In Quotebook, a selection of riders detail how their races played out at the third round of the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship at Thunder Valley.

450MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Jett Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) – First: 
My bike continues to get better and better each week, as I get more and more comfortable on the 450. It’s nice to know that if I need to push hard, the bike will be a huge help. I was pumped on my starts all day – making sure to stay out of the roost is a must at this track. The track was super-slippery all day too, so getting out front early let me look around for different lines without worrying about losing too much time to people in front of me. I’m happy to get out of here with another win, and I just want to keep building on what we have here.

Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) – Fifth: 
The track was very difficult in the morning, so I struggled a little bit in practice. In the first moto, I had a good start, but I crashed on the first lap. I made contact with Plessinger. We ended up in the same rut and crashed together. My bike was on him, and I had to help him, and I ended up losing a lot of time, but that’s racing. My second moto was better. It took a little bit to get the feeling of the track, but I got back and just worked my way to the front and finished third for fifth overall. That first lap in that first moto messed me up a bit, so it was a bad day for me, but it happens. We’re going to regroup this week and come back stronger.

Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy Kawasaki) – Fourth: 
Lakewood is one of my favorite stops of the season, but today did not go the way I wanted. We are making progress with my Monster Energy Kawasaki team and a fourth overall is trending in the right direction. My KX450SR was great all day and with the minor adjustments we made, it was a blast riding. Onto the next battle on the east coast.

Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) – Third: 
My day was quiet, but the result was positive in the end. I struggled a little bit all day, but here we are back on the podium, which is awesome. I didn’t really expect to be in this position, so we’ll take it, and keep it rolling into High Point.

Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM) – Second: 
It was a good day overall here in Colorado. First moto was unfortunate because I took a line that just went into Dylan [Ferrandis’] line – I didn’t see him coming, and then we slammed into each other. His bike was on top of me, but I got back going and managed to salvage fourth. Second moto, I got a decent start, made a few passes and felt good, then with a few laps to go I just wanted to keep it on two wheels for second. Overall, it was a great day and I’m happy.

Derek Drake (BarX Suzuki) – 11th: 
I had a good day, going P2 and P4 in practice. I had a good first moto going, then my rear brake had a setback. Unfortunately, it was the same in moto two – I had a good moto going then another setback and I rode it home. I’m looking forward to next weekend!

Freddie Noren (Twisted Tea Suzuki) – Ninth: 
I went 10-10 for ninth overall and I moved up to seventh place in the overall standings. I should maybe be happy with that, but I’m actually really disappointed. I didn’t gel well with the track, and I just couldn’t ride very well. I felt off-pace all day. I definitely think I should have been higher up with my starts, and there were a few riders who passed me that really shouldn’t pass me. But there were some positives, too. I had good starts and I had no falls or crashes. Overall the team’s doing a great job, and we’re getting better every week.

Kyle Chisholm (Twisted Tea Suzuki) – 16th: 
Honestly, it was a disappointing day. I had a decent start in the first moto, but somebody went down in the first turn right in front of me. I got tangled up in that. Then I caught up to the pack and somebody else crashed right in front of me. Our bikes got tangled up and I couldn’t get going for a while. In the second moto, I started well and just rode pretty steady. The track was gnarly. A lot of deep, deep ruts – really a lot of ruts. So it was a bummer first moto, but my second moto was a little bit of a turnaround.

Marshall Weltin (Twisted Tea Suzuki) – 12th: 
This race marks one year with the team, so it’s a cool day for me. In moto one, I ran in seventh for a while. I was just a little off the pace and ended up 11th. In moto two I was running a decent pace, also around 11th, and unfortunately just had a little incident and tweaked my leg. That slowed me down. I didn’t get tired, I was just battling leg pain. The track was gnarly but I rode well. It was not my best performance, but also not my worst, so we have something to work with heading to next week at High Point.

250MX

Image: Octopi Media.

Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) – First:
It was a really tricky track compared to last year, with all that moisture underneath. All the bumps and ruts had a bunch of super-spongy areas, which made it tough to keep the bike upright. I’m happy I was able to keep the bike upright and grab another win. Obviously, I would love a 1-1, but as long as I keep putting myself in good positions, good things will continue to happen. I’m really excited to go to High Point. It’s one of my favorite tracks in the series, and it’s the first east coast round.

Chance Hymas (Team Honda HRC) – Fifth: 
This weekend was really good for me, even with the first-turn pile-up in moto one. Coming back from dead-last to 11th gave me confidence going into the second moto. I got a fifth-place start, worked my way up to third, and got to battle for second place. I wish I had made the pass, but I’m pumped on getting my first professional podium.

Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) – Second:
Yeah, it was a really good day. My speed was really good all day. I qualified first and won the first moto by a good margin. In the second moto, I got out front and then had a crash the first lap and pretty much set myself way back. It’s never a good spot to crash on the first lap because you lose a lot of positions. I just had to put my head down and do damage control for the rest of the moto and got up to fourth, which was all we could really do. I’m a little bit bummed about the situation. I was fast all day and felt like I could have won today, but we’ll take second and move on to the next one.

