Tampa is famous for its Gulf coast beaches, and a big chunk of the beach found its way to Raymond James Stadium, a big sand section being the stand-out feature of the track. The fifth race of the season had some new things, like the Stew and Weege cameo, and some old things like Cooper Webb hunting down his prey. Here’s the rundown.
Qualifying – No surprises here with Hunter Lawrence 250s and Chase Sexton 450s setting the pace. Others of note were Adam Ciancirulo and Justin Cooper 4th and 5th fastest in the 450 class and 250 youngster Haiden Deegan crashed and landed heavily on the concrete, lucky not to be injured.
Opening ceremonies were broadcasted for the first time since 2021 Salt Lake City Final, and how cool was seeing that!
250 heat 1 - Nate Thrasher grabbed the holeshot followed by his Star Yamaha teammate Jordon Smith and Frenchman Tom Vialle. First turn carnage with Gas Gas TLD rider Michael Mosiman running into the back of Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Chris Blose taking them both out as well as privateer Jack Chambers.
Smith down on lap one, unfortunately, this has become expected. This sent him back to around 6th but he would fight back to 2nd, well behind Thrasher. Vialle with 3rd and Arenacross star Michael Hicks in 4th. Mosiman 5th and Blose 9th make it to the main.
250 heat 2 - Haiden Deegan holeshot and the crowd erupted, the youngster would go on to win his first heat race in just his 2nd race as a pro, a nervous finish as light rain made the track very slick. Speaking of youngsters HRC Hondas Chance Hymas finished 2nd, Club MX veteran Jeremy Martin 3rd, and Hunter in 4th after a bad start.
450 heat 1 – AC with a start, Monster Energy Kawasaki teammate Jason Anderson in tow, and Rockstar Husqvarna/Team Stilly’s Christian Craig in 3rd. Anderson would pass AC in the whoops and go on to win, Craig with a comfortable 3rd. Good to see Chiz Chizzing! Coming home in 9th.
450 heat 2 – A Sexton holeshot followed by Tomac and Aaron Plessinger, Chase will go onto another dominant heat race win, AP on fire passing Eli in the whoops, seems that KTM is sorted out. The 3 would finish in this order. Rick Ware Racing’s Joey Savatgy crashed, booking himself a ticket to the LCQ. Cade Clason sneaking 9th with a last-lap takeout on Josh Hill.
LCQ’s – 250’s - Hardy Munoz with a go-to whoa win from Brock Papi, Luke Neese, and Devin Simonsen. Simonsen getting in via a last-corner takeout of Marshal Weltin.
450’s - As expected, Savatgy won comfortably from Josh Hill, Kevin Moranz, and Grant Harlan.
250 Main Event – Lawrence with a good jump but squeezed to mid-pack in the first turn. JMart with the holeshot but swamped by Thrasher and Deegan with Smith, Vialle, and Firepower Honda’s Max Anstie close behind. Thrasher checked out putting 4 seconds on the field in the first 2 laps, Anstie settling into 2nd
and looking great, Smith and Vialle not so great, going down in the sand. A battle developed between a hard-charging Lawrence, Mosiman, and Deegan. Mosiman eventually going down after light contact from the 96. Lawrence now 7 seconds from the lead and catching Anstie, getting by the Brit and into 2 nd place with 5 minutes to go, 6 seconds back from Thrasher. A combination of an on-fire Hunter and some lapped traffic saw the gap close enough for a last lap battle, Lawrence owning the whoops and sand section and backing his HRC Honda into the slippery last turn for a block pass, winning by less than 0.2 seconds. In my notes, I
just wrote HUNTA! Anstie would finish in 3rd, another podium for the friend of the Moto Limited Show, Max is now 2nd and 8 points down on Hunter in the championship, Deegan 4th again, and now 3rd in the Championship 14 points from the lead. The kid is very much legit as is Hymas with another
top ten, finishing 8th.
450 Main Event – Webb with the holeshot, edging out Sexton, but the 23 moved quickly into the lead, AP in 3rd, Eli around 8th. Wasn’t long before Anderson made contact with Justin Barcia, again, both of them going down. The race then settled into Chase holding a couple of seconds lead over Webb with AP all alone in 3rd, Roczen 4th and a very “human” looking Eli 5th. Given the past late race heroics of the 3 and the late race crashes of the 23, I couldn’t help feeling that this race was Webb’s, the all-star analyst team of Stew and RC were feeling the same. 2 minutes to go and Webb with a big mistake in the whoops, losing time but managing to hold on. This made it Sexton’s race to lose, and unfortunately, that’s what he
did, throwing another win away in the whoops. Coop claiming the top step for the first time in far too long. Carlos with the pit board saying “Welcome back Paul”. A frustrated but composed Sexton recovered for 2nd and AP in 3rd, Eli 5th and holding onto the red plate by 2 points from Chase, Coop is only another 2 points back. Seems like we have a 3-horse race. Leigh’s comment while Coop was on the podium “That’s a dangerous smile” It sure is.
Welcome back Paul
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