2022 Ironman Motocross | Race Report & Results

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2022 IRONMAN MOTOCROSS | COMPLETE COVERAGE

The eleventh round in this year’s Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship was nothing short of epic. All four motos at the 2022 Ironman Motocross had season-defining moments for riders involved in the title fights, including Jett Lawrence getting one step closer to a second number one plate and Jo Shimoda solidifying his second place rank the small-bore class while Chase Sexton and Eli Tomac went pass for pass, blow for blow in an attempt to score every point possible.

250 Moto One

As the gate dropped for the first moto at Ironman, Nate Thrasher was off to the early lead with Rj Hampshire just behind. Maximus Vohland shuffled himself into third place with Farres trailing. Maximus was pressuring Hampshire early, as he looked for a spot to make the pass for second place on the opening lap. Meanwhile, Michael Mosiman went down hard on the first lap and remounted in last place. 

Back up front, Maximus made the pass on Rj after scrubbing past the Husqvarna rider. Jett Lawrence also made moves, as he passed into fourth place and had Justin Cooper following in tail. A lap later, Maximus Vohland was challenging Thrasher for the lead. Maximus looked inside a few times, but ultimately had to settle for second. Rj Hampshire then upped his pace, as Jett began to close-in on the top three. Both Rj and Jett had caught Maximus, but Jett was the first to advance. 

Jett Lawrence took Rj wide to take over third place and then immediately went after Maximus for second. After a great run through the set of jumps, Jett scrubbed to an outside line and then cut inside to take the spot away from Maximus. Rj Hampshire was now pressuring Maximus for third, as the two swapped ruts before Hampshire ultimately made the pass for third. 

Up front, Nate Thrasher continued to lead and now held a 3-second cushion over Jett Lawrence. Laps later, Justin Cooper entered the picture, as he reeled in Vohland. Back to the leaders, Jett used the same line he passed Hampshire with to make the pass on Thrasher for the race lead. Justin Cooper made the pass on Maximus for fourth place, just before Maximus dropped pace, allowing both Hunter Lawrence and Jo Shimoda to pass in laps later. 

After passing Maximus, Shimoda went after Hunter Lawrence for fifth place, just as Rj Hampshire passed Thrasher for second place. As Shimoda challenged Hunter, Hunter began to pressure Cooper. While battling, the wheels on the ground flag came out over the Godzilla jump; both Justin Cooper and Hunter Lawrence still jumped, while Jo checked up and rolled. A few sections later, both Hunter and Jo made the pass on Justin, dropping Cooper to sixth. 

Further back in the pack, Cameron McAdoo tipped it over while giving chase to Farres, who held down ninth place. Towards the front, Jo Shimoda continued to pressure Hunter Lawrence and went down just when it looked like he was going to make the pass. Jo remounted before loosing a position, but the crash ended any hopes for a fourth place finish. Hunter Lawrence then made a quick pass on Thrasher for third place. 

With three laps to go, Haiden Deegan was off-track after going down while running in 10th place. Jett Lawrence crossed the checkered flag and collected the win in 250MX moto one ahead of Rj Hampshire and Hunter Lawrence, who rounded out the podium. 

250 Moto Two

The second 250MX moto was off and Justin Cooper was off to the early lead with Jo Shimoda trailing. Haiden Deegan and Slade Smith were down just after the start. Back up front, Jo Shimoda made the pass on Cooper for the lead. Hunter Lawrence shuffled into third place, but then jumped off track momentarily and was almost passed by Thrasher. Jett Lawrence came around outside of the top-10 on the opening lap and had some work to do. 

Through his race to the front, Jett shared a battle with Pierce Brown and Jalek Swoll. Jett and Pierce swapped lines a few times before Jett advanced and went after Swoll. Seth Hammaker went down while running in the top-5, dropping him back outside of the top-10. As Jo Shimoda continued to build on his lead, Hunter Lawrence was now challenging Justin Cooper for second place. After the mechanics area, Hunter cut under Justin and took over second place. 

Meanwhile, Jett Lawrence was now up to fifth place after making the pass on Maximus Vohland. After tipping over a few laps earlier, Pierce Brown was out of moto two. A few laps later, Jett Lawrence was now ahead of Nate Thrasher and reeling in Justin Cooper. After perfect execution of an inside rut, Jett passed Cooper and was now in third place.

