Ferrandis wins Round 5 at Southwick, Lawrence gets first 250 win

Dylan Ferrandis continues to win in the 450 class as Hunter Lawrence became the fifth different rider stand on top of the overall podium in 250s in the Southwick Nationals in the 2021 Pro Motocross Round 5 season.

It was the tale of two motos for Ferrandis.

Most of this season, he has been forced overcome slow starts. In Moto 1, he jumped out to an early lead and maintained it until the checkers. Ferrandis started deeper in the field in the second race and was outside the top five in the first half. But as he and Eli Tomac became embroiled in a battle, they started to move forward in Moto 2.

But Ferrandis was forced to take it easy in that race when his bike started to smoke.

“The team showed me the board early (in Moto 2) to save the bike,” Ferrandis told NBC Sports’ Ashley Reynard. “I think in the first part of the moto, Eli was putting so much pressure on me that I wanted to go faster and faster and I gave up a little technique. I needed to be smart on the bike. Then the bike starts to get hot. I made a small mistake; he passed me and it took me a little while to get the flow of the track.”

Ferrandis lost contact with Tomac in Race 2 as he protected his engine, but climbed to third and claimed his third consecutive overall win, his fourth of the season and has not finished worse than second in the overall standings. Ferrandis stretched his points’ advantage to 19.

Ken Roczen finished fourth in Moto 1 and was determined to take advantage of his track time in the second race. Roczen grabbed the hole shot and led through the halfway point until Tomac mounted what has become an accustomed second moto charge and slipped around Roczen near the end.

Roczen held onto second in Moto 2 and finished second overall with a 4-2.

“I struggled with my bike all day; didn’t really know what direction to go,” Roczen said. “Never really found the comfort that I wanted but at the same time we never stopped trying and I found myself second overall on the podium.

“I can’t complain about the day. I ripped a holeshot. That was awesome. It helped me out a lot.”

Justin Barcia secured third overall after finished second in Moto 1 and fourth in Moto 2. With five minutes running on the clock in Race 2, Barcia showed why he earned the nickname Bam Bam by riding Adam Cianciarulo hard for fifth on the track.

After his runner-up finish in Moto 1 Barcia said, “I needed this rebound big time. … I love this place. I’ve been coming here for a long time. Been on the podium a ton here.”

Tomac made it three straight Moto 2 wins after finishing eighth in Moto 1. At High Point, Tomac went 6-1 to finish third overall. He went 4-1 to finish second overall last week, but his 8-1 denied him the overall podium. Tomac finished fourth.

The 2021 Supercross champion, Cooper Webb earned his first overall MX top-five of 2021 with a 6-5.

450 results (moto finish)

1. Dylan Ferrandis, France, Yamaha (1-3)
2. Ken Roczen, Germany, Honda (4-2)
3. Justin Barcia, Monroe, N.Y., GasGas (2-4)
4. Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Kawasaki (8-1)
5. Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., KTM (6-5)
6. Adam Cianciarulo, Port Orange, Fla., Kawasaki (5-6)
7. Chase Sexton, La Moille, Ill., Honda (87-8)
8. Marvin Musquin, France, KTM (10-7)
9. Dean Wilson, Scotland, Husqvarna, (12-9)
10. Joey Savatgy, Thomasville, Ga., KTM (10-10)

450 points standings

1. Dylan Ferrandis, France, Yamaha – 224
2. Ken Roczen, Germany, Honda – 205
3. Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Kawasaki – 167
4. Aaron Plessinger, Hamilton, Ohio, Yamaha – 163
5. Justin Barcia, Monroe, N.Y., GasGas – 161
6. Chase Sexton, La Moille, Ill., Honda – 159
7. Adam Cianciarulo, Port Orange, Fla., Kawasaki – 147
8. Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., KTM – 133
9. Christian Craig, El Cajon, Calif., Yamaha – 124
10. Marvin Musquin, France, KTM – 115

In the 250 class, it was all Hunter Lawrence with a sweep of the weekend.

Lawrence had to come from deeper in the field in both motos than he would want, but as soon as he secured the top spot in each race he did not look back. He ran fifth at the end of Lap 1 in Moto 1, passed both Jo Shimoda and Jalek Swoll at about the 10-minute mark  and was second at halfway.

