Results and points after SuperMotocross 2023 Round 29 at zMax Dragway

By
Dan Beaver,

By
Dan Beaver

Published September 11, 2023 02:02 PM

Chase Sexton will go in the record books as the first winner of the SuperMotocross World Championship - and it turns out, Jett Lawrence can be beat.

Beginning the weekend with a strong qualification effort that gave him the second gate pick, Sexton utilized it to greater success than his teammate and fastest qualifier Lawrence.

Sexton got off to a strong in Moto 1 and dominated the race. He was forced to run down Ken Roczen in Moto 2, but once he got to the lead at the halfway point, he stretched his advantage, ran away from the competition and won again. It’s fitting that after watching Lawrence go 1-1 in every Pro Motocross round, Sexton swept the races at zMax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina to win the first ever SuperMotocross race.

Sexton entered the playoff opener as the No. 1 seed and added 25 points to his total. As the SuperMotocross series heads to Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, Sexton has a 12-point lead over Lawrence and Aaron Plessinger. Dylan Ferrandis is one point further back in fourth with Ken Roczen one more point behind in fifth. No one is stressing, however, because the points double at Chicagoland and triple for the finale at the LA Coliseum. This is literally still anyone’s championship to win.

It took no time at all for Roczen to get comfortable on the bike after skipping most of the Pro Motocross season and racing only once in the World Supercross championship this summer. He studied the races by watching the Peacock coverage and knew how to take advantage of the competition’s weaknesses. He finished third in the first moto and seemed to be on his way to an even better result in Moto 2 when he led the opening laps. Ultimately, he finished third in that race as well and scored second overall with the 3-3.

Moto 1 Results | Lap Chart | Fastest Segment Times
Moto 2 Results | Lap Chart | Fastest Segment Times
Consolation Race

Dylan Ferrandis quietly finished second in Moto 2 and was fourth in Moto 2, putting his name alongside Sexton and Roczen as the first podium finishers of the newly created SuperMotocross World Championship. After the race, Ferrandis discounted any pressure surrounding the uncertainty of where he will ride 2024 and said it was more important only to run well.

Lawrence not only failed to win for the first time since the start of the Pro Motocross season, but he also didn’t podium. Terrible starts in both motos forced him to come from the back - but that was not the only reason for his modest overall result. Lawrence crashed a couple of times n Moto 1 before finishing seventh in that race. His second-place result in Moto 2 combined for nine points in the Olympic-style scoring system, which was significantly higher than Ferrandis’ and Roczen’s six.

Jason Anderson tied Lawrence in points but was relegated to fifth overall on the tiebreaker. His 4-5 was more consistent that Lawrence’s 7-2, but with the Australian champion earning the better result in the second race, Lawrence got the position. This was Anderson’s third consecutive top-five in 450s and since Chicagoland Speedway is supposed to have more motocross elements, Anderson should be able to carry momentum forward from the strong end to that season.

450 Overall results | Rider Points

Jo Shimoda now has back-to-back wins after keeping Kawasaki’s Pro Motocross winning streak alive last week and earning the victory in Moto 2 at zMax Dragway. A fourth-place finish in the first race combined with that win for five points, which was the same as Tom Vialle’s 3-2 but Shimoda earned the tiebreaker. For the second straight week, Shimoda was surprised by pleasant news on the podium. He didn’t think his fourth-place finish in Moto 1 could be overcome.

Vialle finished second overall but was the only rider in the 250 division to sweep the podium. It took a little while for Vialle to fully assess the competition in America after dominating European motocross but now that he knows how they ride, Vialle is more than capable of finding his way to the front.

Haiden Deegan won Moto 1 at zMax Dragway and thought he would make up a ton on points on Hunter Lawrence, who struggled and finished ninth. He got a bad start in the second race and tipped over early. A fifth-place finish combined for six points. That put him just one step below Shimoda and Vialle, but he has the distinction of earning a podium in the inaugural SMX race.

Moto 1 Results | Lap Chart | Fastest Segment Times
Moto 2 Results | Lap Chart | Fastest Segment Times
Consolation Race

Ryder DiFrancesco finished seventh in Moto 1 and was third in the second race to finish fourth overall. The hybrid tracks may be to his liking because this is the first top-five for the rookie rider. He came close at Ironman with a sixth-place finish.

Returning for the first time since the motocross race at High Point, Jordon Smith rounds out the top five with an eight-place finish in Moto 1 and a fourth in the second race. This was his first top-five since finishing fifth in the East-West Shootout at Salt Lake City.

As for Lawrence, zMax Dragway did not go his way. He finished outside the top five in both motos with ninth- and seventh-place finishes in the motos and an overall finish of eighth. He entered as the No. 1 seed and left the dragstrip in third with three points to make up on Shimoda and Deegan.

250 Overall results | Rider Points

2023 Motocross Results
Round 11: Jett Lawrence, Jo Shimoda win
Round 10: Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence win
Round 9: Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence win
Round 8: Jett Lawrence, Haiden Deegan win
Round 7: Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence win
Round 6: Jett Lawrence, Tom Vialle win
Round 5: Jett Lawrence, Haiden Deegan win
Round 4: Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence win
Round 3: Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence win
Round 2: Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence win
Round 1: Jett Lawrence, Hunter Lawrence win