Three race weekends, six Motos, two hours (plus six or so laps), and millions of dollars worth of purse money. That is what's in store and at stake in the SuperMotocross Playoffs, which kicked off yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina. Luckily, the weather held up, with the outside chance of rain being a real possibility, and we got an incredible day of racing.
Unfortunately, Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jason Anderson and TLD/GasGas' Justin Barcia never made it to Saturday, going down in separate incidents during Friday practice, and decided to call it a week there. With that said, we did get a ton of excellent racing, all the way down to the 65cc All-Star Main Event in the middle of the day. Here are the key parts to break down.
Daytime Program/Injury Notes:
- I might be 100% out on split starts after this weekend.
- The Star Yamaha Thor Kits (White jerseys, light green pants) anger me tremendously from a fashion standpoint.
- Carter Gray won the 65cc All-Star Main Event and got a Road Warrior Pop through the entire last lap but was docked two spots post-race for jumping the finish line. What happened to the game I love???
- 250 Fastest Qualifier: No. 24 R.J. Hampshire (1:41.618)
- 450 Fastest Qualifier: No. 32 Justin Cooper (1:39.575)
250 Class Recap
1st - No. 1 Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki) (1-1)
The talk all morning and into the early afternoon was that this was a hard track to pass on, but good racecraft usually ends up being the great equalizer, and it was that and more for Deegan today. He was the first guy to start running that makeshift berm after the left side start, and everyone began to follow suit from there on out in both classes. I also brought up the starts as something that could hurt Deegan these playoffs earlier in the week, and while he not only had two bad starts but a third as well, he kept picking guys off with elite line choices. Gotta call it like we see it: Deegan was phenomenal in Charlotte.
2nd - No. 929 Julien Beaumer (Red Bull KTM) (2-4)
I don't even know how much I can hold the late-race conditioning against Beaumer because the early-race pace and starts were phenomenal, more than good enough for his first-ever pro podium. If those starts travel, he will have a real chance to win this thing if he can get either of Deegan and Kitchen to slip up.
3rd - No. 47 Levi Kitchen (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki) (5-2)
Kitchen had all the chances to outrank Beaumer here, but he's this week's poster child for why starts are so important. He and Deegan were around the same spot off the start in Moto 1, only he couldn't find ways around anywhere close as quickly. He needed 11 total laps to get to fifth, but to his credit, Kitchen cleaned things up in a big way in Moto 2, but those are the kind of mistakes he needs to eliminate during this upcoming week.
22nd - No. 33 Jalek Swoll (Triumph Factory Racing) (DNF-DNS)
Your heart breaks for a kid like Swoll, who was doing everything right and put in a ton of good work this summer, only to be a victim of circumstance off the start in a racing incident. The good news was that he could walk off to the mule on his own power, but he deserved a good showing these three weeks.
250 Class Charlotte Top 10
1st No. 1 Haiden Deegan (1-1)
2nd No. 929 Julien Beaumer (2-4)
3rd No. 47 Levi Kitchen (5-2)
4th No. 30 Jo Shimoda (3-5)
5th No. 16 Tom Vialle (4-7)
6th No. 31 Jordon Smith (6-6)
7th No. 37 Max Anstie (11-3)
8th No. 63 Cameron McAdoo (7-10)
9th No. 24 R.J. Hampshire (10-8)
10th No. 26 Garrett Marchbanks (9-9)
250 Class Points After Charlotte
1st No. 1 Haiden Deegan (50 Points)
2nd No. 47 Levi Kitchen (42 Points)
3rd No. 16 Tom Vialle (37 Points)
4th No. 30 Jo Shimoda (36 Points)
5th No. 929 Julien Beaumer (35 Points)
6th No. 31 Jordon Smith (32 Points)
7th No. 39 Pierce Brown (26 Points)
8th No. 37 Max Anstie (25 Points)
9th No. 48 Chance Hymas (23 Points)
10th No. 24 R.J. Hampshire (22 Points)
450 Class Recap
1st - No. 1 Jett Lawrence (Honda HRC) (2-1)
Firstly, I give up. Secondly, I will never listen to Jason Thomas ever again. That's one me, it won't happen again. But yeah, I give up. If rushing back from a UCL surgery isn't enough to stop Jett, then I have nothing at this point. It's a pretty good Moto 1, all things considered, but that exact battle with Tomac is something we've all wanted for about two years now, and it lived up to expectations. It was only a matter of time before he was going to get him in that sand section, and funny enough, he did it about 50 feet before he got to double into the sand. Not in the points lead because of how things are structured, but four points out going into a double points Round 2 in Texas might as well be zero points. He's absolutely in this thing now.
