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00:00Valley. All right, flat racing cart is sideways. Shout out to the FMF Privateer Power Award winner
00:06dating back to last week, Lorenzo Licurcio on the Wildcat Racing Machine, but Lorenzo not racing
00:12this weekend. Make sure he gets that trophy. Shout out to the veteran out of Venezuela.
00:17Now time, James, for the KTM Keys to the Moto here, Thunder Valley. Well, I always talk about
00:23being patient. These guys are going to have to set up their passes here. Track conditions have
00:27been changing all day long, so they're going to have to plan a pass out, maybe plan one
00:31corner just to pass three corners later, so you've got to be disciplined on being able
00:35to do that, so those are my keys to the race. Good luck, guys.
00:41Once that car goes sideways, the revs will go up. It's a completely different type of start.
00:46James, everyone's starting in first gear, I would assume. You have to do it here?
00:50Yeah, just really the mental change for first gear. Let's see who can adjust. First moto of the day.
00:55Rebs are up. Gates down.
01:02And it's the Hondas, as usual, up front. Hunter Lawrence, Jet Lawrence, Tomac tucking in with
01:06them, and Plessinger on the seven as well.
01:09Yeah, the top five, and the top five in the points, the guys that we want. Now, we saw
01:12what happened last weekend. It's going to be important for any of these guys to get ahead
01:16of that number 18. We know how comfortable he is. Looks like Eli Tomac slides up into fourth
01:20place. And Plessinger and Jet Lawrence attacking the 96 of Hunter. Plessinger wants to go to
01:26the lead here. Yeah, he knows what's up. That was a nice move by him, because he knows once
01:31Jet got around him. He's got to try to close that inside off. Yeah, a little mistake. Open
01:35the door. Hunter on the 96 gets him back. Tomac lurking in fourth. Yeah, this was that change
01:40I was talking about, how they used to come down up on top of the hill, and it dropped down. Now,
01:44they switched it up. So, already these guys are going for it.
01:49Tomac tucking in now, getting into that battle with Hunter and Plessinger. Listen to this crowd.
01:54Another move from the seven.
01:56Haven't seen Aaron Plessinger this aggressive in the beginning part. And we know if you're going to
02:00get Jet Lawrence anywhere, maybe the opening laps as he just tries to get it inside.
02:05Hey, he was fast in qualifying. I think that was a career best for him. It's right behind Justin
02:10Cooper for second. He is not known as a qualifier. So, oh, listen, it's seen here.
02:18Jet jumped at it. It's the first time I've seen him. Now, the track's going to be a lot
02:21different than what it was earlier. You can already see it. It's starting to see that gap
02:25stretch out.
02:29Back up hill they go toward the finish line.
02:34And so many different scenarios here. But in the end, Jet Lawrence,
02:38good starts, laps led.
02:40Yeah, I saw his jump. I mean, that kid got an amazing jump off the gate. It's no surprise
02:45that he was up there. But look at Hunter Lawrence.
02:48Making it easy on Plessinger.
02:51As they sort out lap one.
02:53Tomac and Justin Cooper next, James.
02:55Yeah, you can see all the lines from the track conditions. You can also see where they worked
02:59on it. So, as this track breaks in, some parts are going to be super loose and a lot of
03:03it's going to have some difficult soil for these guys.
03:05It's just different how they hooked back on to the start. That's the way they did it when this track
03:11jumped back into the national program back in 2005. And then it's been about 15 years that they changed
03:16that section. Now it's back to the old way.
03:20Yeah, I used to love that section because it was the only time I could get my tongue out of my chain.
03:24I was so tired. I could breathe right there. So, I like that it's back.
03:29Yeah, used to have to hit those rollers and whoops behind the starting gate.
03:32No rest there. Oh, look at the three of Tomac and four starting to lurk.
03:38Yeah, you can start to see that 18. It's nice to be able to see these guys keep closing.
03:42I like the inside that Aaron has where he was able to get around Hunter. So,
03:46Eli knows he needs to go up to the front and at least try to get in front of Jet Lawrence didn't slow
03:51the race down. So, got to bring this thing back to you.
03:56And send it to Will Christian. We've got more on Tomac.
03:59Thanks, Jason. I think this is what the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing Team wanted out of Tomac.
04:04They said to me, Rich Simons, the team manager specifically said, top five star.
04:08He's like, if he's top five, he'll start getting aggressive moving forwards.
04:12And he also noted that his start sequence, how he does this with the uphill being at altitude,
04:18starting in first, as you guys referenced at the beginning of the race, that's his norm.
04:22Cortez, Colorado, where he lives and trains, is around the same elevation even a little bit more.
04:26So, this is what he's used to. So, this start and this charge is what the team are looking for.
04:31What do you see here so far, James? Is this pace or is this riders sorting out lines and where they are right now?
04:38Well, a little bit of both. I mean, I think the pace is going good.
04:40It seemed like they were able to close in on Jet on some of the slower parts of the corner.
04:44But, yeah, I mean, I think the difficult part for Eli, as you can see all these ruts in here,
04:49just what we saw with Jet, once he gets that gap, then you're going to have to push.
