The second playoff round of the Supermotocross Championship Series rolled into St. Louis yesterday and delivered some great moments and two different winners. Read to see what these upsets could possibly mean for the championship that will be decided next week in Las Vegas at the final round, which will deliver triple points to keep things interesting.
250 SMX Class
In the first moto, we saw Haiden Deegan get a great start, grab the holeshot, and ride it home to a moto win. He ran out front pretty safely all moto with no real pressure from behind. Haiden had a small mistake tipping over in the off-camber corner. He got up quickly and was able to keep his lead, but the gap back to Shimoda in second shrank, but not enough for Jo to apply any real pressure. We saw a great race by Shimoda in second place; he was able to narrow the gap a few times, but not enough to pressure. He ran a similar pace for most of the race. The Kawasaki teammates of Hammaker and Masterpool had a good moto, also in third and fourth place. Coming off solid results in Playoff one, they are staying close and hoping for an opportunity to capitalize on a big payday in Vegas.
In the second moto, Tom Vialle grabbed the holeshot with Shimoda just behind him, and Deegan was a few spots behind them. About halfway through the first lap, Kitchen went for an aggressive pass in a turn and cleaned Deegan and himself out. Being early in the moto meant that by the time Haiden got up and rejoined the race, everyone had passed him. Also, what we did not know at the time was that his front brake lever was completely broken off, which made his job of advancing much harder. He would fight back and eventually finish in fourteenth position and sixth overall on the night. Despite not feeling well, Shimoda skipped his podium interview and the post-race press conference he still salvaged 2-2 finishes on the night for the overall win.
450 SMX Class
In the first moto, we saw Hunter Lawrence get the holeshot and ride a perfect race, holding the lead all the way to the checkered flag. Just behind him were Roczen and Tomac, who stayed close to each other all race and slowly lost the pace that Hunter was racing. Jett Lawrence got a bad start that left him in 21st place on the first lap. He steadily worked forward all race and was able to catch up to Ken and Eli and was threatening from his fourth-place position. At the checked flag, we saw second, third, and fourth place all cross the finish with maybe a bike length separating each of them.
The second moto would be far easier for Jett Lawrence as he snuck up the inside for the holeshot and was able to maintain a small lead for the rest of the twenty-minute moto for the win. He would place second overall while his brother Hunter, with 1-3 moto scores, gave him the overall for the night. Eli had a few challengers in the moto but was able to finish in second, and his 3-2 scores gave him third overall.
