Image: Octopi Media.

Jett Lawrence continued his winning ways at Fox Raceway, taking both moto wins and continuing to stretch his points lead in the penultimate round of the 250MX championship.

Coming into the day, Lawrence entered the day with the red-plate for the first time since round four of the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, leading Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) by 11 points with just two rounds to go.

Cooper took the first punch on the day, topping the timesheets ahead of Lawrence by just under a half-second, setting up what looked to be a battle for the red-plate with just four motos left.

When the gate dropped on the opening moto it was Max Vohland (Red Bull KTM) with the holeshot ahead of Michael Mosiman (TLD Red Bull GasGas) and Josh Varize putting his brand new Rockstar Husqvarna ride third off the line.

Jett Lawrence was fourth, quickly making his way to second as Mosiman had passed for the lead and started to create a gap at the front. Cooper was mired in seventh early on and failed to make up any positions early on.

Mosiman would eventually crash and drop to fifth, giving Jett the lead and eventually the moto win with Mosiman eventually bouncing back to second and RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) rounded out the podium, with Cooper finishing in fifth.

In moto two, Lawrence launched out of the gate for his first holeshot of the season, ahead of Mosiman and Cooper who got a much better start than in moto one.

Immediately stretching out a gap that ballooned to six seconds by the halfway point, Lawrence looked to be in total control of the day.

Cooper settled into third place but began to charge with 10 minutes left in the moto, eventually catching Mosiman and making the pass, leaving him 10 minutes to catch Lawrence who was 10 seconds ahead of him.

Ultimately, Lawrence was not to be denied and take his fourth moto win and second overall in succession, stretching his points lead to 23 over Cooper in the championship standings by days end.

Mosiman’s 2-4 moto scores would see him finish second overall in just his second race back from injury, as he looks to finish of the season with momentum heading into the offseason.

Cooper salvaged third by way of 5-2 moto scores, leaving everything on the track in his attempt to catch Lawrence in moto two. He’ll need to throw everything at Lawrence if he’s going to close the gap in the championship in next weekend’s final round.

Jo Shimoda (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) continued his momentum from last week’s career-best finish to take fourth overall. His 4-3 moto scores came by way of a gutsy performance to track down Mosiman in moto two.

A 6-6 day in California was a welcomed improvement for Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) after a tough round last weekend that saw him finish deep in the top 10.

Behind him was Hampshire with another inconsistent day via a first turn crash in the second moto that saw him finish 13th. Hampshire will have one more opportunity to grab his first overall of the season.

Seventh on the day went to Dilan Schwartz, the BarX Chaparral Suzuki rider notching the best finish of his career with 10-8 moto scores.

Behind him was Varize who had a breakout day in the first of two rounds as a fill in rider for Rockstar Energy Husqvarna. His 9-9 scores came by way of great starts that saw him run toward the front in both motos.

Rookie Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) took home his second top-10 overall in his rookie season in ninth place with 12-7 moto scores putting him there.

Rounding out the top 10 was Austin Forkner (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) who took 15-5 moto scores after a first moto crash hindered his day.

The series now heads to Hangtown for the final round next Saturday, as Lawrence leads Cooper by 23 points, with clear momentum on his side after back-to-back 1-1 finishes.

Detailed results