04:53Even if you're just as fast or a little bit faster, how much you're going to have to push because of that time.
04:57So, I think it's a key part of the race for him to get forward and try to move up.
05:02And good to see RJ up in here, top five.
05:03And then you've got Justin Cooper, our fastest qualifier, actually got passed by RJ.
05:07So, good move. RJ's moving forward.
05:09Yeah. First season on a 450 for the 24, the Rockstar Husqvarna.
05:14And, yeah, for the fast qualifier, though, Cooper getting shoved back to sixth.
05:19Not what you'd expect.
05:22Critical juncture here.
05:23Plessinger trying to keep one Lawrence in sight and trying to hold off the other.
05:28Yeah, and this is the difficult part because as, I believe, Jet's actually figuring this racetrack out,
05:34trying to get his lines.
05:35Like, I saw him jumping a few of these bumps and stuff.
05:37So, he's starting to work into his form.
05:39So, it's important, again, for Aaron to keep him on him, keep him uncomfortable
05:43because that two-second gap will turn into five seconds real quick
05:47with these couple laps as this kid gets more comfortable.
05:50Jet Lawrence.
05:50And, Tomek closing back to Hunter Lawrence now for third.
05:58You know, one of the things we haven't talked about here is Bruce.
06:01Bruce hurts really bad.
06:03So, maybe that's some of the back and forth, as you can see.
06:06Let's see if Eli can make this outside work.
06:10No good there.
06:11He's going to try again.
06:14Yeah, I think eventually that outside is going to come into play.
06:17That inside continue to get deeper.
06:18A bit of a calm before the storm here.
06:24Rill this heat up with this top four.
06:29Now, when I watch Eli ride, I feel like he's an emotional rider.
06:33And what I mean by it is, like, when he makes passes, I think it just wakes him up.
06:37So, if he's able to get around Hunter Lawrence and then maybe get around Aaron Flessinger,
06:41then he'll pull up on Jet Lawrence.
06:42So, if he gets stuck behind these guys, then I think it could go the other way.
06:46So, let's see what happens.
06:47JT.
06:48Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more, James.
06:50I think ideally you'd want to make some quick passes on AP and Hunter.
06:53I'm sure that's harder than it sounds.
06:55But think about what happened at the opening round at Fox Raceway.
06:58Eli sat on Jet's rear wheel for the better part of 35 minutes and wasn't able to make a decisive pass.
07:04So, you think about what did he learn from that scenario?
07:07He needs to get to his rear wheel, start figuring out Jet's line, and he's got to attack this time.
07:12Jet's not a rider where you can wait for a mistake and he's going to hand it to you.
07:16He's going to have to force the issue.
07:18Yeah, I completely agree.
07:19And the way this track is, and because it's not so hot and there's slower parts,
07:24I don't think these guys are going to have to worry about conditioning.
07:26So, I don't think Eli can play the game of, okay, he's going to come back to me because he's going to start getting tired.
07:31I don't think the way this track is set up is going to allow those guys to have that conditioning issue that it had last weekend.
07:36Even with the elevation, the breathing?
07:39No, I just think there's a lot of resting parts in these corners.
07:43Like, specifically, once they get up on top of these hills, you start dropping back down.
07:47You can relax in these corners, get your breathing back up, and that just helps a lot when you're riding at this level.
07:52So, for these guys, they're recovering, although they're out there racing.
07:56It's definitely close now.
07:58Tomac taking another shot at Hunter Lawrence at Hampshire.
08:02He's still in this fight also.
08:03Big runner on the outside for the three.
08:07Yeah, let's see if Eli can make that outside.
08:09All he needs to do is get next to Hunter and keep him somewhat close.
08:14He's going to try to do it.
08:15If he can get this corner right, this out shot should try to play.
08:19You see that nice move by Hunter.
08:21He jumped out of that corner because he sensed it.
08:23Now Eli can maybe switch it back up, get back to the inside of him right here.
08:28Here it is.
08:29Oh, he ran it in as hard as he could.
08:31Not enough.
08:32Yeah, he's trying.
08:38I love the way Eli's bike.
08:39It looks under acceleration, just even compared to Hunter's.
08:43It just seems like he has more traction.
08:45It's not as busy for him on the rear end.
08:48It's not bouncing around as much.
08:49I like that.
08:49But you can see Chet Lawrence and also Plessinger beginning to pull away from this battle.
08:55Now about a two-second lead for the 18th.
09:00Yeah, I know this is frustrating for Eli and even for Hunter Lawrence because he can't race forward.
09:04He's got to block out like how he hopped out of the inside to get to the outside.
09:08He's slowing down trying to get, you know, make sure he plays defense on Eli and it's just allowing those guys to get away.
09:13So Tomac going to have to take another shot at Hunter as Chet Lawrence begins to pull away now.
09:23He's in the bottom screen.
09:27Another lap lead.
09:30Seems like we say that a lot.
09:32Oh, yeah.
09:32Another lap lead.
09:33Well, look, there's really only one 450 race outdoors we can really think of where he didn't have the good start.
09:39That was last week at Hangtown Moto 1.