2nd - No. 3 Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (1-2)
Speaking of guys who've firmly put themselves into title contention that might not have been so before Saturday, how about ET3 in that first Moto? Everything was dialed down to the start with the scoop tire choice, and once he raised the sails, it was a formality from there on out. The same can't be said about Moto 2, which I think you can forgive a little, but this is by far and away the best he's looked at this entire calendar year. Next weekend's track at Texas Motor Speedway is very Daytona-esque as well, so you'd like to think Tomac can put together another really good outing, perhaps a win, going into Vegas, another city where he's historically had a lot of success over the years.
3rd - No. 4 Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM) (4-3)
Although I can't say how much that qualifying crash took out of him, and not that the third overall is terrible here, even though I was expecting a win out of Sexton today. No matter how good his stretches were in either Moto, he could not get by Tomac or Jett. That stretch in the opening contest where he kept messing up in the rhythm lane is something that I'm positive he'd love to get a re-do on because both Lawrence brothers had him beat by leaps and bounds there. Still, it's not all bad, seeing as he's still the points leader, but that's Sexton's mulligan right there as early as it is to say that, and he can't let this seep into his head that he didn't have anything for the guys in front of him. If that's the case, he's already done.
8th - No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM) (6-11)
While Sexton is a bit unclear, Plessinger looked like he was laboring after his Friday crash. He deserves credit for gutting it out for as long as he could, but there was a ceiling on his max output Saturday. Now the question is how much this will affect him in Texas.
10th - No. 2 Cooper Webb (Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha) (14*-8) (*-Received six spot penalty for a Moto 1 course cut)
Webb's course cut only cost him two spots in the overall standings, but he looked identical to where he was at Unadilla before the crash. I thought James Stewart made a great point during the broadcast in that Webb is naturally at a disadvantage here because he seems to take about a month to ramp it up in Supercross, and he has no time to do that here. Never mind that he's still laboring through an injury; it feels likely that a top-five finish, let alone a title, is in the cards.
450 Class Charlotte Top 10
1st No. 1 Jett Lawrence (2-1)
2nd No. 3 Eli Tomac (1-2)
3rd No. 4 Chase Sexton (4-3)
4th No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (3-6)
5th No. 94 Ken Roczen (5-5)
6th No. 32 Justin Cooper (7-4)
7th No. 27 Malcolm Stewart (8-7)
8th No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (6-11)
9th No. 45 Colt Nichols (10-10)
10th No. 2 Cooper Webb (14-8)
450 Class Points After Charlotte
1st No. 4 Chase Sexton (45 Points)
2nd No. 1 Jett Lawrence (41 Points)
3rd No. 96 Hunter Lawrence (40 Points)
4th No. 3 Eli Tomac (33 Points)
5th No. 32 Justin Cooper (33 Points)
6th No. 7 Aaron Plessinger (32 Points)
7th No. 27 Malcolm Stewart (30 Points)
8th No. 94 Ken Roczen (26 Points)
9th No. 14 Dylan Ferrandis (25 Points)
10th No. 2 Cooper Webb (24 Points)
Main Image via Honda HRC
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