Jett Lawrence Daytona

Jett Lawrence is Jett Lawrence’s biggest competition

By Dan Beaver

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — Anyone who follows the sport of SuperMotocross has been waiting to see how the rivalry between Jett Lawrence and Eli Tomac would develop. That question is beginning to get answered.

Jett Lawrence has now spent one full season in Pro Motocross and one in the SuperMotocross World Championship in the premiere 450 division. Lawrence easily won both titles, for the first time scoring a perfect rookie season in the outdoor season. There have been very few signs of weakness from Lawrence in his meteoric rise through the ranks.

But Lawrence did not have to face Eli Tomac, who ruptured his Achilles tendon with one round remaining in last year’s Supercross season. Without that injury, he would have easily won the 2024 Supercross championship, which would have been his third championship in the last three season.

Lawrence has faced challenges in Supercross this season — including last week when he fell twice and finished off the podium. Tomac has also struggled and those have conspired to keep the keep the two riders apart for most of 2024

Daytona would finally showcase these two riders at their best.

To say Daytona has belonged to Tomac is not even remotely hyperbolic. He entered the weekend with a five-race winning streak and has not finished worse than second in nearly a decade.

Lawrence was aware of those numbers but still didn’t think Tomac was the rider to beat.

The only rider Lawrence needed to beat was Jett Lawrence.

 

“The biggest thing was focusing,” Lawrence said after becoming the first rider in six years to beat Tomac in a Supercross race at Daytona. “The previous weekend my mistakes were in the basic rhythm stuff where it wasn’t very difficult kind of section. I would just go through the motion. That’s what cost me the most on the easiest stuff. It’s so easy for me to do, especially with the 450 power in the rhythms, you use it to go and catch your breath and it cost me.

“It was good this week to work on staying focused, hit your marks — and having those times when if it ain’t right, being okay to lose a tenth or so. Normally, being young, I just want to be perfect always and not lose any time, and gain time and not give up any time to guys behind me or in front of me. If I’m a bit off, I will still try going for stuff. This week (I decided) if I’m not perfect, just back out of it and learn from those mistakes.”

That is easy to say after a race but it was also what was going through Lawrence’s mind while he raced behind Tomac. In Round 8 at Daytona, Chase Sexton took the lead early with Tomac in tow. As those teammates tried to settle their differences at the front, Lawrence closed in rapidly, got a fast run through the whoops and passed both in the same corner on Lap 4.

“I was more focused on not trying to die in those rhythms, really,” Lawrence said. “I was so focused on hitting my marks. (I wasn’t) really focused on ‘I need to pass the person in front of me’, it was more so I need to make sure I hit my marks and if I got close enough to the person, it was I can maybe get him in this rhythm and I just have to follow him through this section. So I wasn’t focused on I got to get past Eli or and got to get by Chase.

“I didn’t really have any set plan on okay I’m going to pass him here. I was kind of let’s get as close as we can and see if we can find a way around them and if not, that sucks, but we’ll see how it goes.”

One lap after making this pass for the lead, Lawrence built a 3.6-second gap. By Lap 10, his advantage grew to nearly 12 seconds on a 98-second lap.

After the race, Tomac said he was not aggressive enough.

“Thinking back to the race, [I’m] frustrated I didn’t do the quad,” Tomac said from the second seat on the podium. "[That] cost me. So got to take more risks next time. That’s that. So, yeah, second place.”

Tomac finally got around Sexton with two laps remaining.

His determination to catch Lawrence showed in the lap times that came after he moved into the runner-up spot. Tomac took nearly a second off the advantage on the next-to-last lap. On the white flag lap, he shaved another three seconds off.

There is still an open question as to how the rivalry between SuperMotocross’ winningest active rider and the Australian upstart resolves, but on a soggy Saturday night in Daytona, Lawrence made a statement.

Famous Desert Racer from the old days!

 John McGown & Kookie

Chase Sexton on Daytona

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton returned to the podium in Daytona, Florida, but he is still searching for more. Here, he offers a candid look at his weekend at the famous speedway.

From Vitalmx

Herlings 1-1 in Lierop

Red Bull KTM Factory rider Jeffrey Herlings has won the Dutch International race today at the Lierop circuit in The Netherlands. The five time World motocross champion took an easy opening moto, but then had to follow Jago Geerts home for most of the second moto, but really turned on the heat in the final few laps to close down a gap of around 10 seconds, to claim 1-1 results and the victory. Calvin Vlaanderen was second overall with 3-3 scores and Geerts was third with 6-2 finishes.