09:41He finished third.
09:42You've been saying over and over how that track position is maybe more valuable than people even realize in the way he manages races.
09:49And these Hondas just keep pulling starts, Will.
09:52Yeah, and the team just keep improving those Hondas, Jason.
09:55They've sort of talked about it very openly about the struggles that they've had just getting this bike ready for outdoors.
10:01I think we're seeing that now in Hunter Lawrence and him being able to keep up Eli Tomac right now.
10:06They were testing in California all week, and I was told by the team that this was the biggest week as far as kind of achievement and gains went.
10:14They said they're hoping that when they come out of Thunder Valley here, they'll have a base that they can work with for the rest of the year.
10:19So a lot of positivity coming out from the camp there.
10:22They're going to need it right now because Will Tomac's taking another crack at Hunter.
10:27All right, let's see if he can maneuver.
10:32I think he lost a little bit too much ground.
10:34Hunter's a smart racer.
10:35He's blocking it just right.
10:37As you can see, he goes inside where Eli almost got him in the lap before, so that's heads up riding by him.
10:43Hunter Lawrence, that is.
10:47Now to the far side of the track, JT.
10:51Yeah, watching Hunter here, you know, there's no doubt about who's behind him.
10:54The Yamahas have a very unique sound, and also he rides at such a high RPM.
10:58Hunter would be very easy for him to deduce who's behind him, and then every time Eli tries these maneuvers,
11:04he's trying the same lines of pass lap after lap.
11:06Hunter's learning from that, so he's learning.
11:08You know, James, you've spent so much time in the series talking about where you need to defend,
11:12where you really need to push, and where passes are possible.
11:15Hunter is riding those down mentally every single lap, and he's like, okay, right here he's going to try a pass.
11:20I have to really step up my game.
11:21Yeah, absolutely, and...
11:24Mike through here!
11:25Yeah, Eli, maybe he can get Hunter to make a mistake, but again, just JT mentioned,
11:29once you get that rider beside you, you know you just got to beat him to that next apex of the corner,
11:33so then you start relaxing, and Hunter's doing that, and these guys are so good.
11:37You only get a few opportunities to show your cars, otherwise they know where you're going,
11:42and Hunter's doing a fantastic job at blocking Eli, and it's starting to frustrate him, you can tell.
11:46Now, the second half of that lap, Tomac was a little bit closer than he had been,
11:51because he was almost making the pass on the front half.
11:54Let's see, he's a little closer now than he was last time.
11:57Yeah, Eli knows he needs to be close up in this section, because Hunter can't block the whole racetrack.
12:03There's parts where JT was mentioning, where it opens up, and you can't block it, and you're going to have to race,
12:07and I do believe that's where Eli really starts to push, as right here, he gets really aggressive,
12:12but he's lost a little bit of time to Hunter.
12:15Let's see if he pushes going down this hill, just to get back up close to him.
12:19Yeah, this is a new corner here, this right, to get back up before they just stayed up top of that Thunder Valley sign the whole time.
12:26Tomac's going to try to use this new corner to his advantage.
12:30Dropping back down.
12:31Yeah, these ruts, it makes it so difficult.
12:36You almost, if you're Eli, see Hunter goes on that outside, because he knows it's better now.
12:41It's completely different.
12:42They took each other's lines.
12:43Yeah, that's just because Hunter knew that outside was working.
12:47He couldn't fit Eli off too much.
12:48Now they're switching it up.
12:50But I do have some news, though, on Tomac.
12:52He actually was the fastest rider on the track the last time around.
12:55They've closed the gap to the leaders, and now Tomac looking to make the pass on Hunter Lawrence.
13:00Ah, you better close him off.
13:02Game of chicken right here.
13:04Here we go!
13:06This ain't over yet.
13:07Watch, Hunter's going to hit this tabletop.
13:09There you go, and he's going to keep it smooth.
13:12Ah, you saw that in the previous laps, jumping that downhill.
13:15Yeah, that little bit of time, that's what his brother does.
13:17And, man, Eli, he had him.
13:19And look, they closed up on Aaron Klessinger.
13:21So, yeah, as you just mentioned, Eli has been fast, and he's starting to push the 96 up towards those guys.
13:26And Jett Lawrence is still right there, so.
13:28Oh, yeah.
13:28Yeah, he's still in sight for sure.
13:31And, yeah, because Hunter's trying to fend off Tomac, he has gotten back to the rear fender of Klessinger.
13:36Yeah, as I mentioned earlier with Eli, he's an emotional rider.
13:40The good thing for him is that Jett Lawrence isn't getting away.
13:42Otherwise, it would be really frustrating as Hunter Lawrence tries to go up the inside.
13:46How about this?
13:47JT.
13:48Well, yeah, that's a great example here of Tomac's pace pushing Hunter forward into AP.
13:54Really, Hunter's urgency level just got raised.
13:57You see him make the move there.
13:58That was all force from Eli Tomac pushing Hunter Lawrence forward.
14:02And I was just thinking about Tomac, how angry he has to be.
14:05James, you know that emoji where you have the head exploding?
