'24 Ironman 450 Moto 2
Transcript
00:00to continue to run this thing off into the playoff. So will it be somebody else that
00:03steps up in these second motos?
00:05Yeah, can he ride off with the 1-1? Man, if you're Plessiger, you've been so close so
00:09many times to getting one of these moto wins. For Hunter, it's been so close to the overall
00:15wins. They have one more chance at it. And we'll see if Sexton is still locked in after
00:24up the championship in moto one. One last 30-minute and two-lap battle. Here we go.
00:44And it's going to be close here. I'm not sure they're going to give the whole shot to, oh,
00:48that is Tomac or Cooper that got kicked sideways. Cooper got kicked sideways. No surprise out
00:54front. Hunter Lawrence, Aaron Plessiger again. Plessiger to the lead.
00:59Aaron Plessiger, wise move. That was a lot of stuff. That was Justin Cooper. Good save
01:02by him. Eli was on the outside, a little bit farther back. Aaron, exactly where he wants
01:08to be at. Unfortunately, the number four is probably exactly where he wants to be at too,
01:12right behind him.
01:13Yeah, he's fourth behind Cooper. There's Lawrence in the 96. Fighting Cooper. Battle as we go
01:22uphill to Godzilla. It's going to be three wide.
01:25Yeah, we're racing NASCAR right here. Three wide over here.
01:29It's like a photo shoot. We had Scrubs on both sides and then Sexton in the middle.
01:34It almost happened again there.
01:36This track is starting to open up with some of these lines. You know Hunter Lawrence wants
01:39to get around Justin Cooper because the number four is going to go around both of them.
01:44More NASCAR. The high bank left turn and he passed two.
01:48That was pretty. So pretty. What a move by him.
01:51J.T., what are you hearing on the 4? Wow.
01:54For Sexton there, he's just praying that both of them don't scrub towards him. You saw him
01:58straight up and down right in the middle. Probably white knuckled on that red bull KTM
02:03but it all worked out.
02:04He's all ready to the rear wheel. J.T. of Plessiger and he wants to lead.
02:09That was close. Luckily Aaron just kind of kept that bike straight but hello, that's
02:14your champion leaving no doubt out there and just a difference the way he shows up these
02:20second motos compared to the first one. He's like locked in, ready to go and he went from
02:24sixth to first opening lap.
02:29Maybe the championship hangover begins tomorrow. Definitely not in this moto, J.T.
02:35I think for chase Sexton there are two ways these championships can go. One, you ride
02:39so loose and so free. You put your best laps in early and you go to the front without any
02:43hesitation the way he did in the second moto. The other side of that is you really have
02:48a letdown moto. You have this adrenaline dump where you can't find any intensity. You can't
02:53get that sense of urgency that you've had because the mission has been accomplished.
02:57You've won that championship. So I always wonder which way is it going to go. I think
03:01chase Sexton has answered that with a resounding answer of intensity.
03:06But Plessinger, you can see how badly he wants it as well, James.
03:09Yeah, I thought, Aaron, he would have had the pass but he was unsure whether chase was
03:13going to continue towards the inside. Otherwise he would have doubled past him and just look
03:17how close he was and just that one corner lost that time. But yeah, championship is
03:22wrapped up for your teammates. So let's go out here and battle. You know he wants it.
03:27Back up to fifth. He's close to Lawrence. Close to Cooper. There's the first view of
03:32the three. Man, Lawrence has still not been able to get Cooper.
03:36Yeah, maybe he can get here. Same place that chase got up beside him last lap on the inside.
03:43And he should be on the inside of him. He can get out of this corner pretty good, which
03:47he does. Get over that. There's your pass. And he takes a look over to make sure he has
03:50the distance of the run out here on the bottom. He needed to make that past one lap ago because
03:56the KTM guys have jumped him. Yeah, you can see Aaron almost went back up
04:00the inside of chase. And now if you're Hunter, Lawrence, Eli, even Justin Cooper, this is
04:05exactly what you want. You don't want to see that Ford pulling away as it looked like Hunter
04:09almost stalled it in that corner right there. But this is your opportunity while chase has
04:14got some riders to deal with dealing with his teammate Aaron. And here comes Eli.
04:21Trying to get Cooper. We heard it's a little bagged up from a big crash last week. And
04:25he quickly overhauled by the 3. Nice move by Eli. Justin wasn't able to get
04:31over that little roller hip jump they were able to do.
