450 Moto 2 Ironman Motocross AMA National
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00:00to continue to run this thing off into the playoff. Will it be somebody else that steps
00:04up?
00:05Yeah, can he ride off with the 1-1? You've been so close so many times to getting one
00:11of these moto wins for hunter. Been so close to the overall wins. They have one more chance
00:17at it. And we'll see if Sexton is still locked in after locking up the championship in moto
00:26one. 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 Plesinger again. Plesinger to the lead.
00:58Aaron Plesinger, 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.
01:26Racing NASCAR right here. Three wide over here.
01:29It's like a photo shoot. Scrubs on both sides and Sexton in the middle. It almost happened
01:35again there.
01:36Yeah, this track is starting to open up with some of these lines. You know Hunter Lawrence
01:39wants to get around Justin Cooper because the number four is going to go around both
01:43of 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, 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 already to the rear wheel. J.T. of Plesinger and he wants to lead.
02:09That was close. Luckily, Aaron just kind of kept that bike straight. Hello, best year
02:14champion leaving no doubt out there. Just a difference the way he shows up these second
02:20motos compared to the first one. He's locked in, ready to go. He went from sixth to first.
02:27Opening lap.
02:28Maybe the championship hangover begins tomorrow. Definitely not in this moto, J.T.
02:34Yeah, I think for Chase Sexton, there are two ways these championships can go. One,
02:39you ride so loose and so free. You put your best laps in early and you go to the front
02:43without any hesitation the way he did in the second moto. The other side of that is
02:47you really have a letdown moto. You have this adrenaline dump where you can't find any intensity.
02:52You can't get that sense of urgency you've had because the mission has been accomplished.
02:57You've won that championship. I always wonder which way is it going to go. I think Chase
03:01Sexton has answered that with a resounding answer of intensity.
03:06But Plesinger, 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
03:13was going to continue towards the inside. Otherwise, he would have doubled past him.
03:17Look how close he was. That one corner lost that time. Yeah, championship is wrapped up
03:22for your teammates. Let's go out here and battle. You know he wants it.
03:27Toe back up to fifth. He's close to Lawrence. There's the first view of the three. Lawrence
03:34has still not been able to get Cooper.
03:37Maybe he can get here. Same place that Chase got up beside him last lap on the inside.
03:43He 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.
03:49He takes a look over to make sure he has the distance of the run out here on the bottom.
03:54He needed to make that pass one lap ago because the KTM guys have jumped him.
03:58Yeah, you can see Aaron almost went back up the inside of Chase. Now if you're Hunter
04:02Lawrence, Eli, even Justin Cooper, this is exactly what you want. You don't want to see
04:06that forward pulling away. This is your opportunity while Chase has got some riders to deal with
04:17dealing with his teammate Aaron. Here comes Eli.
04:21Trying to get Cooper. We heard it's a little bagged up from a big crash last week. He quickly
04:26is overhauled by the three. Nice move by Eli. Justin wasn't able to get
04:31over that little roller hip jump they were able to do.
04:37That'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. 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. Nice move. They all picked up on that.
04:57As quickly as Andrew was there, you can see Chase starting to stretch it out in front.
05:03Chase and Anderson down on the shot. The monster Kawasaki in green. Closing on Cooper. This
05:08is the battle right now. Lawrence and Tomek. Look at ET3 go.
05:14This is where Justin Cooper almost hooked the outside of that berm. Eli kind of stays
05:18a little bit farther on the inside. Slides into it. Nice move, but I hear that Yamaha
05:24call up there. 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. Hunter
05:35did a good job of blocking him. This is where Eli, he can get around Hunter. I think he
05:41can keep this momentum up. One thing he doesn't want to happen is the stall out behind him.
05:46He's going to lose too much time and that might break his rhythm.
05:50the problem for Tomek? That's where they both went on the inside. Let's see if he picks
05:56it up. Kind of jumped out on that single as we were watching the 250 class. You see Hunter
06:03Lawrence jump that. That jump and threw his arms off. Almost as if he had a little bit
06:08of arm pump again. Same thing we saw a few races ago back in red.
06:19Tomek just annihilated the corner on the outside. Tried to make the ground back up
06:23that he lost there 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.
