- 3 months ago
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00:00The opportunity to finish third in those playoffs, and so is Gigos, Cody Shock.
00:03They're going to have to have a career best today.
00:05That's right. It's a lot on the line for them.
00:07And all the way on the end of the line is Jorge Prado, the Monster Energy Kawasaki Rider,
00:12the multi-time MXGP champ, 43rd fastest in qualifying today.
00:17We thought he was in danger of not making it.
00:19They only take the top 36.
00:21Thought he would go to the last chance qualifier, but there is a provisional rule,
00:25top 10 in points, which he is, automatically at gate 41.
00:30So that changes the game for him.
00:32He's in the moto, but all the way on the outside.
00:34Just saw Eli Tomac there, third of the championship.
00:37He said he's not happy this year only because he really wants to have an overall.
00:41I'm sure he would like to have won the title.
00:42That's now out of reach.
00:44See if Eli can get that overall win this Saturday afternoon.
00:47Fly Racing, 30-second card is up.
00:5030 minutes, two laps, 41 riders on the gate.
00:55Let's go.
00:55And Prado going to use that outside on a track known for the inside dominant starts.
01:04And guess who's got it for the inside?
01:06It's Jet Lawrence.
01:07Yeah, not the start you wanted to see, but looks like Justin Cooper slides up in a second.
01:13He was very fast in that second practice.
01:15Looks like he's going to try to make the pass.
01:16Whoa!
01:17Jet Lawrence, let's see if the turn down for what.
01:19Lee, Justin Cooper got that pass up the inside.
01:22Oh, Jet fights back.
01:23Yeah, Jet fights back.
01:26Prado, I think, was around third.
01:28Oh, Cooper going back after Lawrence.
01:30Yeah, that's your respect right there.
01:31I thought Cooper would lean on him a little bit, but good to see him out here, especially this early in the race.
01:36He's had to pace the last few weekends and qualifying, but the last guy you want to see out front is that 18.
01:42And that's just been one of the tools in the bag for him.
01:47Great starts.
01:48Obviously, the riding not too shabby.
01:49Hey, we mentioned make it a career day.
01:52And you got Jack Rogers, the privateer, starting in third with R.J.
01:56Hampshire right behind him.
01:57Good on Rogers.
01:58Here comes Hampshire.
02:00Oh, hang on to it.
02:01Yeah, R.J.'s been getting close last weekend.
02:03We saw him lead a couple laps for the first time in a 450 career.
02:06So for him, he has this pace.
02:09Now he's got to transition that into some race pace, but nice move by R.J.
02:13And you can see how these guys are starting to separate themselves because this guy up front.
02:18Well, you said that's a track thing as Prado comes through next, but this track separation quickly.
02:23Yeah, I mean, Jet Lawrence probably has, you know, 30 seconds over in last place at this moment, and it's only been half a lap.
02:29But the weight practice has been good to see the number 70 Kawasaki up here fighting for top five.
02:35Let's see how this motor goes, but we've got Cody Schock behind him.
02:39And then it's, oh, Schock off the track, and I think Tomac and Dylan Ferrandez just took advantage.
02:44Schock needs every point.
02:45He's got to outscore Guillaume by nine today.
02:49Yeah, well, it's a good start for him, even though he ran off the racetrack.
02:51Good start.
02:52One guy that we're not used to being back here is Hunter Lawrence.
02:54Been fast the last few weekends.
02:56Got his first overall a couple weekends ago.
02:58Now he slides past Cody Schock behind Eli Tomac.
03:01All right, it's going to be fun to watch this group.
03:03And Tomac, Lawrence, Ferrandez battling just outside the top five.
03:07Got Barsha around there as well.
03:09Tomac looking for running room on Ferrandez, the 2021 champion.
03:13Yeah, I'm really impressed with Eli.
03:15He's come out here, and I'm sure him not having an overall really bothers him.
03:19He's got an uphill battle trying to run down to 18, but so far so good for Eli.
03:23He's making a pass.
03:24So he's around Ferrandez, who's 14 there on the Phoenix Racing factory connection.
03:29Honda, Hunter right behind him.
03:31Then Schock, where is Guillaume?
03:35He's in 14.
03:37So he's still in range of Schock right now.
03:39They just want to stay close.
03:41Hunter looking to make a move on Ferrandez.
03:43And he's got it.
03:45Not quite enough.
03:46Yeah, that's where it really funnels in.
03:48And Hunter could have been a little bit more aggressive if he needed to be.
03:51But he didn't want to hit his fellow comrade, Dylan Ferrandez, on the Honda.
03:55Yeah, these guys are good buddies.
03:56They go way back to their days living in Europe together as Tomac's looking to make moves.
04:00Up ahead on Rogers.
04:01Yeah, back in the day when they were racing MXGP, Ferrandez was kind of a veteran rider on the team.
04:08And Hunter was a fresh face, a new kid coming out of Australia.
04:11Ferrandez really helped him learn the ropes.
04:14And they continue that relationship to this day.
04:16But right now, it's every man for himself on the track.
04:18And Rogers is in the thick of it.
