Hunter Lawrence wins in Texas & leads series

2021 Monster Energy AMA Supercross
Round 11 – AT&T Stadium – Texas

Images by Jeff Kardas

450

AMA Supercross reconvened for the second of three quick-fire rounds at the AT&T Stadium in Texas today in what was the 11th round of the 17-round 2021 Monster Energy Supercross season. 

Aaron Plessinger scored the holeshot in the opening 450 Heat by a hair over Chase Sexton who was soon under attack from Ken Roczen and Justin Barcia. Sexton shook off Roczen’s challenges though and the German had his hands full dealing with Barcia. After only recently returning from injury Justin Brayton pulled out with three-minutes remaining in the race. Barcia got Roczen and then walked away from the #94 Honda with apparent ease, the corner speed of the GasGas rider breathtaking.  Aaron Plessinger seemingly started to fade as the race progressed and with a couple of laps to go Sexton started to challenge him for the lead but the Yamaha man held on. Dean Wilson suffered a dramatic rear wheel failure late tin the race and thus had to contest the LCQ to earn his transfer to the Main which he did by winning that bout. 

Cooper Webb dominated Saturday’s 450 Main but it was not all plain sailing in practice for the championship leader as he suffered a hefty fall in practice. Webb bounced back though to score the holeshot in his Heat ahead of Malcolm Stewart and Eli Tomac. The Kawasaki rider eventually got the better of Stewart to move up to second place but by the time he did Webb already enjoyed a three-second lead and he took that gap all the way to the flag. 

450 Main

Webb scored the holeshot in the 450 Main ahead of Tomac and Roczen and that was the way it stayed all the way to the flag!  Tomac got close enough to threaten Webb from time to time but couldn’t make a pass and was four-seconds behind at the chequered flag with Roczen a further three-seconds back in third. 

Justin Barcia fought his way past Plessinger and Sexton in the second half of the race to claim fourth. 

That is Webb’s fourth victory in the last five rounds and he now leads Roczen by 12-points.

Marvin Musquin didn’t compete as he is still recovering from his crash on Saturday.

Cooper Webb

“That was a huge confidence booster for me, to lead the whole race again with that amount of pressure. Eli was probably the faster guy tonight but I just tried to hit my marks and not make any mistakes. After that [practice] crash today, sometimes it’s good for you to get those big hits, get that fear back in you and ride the thing that kicked you off. I’m super pumped on that Main Event, to battle with those guys and be able to lead wire to wire, it’s awesome.”

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450 Results

450 Championship Standings

250SX

Seth Hammaker triumphed last weekend in Texas and picked up where he left off by scoring the holeshot in the first 250 Heat ahead of Hunter Lawrence and the pair finished in that order once again. 

Justin Cooper led the field away in the second 250 Heat from Cameron McAdoo but a mistake by the Yamaha man allowed McAdoo to sweep through to the lead and Mitch Harrison then relegated Cooper to third. Both Garrett Marchbanks and Justin Cooper soon got the better of Harrison and that pair then engaged in battle for second while McAdoo continued to enjoy clean air out front. Cooper eventually got the better of Marchbanks to take that second place and almost chased down McAdoo but the Kawasaki rider held on for the Heat win. 

250 Main

Mitch Harrison pulled the holeshot on the Muc-Off Honda in the 250 Main while young Aussie Hunter Lawrence was in fifth. Justin Cooper went down halfway through the opening lap and rejoined the race at the back of the field. Championship leader Cameron McAdoo was in seventh place ahead of previous round winner Seth Hammaker as they started lap three. 

Hunter Lawrence put a brilliant move on Kyle Peters to steal third place and put Peters between himself and a charging Cameron McAdoo.  

Both Hunter Lawrence and second placed Jalek Swoll then chased down race leader Harrison while McAdoo came along for the ride. At one point Harrison, Swoll and Lawrence were three-wide in a corner and brushed each other only for Lawrence to come out the other side with the race lead.

McAdoo then went down after clipping some tough-blocks in the whoops section and by the time he was going again he was outside the top ten despite cutting the track to get back up and running which was sure to result in some sort of penalty. 

At the halfway mark Hunter Lawrence enjoyed a three-second lead over Swoll.

Justin Cooper had recovered from that early fall to work his way all the way up to seventh and took two more positions before the chequered flag to finish fifth.

Hunter Lawrence was overwhelmed with emotion after the victory, sitting down to compose himself before hugging his mechanic and then heading to the podium. 

That makes it four different winners from the opening four rounds of the 250 West Championship, Cooper, McAdoo, Hammaker and now Lawrence all victors.  

Hunter Lawrence now leads the 250 West series but it is tight at the top with only two points separating the top three.

Hunter Lawrence

“I have been working so freakin hard, like one year ago I was already working so hard and I was at rock bottom. I said to my trainer and dad at Loretta Lynn’s I’m done, I can’t do it any more, I wanted to quit, I couldn’t take the heartbreak any more. We worked our arses off even more and came back, so to get this, it’s like, it feels like its been a million years coming, it’s just amazing. I have so much to say and so many people to thank, I’m still taking it in, it’s incredible.”

The series races once more inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, with Round 12 dropping the gate on Saturday night.

250SX Results

250 West Championship Points