Kay De Wolf has won the overall for the MX2 class with a stunning 1-1 performance. The Dutchman, who races for the Husqvarna factory team looked brilliant around the treacherous sand circuit of Lierop. Cas Valk was second overall with 2-4 result and third overall was Lucas Coenen with 6-1.

In the second MXGP moto it was Geerts who led early from Vlaanderen and Herlings, then Van Doninck, Jacobi, Ludwig, Nagl, Platt, Knuiman and Van De Essnburg. Herlings quickly moved into second and was a couple of seconds behind the leader, but that changed quickly as he took the lead a lap later. As quickly as he made up the ground and took the lead, he was 2.3 second ahead and clocking lap times more than a second better than everyone else.

Van Doninck in trouble as he dropped to 13^th place and Geerts back into the lead as Herlings was suddenly four seconds off the pace. Vlaanderen was in third some seven seconds back from Geerts and Jacobi was 15 seconds back in fourth place.

Herlings closed up the lead a little on Geerts, but the Yamaha factory rider doing very well in the front position. Van Doninck back in 25^th place and struggling. On lap five the lead was 1.7 seconds and the Dutchman was charging hard, with a lap time two seconds better than Geerts.

Lap six and the lead was suddenly 3.1 seconds and Vlaanderen in third was a further 10 seconds off the pace of Geerts. Seventh placed Nagl was already a minute off the leader. Lap nine and the lead by Geerts over Herlings was 13 seconds, with Vlaanderen 20 seconds back.

On lap 10, Geerts clocking laps around 1.52.845 and Herlings doing 1.55.433, so no doubt the Yamaha rider is on it. Two laps later it was Herlings with around 1.51.000 and Geerts went 1.54.215, go close the gap up a little.

A lap remaining and the lead by Geerts was 8.3 seconds, with Vlaanderen 37 seconds back in third and the rest of the field more than a minute off the pace of the Belgian. Herlings clocked a time of 1.49.309 and Geerts 1.54.506 in the second last lap.

“The Bullet” cut another five seconds off the lead and with a lap to go was 3.8 second down on Geerts. Vlaanderen now 42 seconds back in third and Jacobi around one minute and 20 seconds back in fourth. Tom Koch fifth. Herlings incredibly wins the moto with 1.4 seconds in hand. Geerts second and Vlaanderen third.

• SuperMotocross Reveals 2024 Playoff Track Locations With Vegas Hosting The Finals

The SuperMotocross Final is coming to Sin City.

During tonight’s Round 8 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and SuperMotocross World Championship from Daytona, the broadcast team revealed the 2024 SuperMotocross World Championship Playoff Rounds and Final locations.

Broadcast analysts Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart revealed that zMAX Dragway at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, and The Strip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the races this year. The Final will mark the return to Las Vegas where the Supercross has historically hosted their Finals in the past.

“Last year, we created a completely new off-road motorcycle racing playoff series that combined both disciplines of indoor stadium racing (Supercross) and outdoor motocross racing (Pro Motocross) that was fully embraced by the teams, athletes, industry and fans,” said Dave Prater, Vice President of Supercross, Feld Motor Sports, Inc. “Collectively, more than 110,000 fans from all over the world made their way here to attend the inaugural three round SMX World Championship Playoffs and Final and for the first time in the sport’s history witnessed the crowning of a true World Champion. The SuperMotocross World Championship is where the world comes to race.”

The 2023 season marked the first time Lucas Oil Pro Motocross and the Monster Energy Supercross series partnered to create the SuperMotocross World Championship where leveraging the two created the playoff series that combines elements of the wide-open outdoor series with the more compact elements of Supercross which is largely in stadiums. Last year’s Final was hosted at the LA Coliseum as a nod to the earliest Supercross events. Feld informs that moving to new locations each year is by design to add excitement to the playoffs.

zMAX Dragway next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted last year’s part of last year’s SMX World Championship Playoff. The location created a unique track designed never seen before. The track was built on the famous four-lane dragstrip with dueling grandstands on each side putting fans right on top of the action.

“Last year, we transformed a four-lane drag strip into the ultimate off-road playground and fans were treated to a full day of action-packed racing at the opening round of the inaugural SMX World Championships,” said Greg Walter, executive vice president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Building on that experience, we’re excited to once again partner with Feld Motor Sports to bring together the top Supercross and Motocross riders from around the world at zMAX Dragway to put on a high-flying, white-knuckled show for the fans.”