04:20Yeah, Rogers is starting to learn.
04:21These guys are fast up here.
04:23But you can already see the separation between Dylan's.
04:26He's already almost 11 seconds behind Jet Lawrence in one lap.
04:30So you can see that separation of not getting a start.
04:32And Dylan's, he's in fourth place right now.
04:34Shock battling with Lawrence as they tangle with Rogers.
04:39Watch Hunter around the outside.
04:41Yeah, he should have had to pass Mayer right here.
04:45Nice move.
04:47Okay, so we'll reset the order.
04:49It's Jet Lawrence, Justin Cooper, Tobac third.
04:52Ferrandez fourth.
04:53Not sure I saw Barsha and Prado around this group.
04:56Not sure what happened to them.
04:57But they have drifted back.
04:59Not sure if they went down or they got tangled.
05:02JT, what have you heard or seen from the 70?
05:05Well, we're not seeing him on the leaderboard there.
05:07But I just wanted to verify he is out there.
05:09He is just behind that pack that he was running behind.
05:12He's trying to locate him on the racetrack.
05:14He's just behind RJ Hamshare, just in front of Eli Tomac.
05:16So don't trust that leaderboard for the moment.
05:19And I just wanted to mention on Prado.
05:20He was on that very outside gate.
05:22The middle of the start is incredibly deep.
05:25They've watered it and ripped it.
05:26Prado was on the very outside.
05:27He got up on the grass.
05:29And even though he had to go a much further distance, was able to accelerate much better.
05:32That's how he got down there.
05:34And even though it was kind of a rough morning, it ended up working out for him.
05:37He runs it for us at the moment.
05:39Yeah, it worked out because they only had 40 routers.
05:41They had to add another gate to him.
05:43So it wasn't prepping the track for that last guy.
05:45But still, whatever.
05:47It's a better performance than what it was in practice.
05:49And I think with Jorge at this moment, he just needs to just go out in there and ride.
05:53I mean, the guy's great.
05:54I mean, he's clearly in the top five right now.
05:56Eli Tomac's closing in.
05:57But the way that practice was, just go out there and just get a finish at this moment.
06:02Yeah, so we'll ignore what we see on top and get scoring for the moment.
06:06Prado is clearly there physically on the track ahead of Tomac.
06:10And, yeah, 43rd.
06:11Again, we thought he might be going to the last chance qualifier.
06:14But they did add the provisional rule back into the rule book a few years ago.
06:18Top 10 in points automatically get a gate in Moto 1.
06:22But they get the 41st gate out of 40.
06:25They'll actually add a gate on the outside.
06:28And Prado, a notoriously great starter, able to overcome that and get toward the front anyway.
06:32Yeah, I think this track and the way it is a little bit harder to pass
06:36because he got a good start is going to help him out.
06:38And they're first this weekend, so the track's going to be a little bit smoother.
06:42So hopefully Jorge has the best scenario of turning a bad day into a decent day
06:47because of where he started at with track conditions.
06:51And there are some rumors swirling about Tomac and that relationship with Kawasaki.
06:54It's clearly not been up to either his or their standards in his debut season with them
06:58and what could be the future for them as Tomac puts the heat on.
07:03Yeah, let's see what Eli does.
07:04Does he just square him up or to go around the outside of Jorge?
07:08The track's a little slippery right now.
07:09So let's see what Eli does.
07:12Jorge gets through that section pretty good.
07:14But if Eli scrubs it, he should have the inside.
07:17A little fight from number 70.
07:19Good to see.
07:20There you go.
07:21Hanging in there as Lawrence Cooper, Hampshire, and then these two battling.
07:25Tomac ducks some of that roost at the bottom of the hill, pop back over the top.
07:30Yeah, unless Jorge makes a mistake right here, he's going to be stuck behind him.
07:34Eli is going to be stuck behind Jorge for the next couple of turns.
07:37Maybe he'll have another opportunity if he gets close to him.
07:39Maybe try to charge down this hill.
07:41But you can see how difficult it is for these guys to pass
07:44and how much time they're losing to the leaders because he's stuck behind them.
07:49And because Prado is known as such a good starter,
07:53he knows how to deal with pressure, with riders behind him.
07:56And you saw him make it tough on Tomac a few times.
07:59Not dirty here, but Tomac's having to work for it.
08:03Yeah, another place.
08:05Eli's going to have to funnel back in.
08:07Not really fast.
08:08And because the track's a little smooth, some of these lines haven't formed in.
08:14You can see Jorge go.
08:15Nice pass by Eli.
08:16Now let's see if he can go to work and try to close that gap to RJ, JT.
08:22Yeah, just a little update.
08:23We're trying to figure out why Jorge Prado wasn't showing up on time against scoring.
08:26Remember, we have 41 riders in this field, which we're not used to.
08:29So I think there's a little bit of a disruption
08:31between what they're scheduled to pick up and start transponders
08:34and what we actually have.
08:35Well, we can see it.
08:37And we're going to have to use it old school right now.
08:38Just use our eyes to know he's right there.
08:40Now battling with Ferrandez.