04:37And that's that podium battle there that we were talking about. If Tomek can get to Hunter
04:42Lawrence and pass him, he'd be on the podium today. But it's not going to be easy. Hunter's
04:48been tough all year. Yeah, that inside line is starting to work
04:51for him. They're all doing it just like Hayden Deegan. So nice move. They all picked up on
04:56that. And as quickly as Aaron was right there, you can see chase starting to stretch it out
05:00in front. Chase and Anderson down on the shot. The monster Kawasaki in green closing on Cooper.
05:07This is the battle right now. Lawrence and Tomek. Look at ET3 go.
05:13See, now this is where Justin Cooper almost hooked outside of that berm. Eli kind of stays
05:18a little bit farther on the inside. Slides into it. Nice move. But you hear that Yamaha
05:24up there. Oh, that's classic Eli. All gas, all clutch. Not quite enough.
05:31Yeah, from that angle looked like he was a little bit closer than what he was. But Hunter
05:35did a good job of blocking him. But this is where Eli, he needs to, he can get around
05:40Hunter. I think he can keep this momentum up. One thing he doesn't want to happen is
05:44to stall out behind him. He's going to lose too much time and that might break his rhythm.
05:49That wood section, wasn't that the problem for Tomek in moto one?
05:52Yeah, where they both went on the inside. Let's see if he picks it up. Kind of jumped
05:59out on that single as we were watching in the 250 class those guys were doing it. You
06:03see Hunter Lawrence jumped that. That jump and threw his arms off almost as if he had
06:07a little bit of arm pump again. Same thing we saw a few races ago back in red foot.
06:19Tomek just annihilated the corner on the outside. Tried to make the ground back up that he lost
06:23there in the woods and in the up and down of Godzilla.
06:26They're going to get battery charges on the way he beat that corner up.
06:33Now it's violent for sure. Now we go under the covered bridge. There's Cooper coming
06:40through next. I'm surprised these guys aren't jumping at
06:47that quad. A lot easier. Justin Cooper and Jason Anderson come through
06:54next. Fifth and sixth. And it's Craig, Nicoletti, Simonson and Noren.
07:08Battle continues here at pro motocross. And we've got the smx playoffs coming up soon.
07:13Sign up for text alerts. Just scan that QR code on the screen or go to supermotocross.com
07:18to get the info. Battle continues again. Eli Tomek, Hunter Lawrence hooking it up.
07:24Eli should have him. He can clean his corner. Line him up on the inside. There you go.
07:32Does he have it? He's got to close Hunter off before Hunter gets back to the inside.
07:36The outside has been faster. There you go. There's the pass that he couldn't get done
07:41in the first moto. So Eli Tomek up to third. Can he get even more? This is a vintage ride.
08:00I know it's not for the lead. But this is much more competitive. He's in the battle.
08:05He was not there last week. Got fourth in moto one. But now he's seeing the front runners
08:10both motos today. He's still doing that same part in that section. Looking at it between
08:17races. And he's losing second and a half in that one spot over there.
08:22You actually look at the segment times. The gap was that big in that one sector?
08:25It was that big. Eli was actually in the top three, one and two. Every other segment except
08:31for that. And he was the fourth fastest or fifth fastest in that. But second and a half
08:36slower than chase Exton. Now that Tomek is rolling, I want to ask you about the head
08:39movement. I hear you mention a lot with him when he's on. What are you looking for as
08:44a sign with Tomek? If you notice when he's turning, it's almost
08:48like his head, he has no neck muscles. They can't stand straight up. I think he does that
08:53obviously to let him turn. Wherever your head goes, that's where your body goes. When he's
08:59on form, he'll have his legs on the bike gripping the motorcycle kind of like that corner. And
09:03then he allows his head to dictate where he's going instead of putting his foot out. So
09:09I see Eli doing his thing, you see that head laid over like a baby trying to go to sleep.
09:15Are you seeing it a little bit in this photo? There's a baby out there. A baby tire.