06:32Now 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
06:45that quad. A lot easier. Justin Cooper and Jason Anderson come through
06:54next. Fifth and sixth. It's Craig, Nicoletti, Simonson and Noren.
07:08Battle continues here at pro motocross. We've got the smx playoffs coming up soon. Sign
07:13up 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 this corner. Should have signed him up on the inside. There
07:31you go. Does he have it? He's got to close Hunter off before Hunter gets back to the
07:36inside. 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. This is much more competitive. He's in the battle. He was
08:05not there last week. Got fourth in moto one. Now he's seeing the front runners both motos
08:10today. He's riding good. He's still doing that same part in that section. Looking at
08:16it between races. 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?
08:26It was that big. Eli was actually in the top three, one and two every other segment except
08:31for that. He was the fourth fastest or fifth fastest in that. About a second and a half
08:36slower than chase Exton. Now that Tomek is rolling, I want to ask you
08:38about the head movement that I hear you mention a lot with him when he's on. What are you
08:42looking for as a 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
09:03corner. Then he allows his head to dictate where he's going instead of putting his foot
09:07out. When I see Eli doing his thing, you see that head laid over like a baby trying to
09:14go to sleep. Are you seeing it a little bit in this photo?
09:17There's a baby out there going to sleep. 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? Send it to J.T.
09:37You see Eli Tomek going in his split section to the right, which will then bring him back
09:42to the inside through this next section. This is where he passed Hunter Lawrence. It's like
09:46a chess game through here. The inside turns into the outside, which then will become the
09:51inside again as he climbs this hill. When you think about how to make a pass, you have
09:55to think about how they built the racetrack this year. You almost have to be two or three
10:01chess plays ahead to actually make a move. And it's a couple laps for him to find that
10:07line to make it happen. So Eli Tomek making that pass on Hunter Lawrence. But the KTM
10:19boys are gone. Sexton with a one-second lead over Plessinger. But look at that. Tomek looking
10:25at a podium today, if he can hang on to it. That'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 to be able to close in on those KTM guys. I think he's
10:41still right there. He's doing a little whip and the bike kicks around. Let's see how he
10:45plays this out. But, yeah, that has 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. It seems like it's such a simple thing, right?
11:02We all see it's just the second moto not being as good as the first moto. They're still good,
11:10just lacking that few percent. I think I'm managing it well, not riding above my ability
11:18and over my head to force the second place into a worse, maybe a crash or something like
11:25that, resulting in a fifth or a sixth. I think there's two sides of the story. You can just
11:29go, hey, look, I'm not quite there yet. I'm not quite on the level of one-ones yet. The
11:37number one guy at the moment, Chase, has put together the whole puzzle this year. He's
11:41a really strong competitor. I'm still working to get there my first year. I think I've done
11:45extremely well. Yeah, he's done extremely well. Actually talking
11:49to him yesterday about that, how much he's grown from A1 to now, back in supercross to
11:54now. He said it's been a head down, butt up, trust the process kind of a season. In fact,
11:58I was actually asking him and Darren, Lawrence's dad, just about the practices and how it could
12:03change with Jett getting back on the bike. They said yes, there's a camaraderie and chemistry
12:08between the two. There's a lot of fun when they're out on track. Hunter has during the
12:12week been so focused on his own ride and his own plan and his own strategy that he hasn't
12:18necessarily missed Jett riding with him side by side. He hopes it elevates the game obviously
12:23going into SMX. Yeah, to that point, who would want to miss
12:28riding against Jett Lawrence? I don't care if he is your brother. I think the one thing
12:33it will help him is when Jett comes back, maybe some of the pressure of the team, they'll
12:37have another guy focusing on. Hunter has been doing great all year long. I would even say
12:42since he's been on this 25 bike, the second moto hasn't been that bad. He got a bad start
12:48at Unadilla. Last weekend, you can almost blame it on the tire choice. This is probably
12:53the one moto since he's been on this bike that's kind of been more previous to him switching
12:58over. You just got to think, it's got to be a little bit frustrating to see these guys
13:02pull away from him. Yeah, Tomek now has about five seconds on him. Tomek, second all time
13:11in podiums in this class, and he'll add another one. 71 total. I think Carmichael has the
13:17most with 84. Here's Phil Micoletti in eighth again in his final pro moto cross start. He
13:23will race the SMX playoffs, but this is his final race season. Had him in the press conference
13:28yesterday. It's a little bit of bonus time. He thought he tore his ACL at Hanktown. Does
13:33have some knee damage, but the ACL is intact, so he's able to make it to the end of the
13:37year and right where he wants to be. Eighth is generally the spot he's shooting for, and
13:42there he is. And after Nicoletti comes Freddie Norton, and those guys battle during the week.