08:44I believe that's Hunter Lawrence.
08:45Oh, it's Hunter Lawrence got by.
08:46So he did get around Ferrandez.
08:48Boom.
08:49Just like that, he's around Prado.
08:51Yeah, that is one of the parts of the track that you can't make some pass.
08:55But Jorge is already starting to look back.
08:57And this has been the troubles with him the last few weekends.
09:00Once he gets passed, just that something goes wrong and it just continues to slot back.
09:05But maybe you can regroup this moto.
09:06Yeah, that was it at Unadilla.
09:08Once he got to around this spot, fifth or sixth, then the bottom really dropped out in that first moto.
09:14You talked about it.
09:15When you're a rider of his standard, which is winning races and titles, it's a lot to deal with when it starts going backwards like that.
09:21Yeah, it is.
09:22I mean, everything that Jorge is going through right now is all emotions.
09:25It's an emotional, mental thing.
09:27And he wants to be up here battling with Eli Tomac Hunter Lawrence.
09:31And he should be.
09:32I mean, he's that good of a rider.
09:33But once that thing starts spiraling, you start to see it.
09:37And this is really a hard mental battle for Jorge to deal with at this moment.
09:43See if Lawrence can make tracks toward Tomac or if they can work together to get to Hampshire,
09:48who would be next in line as they have left Prado behind.
09:53I mentioned Barsha had a good start.
09:54He was up there now battling with shock just behind that group.
09:58Yeah, it looks like my brother got around.
10:00Cody's right ahead of him.
10:01So, Cody's going to have his hands full.
10:04Once you get a good start, you're going to have these guys continue.
10:07Justin Barsha behind you.
10:09And you've got other guys coming.
10:10But he did the most important part would be in front.
10:13See how this thing ends for him.
10:16He owed his 12th.
10:17Shock is 8th.
10:18Oh, Barsha!
10:20You give him an opening, he'll take it.
10:22Rockstar Gascast makes the move.
10:23Yeah, you don't even have to give him.
10:24He's going to make an opening.
10:26But, yeah, Cody did the right thing.
10:28Justin had that inside.
10:30And you know he's going for that front end.
10:31But Justin's been having some pace all day.
10:33He looked good in practice.
10:34And so far in his motor, he looks good.
10:36And next rider in front of him will be the Husqvarna rider of my brother, 27, Malcolm Stewart.
10:41JT, what are we thinking on 37?
10:43Well, you think about Justin Barsha, who's right in front of him last week.
10:45He had that hometown crowd working for him.
10:47Well, that's the case for Cody Shock.
10:49And there are not many riders in pro motocross, if any, that are from the state of Delaware.
10:53But Cody Shock is.
10:54So he was talking about in qualifying earlier that he felt like AP.
10:57He felt like he had an entire crowd screaming his name.
11:01So it's got to add a little bit of adrenaline.
11:02Let's see if he can use it to chase and march it back down.
11:04And pretty funny, when he was talking before qualifying with Haley, said he'd like to have that Aaron Plessinger vibe just here.
11:11Aaron gets cheered everywhere he goes.
11:13One of the most popular riders in the sport.
11:15But today, the Delaware native is home track here in Maryland.
11:18He's got some fan support.
11:19And it's a little bit quieter up front.
11:22No bikes around.
11:24Shetlords checking out.
11:26Yeah, it looks a lot of no motivation out there right now.
11:31That's what I see.
11:32No motivation.
11:34So Justin Cooper, who has clinched the number one seed for the playoffs second, but he might have company.
11:40R.J. Hefshire, who never stops digging, is keeping the 32 honest.
11:45Yeah, R.J. is starting to close up on Justin, even though Justin was a little bit faster that last lap.
11:51It seems like R.J. has figured his last first part of this section out.
11:56See if he can keep it going.
11:58Then it's Hunter.
11:59So where is Tomac?
12:01Yeah, it looks like Hunter got around Eli.
12:04I see Eli up about a couple seconds behind Hunter Lawrence.
12:07So I don't know if he went down or...
12:11Or if he made the pass.
12:12There is the four-time 450 ProMotoCross champ.
12:17Lost some ground.
12:19Yeah, not only was he ahead, but he had a couple bike lengths, and now he's behind and with a gap.
12:26Yeah, I think by his riding position and this next lap on Eli to tell you how much did he go down or something else is going on with the motorcycle.
12:34And there's Prado.
12:37Like I said, a lot of rumors about he has a multi-year deal with his team, but people are starting to wonder, will they stay together for next year, just the way this has gone?
12:49And stay tuned.
12:50I mean, we could get to Anaham, and he could still be on a Kawasaki at the beginning of 2026.
12:56Ferrandez started to close on him.
12:57Haley.
12:58Yeah, and speaking with multiple members from the team, they're excited to have him back.
13:01It was a great start two rounds ago, solid progression last week.
13:05But maybe most importantly, if the team is what he brings to the paddock, everything he does is so calculated and with intention.
13:11It's that they like that impression that that has on his teammates.
13:14So as we see him battling here with the number seven of Jorge Prado.
