Image: Octopi Media.

Convincing double moto wins at Unadilla saw Team Honda HRC’s Chase Sexton reclaim the 450MX red plate this afternoon as Lucas Oil Pro Motocross enters its final stages of the 2022 series, with Jo Shimoda winning overall in 250MX.

Moto one of 450MX saw defending champion Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) jump out front on return, before top-qualifier Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC) took his turn at the front before the first lap was out.

It was then red plate-holder Tomac who made his move and led for the following 15 minutes, until a charging Sexton saw him slice his way from as far back as P6 on the opening lap through to the front and that’s how it would stay.

Sexton made a statement with his come-from-behind moto win, eventually 12.858s up on Tomac, with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson keeping the fast-finishing Ferrandis at bay for third position.

Behind Ryan Dungey (Red Bull KTM) in fifth, Roczen would end up fading to sixth by race’s end, in turn ahead of Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM), Garrett Marchbanks (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha), Joey Savatgy (Monster Energy Kawasaki) and Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas).

This afternoon’s final encounter looked like it was going to be a dual between Sexton and Tomac, however, once again once Sexton caught his title-rival he made the pass and stretched his advantage from there. The final buffer on Sexton’s side was 15.852s over Tomac, as Anderson in P3 mirrored the opening race podium.

Plessinger impressed on his way to fourth this time around, with Barcia another improver for fifth, almost directly ahead of Dungey and Roczen. The top 10 was completed by Savatgy, Christian Craig (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) and teammate Ferrandis.

The round podium was naturally made up of Sexton, Tomac and Anderson, while in the championship standings it’s now Sexton back on top by a single point over Tomac with three rounds remaining in the season. Next stop, Budds Creek this coming weekend.

Image: Octopi Media.

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider Shimoda edged to his second 250MX overall victory of the 2022 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at Unadilla after splitting moto wins with Justin Cooper.

It was Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Cooper who led the initial stages of 250MX moto one, until a costly mistake saw him go down and hand the lead to Shimoda in the process.

From that point, Shimoda took control and powered away at the front while his rivals came undone in giving chase. In the end, the winning margin of Shimoda was 7.840s ahead of Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC), with RJ Hampshire (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) fighting hard on his way to third position.

It was also a strong ride from Nick Romano (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) in his home round for P4, with Cooper recovering to claim fifth. Red Bull KTM’s Max Vohland was sixth after fending off Jett Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) on the final lap, which came after the latter fell out of podium contention – not once, but twice in the middle stages of the moto.

The top 10 was completed by Ryder DiFrancesco (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), Pierce Brown (TLD Red Bull GasGas) and Nate Thrasher (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing). Unfortunately for Seth Hammaker (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), he went down on lap 11 and was ruled out of the moto altogether.

The second moto was led by Cooper from the outset with the Lawrence brothers in tow – Jett the primary chaser and Hunter directly behind him. There was no catching Cooper, however, sprinting to a 7.037s advantage to rebound following his troubled opening moto.

Despite going down once again in this moto, Jett held on for the runner-up position in the moto, with Shimoda clawing his way to P3, which was enough to clinch the overall.

Cameron McAdoo was fourth after teammate Shimoda’s final lap pass on him, as Hunter Lawrence wound up fifth after going down during the moto and experiencing some sort of rear brake drama in the late stages. Sixth through 10th included Vohland, Thrasher, Hampshire, Romano and Brown.

The overall podium belonged to Shimoda, from Cooper and Hunter Lawrence, while Jett still leads the standings after claiming fourth today. He has a 26-point advantage over Hunter, with Shimoda currently 40 in arrears leading into Budds Creek next weekend.

Detailed results