Feld Motor Sports informs that renderings of the track layouts will be forthcoming in April.

On top of the 110,000 fans that attended the SuperMotocross playoffs in Concord, North Carolina, for SMX Playoff 1, Joliet, Illinois, for SMX Playoff 2, and in Los Angeles for the SMX World Championship Final, an additional 192,000 attended the 11 rounds of the Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing during that summer.

Domestically, NBC Sports’ coverage of the 2023 SuperMotocross World Championship season surpassed 23 million hours of viewership consumption across NBC, USA Network, and Peacock, up 111% versus the comparable programming in 2022. Powered by Peacock, over 17 million digital hours of viewership were consumed – up 307% compared to last year.

Supercross is seeing a strong start to the 2024 season.

The Daytona event this weekend makes four consecutive markets setting record high attendance, highlighted by Arlington and AT&T Stadium last weekend doing over 67,000 fans. The San Francisco Supercross event on Jan. 13 registered as the most-watched SMX race on Peacock to date, surpassing Anaheim 1 this year which set the previous high. Round 5 in Detroit aired live on NBC at 3pm and averaged over 700,000 viewers, making it the highest performing live broadcast ever on the network for Supercross or Motocross.

Feld Motor Sports, Inc. and MX Sports Pro Racing schedule for the SuperMotocross Playoffs and Final locations this fall:

• ·         Playoff 1: zMAX Dragway at Charlotte Motor Speedway | Saturday, September 7
• ·         Playoff 2: Texas Motor Speedway | Saturday, September 14
• ·         SMX Final: The Strip at The Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Saturday, September 21

Round 8 in Daytona Beach

Daytona Supercross

Jett Brings Home the Win!

Lawrence extends points lead with Daytona Supercross win

Section: General Post: Jeremy Hammer

Tomac second as Daytona win-streak comes to an end.

Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence has put an end to Eli Tomac’s (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) dominant run of Daytona victories with a commanding win at the eighth round of Monster Energy Supercross, extending his points lead in the process.

It was a dramatic start for Lawrence before the main event even got underway as his mechanics rushed to remove the plastic wrap on his rear tyre, successfully pulling it off a mere seconds before the gates dropped.

Despite the panic, Lawrence still managed to land a strong start inside the top five, but it was reigning champion Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Tomac who initially led the field.

Overcoming a mistake on lap one, Lawrence was positioned third as the race looked set to be a thriller between the points leader, Sexton, and Tomac, while at the same time, Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) experienced a heavy fall and ultimately retired from the race.

The three-way battle everyone hoped for wasn’t to be after Lawrence passed both Tomac and Sexton in a matter of seconds, securing the lead before quickly building an advantage.

The main event was largely uneventful as Lawrence stormed to a third win of the season, however a late charge from Tomac aboard his smoking YZ450F saw him pass Sexton with just two laps to go to finish second over the factory KTM rider.

Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Cooper Webb made a late move on Ken Roczen (Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki) for fourth, the pair locking out the top five. The top 10 was completed by Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha), Malcolm Stewart (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing), Dylan Ferrandis (Phoenix Racing Honda), Jason Anderson (Monster Energy Kawasaki) and Benny Bloss (Liqui Moly Beta Racing).

Monster Energy Supercross now heads Protective Stadium in Birmingham on 9 March for round nine of the series, as Lawrence holds a 10-point advantage over Webb in the championship standings.

A Look Back...RJ Returns

At 24 years old Rick Johnson was on top of the world in 1989. At this point The Bad Boy was already a seven-time AMA National Champion and the all-time career leader in SX wins before a practice crash with a privateer cost him most of his outdoor season that year. Many wondered if he would be able to race again at all. But Ricky did return, and with a vengeance, returning to the very same track where he suffered the devastating injury the year prior, fighting his way through the field to battle it out with his teammate and defending champion Jeff Stanton. Enjoy this fantastic race-long battle to the finish!

ROGER DE COSTER JOINED DMXS RADIO TO TALK 2024 SUPERCROSS

The first time Roger De Coster appeared on DMXS Radio, he was still the Sobe Suzuki Team Manager and had Travis Pastrana, Sebastian Tortelli, and Branden Jesseman in his stable. A lot has transpired since then, but one thing that never changes is that "The Man" always delivers a great, honest interview every single time. We cover a bunch of topics, including the SX season so far, his future with the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations team, and what still impresses this legend of our sport.

