Starting the month hosting Wrestlemania 40 with Cody Rhodes finishing the story, Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia ends April with its first-ever round of Monster Energy Supercross, which is the final standalone round for the 250 Eastern Regional Championship, which was turned upside down last weekend in Nashville. Cameron McAdoo is officially done for the season, which opens the door wide for second-year Frenchman Tom Vialle or reigning 250 SMX Champ Haiden Deegan to take home this year's No. 1 plate, or even TLD/GasGas' Pierce Brown if you want to argue for him.
Vialle's calling card all season has been his raw consistency. Outside of that melee to open up the year in Detroit, he hasn't finished off the podium once, and that put him in a position where he could clinch the title in the City of Brotherly Love, should Haiden Deegan struggle. After running third in qualifying, it wasn't entirely out of the question.
In the 450 class, Jett Lawrence had the statement ride of his career in Nashville and entered Week 15 with a five-point buffer back to Cooper Webb. Another win this week wouldn't entirely be the dagger that would wrap this up, especially considering what happened last year, but Webb gaining nine points of Lawrence in two races after Philly would be a tall task. And for the third week in a row, the two were set to a heat racing duel, qualifying fourth and second, respectively, while big brother Hunter paced the class for the first time. Oh yeah, did I mention the late threat of rain for this day race (Spoiler: it never came)?
Daytime Program/Injury Notes:
- Chase Sexton and Mechanic Brandon Zimmerman have parted ways. Kyle Defoe was with him this weekend.
I definitely like the starting area location this week, but I'd also like to see these football stadium tracks be a bit slower going into 2025. If possible, get things back into the consistent 1:00-1:10 lap time range.
- Dylan Ferrandis was back on the gate for Phoenix Honda
- 250 East Fastest Qualifier: No. 37 Max Anstie (52.770)
- 450 Fastest Qualifier: No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (51.475) (Ran nearly two full seconds faster to close out qualifying than he did in the opening session).
Heat Racing Roundup
450 Class
450s first in heat racing again due to the NBC exposure, and not a strong start for points leader Jett Lawrence, who went down in the opening corner and was stuck around 15th early on. It was not a good start anyway, and he tucked the front end out in traffic. Great news for both Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb, who got out in front and put a big buffer on everyone else early. Luckily, he started making big moves, notably tripling into the sand section and got up to fourth, but that was not what he was looking for. Great win for Eli Tomac, meanwhile.
The theme of bad starts continued immediately, as Chase Sexton and Just Cooper got caught up in a turn two incident with several other riders, putting them well out of transfer positions early and through the first half of Heat 2. In a competitive battle, Jason Anderson and Hunter Lawrence were out in front, but the surprise was Dylan Ferrandis was a bit behind in third. They had mentioned on the NBC broadcast that he didn't know where the fitness level was at, and he was in a perfect spot, logging in some solid laps in his first live-action in some time. Meanwhile, it was an excellent win for El Hombre, but the big loser was Cooper, who was LCQ bound and never ramped up the intensity like Chase Sexton did after lap one.
250 Class
Obviously, it was a massive weekend for Pennsylvania native Seth Hammaker, and he answered the bell right away, holeshot the first 250 heat, and held off a couple of Danger Boy Deegan lunges. They quickly put multiple seconds on everyone else, including Deegan's teammate Daxton Bennick, the King of Arenacross Kyle Peters, back in third and fourth. Deegan certainly felt like the faster guy, especially at the end, but Hammaker was just able to log a ton of good laps and was better in the key spots, being the sand sweeper and the whoops. And with his 91-year-old grandfather in attendance for the first time ever, Bainbridge's finest held off a last-lap charge to get the win.
Jalek Swoll rocketed, and I mean ROCKETED, off the starting grate on his Triumph ride, putting a 1.5-second gap between Coty Schock and Tom Vialle immediately. After Vialle held off some Shock pass attempts, he put his sights on Swoll, and this was obviously a huge moment for that entire program. Holding off the presumptive class Championship would've been a great accomplishment to end the year, but Vialle was making inroads in several spots. Swoll would, however, stay firm and bring home Triumph their first-ever Heat Race win in Monster Energy Supercross. Happy for the entire outfit to get that before we move onto Outdoors.
250 Class Recap
1st - No. 37 Max Anstie (FirePower Honda)
At long last, things finally broke right for Max. I loved the instant pressure he put on Seth Hammaker the second he got in his airspace, and he never took his foot off the pedal, even after he got by. Although a Championship opportunity became unrealistic with those earlier DNFs, Anstie now has a really good chance to end up third in the standing out east. He sits just five back of Pierce Brown, who went down hard earlier today, and the two riders in between the two are just one and two points ahead of the FirePower Honda rider, respectively.
2nd - No. 16 Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM)
Another banner outing for the Frenchman might be the one that sets up a champagne and t-shirt party at the KTM rig after Salt Lake City. He ran that entire race with Haiden Deegan breathing down his neck, and he never cracked, never caved in, never yielded. He's been a battle-tested guy since his MXGP days; Vialle is more than ready for situations like this, and he's likely going to win a title because of it.
