Jett Lawrence wins Hangtown Motocross, remains perfect

Jett Lawrence seamlessly transitioned into the 450 class and immediately moved to the top of the SuperMotocross Rankings in last week's debut and his dominance continued after Round 2 of the Pro Motocross season at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California.

Dominant can be an overused word, but there is really no other way to describe the first two weeks of Lawrence's 450 career. He's won all four motos after leading every lap in each race. While he has not completely ridden away from the field, that is partly attributable to managing his races to keep from flirting with exhaustion as the combined SuperMotocross season heads outdoors into the heat. Lawrence has managed his gap to second in each race and has not been seriously challenged yet.

The closest anyone has come to pressuring Lawrence was in Moto 2 at Fox Raceway by his teammate Chase Sexton.

Finishing second in both motos in the series opener, Sexton rode with injury in that event. He crashed in qualification and struck his head, but was not diagnosed with a concussion until midweek after another crash in practice on that same track. It is not yet known what his status is for this weekend at Thunder Valley in Lakewood, Colorado but if he is heathy, he still has a chance to pressure Lawrence for the Motocross points’ lead.

MORE: Jett Lawrence remains perfect in 450 Motocross action

Last week Sexton was safe in the SuperMotocross points’ standings with a 78-point advantage over Cooper Webb for the No. 1 seed, but with Webb's pair of top-five finishes at Hangtown, that has shrunk to 38 and Sexton needs to return to action as quickly as possible.

Dylan Ferrandis is creeping up on a win. He finished third overall two weeks ago at Fox Raceway, (with a pair of third-place finishes in the motos), and was second in Hangtown with a second-place finish in Moto 1 and a third in the second race. Ferrandis asserts he is healthy, but he cautiously returned to riding after suffering a pair of concussions in Supercross.

After finishing sixth overall at Fox Raceway and snapping a two-race streak of top-fives to end the Supercross season, Adam Cianciarulo rebounded and finished fifth at Hangtown. Consistency contributed to his overall top-five in Round 2 with him finishing fifth in Moto 1 and fourth in Moto 2. A little extra confidence is all that is needed to help Cianciarulo get into a position to challenge for a moto win.

Aaron Plessinger rounds out the top five this week and is another rider on the cusp of challenging for a win. Plessinger closed in on Lawrence in Moto 2 until he crashed and had difficulty refiring his bike. In order to move up the rankings, Plessinger is going to need to eliminate mistakes like that and the accident in Salt Lake City when he wiped out a camera while leading in the 450 main.

450 Rankings

Motocross 450 Points

Hunter Lawrence joins his brother Jett with wins in the first two rounds of the Pro Motocross season and while his performance leading up to those overall victories has not been perfect, they have been consistent. Lawrence got off to slow starts in Moto 1 at both Fox Raceway and Hangtown, overcame positions outside the top five and surged to third in those events. He led every lap in the second motos at both tracks and won.

Justin Cooper improved appreciably in Round 2 at Hangtown. Runner-up finishes in each moto there gave him a second-place finish in the overall standings and it came on the heels of another top-five the week before at Fox Raceway. In the season opener, he achieved his fifth overall position with results of fifth and fourth in the two races. Cooper expressed frustration while standing on the podium in Hangtown because he knows how dangerous it is to give a Lawrence a points’ lead.

Haiden Deegan continues to impress. In only his fourth Motocross National, he scored a victory in Moto 1 despite being pressured by his teammate Cooper. He got a bad start in Moto 2 but rode to fourth at the checkered flag and finished third overall last week. He is the only rider other than Lawrence with podium finishes in the first two rounds and as a result sits second in the Motocross standings. He is third in SuperMotocross points. Deegan finished in the top five in his first two Supercross races as well before slipping to eighth in his third attempt.

Motocross 250 Points

RJ Hampshire is one of five riders to sweep the top five in the first two Motocross rounds of 2023 and with a win at Denver in Supercross and a second-place finish in Salt Lake City, he now has a SuperMotocross leading four-race streak.

Since returning from an off-season injury, Jo Shimoda has swept the top 10 in six rounds, but he has not yet recorded a top-five in Motocross. He came close last week in Hangtown with a sixth-place finish after crossing under the checkers seventh overall the week before.

Guillem Farres is just outside the top five with a pair of top-10 finishes in his first two Motocross rounds. He did not race in the Supercross series, but is slowly moving up the SuperMotocross rankings. Currently 33rd in the combined standings, he is 36 points outside of the top 20.

250 Rankings

* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner in Supercross and overall winner in Motocross. It awards 90 points for each Moto, Heat and Triple Crown win. The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of starters in the field until the last place rider in each event receives three points, (five in fields of 22 riders). The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days.

POWER RANKINGS AFTER MX OPENER AT FOX RACEWAY: Jett Lawrence debuts in first placePOWER RANKINGS AFTER SX FINALE AT SALT LAKE CITY: Chase Sexton ends with winPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 15 AT NASHVILLE: Eli Tomac back on topPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 14 AT NEW JERSEY: The top 20 settle inPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 13 AT ATLANTA: Justin Barcia leapfrogs the Big 3POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 12 AT GLENDALE: Eli Tomac gains momentumPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 11 AT SEATTLE: Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac overtake Chase SextonPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 10 AT DETROIT: Chase Sexton narrowly leads WebbPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 8 AT DAYTONA: Chase Sexton unseats Eli TomacPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 7 AT ARLINGTON: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Eli TomacPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 6 AT OAKLAND: Perfect night keeps Eli Tomac firstPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 5 AT TAMPA: Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb close inPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4 AT HOUSTON: Eli Tomac rebounds from A2 crash, retakes leadPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3 AT ANAHEIM 2: Consistency makes Ken Roczen kingPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 2 AT SAN DIEGO: Ken Roczen moves up, Chase Sexton fallsPOWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM 1: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage