This won't be an uncommon phrase from here on out, but another high-stakes round of Supercross was set just a handful of miles away from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, inside the halls of Lucas Oil Stadium. Jett Lawrence and Tom Vialle are both scorching hot, coming into this Triple Crown weekend on the heels of back-to-back wins. Qualifying very well on Saturday afternoon in Indy, what would three key gate drops instead of one mean for the two points leaders?
Daytime Program/Injury Notes:
- Coty Schock was racing days after suffering a clean break on an already hurt collarbone.
- Eli Tomac on Friday made it sound like there wasn't much of a shot he would be running Motocross this summer.
- Hunter Lawrence is back after missing last week with a shoulder issue.
- 250 Fastest Qualifier: No. 37 Max Anstie (49.492) (Tied down the one-thousandths of a second with Tom Vialle. The tiebreaker goes to Anstie since he put his time up first).
- 450 Fastest Qualifier: No. 18 Jett Lawrence (48.523)
250 East Class Recap
1st - No. 63 Cameron McAdoo (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki) (1-2-3)
It's hard to think of a more overdue rider for a win 10 weeks into the season than McAdoo, who finally broke through in the Triple Crown format. I don't think he was definitively the best guy across all three races, especially considering how far back he finished in Main 2. Still, his calling card has been being a steady, reliable podium guy all year, which helps on a night like Saturday. Whether or not he will be able to hold serve with the red plate once the East division returns from a short break is unclear, but McAdoo has had some chances to seal the deal in the past, and this may be the best.
2nd - No. 16 Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM) (4-3-1)
That whoops crash in Main 1 ultimately cost Vialle what would've been his third Main Event victory in a row, but he still came out of the evening with a third and first afterwar, which was a positive. He's only two points out of the lead after coming in up one. He'll have to win on a track with, whoops, not named Daytona sooner or later if he wants his first SX title, but I thought he looked good outside of that one tip over.
3rd - No. 38 Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (2-1-6)
You could say the pressure got to Deegan off the start in that third and final Main Event, as running a bit too close to the tuff blocks took him out of a top-two finish mere seconds into that race. To his credit, though, he made a ton of passes to salvage home a third and limit the points losses he would've had. I wouldn't call it impossible for him to win this Championship at this stage, but he'll need to turn things up a notch down 16 points.
5th - No. 69 Coty Schock (Muc-Off/FXR ClubMX Yamaha) (5-8-8)
I wasn't aware that Schock was racing until I woke up on Saturday, so this result was quite a surprise. Also, I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know what a broken collarbone feels like, but based on the riding and nothing else, there was no tell (to me anyway) that he was even hurt. This was easily one of the more remarkable rides in recent memory.
13th - No. 37 Max Anstie (FirePower Honda) (19-6-12)
It's all come apart for Anstie and the FirePower Honda squad now. The Brit has now fallen seven spots in the standings since he took the point lead some weeks ago, and he is officially 26 points back. Simply a devastating turn of events for Anstie, who had been putting together great rides up until Birmingham.
250 East Class Indianapolis Top 10
1st No. 63 Cameron McAdoo (1-2-3)
2nd No. 16 Tom Vialle (4-3-1)
3rd No. 38 Haiden Deegan (2-1-6)
4th No. 39 Pierce Brown (12-4-2)
5th No. 69 Coty Schock (5-8-8)
6th No. 511 Nick Romano (8-10-5)
7th No. 6 Jeremy Martin (7-9-7)
8th No. 48 Chance Hymas (9-5-11)
9th No. 43 Seth Hammaker (3-14-9)
10th No. 59 Daxton Bennick (11-14-4)
250 East Class Points After Indianapolis
1st No. 63 Cameron McAdoo (98 Points)
2nd No. 16 Tom Vialle (96 Points)
3rd No. 39 Pierce Brown (87 Points)
4th No. 38 Haiden Deegan (82 Points)
5th No. 69 Coty Schock (79 Points)
6th No. 43 Seth Hammaker (72 Points)
7th No. 59 Daxton Bennick (71 Points)
8th No. 37 Max Anstie (62 Points)
9th No. 48 Chance Hymas (60 Points)
10th No. 33 Jalek Swoll (58 Points)
450 Class Recap
1st - No. 18 Jett Lawrence (Honda HRC) (Sweep)
With seven rounds to go, I'm willing to say this: Jett Lawrence's win was essentially him winning the title. He's nearly a full round's worth of points on both Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton, and as these rounds continue to wind down, Jett is going to have the luxury of not having to push things to the limit if he doesn't have to. Despite that, he did go for the jugular in that third Main Event to go for the sweep when it was unnecessary, so who am I to say? Also, that entire Main 3 sequence with him and Roczen was awesome; take a look.
