CRAWFORDSVILLE, Indiana: Eli Tomac won the holeshot, Hunter Lawrence took the lead early, as the fastest riders on the track struggled in the opening lap. Showing his determination, Chase Sexton fended off a fierce charge by Jett Lawrence in the second half of the race as they battled for second. Once clear of Jett, Sexton tracked down Hunter for the Moto 1 win at Ironman Raceway.
After Sexton passed Hunter for the lead with two laps remaining, he stretched the gap to 4.8 seconds at the checkers. The last time the 450 riders competed at Washougal, Sexton capitalized on a Moto 1 win to score the overall.
It was not easy. Sexton had to overcome adversity in the opening laps.
“It was really up and down for me. The rut folded over and I fell over on the first lap,” Sexton said from the top of the podium. “Then I was just riding around. I got into a good flow and I actually thought Hunter was too far gone, but I put in some good laps until Jett caught me and we went at it for a couple of turns. That was fun.”
Hunter made a few mistakes in the second half of the race, which allowed Sexton to close the distance.
“Pretty disappointing,” Hunter said. “I was fighting with the track, my bike, and myself honestly. Got fatigued. I felt really good at the start, but it’s tough; it’s a really “fatiguey” track and it’s hot. There’s no wind flow. Got to go back and recover.”
Jett got stuck on the gate and started well back in the field in 23rd, but he charged forward to cross under the checkers third for the last podium position.
“I was ready to go and the gate didn’t want to drop and the guy next to me flinched and I was so committed and hit the gate,” Jett said. “I just tried to get back and then me and Chase had a really good battle. He came in hard in that first turn and I just wasn’t close enough to get anything done.”
UPDATE: Between the two motos, the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) announced Jett was penalized one lap for jumping (fouling) the gate, which moved him back to 17th.
RJ Hampshire (originally fourth) and Justin Cooper rounded out the top five before getting moved up one position.
Jorge Prado inherited the top five.
Moto 1 original Results
Moto 1 Results revised
- Tomac won the holeshot.
- Jett jumped the start and hit the gate.
- Jett was as far back as 23rd on Lap 1.
- Chase Sexton fell on Lap 2 and dropped to seventh.
- Jett moved up to 11th on Lap 2.
- On Lap 3, Jett moved into the top 10 (ninth). Sexton moved to fifth.
- Hunter took the lead on Lap 5.
- Sexton moved around Hampshire for third on Lap 8.
- Sexton took second from Tomac one lap later.
- Sexton picked up four seconds on Hunter on Lap 8 to close to within eight seconds.
- Jett passed Tomac for third on Lap 10.
- On Lap 14, Sexton and Jett fought fiercely with Sexton pushing Jett out of the groove.
- Sexton took the lead with two laps remaining after Hunter stalled.
In Race Notes
Tomac earned his first holeshot of the season when he needed it most. Jett got a poor start after jumping the start.
Sexton tucked his wheel on Lap 2, crashed fell to third.
Meanwhile, Hunter and Cooper rounded out the top three.
Sexton made the pass for fifth over Coty Schock on Lap 3 at Jett moved into the top 10 (ninth).
Hunter kept Tomac in sight with a one-second gap to the leader on Lap 4.
After passing Tomac on Lap 6, he stretched his lead and was seven seconds up on Lap 7.
Hampshire was third with Sexton up to fourth and Jett moving into fifth.
Jett was 15 seconds behind the leader on Lap 7.
Tomac lost pace in the middle stage of the race and allowed Sexton and Jett to get around him. It will be hard to score the overall win from fourth in the first moto.
The gap between Hunter and Sexton stabilized to seven seconds.
That didn’t last long, however; Sexton closed the gap to four seconds on Lap 11.
Sexton rode off course and allowed Jett to close on him on Lap 13.
It’s heating up for second. Jett closed on Sexton, made a couple of long leaps and got along side Jett. Sexton shut Jett down aggressively twice on Lap 14.
Sexton had his sight on the win and he closed the gap to Hunter with two laps remaining.
After being as far back as ninth, Sexton won Moto 1 over Hunter.
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