- 2 days ago
2026 Round 9 450 Triple Crown Race 1
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00:00Ready to go, gates are down, here we go!
00:03Oh, Eli got a bad jump. There he is in the middle of the pack.
00:07He's blocked in, look at this, Prado! You just heard from him, now he leads the way with Justin Cooper,
00:14and Cooper Webb on the inside.
00:16Oh, look at Cooper, watch those insides all night long, riders going to continue to do that.
00:21Welcome back, Jorge Prado!
00:23Go back to what Will Christian talked about at the opening of the show, the two riders that needed to
00:29have a good finish.
00:31Nonetheless, it's Cooper Webb defending Supercross champ.
00:36The last race that he won was the Triple Crown back in Arlington.
00:40He makes the move right up the inside.
00:43New race leader, the man who won here a year ago in Indy.
00:47His teammate is running third. Where's Ken Rockson? There's Kenny, there's the Suzuki.
00:52On the inside of Hunter Lawrence.
00:54Just when you think these guys are out of it, they say not so fast, and he is back in
01:00the title fight here.
01:02What a move from Rockson. Beautiful rhythm, great pace, just blows by, and here, going past Hunter Lawrence,
01:12he's getting swapped by Christian Craig and Joey Savace.
01:15Yeah, he is caught up. Man, the intensity level is so high right now.
01:20Oh, Prado getting passed by Kenny. We talk about how fast and how explosive Kenny is.
01:26Now back comes Prado on the inside, trying to respond.
01:30Let's see if he can tuck back underneath him.
01:33This is helping Cooper Webb.
01:34Push the power to the front.
01:34While these guys fight through that flat track section, over that little triple.
01:38Yeah, tightened up. Kenny had the preferred line. He was set up perfectly to be on the inside to the
01:45right-hand corner.
01:46Able to secure that second place.
01:48There's Justin Cooper. Next bike in shot. There's the Honda. There's three Hondas all together.
01:54Christian Craig, Hunter Lawrence, Joey Savace, then Garrett Marchbanks.
01:59See Justin Cooper. He was going, jumping the whoops in qualifying practice.
02:05See how all these guys are blitzing it right now. I do anticipate to see some jumpers here shortly.
02:13How about this opening ride from Christian Craig as Hunter Lawrence goes on the inside.
02:18Christian Craig, great start, made a few passes, just lost a spot there.
02:23Here's Roxen going for the lead.
02:25The two guys that will feature who have to have a great night tonight not to continue to allow Lawrence
02:31and Tomac to get away.
02:34They're running one-two. How on cue is that?
02:37And that is, I mean, listen, they know what's at stake.
02:40Mathematically, of course, they're still in it.
02:42But you start going and dipping further.
02:45Here he goes.
02:45What a run through the whoops from Kenny!
02:48Yeah, Coop can't contend with that kind of speed.
02:51Through the whoops right there.
02:53Kenny comes in, commits, makes a move.
02:56And Kenny, listen, these guys know where their competitors are good and where they can make time up on their
03:04competitors.
03:04And Kenny, I believe, sensed that.
03:07Indianapolis has been a great city.
03:10To win, to, well, where Savace had to take invasive action there, go around the top block.
03:15Tomac continues to make his way forward.
03:17Gets one quadlock Honda done.
03:19He's now working on Christian Craig.
03:22Watch him through this section here.
03:24There's ten jumps in a row.
03:26And how you play it determines where you pop out the other end.
03:30And look at Roxen again.
03:32Yeah.
03:33So Coop was able to catch up.
03:35Tried to make a pass back.
03:37But those whoops are right in between the stage of jumping being equal or not as slow from jumping.
03:45And then blitzing being the fastest line.
03:47So it's going to take a few more laps to get that established will.
03:52Yeah, we've heard some rumbles about Cooper Webb and some bike changes, Ricky.
03:57And I checked in with Rich Simmons, team manager there.
03:59And he said, well, after last week before the main, they made some changes that kind of took him back
04:04in his old direction, if you like.
04:06And that gave Cooper a bit of a feeling that he wanted more of that.
04:10So coming into this week, during the week, they've made taking him back to his old base that he was
04:15riding at the end of the season last year.
04:17His words to his team manager, it feels like I'm home.
04:21They're sticking with that.
04:22The reason being that they don't have to worry about improving the bike for blitzing or worse.
04:26I know it's an issue right now, Ricky.
04:28But as you said, it's going to go to jumpers.
04:29And that's going to be the way forward here through these East Coast rounds.
04:33Yeah, sometimes it's best to go back to that home setting.