Check it out direct, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Direct link: https://www.dmxsradio.com/181-roger-decoster/

DMXS Radio thanks Dunlop, Racer X, MX Sports, Dubya Wheels, GoPro, OGIO, and Concept2 Rowers for their continued support.

DMXS Radio has been making Bad Billy proud since 2001!

www.dmxsradio.com 

KTM's Tom Vialle

From  MotoOnline.com

Red Bull KTM rider on his journey to a first American Supercross podium.

Words: Simon Makker

He might only be 23, but Frenchman Tom Vialle has already racked up an impressive racing resume on an international scale. And after Saturday’s third-place finish at Arlington – his first in Monster Energy Supercross – it’s very likely he’s only going to continue his rise. He features in our latest Profiled piece.

Four years ago Vialle won his first MX2 World Championship in the shadow of the global pandemic, winning seven grands prix and featuring on the podium at 14 of the 18 rounds.

Two years later, in 2022, the highly-rated KTM rider fended off a season-long challenge from title rival Jago Geerts to capture his second 250 class world title. Despite winning 10 of the 18 GPs, the title chase went down to the wire, and it was only a double-moto win at the final round in Turkey that sealed the deal by just four points.

Last year, instead of stepping up to the MXGP category, Vialle set his sights on an entirely new challenge in the United States. He transferred across from Red Bull KTM in Europe to the American team led by Ian Harrison, sitting alongside Max Vohland as the team’s 250 riders.

Image: Octopi Media.

“I really felt it was the best time for me to try and see if I could make it in Supercross,” Vialle said at the time. “I have a track near my home and there is a supercross tradition in my family. I’m desperate to see what I can do, even if I know it is a big learning curve.”

Despite the dramatic change, Vialle proved he could quickly adapt to the fast-paced schedule of the AMA Supercross Championship. At the third round of the 250SX East series – which happened to be Arlington – he logged his season-best result, coming home in fourth.

Vialle ultimately completed his first US championship in eighth, then continued to show his outdoor prowess in the Pro Motocross Championship, where he finished sixth overall, despite having never ridden most of the tracks before.

The highlight of his outdoor season was claiming his first overall victory at Southwick, where he charged to the opening moto win, then backed it up with a P3 finish in the second race.

A third overall at the season-ending Ironman round, then a classy P2 result at the first of the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) playoffs in Charlotte, capped off a successful debut year in the US, before he then helped Team France win the prestigious Motocross of Nations (MXoN) on home soil at Ernee.

“I think it was one of the biggest races of my life,” he reflected. “It was nice to win with the team, and I also won the 250 class, so it was the best that I could hope for.”

2024 got off to a rocky start for Vialle. At the 250SX East opener in Detroit he was caught in the first-turn pile-up that claimed almost half the field. The number 16 remounted at the rear of the pack and finished a lowly 18th.

Entering Arlington’s second round of the eastern region on the weekend, Vialle desperately needed a good result to get himself back into championship contention, but a heavy crash in practice threatened to derail his season even further.

“It was a similar crash to what Austin [Forkner] had in the main event, but I was a bit luckier than him. He cased a bit more and went to the right, while I went to the left, but I was happy to still be able to line up for the races,” he recalled.

Still feeling the effects from the crash, Vialle completed his heat race in fifth, which gave him 10th gate-pick for the main event. Despite the substandard gate choice, Vialle rounded Arlington’s first turn in fifth and put in a smooth consistent race that saw him tick off another goal of capture his first Supercross podium.

“I had an okay start from the outside in the main event and was next to Austin in the first corner, but I need better heat race results so I can get a better gate pick for the main event – that’s very important,” he said “It was a long main event – I think it was about 20 laps – but it’s amazing to get my first Supercross podium. I’m pretty excited about it.”

With his first 250SX podium now to his credit, the latest emerging young French rider is now focusing on backing that performance up with another good result at the famed Daytona International Speedway this Saturday.

“I rode Daytona last year and the track is pretty cool. The rhythm is still pretty steep and tough, but it’s more open – the corners are more like outdoors,” he explained. “We’ll train this week to make the bike as good as possible for the race. I’m pretty excited to be there.”

Coming into this weekend’s third round, Vialle is 11th in the standings with 24 points to his name. However, with how tight the table is now after two unpredictable rounds, another strong result at Daytona will see him make huge strides up the leaderboard.