The final results show another sweep of the motos in Round 10 of the 2023 Pro Motocross championship and the Budds Creek National at Mechanicsville, Maryland but for the first time this season, Jett Lawrence was seriously challenged in both races. He had to come from outside the top five after a poor start to Moto 1 and made a couple of last-lap mistakes in the second race that allowed Chase Sexton to close to within 0.77 seconds.
“I got to where I could see (Sexton) and then I didn’t see him,” Lawrence described the thrilling last lap of Moto 2. “I looked further down and I couldn’t see him and I knew he was getting close and I got screwed. As soon as I went to roll that triple they pulled the flag and that was a few seconds there. Bit of bad luck with lappers but thankfully we were able to get away with that.
“We even had a little slider trying to look back. That was a close one there.”
Jett Lawrence overcame a bad start in Moto 1 and made his way from the high side of the top 10 to win his 19th consecutive moto. There is now officially nothing Lawrence can’t do in the 2023 Pro Motocross season after riding through the field. His Moto 2 win kept his hopes of a perfect season alive.
Aaron Plessinger prevailed in a thrilling battle for third with Justin Barcia in Moto 2. Benefitting from his podium finish in that race, Plessinger took second overall after finishing fourth in Moto 1.
“We just got out there and I knew (Barcia) was going to be hard to pass,” Plessinger said. “This track is a little bit one line, but man that was such a good race between me and him. He’s such a great competitor for him to come back like that, that was a hell of a run.”
Jason Anderson was third overall with a second-place finish in Moto 1 and fifth in the second race. It was his second Motocross podium of 2023.
“I had to work hard,” Anderson said. “I came from behind a bunch of times today. It’s nice to be up here on the podium, getting ready for SMX. I feel like I’m getting better. I just need to start getting some starts and piece it all together.”
Sexton and Dylan Ferrandis also struggled early in Moto 1 and could not take advantage of Lawrence’s poor start. Ferrandis recovered to finish third, but Sexton nearly crashed once and almost a second time after riding off course, he finished only ninth.
Sexton made up for it in Moto 2. He closed to within a second of Lawrence before the midway point and immediately tipped over. Sexton would not give up and closed the gap to less than a second and a half in the final race. He applied pressure and for the first time this year, it seemed to take Lawrence off his rhythm.
Justin Barcia finished fifth overall with a fifth in Moto 1 and fourth in Moto 2 to round out the overall top-five.
In the 250 class, Justin Cooper won Moto 1 and shaved three points off Hunter Lawrence’s 22-point lead, but Lawrence rebounded in Race 2 and reclaimed them. With a three-point gap from first to second, Lawrence could clinch the title early by winning Round 1 in the Ironman National season finale in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
“Tough day; good day at the end,” Lawrence said. “I was happy to finish it off. One more round, baby, one more round.”
Cooper’s first moto win kept his championship hopes alive, but he got mired behind Austin Forkner for several laps in the middle stages.
“I felt like I gave it everything today,” Cooper told Will Christien. “Austin was being stingy with second-place. He was making it hard on me. I got into second and Hunter was riding really good. I put my head down; riding the edge. It was getting really sketchy out there and I was trying to get up to him. I gave it everything. I can’t be mad about that and we’ll see what we can do in the last round.
Jo Shimoda finished seventh in the first race and third in Moto 2 to score his third overall podium of the season. He’s come on strong lately and all three of these podiums came in the last five rounds. Shimoda earned the holeshot in the second race.
In Moto 2, Forkner got the holeshot and rode to an early lead. He needed about an eight-place average finish in the final four motos to earn the points needed to get into the top 30 in points and qualify for the SuperMotocross Championship, but a win would also garner an invitation. Forkner could not hang onto the lead and fell back to fourth so the points’ battle continues. He finished fourth overall.
Tom Vialle scored his first top-five since winning the overall at Southwick two rounds ago. At Budds Creek, he finished fifth in Moto 1 and sixth in Moto 2.
The afternoon was marked by an impressive debut for Julien Beaumer, who was making his first pro start. He finished 11th in Moto 1 and ninth in Moto 2 for ninth in the overall results.