2nd - No. 94 Ken Roczen (Progressive Ecstar HEP Suzuki) (2-2-3)
Things evolved very rapidly in that final race for Roczen, potentially being in the running for the Overall Win to nearly losing second, but outside of him not jumping into the whoops in that last race, I thought Roczen was on level with Jett for most of the night. Sadly, that doesn't get him any bonus points.
3rd - No. 1 Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM) (3-3-2)
I can mostly say the same things about Sexton that I did about Roczen, but he looked especially good in the second and third races. Still, his hopes of going back-to-back are fading fast, and he, like this next gentleman, probably needs a win next week to kickstart a late-season surge.
5th - No. 2 Cooper Webb (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (8-5-4)
Webb is lucky that Cade Clason run in (complete accident, by the way) wasn't worse, but that did derail what was otherwise a good, not great run for him. I'm also more interested in seeing how he responds next week than Sexton. We saw in 2021 that Webb getting a bit rough with Roczen did enough to rattle him, and if there's any time to do that, it's now. Because if not, when is it?
7th - No. 3 Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (4-7-10)
10 weeks into the season, the panic button for Eli Tomac has been pressed and is going off at max volume. He was fine in Main 1 but was concerningly off-pace in the latter two outings. Seeing Tomac get bad starts, more so in his Kawasaki days, isn't anything new, but he wasn't even close to the pace of the guys out front. Simply taking Lawrence out of the equation, Tomac wasn't even running laps within 1.5 seconds of Sexton or Roczen in Main Events 2 and 3 on average.
Never mind the fact this is two weeks in a row, he was a non-factor, but this was the kind of ride that makes you think he's on the way out. That's how bad those second two outings were. Hopefully, he can find something quick, but I have legitimate doubt at this point, which I've never been able to say with Tomac.
450 Class Indianapolis Top 10
1st No. 18 Jett Lawrence (1-1-1)
2nd No. 94 Ken Roczen (2-2-3)
3rd No. 1 Chase Sexton (3-3-2)
4th No. 21 Jason Anderson (5-6-5)
5th No. 2 Cooper Webb (8-5-4)
6th No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (6-4-9)
7th No. 3 Eli Tomac (4-7-10)
8th No. 51 Justin Barcia (7-9-6)
9th No. 27 Malcolm Stewart (9-8-8)
10th No. 32 Justin Cooper (12-11-7)
450 Class Point Standings after Indianapolis
1st No. 18 Jett Lawrence (210 Points)
2nd No. 2 Cooper Webb (189 Points)
3rd No. 1 Chase Sexton (184 Points)
4th No. 94 Ken Roczen (175 Points)
5th No. 3 Eli Tomac (174 Points)
6th No. 21 Jason Anderson (165 Points)
7th No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (162 Points)
8th No. 32 Justin Cooper (120 Points)
9th No. 51 Justin Barcia (109 Points)
10th No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis (107 Points)
Indianapolis Lit Kit Recipient: Chance Hymas (FLY) (I'd be stunned if another LTD kit tops this)
Next Up: Lumen Field (Seattle, Washington) (8:00 EST gate drop exclusively live on Peacock)
Main Image via Honda HRC