CRAWFORDSVILLE, Indiana: Jorge Prado swept the motos of the Ironman National to win his first overall Pro Motocross race.
On Friday during Press Day, Prado said his only focus was to win. He trusted his speed and didn’t need to change his riding style, and that proved to be prophetic.
What Prado could not expect is that is the two points contenders, Hunter and Jett Lawrence, would have so much trouble in the race.
The Lawrence brothers both struggled in the first moto. After crashing on the opening lap of that race and collecting Haiden Deegan, the rider Prado has battled head-to-head so often also finished poorly in Moto 1.
That allowed Prado to cruise to victory.
Moto 2 was a different story. All four of the usual contenders started well. Prado got his second consecutive holeshot and rode away from a battle between Deegan and and Hunter.
On Lap 2, Hunter nearly crashed and handed the runner-up position to Deegan. Once that happened, Hunter’s job was to manage the gap. Hunter achieved that goal for several laps, but apparently went down off camera and allowed Jett to take the third spot.
After crashing out of the Monster Energy Supercross finale in Salt Lake City and giving the title to Ken Roczen, Hunter won his first 450 championship by two points over Jett.
Hunter finished fourth overall with 8-4.
Jett was sixth overall with a 11-3.
Hunter crashed on Lap 1 of Moto 1 to contribute to his modest finish. Jett Lawrence re-injured his ankle in the first race and was unable to finish his accustomed pace.
RJ Hampshire had a great first moto to finish second. Combined with a sixth in Moto 2, he was second overall.
Cooper Webb was third overall with results of third and eighth.
Eli Tomac kept the Lawrence brothers in sight and finished fifth in Moto 2.
