LAKEWOOD, Colorado: Jett Lawrence swept Thunder Valley Motocross Park’s two motos, but failed to dominate as Aaron Plessinger pressured him in Moto 1 and Eli Tomac caught up to his back wheel briefly in Moto 2.
The path to victory in the second moto was not easy. Jett got a poor start and fell to as far back as sixth on the first lap. Jett quickly worked his way into third, showed patience while Justin Cooper and Hunter Lawrence battled for the lead, and did not lead a lap until the halfway point.
“It was like a combination of working hard and being patient,” Jett told NBC Sports’ Will Christien. “Justin was riding as well as Eli. I was able to capitalize on a few mistakes of the guys who were in front of me today.”
This was Jett’s 18th career win, which places him 10th on the all-time list with less than two full seasons under his belt. Lawrence missed more than half of the 2024 season to injury.
“I could hear Eli right there and then I heard the Colorado fans go ‘oooh,’ and I knew something had happened,” Jett continued.
In the Pro Motocross standings, Jett now has a 25-point advantage — one full moto — over the field.
Just past the 15-minute mark, Jett took the lead. Tomac followed along quickly after he also had a poor start of ninth. For the second consecutive week, however, Tomac buried his front wheel while trying to close the gap on the leader. He had a big enough lead over third that he finished second in the second moto.
“It was back and forth, back and forth,” Tomac told Jason Thomas. “We definitely had our spots on the track where we gained time, lost time. And in that turn where I crashed, right after it was the one spot where he was in the third rut and I was going in tight, I could gain multiple bike lengths. I basically rushed the turn before, going for it all, and went up in flames. It was a good race — a good race with Jett.”
Plessinger scored his second consecutive podium with the third-place finish overall. Plessinger finished second in the first moto and fifth in Moto 2.
“I had a really good first moto, luckily, because I really didn’t do too good in the second moto,” Plessinger said.
Cooper got a solid start and led early before getting overrun by Jett and Tomac. He finished third in Moto 2 but was only fifth in Moto 1 to combine for fourth overall.
Hunter was fourth in both motos and fifth overall.
In-Race Notes
Coty Schock got the best jump and led the field into Turn 1.
Jett got a poor start but Tomac was worse and for the second straight week, he will have to come through the field. Jett ends Lap 1 in fifth; Tomac eighth.
Meanwhile, up front Schock leads Cooper Webb and Hunter among the top three.
Cooper slotted into fourth.
On Lap 2, Hunter took the top spot from Schock and he brought Cooper with him.
Later that same lap, Jett moved into third; Tomac was sixth.
Plessinger rounded out the top five.
Cooper took the lead on Lap 3.
Schock faded further on Lap 3 to allow Plessinger and Tomac to move up. Six seconds separated the top five.
Bitter disappointment awaited Schock on Lap 4 when he crashed. Schock lost a lap in the process (and would ultimately finish 20th).
Tomac moved around Plessinger on Lap 4 with Jett in his sights one position ahead. That was unacceptable to Jett, so he moved around Hunter for second.
Tomac moved into third one lap later.
Jett was on Cooper’s back tire on Lap 7 with a gap under a second.
Just past the halfway mark, Jett reassumed his accustomed position, passing Cooper for the lead.
Tomac took second away from Cooper on Lap 9. He had a 2.5-second gap to close on Jett.
The gap between first and second stabilized in the one to two second range for several laps.
Copper (third), Hunter (fourth), and Plessinger round out the top five.
And for the second straight week, Tomac crashed while trying to close the gap on Jett. His lead over third was enough that he held onto his position. Tomac was nine seconds behind Jett after the incident.
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