13:50They ride at Club MX together. They've had some great battles in the motos. Wait a minute.
13:54Look at this. Aaron Plesinger is caught. Chase Sexton. Yeah, Chase must have failed
13:59because I was just thinking he just put in those hot laps, and now AP, let's get some.
14:05Oh, he might have him in the inside, James. Now he's getting over that wall. Eli Tomek
14:11going around the outside. There you go, AP. Oh, couldn't quite. He's got the championship
14:16wrapped up. A little knockdown. It'll be all right. He won't be too mad at you. Man, Sexton
14:21put two seconds in him the previous lap, but now it's back to even up.
14:25Yeah, I think Chase must have failed right after the mechanics there. Must have tipped
14:30over in the corner or something. Here it is. Going down. Everything looks good. Going outside.
14:36Loses the front end. No, just stalls the motorcycle. Yeah, pretty easy to happen because there's
14:44braking so hard. That's a pretty tight 90 corner, so I've seen Chase do that a couple
14:49times in supercross where he was stalling up in Seattle, but no harm, no foul. At least
14:54he didn't have to pick up the motorcycle or kick it.
14:57That's right, and that orange carrot just dangling in front of Plesinger still working
15:04on his first career moto or overall win as a 450 racer. It's right there in front of
15:09him. Yeah, this was that moment for him. Now you
15:13start to see Chase get back away because I was just looking up. I'm like, all right,
15:17this is chase Sexton's time. Halfway second moto. It's hot outside. He had that gap.
15:24That has really been the story this year. The fitness of Sexton late in the race day.
15:29Said it to Katie. Chase and talking with him earlier today about
15:33Aaron Plesinger as a teammate. He said he is the best teammate I have ever had. His
15:38positive attitude that he exudes, the fun that they have, the warm-ups that they get
15:42together. It's just a blast riding along with Aaron Plesinger.
15:46Yeah, I agree. I think a lot of this whole move for chase has been great since he moved
15:54over to the KTM team, and I call it the APing. In a great mood. I just feel like I'm APing
16:00today. I'm in a great mood. Having him as your teammate.
16:06Yeah, KTM power at halfway. There you go. Okay. Yeah, it is halfway through. Monster
16:11energy is available now at Kroger. Back end stepped out for Sexton. It's still not over.
16:17Here comes Plesinger again. It's a chess game that J.T. Was talking about. Outside to inside
16:27is the choice for the 4. Yeah. You see how chase was on that inside jump. He didn't roll
16:34over that single. He jumped out. That momentum I keep talking about. You can see the gap
16:40that he's able to get over AP right there. Now, the bottom of the screen, we've been
16:45joking about the two likable vets, Kyle Chisholm and Dean Wilson battling for the final guaranteed
16:51spot into the motos. 20th in the standings. They're battling on the track right now. Chisholm
16:5613th. Wilson 14th. The problem is Wilson needs to make up about ten points on Chis in this
17:04moto. Even though they're fighting hard, it won't be enough even if he makes the pass.
17:09He's going to have to chis on the chis. He might make it around the outside. Dino gets
17:17it. And you see that bubble battle, that nine-point gap now. And that's a lot of it because Wilson
17:26did come back last week at Buck's Creek, got tangled with the rider in the first turn,
17:30broke his wheel, couldn't finish, didn't score any points. That might be the final
17:35difference maker of Wilson going to the last chance qualifiers of the playoffs. Chis going
17:41straight to the motos. Yeah, he is. Just admire him. Chase here. It never seems like this
17:46outdoor season there's been a 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
18:05together 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 on all cylinders,
18:13that's the type of riding you see from him. It's not disjointed. It's not a lot of stop
18:17and start. He puts the track together deliberately. And it's pure magic to watch. And this is
18:24back to the form that we used to see from chase Sexton. It's no wonder he's our champ.
