2024 Southwick Motocross | Race Report & Results

2024 Pro Motocross Championship | Southwick | Round Five

After a week off, the Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, returned to action for Round 5 of the 2024 season with an annual visit to Western Massachusetts and the iconic sand track at The Wick 338. The 43rd running of the Crestview Construction Southwick National was greeted with overcast skies, cool temperatures, and a huge crowd of passionate fans, which set the stage for another memorable day of racing. In the 450 Class, defending champion Jett Lawrence parlayed 1-2 moto scores into his fourth win of the season for Team Honda HRC, while the 250 Class saw Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan prevail with 1-2 finishes of his own and add to his point lead with his fourth win of the summer.

250 Class – Moto One

The first moto of the afternoon got underway with the red plate of Deegan’s Yamaha leading the field through the first turn for the MotoSport.com Holeshot over his rivals in Team Honda HRC’s Chance Hymas, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen, and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle. The clear track gave Deegan an early advantage that he took full advantage of as the point leader soon established a multi-second advantage over the field.

While Deegan continued to build on his lead Vialle was on the move forward. The Frenchman started the moto in fourth but rode a consistent pace that allowed him to work his way around both Kitchen and Hymas and secure second place. He faced a deficit of just over eight seconds with a little more than 10 minutes left in the moto and was able to ride faster lap times than Deegan, which allowed Vialle to gain ground on the lead. The gap between the top two closed to about five seconds before Deegan responded, emphatically, and pulled away to establish his largest lead of the moto.

Deegan went wire to wire and charged to his sixth moto win of the season by a margin of 15.3 seconds over Vialle. Hymas fended off a late challenge from Kitchen to secure third, while Triumph Racing’s Joey Savatgy rounded out the top five.

250 Class – Moto Two

The second moto started with each of the top five finishers from Moto 1 at the front of the field exiting the first turn, with Kitchen leading the way. However, a red flag for a downed rider necessitated a restart. When the gate dropped for the second time Kitchen once again put his Kawasaki out front for the MotoSport.com Holeshot, but Deegan went on the attack to take the lead from Kitchen with an aggressive pass. Behind them Vialle slotted into third, with Team Honda HRC’s Jo Shimoda in fourth.

As Deegan started to inch away from the field, Vialle put the pressure on Kitchen and was able to make the pass for second to give chase to Deegan. The Frenchman was able to close in and apply pressure on Deegan, who tucked his front tire and crashed out of the top spot. Vialle was forced to take evasive action but inherited the lead, while Shimoda and Kitchen followed through in second and third, respectively. Deegan remounted in sixth but made a quick pass to move back into the top five.

With the lead in hand, Vialle opened a lead of 4.5 seconds on the field as Deegan continued his recovery effort with a move into the top four and then engaged in a battle with Kitchen for third. Deegan waited for his opportunity and made an easy pass to break into the top three. Vialle was able to stabilize his hold of the lead through the majority of the moto, but Shimoda started to close in the closing minutes and got the gap to within three seconds as Deegan lurked a few additional seconds behind in third. As the pace increased up front Deegan responded and was able to catch Shimoda with two laps to go.

Soon the top three were separated by less than a second and Shimoda found himself alongside Vialle with a pass for the lead. Vialle and Deegan then engaged in a battle for second, still in pursuit of Shimoda out front. As they took the white flag the top three were within 1.5 seconds of one another. As Vialle looked to make a move on Shimoda he slid out and went down, which handed second to Deegan as Vialle remounted in third.

Shimoda closed out his first moto win of the season and his first with Team Honda HRC by a margin of 6.3 seconds over Deegan. Vialle settled for third.

450 Class – Moto One

The opening premier class moto began with the familiar sight of Team Honda HRC mounted Lawrence siblings at the head of the pack, with Jett securing the MotoSport.com Holeshot over Hunter. Right behind them was Team Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton. With a clear track ahead of him, Jett Lawrence was able to sprint out to an early lead of more than 2.5 seconds before the completion of the opening lap.

As the moto wore on, the young Australian continued to add to the advantage over his brother, which eventually approached 10 seconds. Behind them, Sexton asserted his hold of third, which allowed the top three to move upwards of 30 seconds over the rest of the field.

Jett Lawrence managed the margin through the final stages of the moto and wrapped up a wire-to-wire effort to secure his fifth moto win of the season by 6.4 seconds over Hunter Lawrence, with Sexton alone in a distant third. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson followed in fourth, with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper in fifth.

450 Class – Moto Two

It was more of the same to begin the second and deciding moto as Jett Lawrence once again led Hunter Lawrence through the first turn for the MotoSpot.com Holeshot, while Sexton gave chase from third. Sexton was aggressive on the opening lap and made the pass on Hunter Lawrence for second. Right after that he began to look for a way into the lead around Jett Lawrence. Sexton’s forward momentum then stalled out, which allowed Hunter Lawrence to close in and reclaim second.

Hunter’s push wasn’t finished as he got alongside his brother and made the pass on Jett to grab control of the lead. Jett settled into second, while Sexton and his Red Bull KTM teammate Aaron Plessinger pursued from third and fourth, respectively.

The pace remained calm through the heart of the moto but the intensity picked up in the final 10 minutes when Hunter Lawrence briefly went off track. That allowed Jett Lawrence to close in and apply pressure on his brother. Jett was able to make the pass happen with a handful of minutes to go and easily distanced himself, but all eyes were on Sexton who was the fastest rider on the track. Sexton made quick work of Hunter Lawrence to take over second and then set his sights on the lead.

The KTM rider put on a charge to close in on Jett Lawrence and initiate a fight for the lead with less than two minutes to go. Sexton got alongside Lawrence and briefly nosed ahead, but the Honda rider battled back to hold onto the position. Sexton didn’t relent and his persistence ultimately paid off as he seized control of the moto just before time ran out. From there, Sexton checked out over the final two laps.

Sexton took his third moto win of the season by 8.5 seconds over Jett Lawrence, who needed to fend off a late push from Hunter Lawrence on the final lap.