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00:00Now, that monster energy 450 fast qualifier presented by quick trip, as mentioned, it's
00:04Jason Anderson. That was the good side. He had the hot lap. But then after that, he had
00:09an incident that I'd qualify as a little bit embarrassing. Let's take you through this.
00:14Yeah, so Jason Anderson, fastest qualifier, who's going on another fast lap, and there
00:19was a lap router or a router that was down, and he doesn't see him. They had the flags
00:23out, and he hits them. And this happens all the time. No big deal. He got up. The routers
00:29are okay. But once he tried to remount, this is the hot tape. Those are factory brakes.
00:36This is what he does, and he just gets on a motorcycle, hits his brakes, and literally
00:40falls over, flips over to front end. So he was the fastest qualifier, but he also won
00:45the, uh, what would you call it, the move of the day so far. Well, he was mad about
00:50the first crash and then laughed about the second one. But either way, he could take
00:55that top time into this race here. It'll be 30 minutes and two laps, so about 35 minutes
01:01in duration. 40 riders on the gate. There is Sexton, the championship leader, the 96th
01:07of Hunter Lawrence, second in the championship. Battle back to the top today. We'll point
01:14out Anderson's pick, the fast qualifier. He chooses to go to the inside, Sexton on the
01:18outside. Yeah, usually don't see, guys, that far difference between the starting position,
01:25but we'll find out which one works out. And Hunter here in the 96, these Hondas have been
01:28rockets off the start so far this year. Here we go. Supermoto cross. Rebs are up. Gates
01:42down. And thundering through those first two corners. Sexton almost gets run into by the
01:53green motorcycle of Anderson. We are headed into the sand rollers, and guess what? Again,
01:58the Honda of Hunter Lawrence out of the box first.
02:01This is key number one for Hunter Lawrence. He needed to be in front of chase Sexton.
02:04Chase Sexton got a great start right in front of his team and behind his teammate, Aaron
02:09Plesinger. So our big contenders outside of Justin Cooper is up there. We got the race,
02:14Jason. Fifth time this season Hunter Lawrence has
02:16grabbed the whole shot. Eighth time a Honda has done it. And Sexton has to go to work.
02:22Plesinger second, Sexton third, Anderson fourth.
02:25This is the difference, I believe, with chase. The confidence that he's grown all year long.
02:29I think he's going to just let this race play. Try not to let Hunter Lawrence get too far
02:33out. If Hunter, he's doing the right thing, get out, sprint away from chase. We know he's
02:37strong at the end of the race. It's a perfect start for the HRC Honda.
02:42Exact same scenario we saw live on NBC from Redbud in Michigan last weekend. The top three
02:47are in the same order as they head up the 500-foot mountain. Anderson looking to make
02:52a move on Sexton. He was your fastest qualifier. Chase was only
02:56fourth in that last qualifying. I'm interested to see if there's changes on the motorcycle.
03:00Was there just changes with chase and how he's riding? A little lax-a-daisy, but as
03:05I said, I think the confidence with him, he's going to just let this race play. You don't
03:09want that number 21 going up ahead of you. Anderson, one of the toughest riders to pass.
03:13You don't want him getting in front. You can see Plessinger from second distancing
03:18himself from Sexton in third. This track, they worked on it a little bit.
03:23It's going to be really smooth on certain parts. This is the area we saw Jason Anderson
03:28go down earlier. Tom qualifying. They probably left this section. They made a few changes
03:33on the switchback. He's going to let this race come to him and see if they can get going
03:37and chase that 96 down. When you say let the race come to you, you
03:41want to see the riders wait a little bit early in the race.
03:44If you're chase Sexton, you see what happened all year. You've been very strong at the end
03:49of the race. Him, as long as he doesn't let Hunter get too far, he'll be fine. Hunter
03:53Lawrence, on the other hand, I would be really aggressive and try to get away from chase.
03:58Make him have to push. I think both of these guys are doing exactly what they need to,
04:02J.T. For Justin Cooper, I was very curious to see
04:05how he would start this first lap. You guys mentioned we had everybody but him at the
04:09front. I know we talked about this last week, but he was the only rider that did not use
04:14the scoop tire. When you have a start as deep as here at spring creek, you may need that
04:19little bit of an edge. I asked Jeremy Coker about that tire choice. He said Justin doesn't
04:23practice with the tire. It's just not his thing. It was really never even in contention
04:27for him. Now he's going to have maybe a little bit more feel on the racetrack, but he is
04:31a little bit farther behind those leaders than you'd like to be on the opening lap.