18:28He looks like the chase Sexton of old. Yeah, absolutely. And there's a couple parts
18:31of this racetrack where chase is really killing these guys. And one of them is right here.
18:37Just that little bit right there, not rolling the inside of that jump, just kind of jumping
18:41out. And he was a little farther on the inside. The lap before, he had it right. And what
18:45it's doing, as you just mentioned, J.T., like, he's not stopping going around the racetrack.
18:50Another part where he's really killing these guys is coming up here. Same thing. A little
18:54single on the inside. Chase is continuing his momentum out. Just jumping out. Doesn't
19:00do it as good as for me as I'm talking about it. But that's where he's making the time
19:03up. And it seems small. But what he's doing is continuing that momentum. And there's no
19:08stop and go. And he just makes it all the way down the straight. That's why he's out
19:12front and pulling away from these guys. If you're watching this today, you've got one
19:18more chance. Flip over. Go to the Telemundo Deporte's YouTube channel. And you can listen
19:24to the Spanish race call with Edgar Lopez and Tommy Rios. Or if you miss it today, you
19:29can listen to the United States. Same thing. Telemundo Deporte's YouTube channel at the
19:34S.M.X. World Championship in Las Vegas. Or if you're outside the United States and you're
19:40watching on S.M.X. Video Pass, you can just select to listen to the Spanish language broadcast
19:44every week at Sexton. All right. The alarm is off. It was getting dicey there for a bit.
19:51But it's up to 3.2 seconds. I'll bless Edgar. He looks good. Looks like he's well in control.
20:01He knows exactly what the motorcycle. And as I was saying earlier, ever since he's been
20:05on the KTM, especially halfway through this outdoor season, it seems like they figured
20:09out the bike to where it almost looks like it's lower to the center. It's really center.
20:14It's close to the ground. He's got a lot of feel on both ends. And chase is really putting
20:19that bike exactly wherever he wants and has a lot more control over it. Almost like in
20:24a sense if he's riding a minibike and that's the way he's riding. He can put it where he
20:28wants. It seems light. And, man, they have found a package for this guy. And it shows
20:34even with the number 7 right behind him. The only thing they have not nailed here, whole
20:38shots. We'll give you the motosport.com whole shot replay. Hunter Lawrence. I think he's
20:45going to get another one here. I mean, he's got to get on the gate. Just feels like he's
20:49going to whole shot. Just like chase feels like second moto, he's going to win. A lot
20:55of this comes down to his mental. But I think it might be Cooper. Don't forget about Mr.
21:02Cooper. Watch his driver on the outside. Nicely done.
21:06And that's what we're used to seeing with Justin Cooper, especially on the 250 class.
21:11Has it not been quite as much of that with Cooper in the 450s? A solid season for him.
21:16And he was third in points for a while. But Plessinger's flurry here at the end. He's
21:20going to take third in the championship if it ends this way. I asked Plessinger if there's
21:26bonus money in the line for that. He's like, I don't know about that. But it's a nice resume
21:29bullet the next time your contracts are up. Say you once got third in a 450 championship.
21:35Plessinger's already locked in for at least one more year with KTM next season.
21:40There's a lot of bonus. And the biggest bonus might be just the pride. Getting up there
21:44and winning these guys. But I'm almost getting caught stuck in a rut watching chase just
21:50kind of admiring him. I think this is the best I think I've ever seen the guy ride.
21:54In this moto right here. We've seen some great rides this season.
21:58I'm not saying it's the fastest I've ever seen him ride. He just knows exactly where
22:02that bike's going. And as I mentioned, it looks like he's riding a mini bike. Knows
22:07exactly where it's at, J.T. He just has so much flow. You see him kind of going inside
22:12to outside, putting the bike wherever he wants. Just like you mentioned. I don't know if it's
22:16just a racetrack. Certainly he's familiar here. But I think part of it is confidence.
22:20Part of it is they've gotten the bike sorted out. But this is him at his best. And it's
22:24so important for him to carry this momentum and to be his best self entering the smx playoffs.