09:24We will see if Tomek can hang on to this. This would be an overall podium for him. He
09:29has to hold off Lawrence all the way to the end. How much endurance does he have in only
09:33his second race back from an injury? You see Eli Tomek going in a split section to
09:40the right, which will then bring him back to the inside through this next section. This
09:44is where he passed Hunter Lawrence. It's like a chess game through here because the inside
09:49turns into the outside, which then will become the inside again as he climbs this hill. When
09:53you think about how to make a pass, you have to think about how they built the racetrack
09:57this year. You almost have to be two or three chess plays ahead to actually make a move.
10:05And it's a couple laps for him to find that line to make it happen. So Eli Tomek making
10:15that pass on Hunter Lawrence. But the KTM boys are gone. Sexton with a one second lead
10:22over Plessinger. But look at that. Tomek looking at a podium today if he can hang on to it.
10:28That's your overall positioning.
10:30I mean, he still looks pretty good. I think Eli, if he can just keep going and maybe just
10:36get a little bit of confidence, the battle will just close in on those KTM guys. I think
10:41he's still right there. He's doing a little whip and the bike kicks around. Let's see
10:44how he plays this out. But yeah, that head's leaned over. I like it.
10:50As for Lawrence, once again, the second moto not as good as the first. We asked him yesterday
10:56about that process and trying to get stronger.
11:00It seems like it's such a simple thing, right? We all see it's just second moto not being
11:07as good as the first moto. It's still good, just lacking that, you know, few percent.
11:11And I think it's just I think I'm managing it well, not riding above my ability and over
11:19my head to force, you know, the second place into a worse, you know, maybe a crash or something
11:24like that resulting in a fifth or a sixth. So I think there's two sides of the story.
11:29You can just go, hey, look, I'm not quite there yet. I'm not quite on the level of one
11:34ones yet. And, you know, the number one guy at the moment, chase, has put together, you
11:39know, the whole puzzle this year. And he's a really strong competitor. So I'm still working
11:43to get there my first year. I think I've done extremely well.
11:46Yeah, he's done extremely well. And actually talking to him yesterday about that, how much
11:51he's grown from a one to now back in supercross. And now he said it's been a head down, butt
11:55up, trust the process kind of a season. In fact, I was actually asking him and Darren
12:00Lawrence's dad just about the practices and how it could change with jet getting back
12:04on the bike. And they said, you know, yes, there's a camaraderie and a chemistry between
12:08the two. There's a lot of fun had when they're out on track. But Hunter has during the week
12:12been so focused on his own ride and his own plan and his own strategy that he hasn't necessarily
12:18missed jet riding with him side by side. But he hopes that it elevates the game obviously
12:23going into smx. Yeah, I mean, to that point, who would want
12:27to miss riding against jet Lawrence? I don't care if he is your brother. But, no, I mean,
12:32I think the one thing it will help him is when jet comes back, maybe some of the pressure
12:37of the team, they'll have another guy focusing on. But Hunter's been doing great all year
12:41long. And I would even say since he's been on this 25 bike, the second motos haven't
12:45been that bad. You know, you got a bad start at Unadilla. And then last weekend, you could
12:50almost blame it on a tire choice. This is probably the one moto since he's been on this
12:55bike that's kind of been more previous to him switching over. And you just got to think
13:00it's got to be a little bit of frustrating to see these guys pull away from him. Yeah,
13:05Tomek now has about five seconds on him. Tomek second all time in podiums in this class,
13:13and he'll add another one. 71 total. I think Carmichael has the most with 84. Here's Phil
13:19Nicoletti in eighth again in his final pro moto cross start. He will race the S.M.X.
13:25Playoffs, but this is his final race season. Had him in the press conference yesterday.
13:28It's a little bit of bonus time. He thought he tore his ACL at hangtown. Does have some
13:34knee damage, but the ACL is intact, so he's able to make it to the end of the year and
13:38right where he wants to be. Eighth is generally the spot he's shooting for, and there he is.
13:43And after Nicoletti comes Freddie Norton. Those guys battle during the week. They ride
13:50at Club MX together. They've had some great battles in the motos. Wait a minute. Look
13:54at this. Aaron Plesinger is caught. Chase Sexton. Yeah, Chase must have fell because
14:00I was just thinking he just put in those hot laps, and now AP, let's get some. Oh, we might
14:06have him on the inside, James. Now we just get over that wall. Eli Tomek going around
14:11the outside. There you go, AP. Oh, couldn't quite. He's got the championship wrapped up.
14:17A little knockdown. It'll be all right. He won't be too mad at you. Man, Sexton put two
14:22seconds in him the previous lap, but now it's back to even up. Yeah, I think Chase must
14:27have fell right after the mechanics there. Must have tipped over in the corner or something.
14:32Here it is. Going down. Everything looks good. Going to outside. Losing the front end. No,
14:40he stalled the motorcycle. Pretty easy to happen because they're braking so hard. That's
14:45a pretty tight 90 corner. Seen Chase do that a couple times in supercross where he was
14:51stalling up in Seattle. No harm, no foul. At least he didn't have to pick up the motorcycle
14:55or kick it. That's right. And that orange carrot just dangling in front of Plesinger
15:03still working on his first career moto or overall win as a 450 racer. It's right there
15:09in front of him. This was that moment for him. Now you start to see Chase get back away
15:15because I was just looking up. I'm like, all right, this is Chase Sexton's time. Halfway
15:18second moto. It's hot outside. He had that gap. Well, that has really been the story
15:25this year. The fitness of Sexton late in the race day. Said it to Katie. Chase and talking
15:31with him earlier today about Aaron Plesinger as a teammate. He said it is the best. He
15:36is the best teammate I have ever had. His positive attitude that he exudes, the fun
15:40that they have, the warmups that they get together. It's just a blast riding along with
15:44Aaron Plesinger. Yeah, I agree. I think a lot of this whole move for, um, Chase has
15:53been great since he moved over to the KTM team, and I call it is the AP. You know, just
15:58in a great mood. I just feel like I'm AP and today I'm in a great mood. So having a measured
16:03teammate. You see that out of 16? Yeah, KTM power halfway. There you go. Okay? Yeah, it
16:09is halfway through. Monster Energy is available. Now a Kroger back end stepped out for sex,
16:15and it's still not over. Here comes Plesinger again. That chess game that J. T was talking
16:26about outside the inside is the choice for the four. Yeah, you see how Chase was on that
16:33inside jump. He didn't roll over that single. He jumped out. Step momentum. That was care.
16:37I keep talking about. You can see the gap that he's able to get over a AP right there.
16:44Now the bottom of the screen. We've been joking about the two likable vets, Kyle Chisholm
16:48and Dean Wilson, battling for the final guaranteed spot into the Modo's 20th in the standings.
16:53They're battling on the track right now. Chisholm 13th, Wilson 14th. The problem is
16:59Wilson needs to make up about 10 points on Chisholm in this Modo. So even though they're
17:05fighting hard, it won't be enough, even if he makes the pass. He's going to have to chis
17:09on the chis. You have to pull a chisholm on him. He might make it around the outside.
17:16Chisholm gets it. And you see that bubble battle, that nine-point gap now. And that's
17:25a lot of it because Wilson did come back last week at Bucks Creek, got tangled with the
17:29rider in the first turn, broke his wheel, couldn't finish, didn't score any points.
17:33That might be the final difference maker of Wilson going to the last chance qualifiers
17:38at the playoffs. Chis going straight to the Modo's.
17:41Yeah, he is. Just admiring chase here. It seems like this outdoor season there's been
17:47a point where he's been so in sync with his motorcycle, J.T.
17:52Yeah, and you're just watching Sexton. He's made a few mistakes while we've been watching
17:56him here. Had that stall. But I love to watch him. You see him standing up, entering all
18:01these corners. He has so much flow around this racetrack, and he's putting the sections
18:04together without really having to get on the brakes, without really having to slow down
18:08too much. And it's allowing him to carry momentum. And when chase Sexton is firing
18:12in all cylinders, that's the type of riding you see from him. It's not disjointed. It's
18:16not a lot of stop and start. He puts the track together deliberately, and it's pure magic
18:22to watch. And this is back to the form that we used to see from chase Sexton. It's no
18:27wonder he's our champ. He looks like the chase Sexton of old.
18:30Yeah, absolutely. And there's a couple parts of this racetrack where chase is really killing
18:33these guys. And one of them is right here. Just that little bit right there, not rolling
18:39the inside of that jump, just kind of jumping out. And he was a little farther on the inside
18:43the lap before. He had it right. And what he's doing, as you just mentioned, J.T., he's
18:47not stopping going around the racetrack. Another part where he's really killing these guys
18:52is coming up here. Same thing. A little single on the inside. Chase's continuous momentum
18:57out. Just jumping out. Doesn't do it as good as for me as I'm talking about it. But that's
19:02where he's making the time up. And it seems small, but what he's doing is continuing that
19:07momentum, and there's no stopping going. He just makes it all the way down the straight.
19:12That's why he's out front and pulling away from these guys.
19:15If you're watching this today, you've got one more chance. Flip over. Go to the telemundo
19:21deporte's YouTube channel, and you can listen to the Spanish race call with Edgar Lopez
19:26and Tommy Rios. Or if you miss it today, you can listen to the United States. Same thing.
19:32Telemundo deporte's YouTube channel at the S.M.X. World Championship in Las Vegas. Or
19:38if you're outside the United States and you're watching on S.M.X. Video Pass, you can select
19:43to listen to the Spanish language broadcast every week. All right. The alarm is off. It
19:50was getting dicey there for a bit, but it's up to 3.2 seconds on Plessinger.
19:55Yeah, he looks good. Looks like he's well in control. He knows exactly what the motorcycle.
20:03And as I was saying earlier, ever since he's been on the K champion, especially halfway
20:06through this outdoor season, it seems like they figured out the bike to where it almost
20:11looks like it's lower to the center. It's really center. It's close to the ground. He's
20:15got a lot of feel on both ends. And chase is really putting that bike exactly wherever
20:21he wants and has a lot more control over it. Almost like in a sense if he's riding
20:25a minibike and that's the way he's riding, he can put it where he wants. It seems light.
20:30And then they have found a package for this guy. And it shows even with the number 7 right
20:35behind him. The only thing they have not nailed, whole shots. We'll give you the motosport.com
20:40whole shot replay. Hunter Lawrence. Been great all year. And I think he's going to get another
20:45one here. He's got to get on the gate and just feels like he's going to hold shot. Just
20:50like chase feels like he's going to win. 96, they got it dialed in. And a lot of this
20:55comes down to mental. But I think it might be Cooper. Don't forget about Mr. Cooper.
21:02Watch his driver on the outside. Nicely done. And that's what we're used to seeing with
21:07Justin Cooper, especially on the 250 class. Hasn't been quite as much of that with Cooper
21:14in the 450s. A solid season for him. And he was third in points for a while. But Plesinger's
21:19flurry here at the end. He's going to take third in the championship if it ends this
21:23way. I asked Plesinger if there's bonus money in the line for that. He's like, I don't know
21:27about that. But it's a nice resume bullet the next time your contracts are up. Say you
21:32once got third in a 450 championship. Plesinger's already locked in for at least one more year
21:37with KTM next season. Yeah, there's a lot of bonus. And the biggest bonus might be just
21:42the pride getting up there and winning these guys. But, yeah, I'm almost getting caught
21:47stuck in a rut watching chase just kind of admiring him. I think this is the best I think
21:52I've ever seen the guy ride in this moto right here. Yeah. Yeah. We've seen some great rides
21:57this season. Yeah. And I'm not saying it's the fastest I've ever seen him ride. It's just the
22:00most like he just knows exactly where that bike's going. And as I mentioned, it looks like he's
22:05riding a mini bike. Knows exactly where it's at. J.T. He just has so much flow. You see him
22:11kind of going inside the outside, putting the bike wherever he wants, just like you mentioned.
22:15I don't know if it's just a racetrack. Certainly he's familiar here. But I think
22:19part of it is confidence. Part of it is they've gotten the bike sorted out. But this is him at
22:23his best, right? And it's so important for him to carry this momentum and to be his best self
22:28entering the smx playoffs. So who knows, right? We start over. It's a brand-new championship,
22:33a three-round championship. But boy, does he look good here leaving the pro motocross
22:37championship. Yeah, 100%. I mean, ever since chase came to this track the first year,
22:442020 or 21, like, he's always had a pretty good flow. But, yeah, I just noticed he's got a lot
22:49more lean on his bike. And that's when you know he's doing good. And even this guy, he lost the
22:54toe, you know, the two in front of him. But Aaron Plessinger and chase Exton, they're riding good.
23:00I mean, I think this is the best I've seen Aaron ride all day. I don't know if the ktm just works
23:05well on this racetrack. But Eli's doing really good. I think it's a huge improvement from last
23:09weekend. He looks like Eli Tomac and a guy who hasn't raced outdoors for a couple years. I mean,
23:15to come back in in your second race and be on the podium, I mean, you'll be all happy. Just
23:20unfortunately for him, I know he wants more. Kid's doing good. Yep, he'll have his chance.