13:17So Dylan Ferrandez, extremely calculated.
13:21Yeah, thanks, Haley.
13:22And he nearly made that move, but Prado able to hold him off.
13:25Yes, there are some younger 250 riders under that tent with Phoenix Honda.
13:30And good to have the veteran back.
13:32Can't quite solve Prado at the moment.
13:35Yeah, he's more clearly a lot faster.
13:37But at this moment, Dylan's not going to be able to pass him the way it is part of the racetrack.
13:42But the way Jorge's kind of sitting up, he should have the pass just going down this hill.
13:47A little battle between these two, believe it or not, in the playoff seating.
13:50Even though they both missed a lot of racing this year, Prado missed most of Supercross with a shoulder injury.
13:56Ferrandez missed time with a leg injury and illness in motocross.
14:00And they're only five points apart in the battle for playoff seating.
14:04And Ferrandez wants to make a difference in the map right here if he can make this pass.
14:09Haley.
14:10Dylan Ferrandez likes this position.
14:12He likes having a parent to chase, so to speak.
14:14He's known for that in qualifying.
14:16He likes to have someone in front of him to assess what lines they're taking and then put that to work later on.
14:21So, something to chase, something to analyze.
14:24Hey, this title year, I was calling it the Dylan Danger Zone.
14:26Once you saw his fender start to poke into the screen and close, no one was able to stop him.
14:32So, maybe a smaller version of that here.
14:34It's not for the lead.
14:35But he's trying to make it happen on Prado.
14:38Yeah, you could tell Dylan was starting to get frustrated because he was going in a spot where he couldn't pass him.
14:44But now the track opens up.
14:46And to your point, I think Dylan's been riding really good ever since he came back from the injury.
14:50Needed that little break to refresh himself.
14:52And maybe not that version of that title, but definitely a good sign for the number 14 Honda.
14:58Yeah, better than we've seen in a while.
14:59Now, here comes your brother, Malcolm Stewart.
15:01Again, a career day for him would make a huge difference in that playoff seating.
15:06He needs points.
15:07Prado looks over.
15:08Knows he has another battle.
15:09Yeah, Malcolm's good.
15:10When I was racing him years back, he actually took me out on this racetrack.
15:14So, he better have that career path out here.
15:19So, he needs to score 31 points today.
15:22And if he gets a position like this in each moto, that would pretty much do it.
15:28And he could leapfrog some riders in the standings and also hold others back.
15:32One of the few, actually, Malcolm that's raced all the races this year.
15:35He and Justin Cooper.
15:37Yeah, Malcolm's been steady and really getting better.
15:40And I think hopefully today, if he can have a good ride, really spawns him on going into these playoffs, JT.
15:48Watching dueling battles.
15:49And on the bottom, you see R.J. Hampshire desperately trying to chase down Justin Cooper.
15:53And, R.J., a lot of these guys talk about this racetrack and why do they like it.
15:57You think about why is it Malcolm Stewart's best racetrack historically.
16:01And a lot of it comes down to the soil composition.
16:04This racetrack most closely resembles what these riders would practice on in Florida throughout the week.
16:11So, I know it was the case from talking to you, James.
16:13It was certainly the case for me.
16:14It was where I got my best results ever.
16:16And it's just that comfort level.
16:18You know what the bike's going to do.
16:19From the first lap out there, everything just feels like a little bit of home.
16:23So, it's not a surprise to me to see R.J. Hampshire really pushing forward.
16:27Yeah, 100%.
16:28And, like you said, it's just that knowing the soil you can read is very predictable.
16:34And, yeah, it might be predictable as Jorge might be getting the business if he keeps doing this to my brother right here.
16:41He's doing a good job at fighting.
16:43But some people, you just, you don't really want to fight.
16:46That 27 is not that guy.
16:49Yeah, we've seen him get into it with other riders if they start it, for sure.
16:52All right, we're halfway through this motor.
16:54A reminder, Monster Energy available now, Inside Line's available now.
16:58And Malcolm says, you're not going to do that to me twice.
17:00Yeah, Jorge realized he ain't bought that light.
17:02So, you can tell.
17:04And I think for the hard part for Malcolm, you know when another guy's starting to struggle
17:09and they're just slowing you down on purpose.
17:11And I think that's a little bit the case that's going on with the number 70.
17:15If you're going to slow somebody down, do not do it to this man, the 51 of Justin Barsha.
17:20Probably the most aggressive guy on the track.
17:22Yeah, he might just do it just because he saw what you did to Malcolm.
17:26So, um, and this track, as you said, a little hard to pass.
17:32How aggressive does he want to get?
17:34And Prado wants nothing to do with that.
17:37Yeah, he bought that light, he either.
17:38So, and looking down at the motorcycle here, that might be the end of it for the charge for the 70.
17:46He is back to way down.
17:48Yeah, I mean, he's in ninth right now.
17:49I mean, he has nine seconds over Cody Schauer, five seconds over Cody.
17:54It's going to be closing down pretty quickly.
17:57This is what Shock needs.
17:59Look, everybody has different standards and motivations.
