Follow the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship with direct updates from tonight’s 13th round of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Atlanta through Racefeed.

Image: Octopi Media.

250SX qualifying one:
Comfortably leading the points heading into the unique round on the Atlanta Motor Speedway infield, Hunter Lawrence put nearly a second and a half between his Team Honda HRC machine and the rest of the 250SX East field in the first qualifying outing. At 1:31.461s on the long track, Lawrence was 1.408s quicker than Nate Thrasher (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) on their respective fastest laps. Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) was third, a further 0.173s back, while the returning Jo Shimoda (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) slotted into fourth in his first qualifying session of the 2023 Supercross season. Jordon Smith added a third Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing entry to the top five, while Jeremy Martin (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha), Max Anstie (Fire Power Honda), Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM), Chris Blose (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), and Henry Miller (Ti-Lube Storm Lake Honda) rounded out the top 10.

450SX qualifying one:
Eli Tomac hit the ground running as the Atlanta Motor Speedway visit for Supercross kicked off, leading the first 450SX timed qualifying session aboard his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing machine. The points leader’s 1:31.259s lap put him a mere 0.015s clear of Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Jason Anderson atop the timesheet. Ken Roczen (Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki) landed third, ahead of Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC) and Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) in the top five. Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki), Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas), Justin Hill (Team Tedder Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports), Dean Wilson (Fire Power Honda), and Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM) filled the remainder of the top 10. Notably, Sexton’s Honda stablemate Colt Nichols was only fast enough for 13th to open timed qualifying.

250SX qualifying two:
A quick time at the midpoint of the second and final 250SX East qualifying session from Smith displaced early speed from Thrasher and Martin, but the first 1:29s lap of the day came from Lawrence and put the Honda rider back on top. Lawrence’s 1:29.989s revolution of the Atlanta track was soon eclipsed by a 1:29.944s, with the difference of 0.045s making Thrasher the day’s fastest 250 qualifier. As a result, Lawrence will have the first gate pick in his heat race as the second-quickest qualifying rider, while Smith was quick enough for third. Shimoda continued to show speed upon return with the fourth-fastest time in Q2, beating Martin to fourth on the timesheet by 0.073s. Deegan, Anstie, Vialle, Blose, and Coty Schock (Phoenix Racing Honda) completed the top 10.

450SX qualifying two:
Barcia was first to complete a lap in the session and initially fastest ahead of Cianciarulo. However, the Kawasaki rider was first in the premier class to execute a 1:29s trip around the Atlanta Motor Speedway circuit. Quick times from Sexton and Roczen were the first 1:28s times of the day, while Tomac slotted into third with a 1:29.222s. As the checkered flag appeared, Sexton owned the fastest time, having improved to a 1:28.064s, earning his 11th top qualifying time out of 13 attempts during his 2023 Supercross campaign. A late flyer from Cianciarulo put his Kawasaki KX450SR second, 0.092s in arrears of Sexton. Anderson, Webb, and Barcia completed the top five, with just 0.618s splitting Barcia from Sexton. Roczen, Tomac, Wilson, Plessinger, and Benny Bloss filled the bottom half of the top 10, all lapping within 2.917s.

250SX heat one:
Lawrence benefitted from a crash for then-leader Deegan with two and a half minutes to go and comfortably won the first race of the 2023 Atlanta Supercross. More than 11s back, Vialle took the checkered flag second in his first race at the unique venue. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s young rider Talon Hawkins finished third, 2s ahead of Deegan, who recovered for fourth. Shimoda, Caden Braswell (Phoenix Racing Honda), Luke Neese, and TJ Albright finished in the remaining transfer positions. Josiah Natzke (Partzilla PRMX Racing), Cullin Park (Phoenix Racing Honda), and Schock notably missed out and will participate in the 250 LCQ.

250SX heat two:
Fastest qualifier Thrasher held off his teammate Smith to secure the win by a margin of a second and a half to conclude the 250SX East heat races. Martin jumped past the checkered flag 4.852s in arrears of Smith, while Anstie and Blose were fourth and fifth. Miller, Jace Owen (Phoenix Racing Honda), Marshal Weltin (Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki), and Jeremy Hand were the final riders to transfer directly to the main event.

450SX heat one:
After immediate battling between Cianciarulo and Roczen at the front and six minutes plus one lap of racing, Webb was first to the checkered flag in the day’s first premier-class contest. Cianciarulo recovered from a violent crash in the whoops as Webb attempted a pass for the lead, finishing an impressive fourth. Roczen and Josh Hill (Team Tedder Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports) were second and third. Behind Cianciarulo, Wilson, Nichols, Bloss, Fredrik Noren, and Shane McElrath (Twisted Tea Suzuki Progressive Insurance) occupied the remaining transfer spots as time ran out.

450SX heat two:
Tight racing between Barcia and Anderson lasted from the first turn to the checkered flag, with Anderson ultimately holding off the charging GasGas rider by 0.629s. As these two ran a blistering pace, Sexton latched onto the back of Barcia but settled for third. Tomac recovered from a poor start to finish fifth, while Justin Hill, Kyle Chisholm, Kevin Moranz, Grant Harlan, and Justin Starling punched their tickets directly to the afternoon’s main event. Plessinger finished 10th and will head to the LCQ.

250SX LCQ:
Phoenix Racing Honda teammates Schock and Park cruised to relatively trouble-free first- and second-place finishes in the day’s first LCQ. Gage Linville (Fire Power Honda) held onto third. At the same time, a crash for Hardy Munoz in the whoops preceding the finish line section while approaching the checkered flag elevated AJ Catanzaro to the final transfer position. Catanzaro briefly ran fourth at multiple points during the race and qualified for his fifth main event of 2023.

450SX LCQ:
Banking a bit of extra time on the track following his 10th-place heat race result, Plessinger won the LCQ by 28.075s over Cade Clason (Partzilla PRMX Racing). Joshua Cartwright finished just 1.274s back in third, while local rider Jared Lesher rode to a fourth-place finish to earn a spot in a Supercross main event for his second time.

250SX main event:
Atlanta was the site of another relatively simple win for 250SX East points leader Lawrence. The Honda rider faced an early challenge from Deegan after the two left the first turn side by side and was forced to reel Deegan back in after saving a near-crash in the early laps. Once returning to the lead, Lawrence pulled out to a lead of nearly 4s entering the final minutes and more than doubled it to 8.232s at the checkered flag. Around two minutes short of the checkers, Thrasher crashed out of his duel for a podium spot with his teammates Smith and Deegan in the whoops and left the track in a stretcher. Shimoda battled forward and benefitted from misfortune from a few of his competitors to end his return race in fourth. Anstie completed the top five ahead of Miller, Blose, Hawkins, Park, and Braswell in the top 10. In addition to Thrasher, crashes for Schock, Owen, Martin, and Vialle ended their races early and dropped them to the bottom of the running order.

450SX main event:
With a wire-to-wire victory in Atlanta, Sexton further put his collection of mistakes in 2023 in the past and reduced his deficit in the 450SX championship standings. Roczen started out front with Sexton after the day’s final gate drop, with Anderson and Barcia next on track. Barcia moved into second as Anderson dropped back slightly, with Sexton leading comfortably. Tomac pursued Webb for fourth but fell 2.477s short of his championship rival at the checkered flag to finish fifth. Plessinger kept these two in sight as he rode to sixth following his LCQ victory. Lining up after his violent heat race crash, Cianciarulo finished seventh ahead of Wilson, Nichols, and Justin Hill in the rest of the top 10. Anderson left the track early and finished six laps down in 21st.