23:25Playoffs looming. Did not get to see Eli in those last year. He was out with injury.
23:30Be really fun to see him in the mix this time building off the base he's built with these four
23:36final promoter cross motos. And same thing for his teammate who will be coming through next.
23:43Yeah, you see how much time Eli's losing right there. There it is.
23:49Wood section has been tough on the number three.
23:54Okay, so that's Tomac in third. You can check in on Cooper. That's a huge gap. Almost 20 seconds
24:01back to Cooper in fourth. Let's go to Katie with more on the 32.
24:07Justin Cooper saying that now he's feeling comfortable with the bike. He wasn't always
24:11comfortable with that bike here mid-season. He now knows the competitors as well. He does feel
24:16like he's been a little lonely, but now having Eli back, having Cooper Webb back, he feels like
24:20he's back in the groove with the team. In fact, looking at his pit board right now, it says two
24:25sprints. So the mindset right now for Justin Cooper is get through this, two sprints, got to get on
24:30that podium. We asked Cooper yesterday, Katie, to take stock of his rookie 450 season.
24:38Yeah, it was a tough one. That one definitely hurt and just took the wind out of my sails
24:43basically. Yeah, it was a tough situation, kind of a racing incident, but I didn't really see
24:50it coming. So it was kind of just focused on racing forward and didn't really expect that
24:56type of crash to happen. So obviously a little bit bummed about it, and yeah, we're just going
25:01to move on from it and come into this weekend and try to give it our all for the last round.
25:07Oh, he talked about that crash last week when he got into the back of Hunter Lawrence.
25:11Yeah, I mean, there's moments of any championship and races that you're like,
25:15whoo, I got lucky. And Justin's riding great. As I mentioned, Jett Lawrence, I'm sure you're
25:21home at watching it. Thanks for ruining it for all these rookies out here. You got some big shoes
25:26to fill, but just like your brother and Justin, they're riding great, man. Great year. Yeah, by
25:32any other standard, solid 450 debuts for Hunter and for Justin. Hunter, last couple laps have not
25:40been kind to him. He just ran a 2.25 lap time. Sexton's running 2.13s right now. So not sure
25:49what has happened down the stretch for the 96. Cooper got him, and Anderson could be next.
25:55Yeah, Jason's closing in quite a bit, and I noticed over the first couple laps when he
26:00jumped that tabletop, he took his arms off and wasn't adjusting the clutches, spreading his
26:06fingers out, which tells me he might have been dealing with a little bit of arm pump or just
26:10tightness, and that's kind of what it looks like right here because he's definitely laboring a
26:13little bit, and I know Hunter, you know, is really strong. It is hot. It is the end of the
26:19championship, but you can tell he's struggling right now. Battle we're watching right now is
26:27Kulas with Chis, so that's one more point to the good for Wilson. Wilson's going to need Chis to
26:33drift out of the points-paying positions, and that might just barely be enough. It would actually be
26:39one point short if that were to happen. That is unbelievable. Kulas started this moto in 30th.
26:45That's what this dude does up to 15th right now. Harry. Impressive. Yeah, fighting along, and
26:54yeah, Chis probably knows in the back of his head he does some good calculations,
26:57just like these guys in overalls. He knows what he needs to finish.
27:02This is the smx world championship final round of pro motocross. Harry Kulas, one of the many
27:11riders putting together a schedule to make as many races as possible to qualify for the smx
27:16playoff center coming up. Very friendly veteran out of Estonia and actually sold his bikes,
27:24gave it back to the dealer that helped him go back to hang town. That race was the michaels
27:29power sports hang town classic round two. They gave him a bike, rode it as much as he could,
27:35gave it back after he got a new bike from them, put it together at Unadilla, and he's riding that
27:41bike today. That's the cool thing about motocross. You take them off the showroom floor and you can
27:44compete at a high level, J.T. You get to know these privateers, and we asked, Harry, how do you
27:50actually pronounce your name? We've heard it so many different ways, and he said, well,
27:53it kind of depends. Where are you from? Because one of his parents is from Finland,
27:57and the other is from Estonia. He claims dual citizenship, but both of them pronounce his name
28:03differently. So I just threw up my arms and gave up at that point. If his parents can't agree on
28:08how to pronounce his name, how am I ever supposed to know? Glad we finally have an excuse when we
28:13get this done incorrectly. Harry Kulas, or whoever you say it, riding well right now from 30th up
28:21into the top 15. Pro motocross finale in Indiana. There is Harry Kulas in the top 15.