7th - No. 43 Seth Hammker (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki)
I have to feel for Hammaker, who had a hometown podium ripped out from under him by no fault of his own. Once you saw him have that mid-air bobble once Anstie got close for the first time, it felt inevitable that he was going to get passed, but Hammaker was able to settle in for a second despite the drop in performance. I'd still chalk this up as a good outing for him, though after missing Nashville, Hammker undoubtedly had front-runner pace all day.
8th - No. 33 Jalek Swoll (Triumph Racing)
While I understand the aggressive triple into the sand that Swoll did to try and pass up Hammaker, you have to exercise a certain amount of caution if you're going to do that, and he did not. What's done is done, though; otherwise, Swoll looked as competitive as he ever has indoors, which speaks to him and that Triumph squad. I'll be watching to see if he can get on the podium out in SLC, but if not, this was still a net positive day for him in Philly.
250 Class Philadelphia Top 10
1st No. 37 Max Anstie
2nd No. 16 Tom Vialle
3rd No. 38 Haiden Deegan
4th No. 59 Daxton Bennick
5th No. 48 Chance Hymas
6th No. 69 Coty Schock
7th No. 43 Seth Hammaker
8th No. 33 Jalek Swoll
9th No. 128 Preston Boespflug
10th No. 511 Nic Romano
250 East Class Points After Philadelphia
1st No. 16 Tom Vialle (158 Points)
2nd No. 38 Haiden Deegan (143 Points)
3rd No. 39 Pierce Brown (124 Points)
4th No. 69 Coty Schock (121 Points)
5th No. 63 Cameron McAdoo (120 Points)
6th No. 37 Max Anstie (119 Points)
7th No. 59 Daxton Bennick (106 Points)
8th No. 33 Jalek Swoll (103 Points)
9th No. 48 Chance Hymas (101 Points)
10th No. 43 Seth Hammaker (87 Points)
450 Class Recap
1st - No. 18 Jett Lawrence (Honda HRC)
It's not quite over just yet, but it felt like the Jett struck a decisive blow in this Championship fight this afternoon. Getting that good of a start after his qualifying and heat mishaps was gigantic, and Cooper Webb was never able to match his intensity for the full 20 minutes, which was a massive shock. Now up 12 points, he's absolutely in a position to play the numbers game with two rounds to go. As long as he doesn't get too cute, this title is as good as his.
2nd - No. 1 Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM)
I'll be very interested to see if we can get any additional information about the Sexton-Zimmerman split in the upcoming weeks. Still, as far as the Champs weekend goes, he had some elite speed that put him on the level of Lawrence, at the very least, but it was just a bad start that put him behind the eight ball.
4th - No. 2 Cooper Webb (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
Webb took the gut punch of all gut punches in Rocky's hometown, and this was as disappointing an outing as he's had since he flipped the switch in 2019. It's hard to say if he wasn't feeling it, but he had nothing for Lawrence in that Main Event, and he probably ran more like a 5th or 6th guy rather than the 2nd or 3rd guy he was for the bulk of the afternoon.
Webb's problem is now this: He's 12 points down with two races to go. He's going to need to win realistically, and Lawrence would also need to finish fourth or worse twice. He's done that once in standard Triple Crown rounds, San Fransisco and San Diego, and of course, those were both in climate-weather-affected races in some way, shape, or form. There is no guarantee that either Denver or SLC will end up as rain races.
5th - Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha)
Tomac's race felt ultimately kneecapped by being a good teammate to Webb early on because it looked like he had something for Jett, but he ultimately did the right thing, giving his teammate a chance at the title to give it a shot instead. It might be his final rodeo out in Denver next week; I wouldn't be stunned if we saw another Land Shark sighting.
450 Class Philadelphia Top 10
1st No. 18 Jett Lawrence
2nd No. 2 Chase Sexton
3rd No. 21 Jason Anderson
4th No. 2 Cooper Webb
5th No. 3 Eli Tomac
6th No. 51 Justin Barcia
7th No. 96 Hunter Lawrence
8th No. 27 Malcolm Stewart
9th No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis
10th No. 32 Justin Cooper
450 Class Point Standings after Philadelphia
1st No. 18 Jett Lawrence (311 Points)
2nd No. 2 Cooper Webb (299 Points)
3rd No. 3 Eli Tomac (270 Points)
4th No. 1 Chase Sexton (268 Points)
5th No. 21 Jason Anderson (244 Points)
6th No. 94 Ken Roczen (223 Points)
7th No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (198 Points)
8th No. 32 Justin Cooper (189 Points)
9th No. 51 Justin Barcia (182 Points)
10th No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (178 Points)
Next Up: Empower Field at Mile High (Denver, Colorado) (7:00 EST gate drop exclusively live on Peacock)
Main Image via KTM
Comments