18:01Certainly, the multi-time champ from MXGP Prado wants to be up front winning.
18:05Shock will take any position from anyone at any time, especially now.
18:10This could be the difference between wild card, LCQ race at every playoff, or guaranteed into the motos.
18:18Right now, look at this.
18:19Geo and Shock, we were watching them 20th and 21st.
18:23It's actually Mitchell Harrison with the bad moto at the moment.
18:26They would both move ahead of him, but Shock only by one point.
18:32So he wants to pass Prado in the worst way.
18:35Justin Hill is just ahead in points.
18:37He's not racing pro motocross.
18:39He's an active.
18:40Could they perhaps catch him by the end of the day?
18:43Maybe all three.
18:44Harrison, Shock, and Geo could get in if they can all jump Hill.
18:47Yeah, so far, Cody's doing exactly what he needed to do.
18:51Good job, but it just shows you how things are changing,
18:53and it's going to continue to change in and out that bubble spot throughout this moto.
19:01Got McAraff behind Cody.
19:05How about that?
19:05Jack Rogers hanging in there, doing a good job.
19:08The privateer up to the good start.
19:10Yeah, he looks a little bit more racy back here.
19:13You know, things are starting to happen a little bit fast up at that level,
19:16but good start.
19:19Top 12 for him.
19:21And then McElrath just came back from the quad lock Honda team.
19:24I'm seeing the number on the back there.
19:27That actually might be Harrison coming through.
19:31Mitchell Harrison, who is, again, battling for that playoff seating,
19:37trying to get a guaranteed spot.
19:39Look at the gap that is built up here.
19:40That is Guillaume on the Omaha, and that's Rogers.
19:46Oh, yeah.
19:46That was Harrison.
19:47So I'm trying to figure he's coming up as a lap down.
19:50Harrison might be a lap down, and hence battling the riders he normally battles around that top 10,
19:57but maybe not for points.
19:58JT.
19:59Yeah, I think we're just dealing with a little bit of a technical area there
20:02because Harrison's been up there the whole time.
20:03He was showing 10 on our leaderboard for a long time, which was accurate.
20:06I'm not sure what's going on now, but he is actually in that position.
20:10He's actually having a good moto.
20:11So, again, we need to readjust the SMX World Championship playoff picture
20:14because Harrison is much further ahead than he should be.
20:17And that would mean that Guillaume and Schock are not going to jump in,
20:20and Harrison would still be in position.
20:22There's one whole moto to go today.
20:24As for Guillaume, he said his plan was if he didn't make it in the top 20,
20:29he was going to show up at those playoff races.
20:31But then he jumped on a supercross track at Club of Mex this week and said,
20:34you know what, that was so fun.
20:36Even if I am in the wild card race, even if I got to go through the LCQ, I'm going to do it.
20:40Yeah, I mean, he's looking good right now.
20:43And sorry about the confusion on the timing of scoring.
20:46It's all over the place.
20:47But so far, just that bad start hurt him at the moment.
20:50He's got about 20 seconds behind Cody's shock, so he's got a lot of work to make up.
20:57But this RJ started, still trying to close in on Justin Cooper.
21:01He's going to have to get around his lap rider.
21:02You can see Justin right in front of him.
21:05That's what we talk about.
21:07Hampshire will never cheat you for effort, just chipping away at it with Cooper,
21:11who's just up ahead.
21:12Yeah, and I believe Hunter Lawrence is only a couple seconds behind RJ,
21:17so that pace is starting to push these guys and bunching them together.
21:22Interesting to see if Tomac can hang right now.
21:25154 is for both Lawrence's fastest two riders on the track.
21:29Can Tomac keep Hunter in his sights?
21:32Yeah, well, Eli ran a 159 that last lap, so I don't know if that was a mistake,
21:37but he's already 10 seconds, almost 12 seconds behind Hunter Lawrence,
21:40if the timing score is right.
21:43Now, here's something interesting with Cooper.
21:45He has not been on a moto podium since Redbud.
21:49Second moto, second half of the year, has not been quite as good.
21:52But he did still lock up that number one seed for the playoffs.
21:56We asked him how much that meant to him yesterday.
21:58It's a huge goal for me.
22:01It's definitely awesome.
22:03I don't think there's anything that comes with it, though.
22:06We still got to carry it into the playoffs, and, yeah, we start with a head start, right?
22:09So that's always a good thing.
22:12And, yeah, just looking to finish this motocross series out strong, and we got one more.
22:16So it's been taking it race by race.
22:18It's been a long season, and, yeah, definitely just honed in on one race at a time.
22:24Yeah, I think, Justin, I mean, I would be very proud if I'm him coming into the season.
22:29If you said I would be, you know, number one leading into that playoffs, you know,
22:34I think for him he wants a win.
22:36That would be the only thing that kind of, you know, capped this series off for him.
22:40But I think it's very impressive for him to do it.
22:42You can see Hunter Lawrence sliding up, closing that gap.
22:45So he's going to have a battle for that second-place position between RJ and Hunter Lawrence
22:49by the end of this moto.
22:50It's been a great season for the number 32 star racing Yamaha.
