SuperMotocross World Championship Playoff Chicago Round 30
It’s been a bit over 20 years since Supercross has last visited Chicago and hopefully, it does not wait that long before returning again. This time around it was not just Supercross, it was SuperMotocross. So what is SuperMotocross you may be asking, it’s a partnership between Pro Motocross and Supercross that hopefully results in one stronger and bigger series. This was round two of the playoffs with the first round happening last week in Charlotte and the final round next week in Los Angeles returning to the LA Coliseum where Supercross first started all those years ago.
The Chicagoland Speedway would play host to SuperMotocross, providing a large footprint to build a track and plenty of seating for fans. The track was a blend of Motocross and Supercross with a heavy lean towards Motocross in this round’s track build. The track design utilized all of the front grass infield and turn one of the main track using the embankment for elevation with step-up and step-down jumps that took racers just outside the safety fence. The setting was both beautiful to look at and a pleasure to watch, it also seemed to really challenge the racers. The design threw different styles of obstacles at them with a mix of high-speed and speed-trap sections to keep them.
Supermini World All-Stars
The Amateur World All-Stars program as part of the playoff rounds is very similar to Supercross Futures but is giving fans a chance to see younger classes compete on pro-caliber tracks. The typical futures events usually give the amateur 250 athletes who are likely to turn pro very soon a chance to earn Supercross points and test out their skills. This year we saw 65cc athletes in round one and superminis an awesome class compete in the Chicago round. The track provided a big challenge for these young athletes about to transition to big bikes with high-speed sections and large steep jumps that they don’t typically see on your average moto track. These athletes stepped up and competed with some excellent racing and were as entertaining as the other classes. We saw a few athletes struggle with some of the jumps and unfortunately a couple crashed out of the event but I don’t think anyone would have changed anything.
We had a few Midwest athletes that were invited to the event and a couple that competed. Unfortunately, Brody Barth crashed while preparing for the event and broke a collar bone, and could not race. This left Jayce Wolf of Wisconsin and Nicholas Stefancik of Illinois who both competed and finished in 7th and 16th respectively.
Supermini Podium
Carson Wood - 260 (Kawasaki)
Max Shane - 79 (KTM)
Benjamin Moya - 319 (GasGas)
250 Class
The first round of the playoffs provided a great opening to the postseason with Hunter failing to finish in a podium spot allowing Shimoda and Deegan to exit the weekend tied for the red plate. This week Hunter had all the motivation he needed with points doubling for round two and he did not disappoint winning both motos. It was not without any challenges in which Shimoda and Deegan each led laps and fought hard pushing each other throughout the evening.
Due to injuries and other circumstances, we saw 6 of the 8 athletes in the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) advance to the main event rather than the planned two per series rules dictate. The track worked in nicely and allowed for some excellent racing with good battles at the front of the pack in each moto. All of the podium racers are popular, but fan favorite Jo Shimoda seemed to get a ton of love from the podium crowd for his efforts and likable persona.
250 Podium
Hunter Lawrence - 96 (Honda)
Jo Shimoda - 30 (Kawasaki)
Haiden Deegan - 238 (Yamaha)
450 Class
In round one Chase Sexton handled things going 1-1 and protecting his playoff points lead. In round two Jett would strike back and made a big stride to close the gap by winning the overall on double points night allowing him to shrink the points gap down to just two points. While Jett was just mostly unbeatable again he was chased and badgered many times by Chase and Ken in each of the motos. In moto two Jett ended up waving Ken by with just a couple of minutes to go as a baby gift to the new father he said knowing that it would not affect the points for his overall win of the evening. Ken, Jett, and Chase all looked fast in qualifying turning in some heater laps and letting us know the night races would be action-packed.
The 450 LCQ race advanced 1 additional athlete for a total of three moving on to the night show. This left fan favorite Kevin Moranz and honorary Midwest athlete on the bubble without a gate since none of the athletes failed to make either of the motos. As far as midwest athletes we had two in the 450 rounds which were Jerry Robin (93) and Chase Sexton (23). Pretty good representation for the central region and local hero Sexton giving the crowd a little extra to be excited about.
450 Podium
Jett Lawrence - 18 (Honda)
Ken Roczen - 94 (Suzuki)
Chase Sexton - 23 (Honda)
With points being tripled net round both the 250 and 450 classes are so close in points it will be a winner take all in round 3 of the playoffs for the top 2-3 athletes in each class. I don’t think fans could ask for anything more with the close points standings and iconic location should make for a great finale to the inaugural SuperMotocross Season.