Follow the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship with direct updates from round six of the season at Southwick through Racefeed.

Image: Octopi Media.

250MX qualifying:
Local favorite James DeCotis used favorable track conditions in the first 250MX B-group session of the day to rocket to the top of the combined timesheet leading into the motos. At 2:06.592s, DeCotis’ best revolution of the sandy circuit put him 0.218s clear of Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), who turned in the fastest lap among the A contingent in their first laps of the morning. Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) landed third based on his first-session lap, 1.457s off Cooper’s pace. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire and Jalek Swoll were fourth and fifth overall, though Hamsphire was signficantly faster than any other rider in the second session with the track in a more race-like state. Tom Vialle’s first laps at Southwick for Red Bull KTM ended with him sixth on the combined qualifying results, followed by his teammate Max Vohland as well as Seth Hammaker (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), and Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) in the top 10.

450MX qualifying:
Entering the season’s sixth round undefeated across 10 motos, Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence extended his control on the 450MX class in his rookie season to Southwick as the fastest qualifier by a significant margin. Lawrence’s Honda stablemate Chase Sexton turned a 2:06.63s lap time on his best revolution of the New England track, but that was only good enough to come within 2.208s of Lawrence, who lapped at 2:05.422s in the first 450MX outing. Usual suspects Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki), and Ty Masterpool landed in the third, fourth, and fifth positions on the combined qualifying results on the strength of their best first-session times. Local privateers Chris Canning and Anton Gole took lap times in the mid-2:09s range to sixth and seventh, beating Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki), Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM), and Fredrik Noren (Twisted Tea HEP Suzuki) in the top 10.

250MX moto one:
An initially dominant moto one performance for Cooper turned into the rider of the No. 32 Yamaha YZ250F settling for second 30 minutes and two laps after the day’s first gate drop. Cooper secured the holeshot and kept Vialle behind until he lost the front and hit the ground just before the final quarter of the race. Vialle slipped by and built a lead of more than 10s entering the final laps. The Frenchman, competing in his first Pro Motocross Championship season, finalized the moto win over Cooper by a margin of 17.41s. Lawrence moved forward following a start near the back of the top 10, but did not finish the moto due to an apparent engine problem as the final lap began. Seemingly in pain, Lawrence took a seat off to the side of the track near his fallen Honda CRF250R before his team fetched the bike and he began the trip back to the paddock to prepare for the second moto. Even with an unideal start and a late tip over, Deegan pushed forward to fourth at the checkered flag, increasing the impact of Lawrence’s engine failure in terms of the 250MX points standings. Hampshire finished about 7s up the track from Deegan to claim third, while Deegan’s teammate Kitchen, winner last time out at Redbud, finished fifth. Jo Shimoda (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), Vohland, Caden Braswell (TLD Red Bull GasGas), and Talon Hawkins (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) filled the rest of the top 10. Swoll finished 11th after running near the front early, while fastest qualifier DeCotis came home 12th ahead of Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s young rider Ryder DiFrancesco.

450MX moto one:
Undefeated rookie Lawrence rocketed out of the gate and masterfully pinched off the riders to his inside, but a mistake through the first turn allowed Sexton to dart ahead a few bike lengths. With an inside move into the second turn, however, Lawrence immediately took back control of the race. Sexton limited Lawrence’s advantage to around 2s before letting the rookie pull more than 10s forward entering the closing laps. Adding to the challenge of the sandy track, countless rollers and ruts perhaps encouraged Lawrence to tone it back slightly leading to the checkered flag, with the final margin of victory standing at 7.003s. Regardless, Lawrence successfully reached the halfway mark of his 2023 campaign yet to lose a moto. After the Honda 1-2 delivered by Lawrence and Sexton, Ferrandis raced to third after spending an early period behind privateer Masterpool, who put up a strong fight before relinquishing his starting position of third to Ferrandis and being leapfrogged by Plessinger who finished fourth. Masterpool in fifth beat the Kawasaki duo of Anderson and Cianciarulo along with local rider Canning, Wildcat Racing’s Jose Butron, and Garrett Marchbanks (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha) to the checkered flag in the top 10.

250MX moto two:
Similar to the first moto for the quarter-liter Pro Motocross class, unideal starts for primary championship contenders Lawrence and Deegan allowed other riders to surface and contend for the frontmost positions to conclude their day. A masterful start for moto one winner Vialle seemed to be the setup for a 1-1 result on the day for the former MX2 rider, but a strong opening stanza to the race for Shimoda had the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider near Vialle’s rear tire and looking capable of swiping the race lead. Shimoda did so on the sixth lap and went on to lead the remaining 10 of 15 total, capturing his first moto win of the 2023 Pro Motocross season. Despite a fall, Cooper stayed ahead of a battle behind him and finished second, 4.079s in arrears of the victorious young Japanese rider. Vialle held off a charging Hampshire, who battled through mistakes and no eye protection after ditching his goggles as rain began to fall mid-moto. After Hampshire in fourth, Hammaker closed out a strong day aboard his Pro Circuit-branded Kawasaki KX250 with fifth in moto two, ahead of Vohland, Swoll, Lawrence, Kitchen, and Deegan in the top 10.

450MX moto two:
Ferrandis was first out of the first turn after the day’s final gate drop, but Lawrence took over at his next opportunity, just as he did to Sexton in moto one. Plessinger, Cianciarulo, and Sexton were the other riders up front as the race began to unfold. Sexton moved into second, but not soon enough to keep the size of Lawrence’s lead from eclipsing 5s. Positions changing hands was limited among this group through to the checkered flag, with Lawrence ultimately securing his 12th consecutive moto win of 2023 by 14.711s over his teammate. Ferrandis was third, finalizing his 3-3 performance on the day. Plessinger held fourth, taking the checkered flag a ways up the track from ClubMX rider Marchbanks who turned a better start into a fifth-place result in moto two. Butron, Canning, Cianciarulo, Grant Harlan, and Masterpool were the other riders in the top 10 as the field took the checkers.