04:36See, we're always, JT, trying to make these bikes better.
04:39But sometimes you can get off course if you're not careful.
04:43Yeah, you can.
04:43You can really confuse yourself.
04:45If you change one thing, that ends up changing something else.
04:47And it's easy to get lost.
04:48But, Ricky, I love what you said about the whoops kind of being in that in-between stage.
04:52Because the guys that want to blitz can still with speed.
04:56The Tomacs, the Hunter Lawrences, the Ken Rocksons.
04:58But a guy like Justin Cooper here, he's not in a position where he can really jump yet.
05:03They're not deteriorated enough, which leaves him really vulnerable.
05:06And watch Tomac.
05:07He's going to try to make a move right here.
05:08Well, he made a move on Hunter Lawrence.
05:09But here comes Lawrence back.
05:11The two of the championship are duking it out as they go by Justin Cooper.
05:15Prado's the next one on their list.
05:17The two guys who are separated by just one point in this championship heading to the break.
05:22Yeah, getting spicy here.
05:24And the reason that is, is this is a triple crown.
05:27The intensity level is high, but it's also for the championship.
05:30One point separates these two guys right here.
05:33And it is time to lay it all on the line.
05:36Up front, two seconds between Roxton and Webb.
05:39Then you get to third place Prado.
05:41His teammate from Red Bull KTM.
05:43The winner from Daytona last week, Eli Tomac.
05:46Even with that broken tooth that got worked on in Remedy on Monday morning.
05:51As fast as they could get it done.
05:53He went to the Dennis.
05:54And now here he comes through the whoops.
05:56As he just eases by his teammate.
05:59Perfect scenario for Eli Tomac.
06:01Especially having his teammate back.
06:04This is what you want.
06:04To have his teammate get in between him.
06:07Oh!
06:08And the points.
06:08Wow!
06:09These guys Prado checked up.
06:12Whoa!
06:13Whoa!
06:13Ah, see?
06:14And Lawrence knew he had to get in there because he can't afford to let Tomac get too far away.
06:18That's right.
06:18Well, he's able to get by Prado.
06:20Now he can set his sights forward.
06:22Eli is on a mission.
06:24You can see Prado going backwards.
06:27And man, he was showing some good laps.
06:29Good speed.
06:30Very impressive ride coming back.
06:33Have a look at these times through the whoops.
06:35You saw it firsthand with Ken Rockson when he went flying by Cooper Webb.
06:40That was impressive stuff.
06:41Justin Hill with the third quickest time.
06:43Justin qualified really nicely today as well.
06:45Yeah, he did.
06:47We talk about it.
06:48Incredible bike skill.
06:49It's been great to see him up here.
06:52Joey Savace is now starting to make some inroads on Justin Cooper.
06:57There is the 17.
06:58He is the best non-factory rider bike in the championship chase.
07:03He sits 7th.
07:05I want to go back to Joey Savace and how well he's been doing as of late.
07:09And, you know, you go back to 2019 when he was Eli Tomac's teammate at Factory Kawasaki,
07:16that Monster Energy team.
07:17And he had an injury at Nashville that took him out of the series.
07:21And this is where he kind of was at that time.
07:24And he had a gnarly foot injury.
07:26And I'll show you a nice pass by Justin Cooper to get by Prado.
07:30And he's finally gotten back to that stage of where he was,
07:34getting his feet on the ground.
07:36And it's great to see Joey basically rebuild himself.
07:39Well, it's been a myriad of stories of injuries, teams closing down,
07:45opportunities evaporating.
07:46But it speaks to the resilience of the man, right, of the athlete.
07:50He's never given up.
07:52He's found a terrific home here at Quad Lock Honda.
07:54Through that little flat track section where TV doesn't do it justice,
07:58just how fast they are going.
08:00No, Diff, you and I were on the track for qualifying practice today
08:03in that particular section.
08:05And those 450s can absolutely lay the power down.
08:11What about Roxxon up front?
08:13Not only did he get by Cooper Webb, he has taken off.
08:16Oh, he almost jumped off the course right there.
08:19You know, when he got that win back here, 2023,
08:24that to me, like the last couple of seasons have been amazing for him, right?
08:28That was the ignition point for him.
08:30Now, we had a huge crowd like we do here tonight.
08:33And it was just such an amazing moment for Roxxon.
08:36So special.
08:37Oh, he's not able to execute this rhythm lane right here.
08:42Just double, double, double.
08:44He's going to lose a ton of time.
08:45However, he has a massive lead in this Triple Crown.
08:5012 minutes plus one lap.