Levi Kitchen and Carson Mumford were out of moto two after their own separate issues. Rj Hampshire caught and passed Thrasher to take over fifth place. Laps later, Rj Hampshire made the pass on Justin Cooper almost as soon as he caught him. Jo Shimoda crossed the finish line first to claim the second moto win and a second place finish overall at Ironman. Jett Lawrence crossed the finish line in third place and claimed the overall victory with 1-3 results. 

450 Moto One

The first 450MX moto was off and Christian Craig was off to the early lead, as Jason Anderson was down in the first turn. Ken Roczen immediately made the pass for the lead on Craig, as Shane McElrath pushed Justin Barcia back to fourth place. Ryan Dungey pulled alongside Barcia and looked inside in the following section to make the pass for fourth place. About a lap later, Dungey took an inside like to jump past McElrath for third place. 

Eli Tomac was now in the picture, as he made a pass on Barcia and McElrath before immediately going after Dungey for third place. Eli then went inside to pass Dungey and nearly passed Craig at the same time. By the end of that lap, Eli Tomac had passed his teammate and took over second place, while Chase Sexton battled for a top-5. 

Chase Sexton trailed the battle for third place, between Craig and Dungey, before he scrubbed past Dungey and mounted a charge at Craig. As Chase worked on Christian, Eli began challenging Ken for the lead. Sexton was the first to advance, as he made the pass on Craig and set his sights on his championship rival the battle for the lead. 

Eli Tomac finally made the pass for the lead after rocketing out of an inside rut and beating Ken to the next corner. As Chase pulled alongside Ken, Ken took a look over to see it was his teammate before letting off and allowing Chase to make the pass for second place. Chase Sexton now charged towards Eli Tomac in hopes of battling for the race lead. 

With 10-minutes plus two laps to go, Chase Sexton had closed the gap between Eli and himself to just over a second. Chase made a mistake after nearly losing his front-end around the tree turn, directing his bike inside of the track. Chase regained the course just before a lapped rider got in Eli’s way, allowing Sexton to close back up. 

Eli made a mistake after getting hung-up in an inside rut, allowing Sexton to rocket past on the inside and enter the race lead. Eli now became the challenger, as he kept Sexton at bay and trailed just behind. As they battled through lapped riders, Eli continued to lurk but then rocketed through an outside line on the flats and took the race lead again. 

With two laps to go, Eli had built up a 4-second lead over Sexton after laying down his fastest lap of the race. On the final lap, Sexton reeled Eli back in but ran out of time as Eli Tomac grabbed the first moto win. Just behind, Aaron Plessinger had made his way through the pack and passed into third place to collect the final position on the podium. 

450 Moto Two

As the second moto of the 450MX class left the gate, Chase Sexton was off to the early lead with Ken Roczen alongside. Ryan Dungey and Aaron Plessinger sat third and fourth, just ahead of Craig and Tomac. Ken Roczen made a quick pass on Sexton to take over the race lead. Eli Tomac passed both Plessinger and Dungey to secure third place on the opening lap. 

Chase Sexton took Roczen wide to take back the race lead on the second lap. As Chase attempted to break away from the field, Roczen held Tomac at bay and continued to separate the Championship rivals. Just behind, Aaron Plessinger was challenging Ryan Dungey for fourth place. Tomac pulled alongside of Roczen and the two nearly connected just before Eli cut under and took over second place.

After passing into second place, Eli Tomac sat just over 4-seconds behind Chase Sexton. Plessinger continued to push Dungey, ultimately leading both of them up to Roczen. After trailing for several laps, Plessinger went wide around the tree turn and beat Dungey to the following corner to take over fourth place. Plessinger then went after Ken Roczen and used another outside line to make the pass for third place. 

Up front, Eli Tomac had closed the gap between Sexton and himself to just over a second. Eli made a huge mistake and got cross-rutted, losing two seconds on Sexton with just four minutes on the clock. Meanwhile, Jason Anderson charged past Roczen and then Plessinger a few laps later to take over third place. Christian Craig then sprinted to an inside rut and made the pass on Roczen. 

Chase Sexton opened his lead up to a 9-second lead over Eli Tomac after laying down some sprint laps late in the race. Chase Sexton crossed the checkered flag to collect the second moto win and the overall victory, taking the 450MX championship into round 12 with a one-point difference.