04:35J.T., the scoop tire, more of a sand tire instead of a hard dirt tire, but it normally
04:39is better off the start, and he doesn't have it.
04:41Yeah, well, it's two weeks in a row Justin Cooper hasn't got a good start, and this field
04:45is too deep. Now he has to go past all these contenders, so for him, I probably would change
04:50that up. It's two weekends in a row, but now you can start to see chase Exton, saw Hunter
04:55Lawrence getting away, and now Hunter is starting to come back to the field and see if chase
04:59can get around his teammate and set a side out, 96.
05:03Here's the big hill. Yeah, only took about a lap here for Exton to get going.
05:11Yeah, I don't know if Hunter made a mistake, because as you see, he's starting to pull
05:14back away, or maybe he's just better on this side of the racetrack, but this guy's definitely
05:19closed up, but now he's starting to stretch that lead back out again.
05:23That's Cooper, I believe, in the bottom looking to make moves. The Frenchman, Roman Pepp, is
05:26in sixth, Cooper seventh, and ahead of them, Dylan Ferrandez, another Frenchman, Anderson
05:31fourth, and there's Hunter Lawrence continuing to lead. Last year's 250 champion, what a
05:37great performance he has put on as a rookie on the bigger 450cc machine, but the expectations
05:43change. He led the points, so after a while, it goes from, hey, solid rookie season to
05:47can you beat everyone and win the title? Yeah, I think Hunter's mindset is I'm here to win
05:53this title. I think now with his brothers out, and he had that red plate, as you said,
05:58and he's experienced. He's older than Jett, so essentially it's his rookie year, but he's
06:02got a lot of experience from over in Europe, so I think he's pretty comfortable. I think
06:06the hard part for Hunter, he's got to be more comfortable on the motorcycle, where I feel
06:10like Jett can out-ride that, so it's really going to depend on if he's comfortable on
06:14the bike, he can compete with these guys, and he has a real shot at winning this championship.
06:18And the door's open. His brother Jett dominated by winning every single race last year, and
06:25he was in the championship by this year until a thumb injury, and it's up to Hunter now
06:30to try to keep the title in the Lawrence family. Will?
06:32That's right. You talked about it. A rookie, yes, but with all that experience over at
06:38Red Bull KTM, team manager Ian Harrison has reminded Chase Exton, he told me of this fact,
06:44he said, yes, you've got more experience on the bike, this is year five for Chase Exton,
06:49450s when it comes to pro motocross, but he said, Hunter is no slouch, and you have to
06:54remember that. The 1-1 last week was great, but we cannot sit on that, we have to keep
06:58working. And we've got to remember too, you talked about 250s there, this time last year
07:02at Spring Creek, Hunter came into Spring Creek having lost the red plate in Red Bud in the
07:08250s, and he went ahead and regained it back here, so he knows what it is to be in that
07:13position and fight back. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, his team manager is right, Hunter
07:18is no slouch, and when you look at Hunter's body position, you can tell it almost looks
07:22like he's waiting for this battle to happen. He's standing up, he's not really super aggressive,
07:28really patient in the corner, and to me when I'm watching him ride, it just seems like
07:31Aaron Plessinger, although he's able to catch him, it's a little bit more work for Aaron
07:35to stay there, where Hunter looks like he's just waiting for that number four or a challenge
07:39to come up and wait for this battle to roll. Yeah, that's something I've heard you talk
07:44about before. Sometimes when you feel the battle is going to come, it's almost better
07:47to rest up and save a little something for when that moment comes. Yeah, I mean, in this
07:52situation, let's just say Hunter Lawrence pulls a hole shot and he doesn't see Chase
07:56Sexton, I think he would be really aggressive trying to get a gap, but seeing Chase Sexton
08:00in third place, he knows that, hey, Chase is going to be here this whole race, so the
08:05likelihood of me getting away to the point where I can relax isn't probably going to
08:08happen, so I think Hunter is just letting this battle come, J.T. Yeah, do you think
08:13the way these guys approach the race has changed with the absence of Jett Lawrence? And what
08:19I mean by that is Jett was so proficient at just kind of pulling away early and securing
08:24the race in the first half of the race, it just seems like there's a little bit more
08:27patience in these guys' race craft in this early part of the race. No, absolutely, and
08:32that's a great point, J.T., and I think the difference between Hunter and Jett, Jett is
08:36just a little bit more fiery in the beginning part of the race. Jett, I believe, would already
08:41have a gap, and he would make Chase Sexton have to ride at a different level to keep
08:45up. Well, now it allows Chase to kind of let the race come to him, and he's still right
08:50there, and with Hunter, it takes him a little bit to get going, which allows these guys
08:55to kind of stand. So each one of them has their own riding style, but 100% with Jett
08:59being out, it changes the dynamics of how these guys attack this race for sure.