22:53And there's motivation for Hunter back there in fourth.
22:56If he can score 46 points today, he'd fall all the way to third in the playoff seating.
23:01But to get 46, have to get a moto win to get that many points.
23:06It's going to be tough in this one, but at least try to get to second here.
23:09So I'm going to expect a big battle between these three.
23:13Yeah, he would need to be in second, as you mentioned.
23:15And then have to win that next moto.
23:16So it's very important.
23:18And we go back to last year, tying Jet Lawrence and being one point off.
23:23Basically that tiebreaker, losing that million dollars at a world championship.
23:27Really important for Hunter Lawrence to try to move up if he can.
23:29So we brace ourselves through what could be a fantastic three-rider duel.
23:36Hampshire trying to catch Cooper.
23:38Hunter trying to catch them both.
23:41Hunter's either finding, maybe accidentally.
23:43Smooth real estate off the side of the track there.
23:46A little early for that.
23:48Second motor, there's going to be some good lines.
23:50This track really has a hard base.
23:54You can see that shiny stuff, and these guys are starting to slip in.
23:56So as the day goes on, I actually think it will get more traction as the track dries out
24:00because it will be more consistent for them.
24:02They've got a little bit of water on it, so you can see a few mistakes.
24:05You've got 450s racing first today.
24:10How much of a changeup is that when they're generally second?
24:14I think it's more of a mindset change.
24:16I mean, I feel the same amount of time.
24:18Maybe a little bit easier because it's not as rough.
24:21But I feel like the racing is more intense because these guys feel like they have a more practice track.
24:27It's not as rough, so you'll have more guys going faster, a little longer.
24:31I had a rider on the inside that went down.
24:33Let's catch back up with Harrison, who has caught back up with Prado.
24:37So Harrison, now we do have him reflected in 11th.
24:41JT.
24:42Well, I just want to give a shout-out, Weech, to Mitchell Harrison
24:45because there's so many comparisons that we've made the last few weeks about Jorge Prado,
24:49which we see right there.
24:50Getting past Mitchell Harrison as if Mitchell Harrison's doing something wrong in this.
24:54But Mitchell Harrison's been riding incredibly well.
24:56He's about to be the top finishing Kawasaki if he makes this move on Jorge Prado yet again.
25:02And so I just think he deserves a little bit more credit than he's been getting being the punching bag
25:06in the Jorge Prado comparison.
25:07Yeah, what Prado has had, photos like this where he starts drifting backwards,
25:11that's kind of the Mendoza line.
25:13Like, man, he's even getting passed by Harrison.
25:15But Harrison's riding well.
25:16And he said he's not just here thinking about SMX points for the playoffs.
25:21He's here to battle Factory Riders and get in the top ten, Haley.
25:25Yeah, exactly that.
25:26She took the words out of my mouth.
25:28It was when I spoke to him.
25:29It was exactly that.
25:30Had to bring up the obvious, that bubble battle.
25:32He said, yeah, I just want to beat these Factory guys.
25:35Yeah, and obviously that would take care of the points as well.
25:38But we've talked about this many, many times.
25:40James, we go back to Time Masterpool a few years ago.
25:42So that's the dangling carrot for these privateers.
25:45Yeah, I mean, and honestly, I think there's a little bit of pride for Mitchell
25:49to be able to pass Jorge.
25:51And the reason he gets brought up, because of all the speculation,
25:54and it's not a disrespect to Mitchell.
25:56It's just you're surprised Jorge gets a start, and then he ends up that far back.
26:01So nonetheless, Mitchell's been riding great this season,
26:05and he can have another good day finishing us out that top 20 in these playoffs.
26:09That would be a great year for him.
26:10And as you said, it could be career-changing moving forward.
26:13And honestly, shout-out to the team owner.
26:15Oh, as Harrison almost goes down.
26:18Julian, who owns this Partzilla Blaster team,
26:21it's a lot of effort for these privateer teams to get to all the races.
26:25But that's what allows the dreams to come true for the likes of Harrison and Hunter Yoder,
26:31some of the other talent that they have under that tent.
26:33So credit to Julian for putting this team on the track, collecting more sponsors.
26:37And then every year, the team gets a little bit better in the results column, and you never know.
26:41We have seen privateer teams, you blink, and next thing you know,
26:45they're getting factory support or even winning races.
26:48Yeah, and that's when I go back, the career-changing.
26:50Because of these finishes, you get more sponsors.
26:53Opportunity team has more budget.
26:54They start putting more in the bike, and it could be not necessarily money in his pocket,
26:58but overall, a better motorcycle.
27:00He'll get faster.
27:02That's the part where these playoffs and having the opportunity to be in there
27:05could be career-changing for a lot of these privateer guys.
27:08Yeah, top 20 guaranteed a gate at all three races.
27:12If you're out, you've got to race the wildcard race.
27:14If you're not top 30, you're not eligible at all.
27:17And Harrison's done it indoors and out.
27:20By the way, we mentioned the timing and scoring issues.
27:22Got a lot of that rectified now, but could be a few more that will get figured out.