14:07That's probably E.L.U. at Tomac back there because he wants to go chase down that 18.
14:12He simply cannot get in the second place to do it.
14:14Yeah, his head is definitely exploding.
14:16And it would probably have been blown off by now.
14:18But the 18 is still right there.
14:20So as quickly as Hunter Lawrence was, Eli was all over Hunter Lawrence.
14:23Hunter Lawrence is closing in on his brother.
14:25So that gives Eli at least keep his head on his shoulder at the moment.
14:29Bottom box there, James.
14:30That is Cooper Webb and Jorge Prado battling it out seventh and eighth.
14:34Similar to where they were battling a week ago.
14:37Totally different track conditions and everything.
14:39And they've just resumed some of these fights.
14:41They've been close in a lot of the motos this year.
14:44That's the bottom.
14:45Up top, Plessinger and Tomac trying to hang with the Lawrences.
14:49Yeah, actually, Jorge was able to get around Cooper Webb.
14:52So he made a position.
14:53So nice start by him.
14:55I'm a little surprised looking at the lap times that Justin Cooper lost so much time.
14:59Him and RJ, they're 11 and 12 seconds upon Jet Lawrence.
15:02So being your fastest qualifier, as much as how fast he was, a little surprising.
15:06Yeah, we thought maybe a moto win could be in the cards for Jake Coop today.
15:10But he is now a distant sixth.
15:13And the more things change, the more they stay the same.
15:15It's back to the Lawrences.
15:16One, two.
15:17And look at the gap that Hunter now has.
15:20And he's closing on Jet.
15:22Yeah, he's closing on Jet.
15:24And Eli definitely has lost that toe.
15:26So, got to regroup.
15:31Look at the times.
15:32The last two laps around.
15:34It was really the last two that were much better for Hunter.
15:38And you can see the difference now.
15:39He's right there.
15:40Yeah, you've got to remember Hunter got his first win here last year as well.
15:43So, he got a moto win in there.
15:45So, it might be a lot of motivation.
15:48Get a little brother on brother crime if need be JT.
15:52Yeah, James, just watching Hunter's increased pacer.
15:54Do you think he was able to lower his lap times here simply because he learned where Eli was going behind him?
16:00Is there something to him or do you think he raised the intensity because of Eli's pace?
16:05Yeah, I think a little bit of both.
16:06I think Aaron made a mistake because, as you can see, Aaron's dropped off.
16:09I think Hunter, obviously, with Eli pushing him, just pushed him up on the back of Aaron Plessinger.
16:13But as quickly as Hunter got there, he lost the toe with his brother.
16:17So, I almost felt like Jett was in that relaxed mode.
16:20He was thinking Aaron was behind him and allowed all these guys to go.
16:23So, I'm going to be curious to see if Hunter can continue that pace to give him a little bit of confidence.
16:28But I do believe that Eli was pushing the pace that you mentioned earlier.
16:32Now, halfway through this 30-minute and two-lap moto.
16:34A reminder, Monster Energy available now at Maverick.
16:39Tomac thinks third place might be available now.
16:43He's right there at Plessinger.
16:47Just showed you how important a start is because, I mean, Eli started top five and he's in fourth place.
16:55You know, so he can't get around these guys.
16:58And is Eli telling himself, if I had been able to close the door on Hunter, I'd be right there where he is right now?
17:04I think, I don't know what Eli's telling himself.
17:07He's probably yelling at himself.
17:09But, at the same time, Jett Lawrence is only five seconds up in front of him.
17:13So, as much as things have been maybe going not according to plan,
17:16if you're Eli Tomac, we still know Beast Mode is in there.
17:20This race ain't over yet.
17:21Yeah.
17:22Through all this battling and even some passes,
17:25the gap from first to fourth has stayed about identical the whole way.
17:28It's either been five to five and a half seconds.
17:30Right now, it's 5.4.
17:33Can Tomac rally?
17:34Yeah, looking at this race track, it almost feels like when you catch a guy, you drop back,
17:42almost get him to relax, and then you blitz him, meaning, like, in these certain parts where we saw Eli,
17:47once you get close to him, you got to pass him instantly.
17:50But, otherwise, you kind of just let him be, make sure you just stay close and be patient until you're able to pass.
17:55And I think maybe that's what we're about to start to see with Eli, because, clearly, he's faster.
18:00Do believe he's faster than a lot of these guys, maybe outside of Jett.
18:06Not quite able to make it happen at the moment.
18:08Hey, folks, Super Motocross Playoffs, coming in September, two full days of fun.
18:16You want to be there Friday and Saturday when history gets made in Concord, St. Louis,
18:21and especially the World Championship finale in Las Vegas.
18:24Go to SuperMotocross.com.
18:27And here it comes, second half of the race.
18:30Can the Colorado native start to close?
18:34And up front, speaking of closing, I believe Hunter is right on the rear wheel of Jett.
18:40You see the pylon left side of the screen, only .8.
18:43Look how close it is now.
18:45Yeah, and believe it or not, that actually gives some motivation, if you're Eli Tomac, to be able to see that.
18:51So, you know you're all over Hunter.