09:04I'll tell you, it's attacking now, James. It's Plessinger there in orange on the number
09:087, one of the fan favorites, who is really pouring it on through those sand rollers,
09:12but now Lawrence able to pull back away. Yeah, and Aaron feels like, you know, he's able
09:17to close in on Hunter, but the problem with Aaron is that he's in that roost zone, so
09:22he's just getting pelted with all this dirt, and he can't drop back too much because he
09:25has his teammates, so for him, it's like he's probably really aggressive trying to get around
09:29Hunter Lawrence so he can get that clean air because he's stuck in between both riders,
09:34and that's a difficult spot to be in where he's at.
09:36Oh, no, we got trouble here for Garrett Marchbanks. So the Muc-Off FXR and Club MX Yamaha team,
09:42Marchbanks needs points because he missed the first couple rounds of pro motocross with
09:47a thumb injury, and he's not going to score any now.
09:50Yeah, that's a tough, tough break for Garrett. He's coming back. He's trying to get those
09:54points for the SMX qualifying position, the seating for the playoffs here in a few weeks,
10:01but it looks like Hunter Lawrence is a little bit quicker on this side of the racetrack
10:04where it's a little bit more open and more flowing, and he gets caught over in the sand
10:08roller, so let's pay attention to this next half of the lap, see how much Aaron Plesinger
10:12and the KTM catches up to these guys.
10:17Yes, headed to that sandy area now. This is where Plesinger closed in on the leader. That
10:22is the 96 of Hunter Lawrence. Plesinger is closing again in the battle for the lead here
10:27at super motocross. Can Hunter Lawrence withstand the pressure? Two KTM riders leaning on the
10:35Honda man out front. Live motocross on NBC.
10:41All right, for our fans on Peacock, we're going to stay with it full screen here. Watch
10:54the battle, enjoy the sounds, and the real question, is Sexton going to go after Plesinger,
12:24or is he going to go after Plesinger, or is he going to go after Sexton?
13:54Hunter Lawrence and Chase Sexton dueling up front. Sexton was third before he went
14:00to break. He got around his teammate, Aaron Plesinger. James Stewart, you can break down
14:03the pass for us. Here's how it happened.
14:06So Chase, he started rolling. He closed in quite a bit on his teammate, and he just lets
14:12off the brakes. He charges down. He's on the inside of Aaron. You can see him, once he
14:16got done that first roller, he hit the gas, and he just snuck up the inside of his teammate.
14:21Chase passed by Chase Sexton. Then he almost runs into Hunter. He made so much time on
14:25him, but now you can start to see Hunter Lawrence is picking up the pace again. He's starting
14:29to charge down those hills, and now we're going to see what happens and how much reaction
14:33Chase is going to do to the 96.
14:35You make it sound so easy. Just let off the brakes and get on the gas a little bit. Down
14:39a 500-foot drop hill.
14:41Well, it's a lot easier when you're young like these boys right now. I think about all
14:45the consequences that could happen.
14:47Well, they've thrown that to the wayside. To your point, the last lap around, we thought
14:52Sexton might close and maybe do the same thing to Hunter, but Hunter's not letting him get
14:56close.
14:57No, Hunter, as I mentioned, I think he was just waiting for Chase to catch him because
15:01you can see him going down those longer, that mountain mark, going down that hill. He was
15:05slowing down and then doubling all the way down that hill, and in this last lap, he charged
15:10down that hill just like we saw Chase Sexton pass Aaron Plessinger. Now you see the difference.