With eight minutes to go in that race, he battled with Michael Mosiman and RJ Hampshire for the lead, and when Mosiman crashed moments later, it opened the door for Lawrence to check out.

“When I was behind Michael, I knew RJ was able to catch up to us,”  Hunter told NBC Sports’ Ashley Reynard. “So I knew I had to get going once I had clear track because I didn’t want to be riding in defense mode,” .

In Moto 2, Hunter was able to help his brother Jett Lawrence out in the points’ standings. Late in the race he was involved in a battle with Justin Cooper. Hunter did not need to complete the pass in order to secure the overall win, but he raced past and was able to keep Cooper from gaining valuable points for the moto win.

That proved to be important after a disappointing run for Jett in Race 1 that left him ninth. Jett left Southwick with a narrow three-point advantage over Cooper.

With his 1-1, Hunter scored his first Pro Motocross overall victory of his career.

“Oh man,  that feels good,” Hunter said. “One-one; that’s a good way to stamp it here in Southwick.”

Shimoda finished second with a 3-4. Too often, he has had to come from deep in the pack, but Shimoda’s consistency this week was aided by strong starts in both races. With a third place finish in Race 1, he scored his first podium of the season after coming close on two occasions. Shimoda finished fourth in Moto 2 at Thunder Valley and again the next week at High Point in Moto 1.

“I was third in the first moto and fourth in the second.” Shimoda said. “I wanted to finish podium, podium for the podium overall. But two good starts today. I’m going to take that as a positive for the next (race).”

It was an unaccustomed bad moto for both of the principal points’ contenders in Moto 1. Both riders got off to slow starts with Cooper outside the top 10 in the first half of the race lap. For most of that moto, it appeared he would still lose points to Jett Lawrence, however, until multiple incidents – including one late in the race – allowed Cooper to get past.

Cooper finished only sixth in Race 1 – but with a second-place finish in Moto 2, Cooper secured third overall with a 6-2. This gives Cooper a perfect record of overall podiums in 2021.

Jett minimized his points’ loss to five overall with a third in Moto 2 and finished sixth overall with a 9-3.

“Not the greatest weekend,” Jett said. “Lost a lot of points especially in that first one.  That really sucked. But we still have the red plate. I’m going to keep pushing forward. I’m not backing down. … Whoever want to have a go, come at me”

Finishing fourth, Hampshire made it much tougher on himself that he needed. Coming off last week’s overall win with a 2-2, he crashed multiple times in both motos at Southwick and earned his top-five with a 6-2.

Colt Nichols rounded out the top five with a 4-5.

250 results (moto finish)

1. Hunter Lawrence, Australia, Honda (1-1)
2. Jo Shimoda, Japan, Kawasaki (3-4)
3. Justin Cooper, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., Yamaha (6-2)
4. RJ Hampshire, Hudson, Fla., Husqvarna (2-6)
5. Colt Nichols, Muskogee, Okla., Yamaha (4-5)
6. Jett Lawrence, Australia, Honda (9-3)
7. Michael Mosiman, Sebastapol, Calif., GasGas (7-7)
8. Stilez Robertson, Bakersfield, Calif., Husqvarna (8-8)
9. Jalek Swoll, Belleview, Fla., Husqvarna (5-17)
10. Pierce Brown, Sandy, Utah, GasGas (13-10)

250 points standings

1. Jett Lawrence, Australia, Honda – 204
2. Justin Cooper, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., Yamaha – 201
3. Hunter Lawrence, Australia, Honda – 178
4. RJ Hampshire, Hudson, Fla., Husqvarna – 148
5. Jo Shimoda, Japan, Kawasaki – 137
6. Colt Nichols, Muskogee, Okla., Yamaha – 131
7. Jalek Swoll, Belleview, Fla., Husqvarna – 128
8. Jeremy Martin, Millville, Minn., Yamaha – 125
9. Garrett Marchbanks, Coalville, Utah, Yamaha – 115
10. Austin Forkner, Richards, Mo., Kawasaki – 94