22:30So who knows, right? We start over. It's a brand-new championship, a three-round championship.
22:35But boy, does he look good here leaving the pro motocross championship.
22:38Yeah. 100%. Ever since chase came to this track the first year, 2020 or 21, he's always
22:47had a pretty good flow. But I just noticed he's got a lot more lean on his bike. That's
22:51when you know he's doing good. And even this guy, he lost a toe in front of him. But Aaron
22:58Plessinger and chase Exton, they're riding good. I think this is the best I've seen Aaron
23:02ride all day. I don't know if the ktm works well on this racetrack. But Eli's doing really
23:07good. I think it's a huge improvement from last weekend. He looks like Eli Tomac. And
23:12a guy who hasn't raced outdoors for a couple years, to come back in in your second race
23:16and be on the podium, you'll be all happy. Just unfortunate for him. I know he wants
23:21more. The kid's doing good.
23:23Yep. We'll have his chance. Playoffs looming. Did not get to see Eli in those last year.
23:29He was out with injury. Really fun to see him in the mix this time. Building off the
23:33base he's built with these four final pro motocross motos. And same thing for his teammate
23:40who will be coming through next.
23:43You see how much time Eli's losing right there? There it is.
23:49Wood section has been tough on the number 3. Okay. So that's Tomac in third. Check in
23:58on Cooper. That's a huge gap. Almost 20 seconds back to Cooper in fourth. Let's go to Katie
24:05with more of 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 midseason. He now knows the competitors as well. He
24:16does feel like he's been a little lonely but now having Eli back, having Cooper Webb back,
24:20he feels like he's back in the groove with the team. In fact, looking at his pit board
24:24right now, it says two sprints. So the mindset right now for Justin Cooper is get through
24:28this, two sprints, got to get on that podium.
24:31We asked Cooper yesterday, Katie, to take stock of his rookie 450 season.
24:36Yeah, 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
24:49see it coming. So it was kind of just focused on racing forward and didn't really expect
24:56that type of crash to happen. So obviously a little bit bummed about it. And, yeah, we're
25:01just going to move on from it and come into this weekend and try to give it our all for
25:05the last round.
25:06He 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, whew, I got lucky.
25:17Justin's riding great. As I mentioned, Jett Lawrence, I'm sure you're home at watching
25:22it. Thanks for rooting for all these rookies out here. He's got big shoes to fill. But
25:27just like your brother and Justin, they're riding great, man. Great year.
25:32Yeah, by any other standard, solid 450 debuts for Hunter and for Justin. Hunter, last couple
25:39laps have not been kind to him. He just ran a 2.25 lap time. Sexton's running 2.13s right
25:47now. So I'm not sure what has happened down the stretch for the 96th. Cooper got him,
25:54and Anderson could be next.
25:55Yeah, Jason's closing in quite a bit. I noticed over the first couple laps when he jumped
26:01that tabletop, he took his arms off and wasn't adjusting the clutch. He was spreading his
26:06fingers out, which tells me he might have been dealing with a little bit of arm pump
26:09or just tightness. That's kind of what it looks like right here. He's definitely laboring
26:13a little bit. I know Hunter, you know, really strong. It is hot. It is the end of the championship.
26:20But you can tell he's struggling right now.
26:25Battle we're watching right now is Kulas with Chis. So that's one more point to the good
26:31for Wilson. Wilson's going to need Chis to drift out of the points-paying positions,
26:36and that might just barely be enough. It would actually be one point short if that were to
26:40happen. That is unbelievable. Kulas started this moto in 30th. That's what this dude does
26:46up to 15th right now. Harry. Impressive. Yeah, fighting along. Yeah, Chis probably
26:55knows in the back of his head he does some good calculations just like these guys in
26:59overalls. He knows what he needs to finish. This is the smx world championship final round
27:09of pro motocross. Harry Kulas, one of the many riders putting together a schedule to
27:13make as many races as possible to qualify for the smx playoff center coming up. Very
27:18friendly veteran out of Estonia. And actually sold his bikes. Gave it back to the dealer
27:25that helped him go back to hang town. That race was the michaels reno power sports hang
27:30town classic round two. They gave him a bike. Rode it as much as he could. Gave it back
27:35after wash shugle. Got a new bike from them. Put it together at Unadilla. And he's riding
27:40that bike today. That's the cool thing about motocross. You take them off the showroom
27:44floor and you can compete at a high level. J.T.