15:15Those places where Chase was able to catch him, Hunter's picked up the pace, and now
15:18you can start to see a few more mistakes from that number four because Hunter's picked up
15:22the pace, which means Chase has to do it as well. It's going to be a race.
15:27Three minutes and two laps. You see the countdown clock top left. Let's check it out. Bottom
15:33of the hill again. Sexton close it all there.
15:48Yeah, you heard, I don't know if you heard that. You heard Hunter Lawrence bike. It was
15:53loud, and then it bogged down like he hit the side of that berm, and it kind of killed
15:56his momentum. If you listen to Chase's bike, you didn't hear that. That's why he was able
16:00to make that time up going up the hill. For sure, here at spring creek millville, if you
16:06mess the corners up on the bottom, you lose a lot of time because of how long these sections
16:10are.
16:12Thank you, James. And Garrett Marchbanks, I've seen, has actually just pulled back in
16:17here to the mechanics area. I checked in with the team after that last time that he came
16:21in, and apparently, James, he was hearing a noise coming from the rear wheel. They weren't
16:25sure what it was, so they decided to swap that out just to be safe. We talked about
16:31it earlier that Garrett is fighting for SMX points, so I don't know how you feel about
16:35that. He's just been back in. He's actually peeling off now, guys. I'm seeing him heading
16:39back to the paddock, so I'll try to get you an update. Interesting choice there.
16:43Thanks, Will. The playoffs coming up in September, but you have to score points in the monster
16:48energy supercross championship indoors in the stadiums, and these promoto cross races
16:53here to get into the playoffs, and Marchbanks is not in range yet. So that's costly. Back
16:58to this battle for the number one spot. We're halfway through. A reminder that monster energy
17:04available now. A quick trip. Sexton nearly got Hunter Lawrence in these sand rollers.
17:09The number four attacks him again. Chase is really strong in the sand, and what he's doing,
17:13he's tripling where Hunter is doubling, and he's getting on a different rhythm. So I don't
17:17know if the roller that Hunter is hitting is a lot deeper, but Chase makes up a lot
17:21of time in these sand rollers, and it's because of his angle, and he's more attacking. But
17:26as you see that, then Hunter starts stretching that gap back out. Really cool on how this
17:31track is playing out and how different the two sides are.
17:36You love how much they're just going for it. We saw multiple mistakes from Hunter Lawrence
17:40while leading last week, and that's just a byproduct of how badly he wants to win, how
17:44important he knows it is as we head back uphill. Tell us about the angles here going into the
17:54sand. So what Chase is doing, he's really just charging harder into these sand rollers.
17:58This guy has to be very patient getting into them. But watch, Hunter, you can see Chase
18:03has more momentum. Then he hits this triple, and where Hunter double-doubled, Chase is
18:07hitting a triple, so he's missing one jump, and you can see the time he's able to gain.
18:11But now Hunter closes him back off. This side of the sand rollers, you have to be really
18:15patient, but yeah, Chase has got a great line through this.
18:21Does Hunter take notes on that, though? Yeah, absolutely. Hunter is paying attention, I
18:26think, the way he's racing. He's racing forward, but he's also racing behind him. He can sense
18:30where Chase is coming up, so now he knows that Chase has got a good line. I need to
18:34pick up the pace in those sand rollers, and then I'll be able to relax. So Chase is closing
18:39in, but he doesn't give him. He's showing Hunter where he's strong at, and now he's
18:43going to have to surprise him somewhere else. Listen to these fans here. This place is packed,
18:48and this is what they wanted to see, the mechanics putting out the signal boards, the two top
18:52riders in the championship fighting for the lead.
18:55Hunter's going outside. Chase a little bit farther back. I think this inside, Chase was
19:00able to get in, but let's see if he's far enough back. If he can hit that same rhythm
19:04in his rollers. If not, then maybe Chase can get him.
19:12Here's the triple from Sexton. Closes in again. On his wheel this time.
19:26You hear these bikes. They're very low in the RPM. You hear the rah, rah. That's a lot
19:31of that. They've got to keep that rear wheel on that ground so they can get traction, and
19:35the Honda's hooking up, but Chase has just got a better line, and he's attacking a little
19:40bit harder in these same rollers which he's making a difference in.
