2023 Spring Creek Motocross | Race Report & Results

Presented by O’Neal

The 2023 Spring Creek Motocross, round seven in the Pro Motocross Championship, saw plenty of action through four motos. The constant war that is the 250 Class saw two different winners and another shake-up in the point standings, while the 450 Class was another torrid pursuit of one rider in the midst of a perfect season.

250 Moto One

Jo Shimoda shot out of the starting gate like a rocket and snagged the holeshot in the first moto of the day, leading points leader Haiden Deegan, Justin Cooper, and the rest of the pack through the first corner and onto the track. Hunter Lawrence was mired at the start and began lap one outside of the top 10, but got to work quickly in his pursuit of the leaders. Shimoda set a blistering pace and opened up an immediate lead over Deegan, who held the runner-up position for nearly half of the moto. While Cooper, Levi Kitchen, Tom Vialle, and RJ Hampshire battled over the third through fifth-place positions, Lawrence methodically closed in and picked his way past his opponents with creative lines. When Lawrence moved into third and closed to Deegan’s rear wheel, the points leader made it easy for the Australian by flying off the track when he clipped the outside bank of an uphill corner. Once into second, Lawrence set his eyes on the Japanese rider Shimoda, who held a six-second lead.

Behind the lead duo, Hampshire took firm control of third with an aggressive pass on Cooper, leaving him to ride alone in fourth, a couple of seconds clear of a heated battle between Deegan and Vialle. 

Lawrence closed to the rear wheel of Shimoda with over 10 minutes left on the clock and dogged his former teammate for several laps before finally making a pass with two laps to go. Once in the point position, Lawrence began to check out and by the checkered flag enjoyed a comfortable two-second lead over Shimoda. Hampshire followed six seconds further back. Cooper, Deegan, and Vialle followed. With Deegan’s fifth and Lawrence’s come-from-behind win, the championship points lead went back to the Honda HRC rider. 

250 Moto Two

Lawrence switched to the Dunlop MX14 scoop tire after the parade lap, and the change paid off as he ripped the start, led the field onto the track, and immediately began to check out on his Cameron Camera-tuned Honda CRF250R. Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Kitchen and Cooper followed, with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki teammates Ryder DiFrancisco and Shimoda close behind. First moto contenders Vialle and Hampshire both suffered poor starts and started the race outside of the top 10. 

Up front, Lawrence methodically added to his lead over Cooper, and by the halfway point it had grown to seven seconds. Kitchen trailed another six seconds back, and Shimoda finally found his way past his teammate and set his sights on the top three. Shimoda made an outside pass stick at the bottom of Mt. Martin and once into third in the moto, he seemed to settle into a solid pace to the finish. As the race wore down, the rider making moves was Deegan. After starting well outside of the top 10, the second-generation racer chopped through the field and made his way up to eighth, where he would stay until the end. 

The unthinkable happened on the penultimate lap when Lawrence crashed while enjoying a massive lead. Cooper was able to race past and into the lead. At the finish, Cooper led Lawrence home by four seconds, with Shimoda hot on his heels. Lawrence’s 1-2 scores were solid enough for the overall win, while  Shimoda’s 2-3 edged Cooper’s 4-2 out for second overall. 

450 Moto One

When the gate dropped at the start of the opening 450-class moto, Adam Cianciarulo was quickest off the line and through turn one and led Aaron Plessinger, Jett Lawrence, Chase Sexton, and the others onto the track. Lawrence went to work immediately and passed AP in the third corner, then gobbled up Cianciarulo before lap one was in the books. Sexton crashed on lap one when he dragged his footpeg scrubbing a jump and dropped to eighth, and was lucky not to be hit by other riders as he remounted. Sexton got back to work quickly, displacing Jason Anderson and Garrett Marchbanks on lap two to move into fourth. Plessinger fell victim to Sexton on the next lap in the same section that he worked past Marchbanks. Once into third, the Honda HRC rider put his head down and set out to close the space that sat between him and second-placed Cianciarulo. On lap four, Sexton moved past Cianciarulo and into second with relative ease. With over 20 minutes left on the clock, Sexton found himself with a 4.8-second deficit to his young teammate Lawrence. 

Further back in the pack, Anderson caught fire at the halfway point and closed in on the battle between Cianciarulo and Plessinger and passed both of them within seconds of each other. Plessinger rode Anderson’s draft past AC too, but that wasn’t all that the crowd had to cheer about! Up front, Sexton closed to the rear of Lawrence’s Honda and with 13 minutes left on the clock, the gap was only a matter of bike lengths. As the moto wore down, Lawrence and Sexton played a game of cat and mouse: Lawrence would pull away in the famous Millville sand whoops, while Sexton would gain throughout the rest of the course. Sexton’s rhythm was robbed on lap 12 when privateer Scott Meshey ran him wide in a right-handed uphill corner, allowing Lawrence to extend his advantage to 2.5 seconds. With three laps to go, Sexton seemed to settle into the runner-up position and allowed Lawrence to extend his lead to over four seconds. The Supercross Champion, though, enjoyed over 40 seconds on third-placed Anderson, Plessinger, and Dylan Ferrandis. 

On the final lap, Sexton turned up the intensity and closed back in on the leader, but a mistake on a downhill caused him to crash and lose touch with Lawrence. At the checkered flag, Lawrence came home 11 seconds clear of Sexton. Anderson held off a last-lap charge by Plessinger to earn his first podium finish of the series.

450 Moto Two

When the gate dropped on the final 30-minute-plus-two-laps race, Sexton and Lawrence led the field and the stage seemed set for an amazing battle between the teammates. Sexton made a mistake in the fourth corner, though, and allowed Lawrence to sneak past and into the lead. Cianciarulo controlled third and was shadowed by Ferrandis and privateer of the moment, Ty Masterpool. Sexton started lap two 1.8 seconds down on Lawrence but stayed close and studied his rival’s lines. On lap three, Sexton lost his front end while riding within 1.5 seconds of Lawrence and dropped to third, allowing Cianciarulo past. 

Sexton reclaimed second with 20 minutes left on the clock but found himself at a 14-second deficit to Lawrence. At the halfway point of the race, Ferrandis found his way past Cianciarulo, and Plessinger followed suit past the Kawasaki rider and set out after the Frenchman for third. Lawrence stretched his lead to 16 seconds at the finish and he remains unbeaten with 14 starts and 14 wins. Sexton went 2-2 for second, while Ferrandis rounded out the podium with his 5-4.