18:53So, hopefully, maybe you can just regroup and maybe pull these guys back up, JT.
18:58Well, you know, we're kind of in the middle of the moto here, James,
19:00and it's really important for the riders to kind of stay engaged and they rely on the mechanics
19:04to give them some messaging, whether it's lap times, sometimes it's motivation,
19:08sometimes it's reminders of breathing when we're at elevation like this.
19:12That time around, Jett Lawrence's mechanic Christian Ducharme told him to hit his marks,
19:16and that's a road racing term, but how it relates to moto is just walk into what you're doing,
19:21pick the good lines, and just execute your game plan.
19:25Eli Tomac's side, a lot of intensity, trying to get him fired up to make a charge.
19:29It's just interesting.
19:30They're all within five seconds of each other, but the messaging couldn't be much more different.
19:35But, James, would you say that Jett Lawrence is hitting his marks right now,
19:38a couple of mistakes that we just saw?
19:40No, absolutely not.
19:41I was just going to say that.
19:42What Christian's talking about is what we saw with Jett Lawrence in that corner,
19:45how he slammed into it.
19:46He's not that smooth, patient, and we looked at each other off camera like,
19:51man, he's starting to make some mistakes, and these guys see that.
19:53So, as I said, as Hunter Lawrence brings this battle back in there,
19:57I think that's going to motivate Eli to come up, and that's where Eli's mechanic's in.
20:01Like, intensity, this race isn't done yet, because it would be really easy for Eli
20:05to start going the other way emotionally, because you're frustrated,
20:09and then Jett Lawrence's mechanic is like, look, you better hit your marks,
20:11because you're bringing the whole field back in this.
20:14Don't want that door open, champ.
20:15Now, last year, the brothers split the motos, a 1-2 for Hunter, a 2-1 for Jett,
20:22but Jett was coming off the back of a huge crash the previous week in Hangtown
20:26and was really gutting it out.
20:28Now both are healthy, and they're putting on quite a battle.
20:32Yeah, and what you're witnessing here, I think when Jett's able to get her away,
20:36it's what Christian has said.
20:37He hit his marks.
20:38He didn't make a mistake in the corner, in some of these corners,
20:41and it's really easy to do at this racetrack.
20:43So if you're uncomfortable, if you have any bike set up,
20:46if it's too stiff, or you maybe have arm pump,
20:48this track's going to exacerbate that a lot, because it's going to bring it out.
20:52It's going to be difficult for these guys, and got 10 minutes left to ride this thing out.
20:56And this continuation of the Prado and Webb battle continues.
21:01Prado, the two-time MXGP World Motocross champion moving to America,
21:05and the new champion of Monster Energy Supercross,
21:08they're back in seventh and eighth.
21:10It's the bottom box, and just an example of how deep that field is in the 450 division this season.
21:17JT, what are you thinking on the 70 of Prado?
21:20Well, I'm thinking I don't really know what I'm seeing here,
21:23because honestly, Prado, I've been watching him for years,
21:25and it's just been excellence across the board.
21:27Winning is really all he's ever done.
21:29He's been in the fight every single time.
21:31And guys, we're 20 minutes in, and he sits 44 seconds down almost to the leaders.
21:37Like, I just, I keep waiting for the arrival of Jorge Prado, and we're just not seeing it.
21:42I'm sure he's frustrated.
21:44I'm sure the team is trying to alleviate that concern for him.
21:47But man, it has to be a little disappointing, I think, at this point, so far.
21:50And JT, no doubt, you mentioned the team there.
21:53They're working.
21:54They're all working, and they're trying to give Jorge what he needs.
21:57And I was chatting to him earlier on this morning, and he said,
22:00honestly, I feel like I'm cruising out there right now.
22:02He's like, I know I'm not able to push.
22:04I'm not in that position yet.
22:05And I asked him, what do you want to work on with yourself?
22:07Let's take the bike aside.
22:09He said, honestly, I can't get there yet.
22:10Because until I've got the motorcycle a little bit more where I need it,
22:13I don't know where the gaps are.
22:15So they're just kind of in this process, as you put it right now,
22:18and, you know, making small gains.
22:20So, yes, he's not where he wants him right now.
22:23But as we said at the top of the show, there's kind of hope
22:25that this will just steadily move in the right direction.
22:28Yeah, and further on Will's point, I mean, that's what he's going to have to do
22:32because at this point, you know, you're in no man's land.
22:35I mean, for him, top ten, you'd be like, okay, how the season started.
22:39This is a great ride.
22:40But when you start looking at lap times, the top sixes are, you know,
22:43six guys are running two 14s.
22:46Jorge's running two 18s and even slower than that.
22:49So no matter if he finishes second, he's going to go back and look at the gap,
22:53and that's almost going to make it even harder for him
22:55because he's like, I'm so far off from these guys.
22:58How can I make that time up?
22:59But if anybody can do it, it's this guy.
23:02He's got the talent.
23:03He's got the team.
23:03They just got to stick with it, and, you know, he'll get there.
23:07Give it up there to the running order of the Monster Energy Riders out there.
