Looking Forward to Southwick National
The first four rounds have delivered the most thrilling racing in both classes in recent years, and the excitement is set to continue this weekend. In the 450MX class, the rookie, Team Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence, leads the Championship with a six-point lead over Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton and eight points over the defending champion, teammate, and brother, Jett Lawrence. In the 250MX class, it's been Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan commanding a thirty-two-point lead over Team Honda HRC’s Chance Hymas and thirty-eight over two-time MX2 World Champion, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle.
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Last year, the 450 class at Southwick was dominated by Jett Lawrence, with Chase Sexton in tow and Dylan Ferrandis taking the final podium spot. But this year, the script has been flipped. Jett's undefeated record was shattered with a huge mistake at Hangtown Round #2, leaving him vulnerable with a shoulder and thigh injury he is still dealing with. That hasn’t stopped him from winning, which is still a threat for the rest of the field, just like High Point last round, going 1-1, but rookie Hunter Lawrence and hard-charging Sexton are right there at arm's length. Sexton was the fastest rider at the last round, but mistakes bit him repeatedly. That second moto, even passing Jett, started to pull away, setting blistering speed, just to have mistakes take him down again. Can Hunter or Sexton take the overall at Southwick and potentially gain more points on Jett? As we look to this weekend’s Southwick National we would expect to see great racing between these three riders and potentially even see another rookie to the 450 class, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Justin Cooper, to be back up there. The last three seasons in the 250 class saw Justin Cooper on the podium at Southwick, so don’t be quick to count him out of this weekend’s event.
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The 250 class has seen some awesome racing as well, but the new Monster Energy Pro Circuit fill-in rider Ty Masterpool stole the show at High Point, taking his first moto win and first overall win and, with that, granting Mitch Payton and the entire team their 300th overall victory. Can Ty carry his momentum into the sand of Southwick? Haiden Deegan was 100% the fastest rider and put in an amazing effort in both motos, coming from the way back to take the Moto 1 win and nearly Moto 2, almost passing Masterpool on the last lap. He is the show's star in the 250 field right now, with three out of the last four overall wins. But we do have some contenders that are ready to fight at Southwick. Last year, we saw Tom Vialle grab his first moto victory and first overall with an impressive 1-3 on the day, and he looks to have another great weekend ahead as he has shown last year and year previous overseas that he is a great sand rider. Deegan was in his rookie season at Southwick last year, and the sand was tough for him with a 6th overall. Deegan was seen just last week at Southwick doing some training leading up to this weekend’s event. So, has he got it figured out for this year? Second in points right now, Hymas will have to prove he is a sand specialist, as this is a new track for him to race. Two other riders to look for heading into this weekend are Team Honda HRC’s Jo Shimoda and a new teammate to Deegan on that Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, Max Anstie. Shimoda won a Moto here last year and has been on the podium for the past three years in the sand. Anstie, who is a great sand rider, joins the mix for the rest of the Pro Motocross series starting this weekend. Anstie was also seen with Deegan out last week training at Southwick.
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Let us know who you think will be victorious at The Wick 338! Catch all the racing action this Saturday, June 29th, starting with Race Day Live at 10:00 am EST on Peacock and the Motos following at 1:00 pm EST on CNBC or Peacock.