27:46You get to know these privateers. And we asked, Harry, how do you actually pronounce your
27:51name? We've heard it so many different ways. He said, well, it kind of depends. Where are
27:54you from? Because one of his parents is from Finland and the other is from Estonia. He
27:59claims dual citizenship. But both of them pronounce his name differently. So I just
28:04threw up my arms and gave up at that point. If his parents can't agree on how to pronounce
28:08his name, how am I ever supposed to know? Glad we finally have an excuse when we get
28:13this done incorrectly. Harry kulas, or whoever you say it, riding well right now from 30th
28:21up into the top 15.
28:34Motocross finale in Indiana. There's Harry kulas in the top 15. Got around Kyle Chisholm
28:40in 16th. Derek Kelly 17th. Devin Simonson is in 18th. It's his sixth career start. He
28:49didn't even qualify for the motos last week on the club mx 450 at buds creek. So much
28:56better now. Simonson is in the points-paying position in 18th. And he is from Indiana.
29:02So good for Devin. Cullen Park is 19th. Preston Kilroy rounds out the top 20. Henry Miller
29:09is 21st. Sexton continues to lead. And now it's up to 11 seconds over Plessiger.
29:17Yeah, you got to believe. And that was after the stall too. So good ride. Man, just a way
29:25to have fun as we're watching Harry do his thing and chase do his. Track actually looks
29:33really fun actually right now.
29:35You kept saying earlier in the day this is one of the few tracks on the circuit you have
29:38not ridden. So I think everybody is going to have the same thought after that.
29:43That's why I'm probably saying it looks fun. No bad memories.
29:47No bad memories. I'm like, I'm chance hyvess. What are y'all talking about? This track is
29:54awesome.
29:55Yeah, sometimes not knowing is the best way to know. And it looks easy in the booth, right?
30:01I'm like it ain't that hot. 65 degrees out here.
30:06Feels that way in here. So kulos going to finish the season strong. He's going into
30:10the playoffs. Be fun to watch the battle. Chisholm in. Welton. Nicoletti. Those guys
30:19are going to be fighting. I call it the colt Nichols. Colt Nichols got I believe ninth
30:23last year in smx points and made about $100,000. That's the type of positioning these riders
30:29are hoping for. But it's going to get harder.
30:31Yeah.
30:32Webb will be back. Jet Lawrence will be back. Down the line we go. Here's another one of
30:36these likable vets. Roman pape.
30:41You think about the story we were talking about with harry. Different bikes. Suspension,
30:46wide frame and suspension. Going back and forth. For all these guys, really, imagine
30:52what some of this money from the playoffs can do for harry and all these guys. Romans
30:58and all these guys.
30:59Yep. And this rider here, he's on the privateer journey team. That's a long running team operated
31:03by 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
31:13to the races. Essentially, it's a lot less money to have everyone do it as a unit than
31:19for each rider to do it individually. And teddy's been helping riders get their bikes
31:23to the track and race for years. But he is going to end that program this year. He wants
31:28to retire and hang out with the grandkids. Well done, teddy. Helped a lot of riders.
31:34Literally hundreds of them through the years. And that's who pape there on the 68 rides
31:39for kulas is going to make the move. But although teddy's supposed to be done, since he's from
31:46texas, he's still going to help kulas get his bike to texas.
31:50That's cool. There's heroes all out here. They're in motorcycle gear all around. The
31:57sport really is a family. Cool to see. Yeah, everybody pitching in. And that's a really
32:04cool deal there for all these riders. Pape out of france, by the way. And there you see
32:09wilson has cut the gap down to six points on chisholm. That final battle to be guaranteed
32:15into the motos. Chisholm has to hold on. Wilson would have to get mackelrath. And hope
32:23chisholm doesn't make it or chisholm drifts out of the top 21 in this moto. He'll be going
32:30to the lcq otherwise. Yeah, it's going to be a tall hope. As you mentioned, last week
32:37at buzz creek really got to dean, that is. Yep, had some bad luck there. Dean riding
32:44with litany and knee injuries through the years. It hurts to go these 30 plus two motos.