23:11You've got Tomac fourth, Justin Cooper sixth, Prado, who you're watching right now, seventh.
23:16Webb right behind him in eighth.
23:18Jason Anderson, that's Prado's Monster Kawasaki teammate, twelfth.
23:23Yeah, I talked to Dan Fahey, the team manager for Kawasaki, this morning,
23:26and he said they are making forward progress.
23:29Maybe not as much as they want, but at least they know they're gaining
23:32and not taking steps backwards as they experiment.
23:36But the overall result here looks just like what we have seen in the previous couple of rounds,
23:44battling it out with Webb in seventh.
23:46We talked to Prado yesterday about trying to make some gains this season.
23:50Overall, like, my feeling with the bike, so suspension-wise and stuff like that.
23:58So it was needed, and after round one and round two, we already got a direction to where to work on,
24:04and I think we are following those indications very good.
24:08And, yeah, I think this week we did another step.
24:10So, yeah, we are just building.
24:13Yeah, and he's going to have to, and I think he's been put in a really difficult position
24:19because not only is he switching new teams, he switched countries.
24:23We're going back to the battle for the lead.
24:25You know, there's a lot of changes that's happening for him, and also he was hurt.
24:30So he hasn't been having that race pace, but one guy who has the race pace is the 96,
24:35and he's brought Aaron Plessinger, and you look, there's Eli Tomac still in that last one.
24:39Eli was the fastest guy on the racetrack that last lap.
24:42These guys are here.
24:43Yeah, 2.13.6 for Tomac, 2.13.7 for Jet Lawrence, 2.14 for Hunter, and 2.14 for Plessinger.
24:53So that is the one thing.
24:55Tomac has managed to stay at least somewhat within viewing distance.
25:00Five minutes and two laps to go.
25:02Yeah, and when you start thinking about this race, Jet Lawrence really could have broke this thing
25:07and almost put this race away if he was able to get away, but he hasn't.
25:10So, JT.
25:12Well, just, you know, thinking about Hunter and the way this racetrack is shaped up, Hunter's not a rider that likes to take a lot of chances.
25:18He's the ultimate tactician, the ultimate strategist, and he's like a velociraptor.
25:22You look at him, and he's kind of trying to figure you out all the time.
25:25That's just how he approaches life.
25:27That's how he's approaching this moto.
25:28So you think about the way this racetrack is so slow.
25:31You have to be super methodical and pick your way around it.
25:34It really seems like it's setting up for Hunter, even though AP's making a run right here.
25:37Yeah, the Cowboys just getting loose here, and he's about to reclaim second place.
25:42Red Bull KTM moving up a spot, breaking up the Honda Party.
25:44Yeah, I mean, as I was just saying, Jett really had the opportunity a couple laps ago to really break this race
25:51because I think Eli was on the brink of kind of letting it go as we were watching my brother having a tough one.
25:57He looked like he just got up.
25:58Maybe somebody else is down as well.
25:59But because...
26:00What is going on with Plessinger, James?
26:02He's right there with Jett Lawrence, and he wants the lead.
26:05Yeah, Jett's laboring a little bit.
26:07I think he's either struggling with arm pump, and I was going to mention when Hunter was behind him,
26:11if anybody knows what's going on, it's him because he's riding with his brother all day long,
26:15so he knows something's not right by Jett with his body language.
26:18And the number seven's here to play.
26:20He wants some action.
26:21Eli Hu, it's about number seven.
26:23Oh, he's popular everywhere we go.
26:25Listen to this.
26:29Eight times he has finished second in Emoto, and the 450 class has not won yet.
26:34Is this the time?
26:37Yeah, they're going to have to switch their lines up.
26:39You saw Hunter Lawrence and Jett Lawrence hit that tail top,
26:42and what it's allowed him to do is just really just be smooth, and you can see that gap.
26:45But everywhere else, it seems like Aaron and these guys are able to close back on Jett Lawrence.
26:51I think Jett's really starting to struggle, and there's going to be some parts of this racetrack
26:54that he's going to have to push, and let's see if he can.
26:57Otherwise, Aaron Plessinger is going to get around like he just did Hunter Lawrence.
27:00Now, this is, if you look at the left side of the screen, a dubious honor for Plessinger.
27:03Of all the riders who have won the 250 motocross title, he has the most 450 starts without a moto win.
27:11But he could be a few minutes away from leaving that list if he can make this pass.
27:20He's getting so much confidence from all these guys, just been able to stay there.
27:24And again, you think about early in the race, if Eli could have got around Hunter Lawrence,
27:29how different it would have been for him.
27:30But he's still in this race.
27:33But I will say this.
27:34How many times, even especially dating back to his 250 days,
27:37have we seen riders get to the rear fender of Jett Lawrence?
27:41It looks like it's going to happen, and it doesn't happen.
27:44Yeah, but I think the difference is, is that the riders that are doing it now,
27:48these guys haven't been there that close to them, and let alone this late.
27:51You call to James, and now he's got the pass and the lead.
27:56I knew it.
27:57I could tell.
27:58There are certain parts of the racetrack that Jett's just kind of cruising around,
28:01almost like he's surviving, and he wouldn't be able to block that.