28:39Got around Kyle Chisholm in 16th. Derek Kelly, 17th. Devin Simonson is in 18th. It's his sixth
28:47career start. He didn't even qualify for the motos last week. So much better now. Simonson
28:57is in the points-paying position in 18th, and he is from Indiana. So good for Devin.
29:05Preston Kilroy rounds out the top 20. Henry Miller is 21st. Sexton continues to lead,
29:14and now it's up to 11 seconds over Plesinger. Yeah, you got to believe. And now he's out there
29:20to stall, too. So, yep, good ride. Man, just a way to have fun as we're watching Harry do his
29:28thing and chase do his. Track actually looks really fun actually right now. Well, you kept
29:36saying earlier in the day, this is one of the few tracks on the circuit you have not ridden. So
29:39I think everybody is going to have the same thought after that. Get out of here, bro.
29:44That's why I'm probably saying it looks fun. No bad memories. No bad memories. I'm like,
29:50out of here, I'm chance hyvess. What are y'all talking about? This track is awesome.
29:55Yeah, sometimes not knowing is the best way to know. And, yeah, it looks easy in the booth,
30:00right? I'm like, it ain't that hot. It's about 65 degrees out here.
30:06Feels that way in here. So Kulas is going to finish the season strong. He's going into the
30:10playoffs. Be fun to watch the battle, the Chisholm in, Welton, Nicoletti. Those guys
30:19are going to be fighting. I call it the Colt Nichols. Colt Nichols got I believe ninth last
30:23year in smx points and made about $100,000. That's the type of positioning these riders are hoping
30:29for. But it's going to get harder. Webb will be back. Jett Lawrence will be back. Down the line
30:35we go. Here's another one of these likable vets. Roman Pape. You think about the story we were
30:42talking about with Harry. Different bikes. Suspension, going back and forth. I mean,
30:49for all of these guys, really, imagine what some of this money from the playoffs can do
30:54for Harry and a lot of all these guys. Romans and all these guys.
30:58Yep. And this rider here, he's on the privateer journey team. That's a long running team
31:03operated by Teddy Parks. You look up Texas in the dictionary, you see a picture of him. He's
31:08as Texas as Texas gets. Old Teddy Parks, his privateer journey program, he hauls bikes to the
31:14races. Essentially, it's a lot less money to have everyone do it as a unit than for each rider to do
31:20it individually. And Teddy's been helping riders get their bikes to the track and race for years.
31:25But he is going to end that program this year. He wants to retire and hang out with the grandkids.
31:30Well done, Teddy. Helped a lot of riders. Literally hundreds of them through the years.
31:36And that's who Pape there on the 68 rides for. Kulas is going to make the move. But although
31:43Teddy's supposed to be done, since he's from Texas, he's still going to help Kulas get his
31:48bike to Texas. That's cool. There's heroes all out here, whether in motorcycle gear or all around.
31:56The sport really is a family. Cool to see. Yeah, everybody pitching in.
32:03And that's a really cool deal there for all these riders. Pape out of France, by the way.
32:08And there you see Wilson has cut the gap down to six points on Chisholm. That final battle
32:14to be guaranteed into the motos. Chisholm has to hold on. Wilson would have to get McElrath.
32:22And then hope Chisholm doesn't make it or Chisholm drifts out of the top 21 in this moto.
32:29He'll be going to the L.C.Q. Otherwise. Yeah, it's going to be a tall hope.
32:35As you mentioned last week at Bud's Creek, really got to Dean, that is.
32:41Yep, had some bad luck there. Dean riding with litany and knee injuries through the years. It
32:47hurts to go to these 30 plus two motos, but he wanted to make his way into the playoffs. He still
32:52showed up for a bunch. Looks like Anderson has passed Hunter Lawrence in the rough second half
32:58of the final moto for Hunter Anderson. Fifth now Cooper for Tomac third, and that will be third
33:05overall for Tomac Plesinger. Second couple of one twos for the KTM squad lately. Yeah. And then
33:15winning that 250 class. Went 1-1 today. So obviously it's working good. But yeah, just thinking about
33:20Hunter and just this ride. I think this is what Dazzy was talking about. Just keeping him focused.