08:53Clicking these whoops, starting to get super chewed up.
08:56So as Kenny has a comfortable lead, I want to tell you about tickets to this year's SMX Playoffs.
09:02They're now on sale at supermotocross.com.
09:04You can be there in person for the three historic playoff races and new venues too.
09:09Columbus, Ohio, Los Angeles, and the beautiful new Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in Ridgedale, Missouri.
09:16Supermotocross.com is your destination for SMX news, schedules, and content, and of course, those tickets.
09:24I can't wait to get there.
09:26I'm really looking forward to that.
09:29Just two and a half minutes left in this first 450 race of the night.
09:33The first of three in this Triple Crown.
09:35I mean, it goes fast in this format.
09:38Next thing you know, the 250 race two will be lined up.
09:42And these riders and mechanics are kind of the unsung heroes.
09:46Oh, look at Coop getting jammed up there.
09:48Look out.
09:48Here comes Tomac on web.
09:51Coop has got company.
09:52And this has been quite the comeback from Eli Tomac.
09:55It has.
09:56Think of all the riders that he had to fight through and make moves on to get to where he
10:00is right now.
10:01So this will take the pressure off as far as...
10:04Oh, inside move.
10:07Crowd tells you what's going on.
10:19And he's going to get passed by Hunter Lawrence.
10:24Oh, look at this.
10:26Hopefully Cooper's all right.
10:28Two positions in a quarter of a lap.
10:33JT, there is no stopping Eli Tomac tonight.
10:37Yeah, and you just see, look at Cooper who have dropped back in those whoops.
10:40They have been so costly to him in race one.
10:42And this battle for second is heating up, boys.
10:44Oh, Hunter makes the move.
10:48Eli slips.
10:49He gets caught up behind.
10:50I believe that's Kevin Moran's.
10:53Hunter sees the door open and takes it.
10:55That is a crucial pass.
10:58And you saw the urgency earlier in getting by Jorge Prado by Hunter Lawrence because he didn't want to let
11:04Tomac get away.
11:06So he's stuck with Eli, and he's been able to get by him.
11:09That was the move for second.
11:11Wow.
11:12I mean, you talk about Hunter Lawrence keeping the pressure on Eli Tomac.
11:18And again, Lee, you talked about it on the opening of the show.
11:21All these great accolades and the record books.
11:24Oh, Eli gets sideways, foot comes off the foot peg.
11:28But all these accolades and the success that he's had this year has kind of overshadowed just how well Hunter
11:35Lawrence has been doing.
11:37He's been very silent, making it happen.
11:40He was not too pleased last week initially after not winning at Daytona.
11:46This guy is in the form of his career.
11:50JT, he's got the best, worst result of the pack.
11:54The worst he's finished this year is only four.
11:56His consistency has been just colossal.
11:59Yeah, he's been wielding that consistency like a sword.
12:02And I've spoken to him so many times in that second place position throughout this season.
12:06And it's always been met with a little bit of frustration, a little bit of disappointment.
12:10But I'm going to tell you what.
12:11But I think this second place is going to be met with delight because he simply rode past his biggest
12:17championship contender, Eli Tomac, and is starting to pull away from him.
12:21You're exactly right, JT.
12:23I couldn't agree with you more.
12:24And he is absolutely putting the pressure on.
12:27Hold on to it, Joey.
12:28Getting a little sideways.
12:29These whoops are starting to go away.
12:31You're going to see riders start to jump them.
12:33This is that moment where they have swapped.
12:35If you don't feel comfortable blitzing those whoops, the best thing to do is start jumping through them because you
12:40know you can do it consistently.
12:41Well done, Ken Rockson.
12:43He did not get the whole shot.
12:45He had to work hard for it in those early laps.
12:47Had to make some key passes, most notably through here, through the whoops on Cooper Webb.
12:54And then he took off.
12:55He boasts more than a six-second lead.
12:59Indianapolis loves Ken Rockson.
13:01And Ken Rockson loves Indy.
13:03And this is going to be his ninth triple crown win.
13:07Here comes Kenny.
13:08Gets the night off to the best possible start.
13:11Rockson wins here in Indy Race 1.
13:14His teammate Colt Nichols went down.
13:16Hunter Lawrence grabs second ahead of his title rival.
13:19And look at that.
13:20You can see the smile in the helmet.
13:23Rockson's like, yep, you count me out of this championship, I'm going to prove you wrong.
13:28That's right.
13:29Responding at the ample time.
13:33That's the way to get it going.
13:35All the riders will tell you, you need to start well in a triple crown.
13:39And a win is perfect.
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