28:04Just what we saw last week, the last lap with Hunter Lawrence and Aaron Pleasant getting around.
28:09But what a move.
28:10And let's see how much energy.
28:11This is going to tell you a lot on how Jett Lawrence is feeling.
28:13If he's able to get back around Aaron Pleasanton, he's in this race.
28:17Otherwise, he might just be trying to hold on.
28:22Oh, Jett trying to respawn now.
28:26Yeah, Aaron's going to have to block this line right here.
28:29And he's going to have to be careful because Jett is jumping this little tabletop,
28:32and he'll go around the outside of him if Aaron doesn't block it.
28:35Yep, you've got to watch this downhill jump coming up.
28:39Aaron switched lines.
28:41What a move.
28:41And he jumped it.
28:42Yeah.
28:44Was he jumping that the whole motor, or did he just figure that out?
28:47No, I think what he was doing was going in that line to block Jett Lawrence from jumping in.
28:52He's like, well, I'm here now.
28:53I might as well jump it myself.
28:55And Jett moving back up side by side.
29:01Pleasanton's got to run the outside as fast as he can.
29:03Got to lean on him, son.
29:05No!
29:06Jett able to get it back.
29:09Almost had the door shut.
29:10Lawrence able to reclaim it.
29:13Oh, look at those runs.
29:14Look how deep it is.
29:16But he's holding it on.
29:18Feet off the pegs.
29:19Held it wide.
29:20And then, meanwhile, Hunter Lawrence and Tomek going at it, standing in the bottom box.
29:25Yeah, this is super impressive by Jett Lawrence because, I mean, one, he hasn't had this kind of pressure towards the end of this race to be passed.
29:31Nobody ever passed this kid, but to be able to respond should tell you enough of why this guy is a champion and why this guy is leading the point.
29:40But his launch right here, that outside is pretty slow, which is allowing Aaron Pleasanton to get back up on him.
29:45Let's see if Aaron can blitz it, going down this hill and make that pass again, or if Jett's going to switch it up for himself.
29:50And Pleasanton, the son of AMA Hall of Famer Scott Pleasanton, an off-road racer, great in the mud, always says he loves the ruts, he loves the slower, more difficult tracks.
30:01He's got those conditions.
30:02This is where he made the move before, not quite close enough.
30:05Now, Jett changed his line, and as these guys, you're shorting them a car, so they're going to change it up.
30:11And that was a heads-up move by Jett Lawrence to switch it up, JT.
30:15It was, and you ever wonder if these guys are just turning their brain off and holding a wide-open wall?
30:20I think that was proof that there's so much thinking going on, and they really have to stay aware of the changing lines,
30:25because had Jett gone to that outside again, AP will pass him right back, and the same thing holds true.
30:30AP switched lines in that tabletop section, so they're really trying to game each other out,
30:34and figure out where they go.
30:36Now, watch Jett here.
30:37He's trying to make a break, James.
30:38He's trying to respond and make a break and end it right here.
30:41Yeah, yeah, he is, and he had an opportunity to do this early in the race, but he wasn't able to,
30:45so I just think it's impressive for him to regroup and get back around these guys,
30:51and JT does an excellent point.
30:52These guys are racing for it, but they're also racing the guy in line selection behind him.
30:57Really cool to watch these guys go at it.
30:58Going to be two to go next time around.
31:08Yeah, Aaron cannot let this gap stretch out anymore, especially with these lap riders.
31:13If Jett passes one, you've got to get around him, and this is your opportunity.
31:16Jett's going to be stuck behind these guys.
31:17There's two of them, so they're probably not going to follow each other.
31:20They'll split it up, so Jett's going to be in the spot.
31:22There you go.
31:23Yeah, these riders are battling each other.
31:26Last time around, they dropped it back into the 2-12s.
31:29Jett's on the outside.
31:30Woo, that bike was kicking.
31:32Oh, yeah.
31:33And they cleared him.
31:34Derek Kelly, they got around him.
31:35But he's going to be stuck again behind these guys.
31:37You hear Jett revving up that motorcycle, and when you've got two of them with all these ruts,
31:42these guys want to get out of the way, but they can't, which allowed Aaron Plessinger to run back up in this thing.
31:48Oh, it's wheel-to-wheel uphill.
31:49Now, let's see if Jett goes inside right here.
31:51He's been going outside.
31:53Goes back inside.
31:55On the outside, now it allows him.
31:57And I like the Aaron's line.
31:58He has to switch it up on this time.
32:00Oh, he was beautiful on the inside, and now outside, and now side-by-side.
32:06All right, now if Aaron just stays on his normal line and Jett doesn't switch,
32:10he usually ends up faster because Jett's going to have to slow down right here.
32:13Aaron should be able to get around him.
32:15Oh, I like it.
32:16Now Aaron changes it up.
32:18He's on the outside.
32:19That's because Jett got on the gas and cried like cross-running him to block that.
32:24That was a heads-up ride.
32:25Love it.
32:26And Hunter Lawrence still in this fight as well.
32:30A lap and a half to go.
32:31A fantastic first moto here in Colorado.