33:25The championship being out of sight and now having a race like this. This is one of those ones that
33:31you don't have anything to fight for your bum that you lost a toe. Maybe you're not feeling good.
33:36So, you know, tough one. But Hunter's had a great year. He's going to finish second in his
33:40championship. And, you know, I know he's going to get a win next year, possibly in this playoffs.
33:46He's not done for sure. So what will it look like when the playoffs begin? It's going to be
33:50different than this. Those tracks are hybrids. There is a motocross section, for example,
33:55when you watch as the white flag comes out, the playoff opener in Charlotte. There's a motocross
34:01section. The people that built this track, Jeff Russell, Randy Poulter, they'll be there to build
34:05the outdoor section in Charlotte. But even Sexton himself, even though he rode well and won at
34:11Charlotte last year, he admits he's not sure what they're going to do for the playoffs. It's really
34:16that thin line between do you want the ultra stiff supercross suspension for the jumps? You kind of
34:21have to have it. But how do you get through the smaller bumps? And that's what everybody's really
34:28going to be guessing. It's going to be different than what we have right now. Yeah, that's the
34:32cool part. Huge challenge for these guys. But I think they'll be a lot more prepared this year
34:36than they were last year. And I mean, everybody's coming into it completely different than where
34:41they were last year. You know, Aaron's going to end this thing on a good feeling, obviously,
34:46with Chase wrapping his championship, feeling like he can beat anyone. And Jet Lawrence coming
34:51back from injury. Eli coming. So it's going to be different for a lot of these guys. But I'm
34:55excited to see it. And I'm just going to see if there's a continuation of this motocross series or
35:02different field, different results. Well, with that thought is we were wondering, as J.T. Said,
35:07you know, you're going to get the best of section in this moto where now that he's wrapped the title,
35:11maybe not. But for him, is it a little bit larger goal to just keep that gas pedal down?
35:15Well, I mentioned I've been saying this all year. Once Chase figure out how to go fast,
35:19he was just going to always be fast. And I don't think Chase the way he's riding,
35:24it's coming too easy for him to not do this. I don't think he's doing anything besides going
35:29out there and riding. He is comfortable. The KTM has figured it out. So for Chase,
35:35this is who he is now. Like, this is going to be that guy. And if somebody's faster
35:39than him that week, they're just going to be faster. Well-deserved champion.
35:44No doubt about it. He's working on his 13th career overall win. That will move him to 18th all time.
35:52Oh, this is something cool. James just jumped out of the booth. He's going to cheer Chase Sexton on.
35:57You're going to see this right now. Little James going to do his big James impression like his dad.
36:05Watch closely on the right side. That's James right there. I got to carry this home myself.
36:11That's James right there. I got to carry this home myself.
36:17Chase Sexton, 1-1 at Ironman, and the crowning moment on a 450 motocross title. And he throws
36:25the ghost ride. Well, that looked familiar. Saw that last year from Jet Lawrence.
36:32James has still got some fitness jumping in and out of here. You're back.
36:36A round like that, a championship like that, that man deserves respect. Had to go out there
36:40and give it to him. Did you miss the ghost ride or did you see the ghost ride? I missed the ghost
36:45ride on there. It's unprecedented. That's the first time we've ever had one of the broadcasters
36:52jump out of the booth, out on the track, and back into the booth. And it's time to celebrate. Kyle,
36:58the mechanic who got, as we said, called off the bench. He was, I think, just working in-house at
37:03KTM, not on the road, and then became Sexton's mechanic late in supercross. Here's the ghost
37:08ride. Ghost ride, the whip. Man, I bet that feels good. Now it's sinking in. I mean, he's probably
37:15had the last five laps of this race thinking about it and what you call in the zone, people.
37:23Analyze the guy on the right here. What are you going to see? Some nice chocolate man out there
37:28looking pretty good. No, I just had to go out there. Chase Sexton, give him props out there.
37:33I was hoping that he wouldn't mess up and fall down in front of me, but
37:38man, great ride. Respect right there, baby. Respect.
37:48Teammates. That's so cool. That is.