19:44J.T.
19:45I think it's really important for Chase. He has that line, but if he can't stay close
19:49enough on the rest of the lap, he's not going to be able to use it. Now, to give Hunter
19:52credit, he's utilizing the other section of the racetrack, specifically this next downhill.
19:58Coming down Mount Martin, he is so quick on his left descending this hill that he builds
20:03a gap, and that's protecting him when they come back to that loop section. It's a little
20:08bit of the pendulum swinging back and forth. Chase has got to do a better job of staying
20:11closer in this section.
20:14You see Hunter Lawrence doubling down. Now, he can have a sense of where Chase is behind
20:20him. If he's super close to him, then he would actually go down that right side of that,
20:25down that mountain.
20:26Now, following back up with March Banks who had the bike problems early. Will, what is
20:31happening now?
20:32I have just spoken to the Muc-Off FXR club MX team there, and I was just told he's not
20:38feeling well. That's all the information I could get. At this point, he's obviously not
20:41reentering the race.
20:42Oh, interesting. He needed these points. As we go back to the battle for the lead, Sexton
20:47ran inside of that corner the previous lap. Hunter responds. He goes inside as well. Now,
20:52we head back toward the sand where Sexton has been strong.
21:05Here we go. Entering the sand wash.
21:08That's perfect. Hunter gets just enough gap, and it allows him to, even if Chase catches
21:14him, he can't get bottom as long as Hunter keeps his inside. He didn't get that beginning
21:18part of that roller good, and you can see how much time Chase Sexton was able to catch
21:22on him. Now, let's see if Chase can get up inside. Nope.
21:26Hunter, a little hesitation coming out of that corner. Quickly cuts across the front
21:32to block Sexton. What happened in the turn there for the 96?
21:36Yeah, Hunter was trying to get out of that corner. That's the hard part with these sand
21:39rollers. It's a really hard base. As he tries to cut down so he gets a better angle, a straighter
21:44angle going down that next one. He slid out, lost all that momentum, and you saw Chase
21:48almost get around him. Now, the downhill followed by the big climb.
21:54Sexton was very quick through here earlier in the race.
21:57Yeah, you saw, you noticed, Hunter, he went toward that inside where he's been on the
22:02outside. Now he's playing that defense game, but if he doesn't get going.
22:05Oh, here comes Sexton. James, you saw it coming. Side-by-side and drag race to the top. Who's
22:12going to lift? Sexton leaps into the lead. Now, Hunter's very good on the downhill.
22:20What a pass by Chase. What happened? Hunter messed up the bottom of that corner, drag
22:25hill going up the hill, and Chase Hexton passed him. Strong move, but Hunter's got to try
22:31to react and get back around Chase because if he gets him, he might let him pull away.
22:35You can see how aggressive that 96 is trying to get back around the number 4.
22:38Hunter's going for it now. Yeah, he's got to go for it because he knows Chase is strong.
22:42Chase has been fast. This has to end in a race, so he's really comfortable. He's got
22:47to get it back in front of him, and if not, you've got to watch that number 4 start pulling
22:51away. It took 20 minutes for Sexton to get his
22:54opening, and can he pull away now in the final ten minutes of a 30-minute race? Let's show
23:00you the pass. So Hunter gets in this corner, and he just
23:03loses his momentum right here. That's where he lost that momentum. He doesn't have to
23:07do anything if Chase Sexton just got to get beside him, hits the scrub, and now he's got
23:12the 96, and Hunter backed off because he knew he was on the inside, but all that pass happened
23:17in the bottom of that corner. J.T.?
23:20You nailed it, James. At the bottom of that hill, when he slams into that rut, all of
23:24that momentum that he's hoping to use to climb the hill just got slowed by his impact into
23:29that berm. So at the bottom of these corners, Hunter will be kicking himself for that move.
23:33You have to not interrupt all of that momentum. Even on these factory 450s with so much power,
23:39you saw the difference right there between Chase picking up the throttle weight, making
23:43one long arc, versus Hunter kind of slamming into that rut and then having to regain that
23:47momentum. And that has allowed Sexton to grab the lead.
