On Saturday, Chase Sexton passed former overall points leader Hunter Lawrence for first place after winning both Round 6 Pro Motocross races at the RedBud MX Park in Buchanan, Michigan.
Sexton and Jett Lawrence had been sharing second place for overall points, but a thumb injury and subsequent surgery like Eli Tomac’s and Cooper Webb’s has removed 2023 Motocross champion Jett Lawrence from the Motocross racing scene for the remainder of the 2024 season.
Tomac and Webb have been recovering, with Webb sharing that he is training again via Instagram.
“Week 2 on the bike. Thumbs getting stronger each day. Finally got the wheels off the ground yesterday,” Webb said in a post.
While Tomac hasn’t given an update since the May 9 Instagram post announcing he would be sitting out the end of the Supercross season and the beginning of the Motocross season for his upcoming thumb surgery, his team provided The Journal with an update on Tuesday.
According to representatives from Feld Inc. and Next Level Sports, Inc., Tomac is expected to race Round 10 and the final Round 11 at Budds Creek Motocross Park in Mechanicsville, Maryland, on Aug. 17 and at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana, on Aug. 24.
As Saturday’s race commenced, commentators shared that Sexton had grown up only two hours away from Buchanan, making RedBud his home track. While Sexton had raced on the course before as a professional rider, this was his first time winning at the course.
In the first race, Sexton got off to a poor start while Hunter Lawrence claimed the hole shot to fall into an early lead, with Aaron Plessinger putting pressure on Lawrence from the side.
As Lawrence worked to build his lead, Phil Nicoletti and Dylan Ferrandis crashed behind him. Sexton, however, continued his pursuit of Lawrence, unfazed by the crash in his third-place position.
Lawrence, the 2023 250 Motocross champion, continued to ride ahead while Sexton moved to 2nd place. As Sexton cut Lawrence’s lead in his bid for 1st place, Lawrence crashed hard on the downhill, allowing Sexton to take the lead.
“That was a tough impact,” commentators said as they tried to gauge whether Lawrence was injured, “He had been riding a perfect race.”
Though Lawrence got up quickly and attempted to catch Sexton, it wasn’t enough. Sexton placed first, with Lawrence a distant second, nearly 20 seconds behind Sexton.
Justin Cooper placed third.
In the second race, neither Sexton nor Lawrence were able to take the hole shot and an early lead. Instead, Jason Anderson claimed the hole shot before Australian rider Kyle Webster passed Anderson in only his second race in the U.S.
Sexton passed Malcolm Stewart for third place while Lawrence raced behind in seventh.
Anderson passed Webster to take back first place, while Sexton passed Webster to race close behind Anderson. Hunter moved to sixth place.
With less than 10 minutes left in the race, Sexton moved to first place and Lawrence raced in fourth. Once he had the lead, Sexton left no doubts about who would win the second race.
By the final lap, Sexton led second-place Plessinger by 22 seconds, “the biggest gap in any moto this year.”
Sexton won the race, followed by Plessinger in second, Anderson in third and Lawrence in fourth. Sexton was ranked first overall for the weekend, with Plessinger in second and Lawrence in third.
The sweep from Sexton shifted the overall point standings to put Sexton in first overall with 260 points and Hunter Lawrence in second with 253.
Round 7 of 11 will take place on Saturday, July 13 at the Spring Creek MX Park in Millville, Minnesota.