Jordon Smith (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) – Seventh: 
I always enjoy racing at Thunder Valley and, once again, it didn’t disappoint. I had a good day with good starts and getting the best finish so far all season. We still have a lot of races left this summer and I’m looking to keep improving!

Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) – Eighth: 
Qualifying went well and I was happy with that. Then the first moto, I pulled the holeshot, and l was like, ‘shoot, we can maybe get another moto win,’ and then ended up falling in the third turn. It is what it is. I’m still learning. It was my fifth outdoor national. We’re just continuing to learn every weekend. It’s definitely not the position where we want to be. I’m a kid that wants to do better every weekend – to keep building and being on the podium – but we have to take the positives and look at what we can change. We’ll just keep working.

Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) – Third: 
I started off kind of slow in qualifying, and then the first moto was pretty good. I got a decent start and then kind of got shuffled back. I just really didn’t have a great pace going in that one. Then I turned it around in the second moto and got a good start, and ended up second for third overall. So overall a good day and it’s something to build on going into High Point.

Jo Shimoda (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) – Fourth: 
It was a day of highs and lows overall. I felt really good on the track, but the results don’t tell the whole story. I am really thankful to finally make it up on the podium in the first moto, but I messed up in the second moto which cost me some points. I think we’ve made the most of some of the things we’ve had to face, so we’re going to keep pushing and try to break through at High Point.

Jett Reynolds (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) – DNF: 
Tough weekend for me. I felt great all morning until a moto one collision caused me to go down before the first turn, ultimately sidelining myself for the remainder of the day. Not sure how it happened, but when everyone is fighting for the holeshot, things can take a turn for the worse quickly. Huge thank you to my team for keeping my KX250 running immaculate all weekend.

Ryder DiFrancesco (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) – 11th: 
I’ve ridden at some elevation before at Mammoth, but that was definitely a very challenging track. It got really rutted and it was easy to make mistakes. I’m thankful to stay close to the top 10 and think we can make improvements this week to have a good round at High Point.

Max Vohland (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) – Sixth: 
The track was super-gnarly today with the deep ruts, but the crew here did a really great job preparing it. The 250MX class is a dogfight right now and starts are critical, because there isn’t a lot of separation between everybody, so overall, I’m happy with my day and am feeling comfortable on the bike. I’m looking forward to High Point – I feel strong and fast, so I’m excited.

Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) – DNF: 
I actually felt really good on the track today from the first practice, although unfortunately, I had a crash on the start straight during the first moto, which took down a lot of riders. My bike was banged up after that – it was a big crash. I came back from last to around 16th, then with two laps to go I made a mistake and crashed again. I hurt my left wrist, although it’s nothing serious, I was unable to do the second moto after riding the sighting lap. It wasn’t really painful, but my wrist felt weak, so we decided to not line up and hopefully, I can ride next week at High Point, which is the goal.

RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) – Ninth: 
It was a really frustrating day. I feel awesome on my bike, I just need to get out of the gate. It’s so frustrating having to charge like that and have a couple of crashes and still have a shot there at the end. I’m heading back to Florida, and we’ll be able to practice some starts this week. I’ll figure some things out and we should be better at High Point.

Talon Hawkins (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) – 13th: 
Colorado definitely was an insane one and not what I expected. This place is super-deep and has a lot of deep ruts. It was cool to get my feet wet and ride some ruts again. I ended up with my best finish of the year. I’m pretty happy about that. There’s a lot of good to take away from it. I just need to be better next week and throughout this season. I ended up with a 14-14 for 13th overall. I’m ready to move on and get a little better every weekend.

Jalek Swoll (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) – 10th: 
It was kind of a tough day. I lacked a little bit, but we’ll have a good week and come back at Mt. Morris. I’ve got a few things to focus on and try and be better with next weekend. I don’t feel like speed wise I’m very far off. I’ve just got to get a little better endurance and a little of that sprint pace in the beginning and we’ll be good. Other than results not looking so good, I feel like I’m on the right progression.

Caden Braswell (TLD Red Bull GasGas) – 12th: 
I wasn’t really happy with the results from Hangtown, so we worked hard this week and rode with some more confidence. I felt a lot more loose and free on the bike and enjoyed the longer ruts here at Thunder Valley. I’m looking forward to some more good starts, more long ruts, and some good dirt at High Point

Chase Yentzer (BarX Suzuki) – 18th:
Thunder Valley is definitely a step in the right direction. After qualifying we made a few adjustments. In the first moto, I lined up on the inside and I came out of the first turn in the top ten. I had fallen back to 14th and I stayed there until the halfway mark. I struggled to breathe and my stomach was cramping with the altitude, making it hard to keep my core tight riding through the ruts. I ended up 18th in that moto. In the second moto I started on the inside, hoping to do the same thing I did in the first moto. I ended up getting pinched off in the first turn and came out in about 20th. I got focused and rode to 17th. I finished the moto strong and had a great day, scoring points in both motos. The Toyota of Redlands BarX Suzuki team was on top of it this weekend. I’m stoked to carry this momentum on to High Point.