27:27So you see the pylon on the left side of the screen.
27:29That's relatively accurate.
27:30We'll make sure by the end of this moto we have it dialed as we go back to Cooper.
27:35And he's dealing with more and more pressure from Hampshire.
27:40Yeah, Justin's going to catch.
27:42If I'm RJ, I've got to really capitalize because we know Justin's going to be stuck behind these guys.
27:47You can see him close that gap right on in him.
27:49And Hunter Lawrence lurking as well.
27:52Second would be a career-best moto finish for Hampshire on a 450.
27:56See if he can get there.
27:59It's good to see Justin up here back towards that lead group after that practice crash at Millville.
28:05Struggled for a few weeks and finally got his health back after that two-week break.
28:10And ever since we came back, even Unadilla, last couple weeks, he's been a lot better.
28:15Building towards the right state of mind going into these playoffs as the number one seed.
28:19Yeah, Cooper said Ironman has just never been a track that's good for him.
28:23Not even sure why.
28:24But Unadilla just had a bad start at Moto 1.
28:26Rode well in Moto 2.
28:28And obviously riding well right now.
28:30Bottom box is Jett Lawrence dealing with piles of lap traffic.
28:34And Cooper trying to hold off Henshire, JT.
28:38Yeah, and for Justin Cooper, this has to feel like old times a little bit.
28:42Let's go back to 2021.
28:44Well, guess who Jett Lawrence was battling for championships?
28:47It was none other than the likes of Justin Cooper.
28:50So these guys are old rivals, old frenemies, if you will.
28:54So to see them running 1-2 in the 450 class, it's really just a natural progression of the sport.
28:58Because these guys were the 250 guys just a few years ago.
29:01Well, I'll take it even further.
29:02How many battles have Hunter Lawrence and RJ Henshire had with Cooper in the 250 class as well?
29:07So you're starting to see that seed change as these riders move up and adapt to these bikes.
29:14Yeah, unfortunate for them, the old times, they were in the same position chasing 18 of Jett Lawrence.
29:19And so, yeah, they've been battling for years, but they want to try to rewrite that history a little bit.
29:27And you're right, James.
29:29Throughout all that, they're all moving up.
29:30They're all riding well.
29:31But Jett Lawrence, what can you say, is on his way to what looks to be another controlled moto victory.
29:40And his assault on the record books set after the qualifying first today.
29:46That didn't quite have the motivation, but the title already wrapped, and this is what he does anyway.
29:51Yeah, I mean, he's looked very loose today.
29:54And we talk about the way he rides.
29:55Sometimes it gets hard to see if he's trying.
29:58I almost feel like the way he's riding today, he has another level.
30:02If he could go up to Justin Cooper closed in, and he's tired of pulling away.
30:06And the one guy that's closing in is Hunter Lawrence, trying to get to it.
30:09He understands how important that second spot is.
30:12He's not going to be able to do anything with RJ here, but that's Justin Cooper right in front of him.
30:16Oh, great stuff.
30:17Hampshire has really amped it up now under fire from Lawrence.
30:22So he is closed right to the rear fender of Cooper.
30:26Three-rider fight.
30:26We knew it was coming, and here it is.
30:28Yeah, they're going to have about three laps to go, and if I'm Hunter Lawrence, it's going to use that basketball terminology as he goes up to inside of RJ, a little bit of pick and roll.
30:36And if Justin Cooper doesn't watch out, Hunter Lawrence might sneak up and make this pass because Justin's going to be stuck behind his lap rider, going to allow Hunter Lawrence to close up.
30:45And that was a quick strike from the 96 on Hefshire.
30:48Oh, lap traffic everywhere for Cooper to deal with.
30:51It's important for these guys to get past them right here.
30:54Justin Cooper does a great job, and watch this.
30:56Hunter Lawrence is going to get stuck.
31:01RJ's right back in it.
31:03All right, let's get to the pass here from Hunter on RJ.
31:06GT.
31:07Yeah, just Hunter really using his head with this pass, and you're going to see him set it up.
31:12Now watch RJ.
31:13He's going to drift back towards Hunter a little bit.
31:16I'm sure Hunter wasn't thrilled right there.
31:17He drifts back.
31:17Well, Hunter realizes, all I have to do is get to where he wants to go.
31:21So he just puts his motorcycle right where RJ's line is going to cross.
31:26RJ's unsuspecting.
31:27RJ has to hit the brakes, and Hunter goes right by.
31:29So it's one of those things where I don't have to necessarily pass you.
31:32I just have to beat you to the spot where you want to end up.
31:35Yeah, absolutely.
31:36That's a great breakdown, JT.
31:38I think RJ was focused in on Justin Cooper.
31:41He didn't even realize that Hunter Lawrence was behind him.
31:43And that's why I was saying Hunter Lawrence used that pick and roll as RJ's focus slid in and made that pass.
31:49But you can see these guys get stuck behind these lap riders in these couple of spots.
31:53And look, they lost a couple of seconds to Justin Cooper.
31:55So really have to go back to work.
31:57And I know that people see this, and they'll get frustrated with the lap traffic.