23:52Can he stretch it over his championship rival? You're watching SMX action from Millville,
23:59Minnesota. Chase Sexton looking to make his stamp on Pro Motocross. Again, we'll stay
24:16with the action here on Peacock. Sexton so pivotal, he can hold on for this Moto win.
24:22We'll let you listen.
24:52Honking
25:02Honking
25:08Honking
25:14Honking
25:18Honking
25:22Honking
25:32Honking
25:36Honking
25:40Honking
25:48Honking
25:52They crossed the finish line next to each other.
26:43They are back.
26:44This is super moto cross world championship from millville, minnesota.
26:48You see the orange motorcycle leading the way.
26:50It's wrestled the number one spot away from hunter Lawrence looking for his first moto
26:56win ever at this track on his ktm.
26:59You can get one of your own.
27:01Motosport.com is giving away a ktm 250sx.
27:05That's the old school two-stroke model.
27:07Sounds good.
27:08Looks good with a bunch of ktm power parts on it.
27:11Scan the qr code on your screen.
27:13Go to motosport.com to enter the sweepstakes.
27:16There are weekly prizes in there as well.
27:19The big prize would be for chase Sexton.
27:22We have two motos every weekend in pro moto cross.
27:25He'll come back in a little over an hour for moto two.
27:27You can watch that live on peacock.
27:29A race win for the teams and sponsors usually pays well into the six figures.
27:35Championship can be seven figures and he is definitely taking control of this pro moto
27:40cross 450 championship.
27:41Look at this.
27:42He's opened up nearly ten seconds on hunter Lawrence now.
27:47Yeah, chase is rolling, so I'm sure a lot of people are going to be going to that sweepstakes
27:52after looking at that ktm up front, but if hunter is not careful, you see that number
27:57seven, Aaron Plessinger.
27:58We've been paying attention.
27:59Come on, Aaron.
28:00I'm trying to help you out, but nonetheless, we've been watching the two out front thinking
28:07that it's a huge gap.
28:08Aaron Plessinger and Jason Anderson, they're still right there.
28:11If hunter doesn't watch out, we're going to look from not his only problem with chase
28:15Sexton losing possibly three points, possibly with Aaron Plessinger and Jason Anderson as
28:20well.
28:21Will?
28:22That's right.
28:23James and Aaron.
28:24He's carrying a ton of confidence coming off of that podium with the crowd going wild last
28:31weekend.
28:32And he did that not feeling very well at all.
28:35So when I asked him today where his health was, he said, yeah, I'm a lot better.
28:38I'm not 100%, but I'm nearly there.
28:39He said, if I could do what I did last weekend in red bud, feeling the way that I was, not
28:44a problem this weekend.
28:45And he also told me he wants to finish out the rest of the season here with podiums.
28:51So lots of motivation here from the number seven.
28:54Yeah, thanks, Will.
28:55He had a cold last week, had trouble breathing, but the adrenaline in the second race and
28:58those fans at red bud powered him through, you could almost call this guy captain America.
29:03He is such a fan favorite.
29:04Loose on and off the track and the fans respond to that personality.
29:10Mustache, mullet, motocross.
29:11He loves the t-shirt.
29:12Yeah, he's got it all.
29:13And you've got to know with his teammate being so good, if his teammate is doing good, it's
29:18going to make Aaron feel better.
29:19The bike is good.
29:20So that's why you're seeing him strong.
29:23Great ride by our fastest qualifying to hang in there.
29:25He was battling with these guys, lost touch, but he did a good job keeping that number
29:29seven somewhat close in the 96 just right in front of him.
29:34Yeah.
29:35Anderson riding well here.
29:36The veteran out of New Mexico.
29:39And is this also a byproduct?
29:42Jet Lawrence, again, the very dominant champion of last year out.
29:46Doors open, opportunities there for a lot of these guys.
29:49Do you feel they're responding?
29:50Are we seeing some strong rides?
29:52Yeah, I think a lot of these guys, I mean, with jet being out, there's one position less,
29:56one rider you have to worry about.
29:57And you know how strong jet is.
29:59So yeah, the bonus money goes up that third place.
30:02But a lot of these guys, they feel like they've got a chance, Will.
30:05That's right.
30:06And it's who's sitting in third, fourth, and fifth right now.
30:07Jason Anderson, Justin Cooper.