32:50But he wanted to make his way into the playoffs. He still showed up for a bunch. Looks like
32:54anderson has passed hunter lawrence in the rough second half of the final moto for hunter
33:00anderson fifth now. Cooper fourth, tomac third. And that will be third overall for tomac.
33:09second. A couple of one twos for the ktm squad lately.
33:14Yeah, and then winning that 250 class. Went 1-1 today. Obviously working good. Just thinking
33:20about hunter and just this ride. I think this is what dazzy was talking about. Just keeping
33:24him focused. The championship being out of sight and now having a race like this. This
33:30is one of those ones that you don't have anything to fight for. You're bummed that you lost
33:34a toe. Maybe you're not feeling good. So, you know, tough one. But hunter has had a
33:38great year. He's going to finish second in his championship. I know he's going to get
33:43a win next year or possibly in this playoffs. He's not done for sure.
33:48So what will it look like when the playoffs begin? It's going to be different than this.
33:51Those tracks are hybrids. There is a motocross section, for example, when you watch as the
33:56white flag comes out. The playoff opener at charlotte. There's a motocross section. The
34:01people that built this track, jeff russell, randy poulter, they'll be there to build the
34:05outdoor section at charlotte. But even sexton himself, even though he rode well and won
34:11at charlotte last year, he admits he's not sure what they're going to do for the playoffs.
34:16It's really that thin line between do you want the ultra stiff supercross suspension
34:20for the jumps? You kind of have to have it. But how do you get through the smaller bumps?
34:27And that's what everybody's really going to be guessing. It's going to be different than
34:30what we have right now.
34:31Yeah, that's the cool part. It's a huge challenge for these guys. But I think they'll be a lot
34:35more prepared this year than they were last year. And, I mean, everybody's coming into
34:40it completely different than where they were last year. You know, aaron's going to end
34:44this thing on a good feeling, obviously, with chase wrapping his championship, feeling like
34:48he can beat anyone. And jett lawrence coming back from injury. Eli coming. So it's going
34:53to be different for a lot of these guys. But I'm excited to see it. And just going to see
34:59if it's a continuation of his motocross series or different feel, different results.
35:04Well, with that thought, we were wondering, as j.T. Said, you're going to get the best
35:08of sexton in this moto. Now that he's wrapped the title, maybe not. But for him, is it a
35:12little bit larger goal to just keep that gas pedal down?
35:15Well, I mentioned, I've been saying this all year. Once chase figured out how to go fast,
35:20he was just going to always be fast. And I don't think chase, the way he's riding, it's
35:24coming 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, this
35:35is who he is now. Like, this is going to be that guy. And if somebody's faster than him
35:40that 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'll move him to 18th
35:50all time. Oh, this is something cool. James just jumped out of the booth. He's going to
35:59cheer chase sexton on. You're going to see this right now. Little james going to do his
36:05big james impression like his dad. Watch closely on the right side. That's james right there.
36:14I got to carry this home myself. Chase sexton, 1-1 at iron man. And the crowning moment
36:22on a 450 motocross title. And he throws the ghost ride. That looked familiar. Saw that
36:29last year from jett lawrence. James has still got some fitness jumping in and out of here.
36:35You're back. A round like that, a championship like that, that man deserves respect. Had
36:39to go out there and give it to him. Did you miss the ghost ride or did you see the ghost
36:44ride? I missed the ghost ride on there. That's unprecedented. That's the first time we've
36:50ever had one of the broadcasters jump out of the booth, out of the track and back into
36:54the booth. And it's time to celebrate. Kyle, the mechanic who got, as we said, called off
37:00the bench. He was working in-house at ktm, not on the road. Here's the ghost ride. Ghost
37:10ride, the whip. Man, I bet that feels good. Now it's sinking in. He probably had the last
37:16five laps of this race thinking about it. What you call in the zone, people. Analyze
37:23the 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. Jay Sexton, give him props out
37:32there. I was hoping that he wouldn't mess up and fall down in front of me, but man,
37:39great ride. Respect right there, baby. Respect.