Rides Unlimited KTM), Cole Thompson (Team Solitaire Heartbeat Hot Sauce Yamaha), and Rodriguez finished in the remaining transfer positions, with Jerry Robin (AJE Motosports GasGas), Derek Drake (BarX Suzuki), and Mitchell Harrison (AJE Motosports GasGas) missing out. A crash at the end of the sand section for Dylan Walsh led to the New Zealand native receiving attention from the Alpinestars medical team during the entire second half of the race; it’s unknown whether he’ll be fit to line up for the LCQ.

250SX heat two:
In front of over 100 friends and family, Kitchen grabbed the holeshot and broke away to win the night’s second race by 13.004s. Tight racing between McAdoo and Lawrence in second and third led to a somewhat-violent crash that put both on the ground. Clearly furious with McAdoo, Lawrence remounted, initially targeted McAdoo, then made a clean pass and finished second behind Kitchen. Robertson avoided trouble and finished third ahead of McAdoo. Vohland completed the top 10 while Oldenburg, Derek Kelley (AEO Powersports KTM), Robbie Wageman (BarX Suzuki), and Max Miller (Rides Unlimited KTM) also transferred directly to the main.

450SX heat one:
Craig led aboard his Husqvarna following the first gate drop of the night for the premier class. Fending off a late challenge from Plessinger, Craig was first to the checkers by 1.423s. Hitting the track strong after showing speed in qualifying, Cianciarulo came home third, just over 10s back from Craig at the end. Barcia, Wilson, Cole Seely (Smartop MotoConcepts Racing Honda), Justin Hill, Kevin Moranz, and Kyle Chisholm (Twisted Tea Suzuki Progressive Insurance) filled the remaining transfer positions. Josh Cartwright ran ninth but went over the bars through the whoops as the checkered flag neared; he’ll have to attempt to qualify through the LCQ.

450SX heat two:
Due to their filling the odd positions on the qualifying timesheet, primary contenders Webb, Sexton, Tomac, and Anderson lined up on the gate for a stacked final heat race. Webb led from start to finish for his first heat race win of 2023. Webb motioned back to Sexton with a finger gun as the Honda rider secured second in the heat, with Tomac finishing a further 2.158s back for third. Roczen was fourth ahead of Anderson, who recovered from a crash after contact with Sexton at the inside of one of the track’s 90-degree corners. Benny Bloss, Justin Starling, Grant Harlan (Rock River Yamaha), and Shane McElrath (Twisted Tea Suzuki Progressive Insurance) punched the remaining tickets directly to the main. Cade Clason and Josh Hill were the first to miss out in positions 10 and 11.

250SX LCQ:
Drake, Hunter Schlosser, Blaine Silveira, and Harrison initially held the final four transfer positions to the 250SX main event as the night’s first LCQ got underway. Drake, Schlosser, Harrison, and Austin Politelli (AJE Motorsports GasGas) settled in at the front with a few more laps completed while Robin pursued in fifth. Politelli made a mistake and allowed Robin to slip by, but later made heavy contact in a bowl turn that sent Robin off the track. Robin rejoined in sixth behind Dilan Schwartz (Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki), who made a last-turn lunge at Politelli but ended up on the ground. Visibly frustrated with his teammate’s method of getting back by for the final transfer position, Robin rode off the track with his night over early. Drake, Schlosser, Harrison, and Politelli successfully transferred.

450SX LCQ:
Joan Cros (MaddParts.com Kawasaki), Cartwright, Cade Clason (Partzilla PRMX Racing), and Fredrik Noren (MaddParts.com Kawasaki) claimed the top four positions after the gate drop with Josh Hill (Team Tedder Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports) just outside the bubble in fifth. Cros dropped back to fifth as Hill moved into fourth and began pursuing the trio of Kawasakis ahead. However, a quick crash for Clason dropped him to fourth with Logan Karnow on his heels. Up front, Hill challenged Cartwright for the win with the checkered flag in sight, but Cartwright finished first and celebrated with a giant no-footer off the finish line. Noren and Clason earned the final two transfer positions, while Karnow missed the main event by 5.437s.

250SX main event:
Robertson and Yoder ran side by side through the opening rhythm section with McAdoo and Lawrence close behind. Robertson led the first lap but soon faced pressure from points leader Lawrence. Soon after succumbing to a pass for the lead by Lawrence, Robertson crashed heavily at the end of the whoops under pressure from McAdoo and Hampshire, laying near his bike to the side of the track with an apparent shoulder injury. Hampshire passed McAdoo for second while Lawrence began detaching with the lead at the head of the field. At the same time, local favorite Kitchen ran fourth ahead of ClubMX representative Lopes. McAdoo worked past Hampshire for second and cut a few seconds out of Lawrence’s lead as the young Honda rider ran into traffic. When approaching the white flag, Hampshire lunged past McAdoo in a bowl turn to reclaim the second position, finalizing the podium positions. Lawrence won by 2.712s while just half a second split Hampshire from McAdoo at the checkered flag. Lopes maintained his position for fourth, while Vohland was elevated to the top five with Robertson’s crash. Kitchen, Brown, Mumford, Oldenburg, and Thompson filled the bottom half of the top 10, with Robertson officially scored in last place.

450SX main event:
Moranz grabbed the holeshot with room to spare and successfully led the race’s first lap. With a charging Sexton behind, Moranz went over the berm in a bowl turn and got stuck on the tough blocks, falling to the back of the field. Sexton assumed the race lead with Roczen close behind, along with Tomac, Cianciarulo, and Webb. A mistake for Cianciarulo and a quick run through the whoops for Tomac promoted the points leader and reigning champion into third, and he then set his sights on Roczen in second. With just over 14 minutes remaining, Tomac rocketed past Roczen, but the two traded positions two additional times after mistakes from the other on the fading track. With 10 and a half minutes on the clock, Sexton fell victim to the challenging conditions and went over the handlebars, falling to fourth from the lead. Tomac assumed the lead, with Webb just over 2s behind. Barcia and Sexton got by Roczen for third and fourth before Roczen fell victim to a surge from Anderson, dropping from a podium spot to sixth. A late-race charge toward Tomac was not to be for Webb as the KTM rider settled for second, finishing just under 5s back from Tomac at the checkers. Earning extra reason to celebrate on his birthday, Barcia captured his third podium of 2023 with his fourth top-four result in as many rounds. Sexton ended the night in fifth, failing to back up his Detroit victory and losing more championship ground. Roczen, Plessinger, Cianciarulo, Craig, and Justin Hill comprised the remainder of the top 10.