2024 Fox Raceway Motocross | Race Report & Results

2024 FOX RACEWAY MOTOCROSS | COMPLETE COVERAGE

The Pro Motocross Championship started off with an eventful and competitive afternoon of action at the 2024 Fox Raceway Motocross, as the first motos for the 250 Class and 450 Class showed us who will be in the title fights and what to expect of the front-runners when the summer series continues its cross-country trek.

250 MOTO ONE

The summer’s first race started with instant strikes by the expected title contenders. Tom Vialle claimed the holeshot and early control while Levi Kitchen latched onto the leader as they crested the first turn, and Haiden Deegan passed from sixth to third on the opening lap. The trio continued to attack through the opening stint, an intense pace that put them seconds ahead of the rest of the field but encouraged errors that ultimately shaped their races.

Vialle was the first to stumble, as the Red Bull KTM rider shot to a wide line at the start of Lap Four and couldn’t counter the inside line that Kitchen carved to take over. A second mistake one lap later shot Vialle off the track, and the brief off-track excursion allowed Deegan a chance to pass for second and merited a one-position penalty by the AMA. Team Honda HRC’s Chance Hymas was promoted to third by the ruling.

Kitchen and Deegan soon squared off for the top spot. Kitchen controlled the situation through consistent laps and precise line choice on the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki, but Deegan was noticeably quicker and equally as determined to go forward, which was evident in the outside lines that he tried during the middle of the moto and the small mistakes that followed.

The final four laps were extraordinary, as Deegan shrank Kitchen’s lead with another all-out push, and Kitchen opened it back up with well-timed passes through traffic. The two were within a second of each other when the Two Lap to Go card was displayed, and although a move seemed imminent, how it occurred was unexpected, as an errant track marker in a rut got wedged into the leader’s boot. Kitchen slowed to remove the obstruction while Deegan rocketed into the lead and put in torrid laps to finish 7.2 seconds ahead.

250 MOTO TWO

Deegan and Kitchen rekindled the rivalry immediately in 250 Moto Two, as the Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha rider took the holeshot while the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider got into second and threw two attacks on the opening lap. 

Although the two never formally squared up, their spat for the spot was thrilling all the way to the checkered flag. Near-even lap times kept them within 1.1 to 2.4 seconds of each other for all 36 minutes. Deegan had the better average through the 15 laps (2:28.319 to Kitchen’s 2:28.368), but Kitchen showed raw speed with the single quickest trip around the circuit (personal best of 2:26.991 on Lap Six to Deegan’s 2:27.028 on Lap Three). A late effort by Kitchen brought some excitement to the last lap, but he again came up short of making an honest pass attempt, and Deegan ended the afternoon with 1-1 finishes to Kitchen’s 2-2.

Deegan’s momentary trek off-track in the back section put him under investigation following the checkered flag. Despite the AMA and teams hours-long deliberation on the official race results, no penalty was handed down. 

Three riders were in contention for the final step on the podium and turned 250 Moto Two into an “every pass matters” situation for Tom Vialle, Chance Hymas, and Jalek Swoll. Team Honda HRC rider Hymas found himself deep in the field in the early going, but he rallied back into the mix with passes from Lap One to Lap Six. A strong start by Triumph Factory Racing rider Swoll gave the upper hand on Vialle during their first skirmish, but it was a high-speed wash-out by the Red Bull KTM rider at the bottom of a hill and his subsequent effort that set up the situation. 

Third place in the moto and third overall was on the line when the three linked up in the closing laps. Swoll’s track position was again an advantage as Vialle and Hymas closed in, but both eventually made the necessary passes for third and fourth on Swoll and were even on points for the day. Vialle’s better score in the last race was the tie-break, which got him the third overall.

450 MOTO ONE

Jett Lawrence’s incredible streak continued into a second season with a start-to-finish run at the front in 450 Moto One. The Team Honda HRC rider was bar-to-bar with his brother and teammate, Hunter, going into the first turn, and a quick cut to an inside line put him over the holeshot stripe first and into the lead. Aaron Plessinger made fast moves to get his Red Bull KTM to second place on the opening lap, and from there the race at the front became a Lawrence-Plessinger-Lawrence showdown.

The opening lap wasn’t as good for others in the pack. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson and MADD Parts Kawasaki’s Fredrik Noren were part of the first turn pile-up, and both remounted at the very tail of the field. The duo seemingly worked together as they picked their way through, with Anderson eventually getting up to 10th and Noren 13th when the checkered flag flew. 

Chase Sexton was among the top ten initially, but a crash cresting an off-chamber turn dropped him to 14th on the opening lap. The Red Bull KTM rider put in a race-long charge of his own from there, as he earned positions by being considerably quicker laps than the competition or through crashes and incidents experienced by those ahead in the running order. The last lap was one of Sexton’s best, as he decimated the gap between himself and Justin Cooper and made the pass for fourth place as they navigated lapped traffic.

The Lawrence-Plessinger-Lawrence showdown played out over fifteen laps. Hunter Lawrence started to pressure Plessinger ten minutes into the race, made a decisive pass for second place just after the halfway point, and then went all-out to catch his brother. Jett Lawrence seemed to take notice of his sibling’s increased pace through the latter half, as the 8.576 gap on Lap Eight got sliced to just 4.619 by Lap Thirteen, and he retaliated by going just quick enough in the last two laps to stop the loss and finish 5.058 seconds ahead at the checkered flag.

450 MOTO TWO

The last race of the day was undoubtedly the most exciting. Hunter Lawrence aced the start and was well ahead of brother Jett, Phil Nicoletti, and Chase Sexton as they dusted over the holeshot stripe. Jett made an immediate move on his Team Honda HRC teammate as they ascended the staircase roller, and Nicoletti got his Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX/Yamaha into second place soon after. These early moves proved crucial, as Nicoletti’s tenaciousness on the opening lap momentarily slowed Sexton and Hunter Lawrence and allowed Jett Lawrence to go for a small breakaway. 

It was an all-out effort by the top ten from Lap Two to the checkered flag, and a clear track encouraged the Lawrence brothers, Sexton and Jason Anderson, to go as hard and fast as possible. Lap Three was the first raw speed check for the front runners, as third-place Sexton’s 2:25.314 was marginally better than the 2:26.497 put in by Jett or the 2:26.227 by Hunter, while Lap Five saw Hunter go for his first genuine attack on the leader. Jett answered back with a series of steady runs through the middle of the moto, a push that momentarily got him out of harm’s way, but he soon had to deal with a second salvo, this time from Sexton.

The last ten minutes of the race were a proper duel between Jett Lawrence and Chase Sexton. In a matter of moments, they stormed away from third-place Hunter Lawrence, went tit for tat by clocking their best times (2:23.982 on Lap Nine for Sexton, 2:24.547 on Lap Ten for Lawrence), and blasted through slower traffic, all while staying within a second of each other. A straight-up pass for the lead or a mistake by either seemed equally likely, and the latter happened on Lap Twelve when Sexton pushed wide at the top of the hill, and briefly went off-track. Lawrence backed down the pace once he noticed the orange bike wasn’t as close, but Sexton’s determination to get back to the leader made him wick it up again. 

The final lap was a thrilling finish to the day. The duo were 2.686 seconds apart as they took the white flag, and Lawrence responded to Sexton’s intensity by going as hard as he could one last time. The 2:24.622 by Sexton was significantly quicker than the 2:25.959 put in by Lawrence, but the leader’s early advantage again proved key, and Lawrence extended his win streak to twenty-four consecutive motos by a mere 1.349 seconds.