30:08They're the guys fighting for that third spot.
30:09Justin Cooper taking it in points right now.
30:10But Jason Anderson, he made some adjustments on the bike in that break before Southwick.
30:11Unfortunately, though, as much as they made gains on the bike, he then had a crash at
30:12Southwick that damaged his right shoulder.
30:13I just don't know.
30:14They said, look, he's had an MRI, everything was looked at, it's considered a sprain, and
30:32that's getting better, too.
30:33So as far as the Monster Energy Kawasaki team goes, they think everything is just trending
30:38in the right direction.
30:39They said the podiums will come if we keep piecing things together like this, but they're
30:43just looking at the comfort of Jason right now, J.C.
30:46Yeah.
30:47For Justin Cooper sitting in fifth place, the good news is he's in the top five in this
30:50never-ending podium battle with the absence of Jett Lawrence.
30:53The trouble is he is 22 seconds behind Jason Anderson in fourth place.
30:59So in between motors, they're going to have to go back, look at the settings, look at
31:02that tire choice, try to find where he's lost so much time.
31:05He was right in the back door of these riders early on.
31:07We don't know if he's had issues or maybe a tip over, but the pace is a lot more concerning
31:12than maybe the fifth place looks on paper.
31:14Yeah, and our next rider in sixth is Dylan Ferrandez.
31:18For a guy who's won this title back in the day, I know this is a frustrating season for
31:23Dylan because he wants to be up there battling for the podium, which he should be.
31:27He should be actually battling for some of these race wins with Jett being out, but I'm
31:30sure it's tough for him.
31:31I know they've been working on the bike.
31:33He's been struggling on that a little bit all year long, but he's running a solid sixth
31:37place, but I know Dylan wants better, and he should be a little bit better than this.
31:42Looking for more power out of that Honda there with the Frenchman veteran.
31:47Here's Christian Craig.
31:48This would be his best race of the year in seventh, working his way back from a very
31:54difficult elbow injury last year, almost 16 months.
31:57Finally has all the hardware out, but I saw him last week.
32:00He has, in that left arm, essentially no tricep, no muscle left at all, that he has to build
32:06all that back up after all the downtime will.
32:10That's right.
32:11The problem with that is that he was saying, Jason, is the fact that he's constantly in
32:15recovery from the race weekend, so he said that stuff has to happen at the beginning
32:20of the season.
32:21He's like, I can't talk about training my tricep, training my bicep, which is non-existent.
32:25You can see his arm has just got no muscle there.
32:28He said, that's very specific training.
32:29I can't do that now, so right now, I just have to hope that I can literally hang on,
32:34and he means that his hand just sometimes blows off there, and he can't do that.
32:39He knows the risk that he's running, but that's what these guys do week in, week out.
32:43J.T.?
32:44For the number 27 of Malcolm Stewart, remember, he hasn't raced these races for a decade,
32:50so it's a learning process, trying to find the pace again.
32:53He doesn't come into this race understanding what the settings are going to be like, so
32:57every weekend is a learning experience, and it's more of an exploration than anything,
33:01so as he continues to improve, finds that fitness again, staying inside the top ten,
33:06working towards those top fives has to be the goal.
33:10Thanks, J.T.
33:11That's eighth Malcolm Stewart.
33:12The ninth is Phil Micheletti, the very lovable veteran out of New York, but he has said this
33:18will be his last racing season, but he's ridden quite well in it, and Phil also a fan favorite
33:26as well, because it's a very unfiltered attitude toward racing.
33:30He'll tell you exactly how he feels, and he feels like this, in a way, is a bit of a home
33:33race.
33:34We talked about that yesterday.
33:35Yeah, no, it's huge, and obviously, FXR is from Minnesota, and they sponsored the national
33:41as well this weekend, so it's really cool to see where the brands, you know, come from
33:47and where it's going, and all the people that are a part of it.
33:50It's pretty badass, so I'm excited, and obviously, I've been longtime friends with the martins,
33:55so this is more of a home race for me than Unadilla.
33:57I know all the staff, know all the people, I'm staying with Alex here on the property,
34:01so I'm quite spoiled this weekend, I'm not going to lie.