32:00But they have lapped into the top 20.
32:02So these riders are battling for points.
32:04Bryce Shelley, who they just went by, he's national number 97.
32:08You earn the two-digit number by scoring points in the motos.
32:11He's 19th.
32:12So he wants every point he gets.
32:14So they're not just going to pull over.
32:16When they find out that it's the lead group, they'll make it a little easier.
32:19But they're fighting amongst themselves.
32:21An update on the Oakley athletes out here.
32:23That's Cooper in second.
32:25Tomac fifth.
32:25Barsha eighth.
32:26And then Pat Shirell also fighting for points is 20th.
32:31So that's what makes it a little bit harder to pass some of these riders.
32:33They're in a fight in each other.
32:35Yeah, sorry about that.
32:36It makes it really hard, and I saw a couple of lap riders.
32:40They were trying to pull over, but there's literally not enough room on the track.
32:44He almost crashed going down, and it depends on where they catch him in the part of the racetrack.
32:47So they're doing a good job at least moving over, even though they're battling for points.
32:52They're trying to stay out of these guys' way, but kind of hard.
32:55Now you can see Hunter Lawrence starting to close back in with two laps left on Justin.
33:00Clutch time now to see if Hunter can get there.
33:02Cooper, again, have not had a moto podium.
33:08Cooper, since Redbud.
33:10So this would be big for him to get.
33:11Well, should be on the podium either way, but second would be big.
33:14And the Supermoto Cross playoffs offers some of the most unique fan opportunities in any sport for a limited time.
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33:48And again, the code is BOGORDL.
33:52And also, just announcing that this morning, there'll be, for the race at Las Vegas, a shuttle from the strip to the drag strip, the racetrack, where the event takes place.
34:05That's a new addition after SMX raced in Vegas last year.
34:10So check that out, go to SupermotoCross.com for more information on that event, make a good weekend of it at Las Vegas.
34:17Yeah, you can see Hunter really laying it down.
34:20And the reason why he's, you know, taking those chances is because he has to get this spot to have any opportunity to get that third in the playoff.
34:26So very important pass as far as the seeding-wise.
34:29His championship's wrapped up.
34:31He's got second in the points, Motocross secure.
34:34But there's a lot more, and he's got a lap to get it done.
34:38Yeah, you can see the SMX points.
34:40That's combined Monster Energy, Supercross, and ProMotoCross together on the left side of the screen.
34:45They're trying to catch Sexton and Webb, who are not here, out with injuries.
34:49They will be back for the playoffs.
34:51So that's your brother Malcolm trying to hold Hunter at bay, and then Hunter trying to leapfrog him, and also Webb and Sexton, and get to third.
34:58Yeah, that was a key move by Justin.
35:00And little things that go unnoticed, he was able to get past that lap rider before he got in that section.
35:06It allows Hunter to keep that gap on Hunter Lawrence.
35:08So it might be the difference between finishing second or third in his moto.
35:13Yeah, white flag is out here.
35:15And you've said it over and over.
35:18Justin Cooper knows where the passing zones are, right?
35:19He knows where he's got to hustle through here.
35:21Yeah, and if he didn't know before, he realized that in his moto where he caught these guys.
35:25But, again, it's been a good ride for him.
35:28And I just like the aggressiveness that we see for Justin Cooper to build a fight.
35:32Because Hunter Lawrence came from a long ways back.
35:34He could have easily gave up that position.
35:37And, yeah, this has not quite been as good.
35:41He hasn't been bad by any means, Justin Cooper.
35:43But the beginning of the year, leading laps, fast qualifier on the podium a lot.
35:46And he's been more of a 4-5 guy than a 2-3 guy the last couple of races.
35:52But second right now, if he can hold Hunter off on this Monster Energy Yamaha star racing machine.
35:58Yeah, it seems like all the tracks that Justin had to speed in practice, he got bad starts.
36:02So the results didn't show.
36:03And then some of the other ones, he got good starts.
36:05He heard or something else was going on.
36:07And so, to me, this is the first time we've seen him have a good start.
36:10And on the track that he's been pretty fast.
36:12And it's about 4-1-2 seconds on the cruising Jet Lawrence.
36:16Jet has all those things.
36:17Tracks he does well on, good starts, cruising, all of it.
36:21This is going to be the checkered flag here.
36:23Pressure, motivation, some of it, less of it, none of it.
36:27I don't know.
36:27Bottom line, Moto 1 goes to Jet Lawrence.
36:31And the hustle for second, and it will be Justin Cooper.
36:35Even had the lap rider throw a width in there.
36:37He knew he was on TV.
36:38Smart move.
36:39Yeah.
36:40Marketing for those guys.
36:41So Jet, title or not today, is looking to go out on top in pro motocross.
36:48A little uppercut.
36:49Oh, okay.
36:50He said, I knocked him out first moto.
36:52What?
36:53Honestly, first lap or two.
36:55The damage was done.
36:56And Cooper, Lawrence, Hampshire, Tomac will be top five.
37:03And Jet looks pretty fresh after that one.
37:06Remember, though, 450's race first today.
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