32:34Yeah, you start to wonder, did Aaron show his line?
32:39Was he not?
32:40Does he have another opportunity to pass another place?
32:43I do believe he does, but he's got to be close to him.
32:47But more traffic.
32:48Yeah.
32:48That's Mitchell Harris in their 19th place.
32:56Jett gets him.
33:01White flag coming up.
33:05Oh, I see Jett's got his lines back.
33:07Now watch, see if he pulls that gap.
33:09And as a rider, you know, like, if I'm Jett Lawrence, I'm like, look, let me execute this
33:16next half a lap.
33:17If I can do that, then I can be calm on this last lap.
33:21But I just got to execute it.
33:22So you're probably going to see Jett try to be mistake-free, get around these guys,
33:26maybe try to put this race away and just survive that last lap.
33:29And now they're lapping well into the riders in the points.
33:33So these guys are in their own battles, and they matter.
33:39Let's go around.
33:41Tomek still lurking in fourth.
33:45But you see the red fender of Hunter Lawrence not out of the picture yet from third.
33:50Yeah, I mean, good ride by all these guys.
33:52They dropped it down to 212, 214s, and it seems like they have that tug of war.
33:57But as I mentioned, Jett was able to execute that last quarter part of the track and look
34:02at the gap because he knows he's not as fast as Aaron in this other section.
34:06But because he was able to execute that part, now he has a gap.
34:10He just needs to manage this thing.
34:12And Plessinger took a look back to measure his gap to Hunter Lawrence.
34:16Then Jett had feet off the pegs in that corner.
34:19Both able to recover.
34:22Last lap now.
34:24Yeah, I think that look back was a sign from Aaron.
34:26Because Jett was able to execute that last quarter part, now he's still worried about Hunter Lawrence.
34:31And so, all that was dictated by the 18, get back around these guys.
34:35All the confidence that Aaron Plessinger had, Eli Tomek, they were able to get around them.
34:40And this kid was still able to find a way to get back in front.
34:44And if he's able to hold on to this race, man, this is going to be huge for Jett Lawrence moving forward.
34:49And the lap traffic really hurting Tomac, who is now eight seconds back.
34:53He was lurking about 3.3 off from most of the second half of this one.
34:59A little bit different way for Jett Lawrence to do it.
35:01We've seen him get the start.
35:02We've seen him lead all the laps.
35:04Rarely does someone get him.
35:06This time Plessinger did.
35:07No, and it was.
35:08They all had him.
35:09I mean, his brother almost had him at the point.
35:11Eli, at some point, was there if he was able to get around him.
35:14But no matter what, they can keep trying.
35:16But this guy answers the bell.
35:17And it's just a different way than we've seen him being able to do it.
35:20And when you can win multiple different ways.
35:22Oh, no.
35:23Hunter has gone down to the last lap from third.
35:27He's messing with his throttle.
35:28Might have broke his throttle by the way he went down or he was trying to fix it.
35:31Looks like at that section where me and Eli went down together.
35:35Different years.
35:37Wow.
35:38Well, let's see where he ends up.
35:39They had a big gap over Justin Cooper, who was fifth.
35:42So I think he might still hold on for fourth.
35:46Well, just like we said at the top of the show.
35:48The scoreboard continues to show wins for the 18.
35:53Oh, but they are so close.
35:56Yeah, they're super close.
35:57But as much as how close they are, you know this kid's only getting better.
36:02Oh, yeah.
36:03Now he's showed multiple ways to win.
36:05Responding to the challenge.
36:08And Chet Lawrence takes Moto1 under pressure.
36:12At Thunder Valley, Plessinger so close.
36:16Now nine career second place finishes in 450 motos.
36:20Tomac will inherit third with the late race crash from Hunter Lawrence.
36:26And at least keeps himself in contention for the overall if he can bounce back in the second moto.
36:31Great race.
36:35It really was.
36:36That was a big old chess match right there.
36:39Yeah, all four are going to be able to say, I'm in position for this one.
36:44They all had their moments.
36:44Thanks, guys.
36:45Thanks, guys.
36:45Thanks, guys.
36:45Thanks, guys.
36:45Thanks, guys.
36:45Thanks, guys.
36:45Thanks, guys.
36:46Thanks, guys.
36:46Thanks, guys.
36:46Thanks, guys.
36:46Thanks, guys.
36:46Thanks, guys.
36:47Thanks, guys.
36:47Thanks, guys.
36:47Thanks, guys.
36:47Thanks, guys.
36:47Thanks, guys.
36:47Thanks, guys.
36:47Thanks, guys.
36:48Thanks, guys.
36:48Thanks, guys.
36:48Thanks, guys.
36:49Thanks, guys.
36:49Thanks, guys.
36:49Thanks, guys.
36:49Thanks, guys.
36:50Thanks, guys.
36:50Thanks, guys.
36:50Thanks, guys.
36:51Thanks, guys.
36:51Thanks, guys.
36:51Thanks, guys.
36:52Thanks, guys.
36:53Thanks, guys.
36:54Thanks, guys.
36:55Thanks, guys.
36:56Thanks, guys.