34:06The brothers, Jeremy and Alex, the sons of the track owners, they live here, and they
34:11got property here, so they tell Phil to join them, so he was referring to, we go to Harry
34:15Kulas, the rider out of Estonia, who wants to get into the SMX playoffs.
34:21He's showing up to as many of these races as he can in America.
34:25He actually makes money racing in Brazil, he's paid to ride there, he's paying his way
34:30to race here, hoping to make the playoffs in September, because there's a big bounty
34:35for these riders there, and he's been riding very well, hovering around this top ten every
34:39week as we go back to the leader, chase Sexton.
34:47Nearly 11 seconds is the gap between Sexton and Hunter Lawrence.
34:51We give you the motorsport.com whole shot replay, and it's been the specialty of Hunter
34:57Lawrence this year.
34:58The good start, and no different today.
35:0196, he got a great jump.
35:05Right next to the box on one on the inside, Aaron Plessinger kind of ran up the inside,
35:09but Hunter controlled that corner, and you can see my brother going off the track with
35:14a lot of these guys, and a lot of that comes down to the right hand of first corner.
35:17These guys can't hit the brake, but at 96, got to that whole shot, that motorsports whole
35:21shot line, just like he's done a few times this year.
35:24Yeah, fifth of the year for Hunter.
35:27Then we go to Sexton.
35:29Well, J.T., you talked about it last week, could be an explosion in confidence for him,
35:36and so far, he could be going for three straight moto wins if he hangs on here.
35:40Yeah, for chase Sexton, I think it was very important to look at the laps immediately
35:45following his pass on Hunter Lawrence.
35:47He dropped down to the 207, some of his best laps of this entire race, and these riders,
35:52they sense when a rider is under rest.
35:54I think chase Sexton sensed that Hunter Lawrence wasn't quite feeling up to the ask of that
35:58pace.
35:59He put in his best lap to the race, pulled out a nine-second lead in two laps, and then
36:04the race is over.
36:05So Sexton understands the racetrack, he sensed the opportunity, and he absolutely made the
36:10most of it right then.
36:12Spot on, J.T.
36:13You know, he absolutely did that, and I think it's a little bit harder for chase to be behind
36:17the 96 or be in the battle with these guys.
36:20He's better out front.
36:21He can see the whole racetrack.
36:23So as soon as he got by Hunter Lawrence, the difference in speed was really how fast he's
36:27been even when he was behind him, but the difference was he was out front, he can go
36:31his own lines, and right now, this last probably five laps, he's in recovery mode.
36:36So for Hunter Lawrence, it's not like he's like, okay, I'm going to save it for the next
36:40moto.
36:41Chase is recovering as well, just like you are, so you're going to have to have a better
36:46idea.
36:47I say you're going to have to be in front of him because it's going to be hard to beat
36:49that number four in the long game, especially in the second moto, but we'll see.
36:55I said working on a third straight moto, when he has three straight, this would be four
37:00straight if he holds on with half a lap to go, getting around Shane McElrath, putting
37:07him a lap down.
37:08I think championship-wise for chase Exton, I know he's had some great motos.
37:13What he did that second moto at the second round, coming from last to first, and then
37:18what he did the second moto and southwick, beating Jett Lawrence.
37:23This moto to me really puts a confidence booster on the championship right now with this field
37:29because what he did last weekend in the second moto, yeah, he had a big gap, but Hunter Lawrence
37:34got a bad start.
37:35He passed Hunter and dropped him in this one, so now you've got to think chase Exton, I'm
37:39showing up at the gate knowing, okay, I beat this dude, I left him, I'm going to do that
37:44every race.
37:45This allows you to just let the race come to you, so to me, this moto right here is
37:49more of a confidence booster for this championship than any race so far this year.
37:54Exton in orange going through lap traffic, yes, that is the key.
37:57He's really putting his stamp on it now, but there will be another race later today.
38:02Second moto, you can watch live on peacock and also the 250 class with the young sensation
38:08of Moto Cross, checkered flag in sight, four moto wins in a row for chase Exton.
38:20There's the second place man, Hunter Lawrence, 18 minutes, he led, not quite able to hold
38:25Exton to the end.
38:28Hunter picked up the pace.
38:29He was able to, I mean, he dropped Aaron, so maybe he figured out some lines, so we'll
38:33see, but at number four, number one right now, he's rolling, no doubt about it.