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

Image: Octopi Media.

250MX qualifying:
Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Justin Cooper set the fastest time of the 250MX qualifying session, edging out series leader Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) by 0.4s. Cooper’s best lap of 2m14.175s came from the first session, while Lawrence’s quickest time of 2m14.579s came from the second outing, which generally saw slower lap-times. Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha rookie Haiden Deegan finished the qualifying third-fastest, edging RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) and the recently-returned Austin Forkner (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki). Maximus Vohland (Red Bull KTM), Seth Hammaker (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasak), Jalek Swoll (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), and Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki team-mates Carson Mumford and Jo Shimoda completed the 10-fastest times. 

450MX qualifying:
Team Honda HRC’s championship leader Jett Lawrence charged to the top of the 450MX timesheets for the seventh time this season, after throwing down his quickest lap in the second qualifying session. Lawrence’s time of 2m14.510s beat that of Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson, who topped the first qualifying outing with a 2m15.407s lap. Fellow Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Adam Cianciarulo finished the third-quickest after the two sessions, edging Chase Sexton (Team Honda HRC) and Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha). Privateer Ty Masterpool (Kawasaki) got the better of Red Bull KTM’s Aaron Plessinger for P6, as Derek Drake (Toyota of Redlands BarX Suzuki), Australian Jed Beaton (Honda) and Garrett Marchbanks (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha) finished inside the top 10.

250MX moto one:
It was Deegan who hit the front early and controlled the early stages of 250MX moto one, maintaining an advantage of around five seconds through much of the encounter. Behind him, teammate Cooper started applying pressure in the final 10 minutes, until points-leader Lawrence – who was as far back as sixth on the first lap – gradually moved forward into podium position and eventually made the move for P2 in the closing laps. It was Deegan, however, who managed to hold on at the front to win by 2.762s ahead of Lawrence, with Cooper another four seconds back in third. Fourth was Hampshire in a solid effort, ahead of Vohland after he challenged for the podium early, with Shimoda, Hammaker, Kitchen, Mumford and Swoll completing the top 10. Forkner went down in the first turn and rebounded for 21st, while also Ryder DiFrancesco (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) and Tom Vialle were first lap casualties, each ruled out for the remainder of the moto. KTM has since confirmed that the world champion won’t be lining this afternoon.

450MX moto one:
The opening 450MX moto saw Ferrandis power to the holeshot and he led the first lap until red plate-holder Lawrence took control. Former champion Ferrandis put up a fight of sorts before Lawrence went by and by lap six he was bumped back to third by Sexton, which is how they would finish. Lawrence’s winning margin was 7.992s, with the rookie’s streak building to 15 motos in succession. Chasing the leading trio, Anderson took the checkered flag directly behind Ferrandis, as teammate Cianciarulo took P5. Positions six through 10 included Masterpool, Plessinger, Marchbanks, Fredrik Noren (Twisted Tea Suzuki) and Colt Nichols (Kawasaki) in his return to the outdoors.

250MX moto two:
When the gates dropped on moto two it was a three-way Star Racing fight at the front, led by Cooper ahead of Kitchen and Deegan. From that point, Cooper began to stretch an advantage out front, with opening race winner Deegan making his way by Kitchen at midway. It was Deegan who put on a late charge to set the quickest lap of the race and, with that, made his way by Cooper into the lead with four laps remaining. That allowed him to again take control for the second time this afternoon, going on to win by 7.974s from Cooper, with Kitchen holding strong for third on the podium. Lawrence recovered from an error of his own to finish in fourth position, comfortably ahead of Hampshire in P5. Sixth to 10th included Hammaker, Shimoda, Vohland, Mumford and Forkner. Overall, Deegan went 1-1 to clinch the overall ahead of Cooper, with Lawrence rounding out the top three. The series now sees Deegan close to within three points of Lawrence, with Cooper now a further 16 in arrears entering into the upcoming two-weekend break in the series.

450MX moto two:
The restarted second premier class moto saw Plessinger repeat his front-running start for the hole shot, with Lawrence quickly looming from the outset. Plessinger managed to bounce back from the opening moto though and led for near 10 minutes, until Lawrence went by and Sexton followed suit. The race was on at that point and Sexton managed to track down his title-leading teammate, until he crashed in the latter stages. That was all she wrote, as Lawrence went on to win by 3.053s, still over Sexton, with Plessinger fending off a late charge from Anderson to maintain third. In fifth came Ferrandis, followed by Marchbanks, Cianciarulo, Masterpool, Nicoletti and Nichols, marking his second top 10 in as many races. Australian Jed Beaton (Boost Mobile Honda Racing), after finishing 13th in the opening moto, was out early with a throttle issue on the second lap. The overall belonged to Lawrence as he maintained his unbeaten run this season, joined by Sexton and Anderson on the podium. In terms of the points, Lawrence now has a 95-point advantage over Ferrandis coming into two weekends off prior to Unadilla on 12 August.