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00:00James, K-10 keys to the moto. What does it take to do that here?
00:02Well, a lot of momentum. These guys are going to have to carry their momentum.
00:05It's a sand track, so keep the gearing up.
00:07And then the most important part, start in front of Chet.
00:10That's your chance to have it. So those are my keys to the moto.
00:13So this is so critical on this deep, sandy track to get a good start.
00:17Shout out to the 206. Josh Toth, he won a race in the mountains of West Virginia,
00:21the Snowshoe GNCC last weekend.
00:23But he's from Connecticut, wanted to race his home motocross race, a totally different style.
00:27He's going to pick up $2,000 from Rocky Mountain.
00:30Let's go racing, live from Southwick.
00:36And Jett Lawrence and Plessinger battling for it.
00:40Lawrence of the 18 has the whole shot with his brother right behind him.
00:43Yeah, big old pileup in that first corner. Almost called Jorge Prada.
00:46He was up there, barely missed it.
00:48But that's my keys to the moto. These guys did not hear me.
00:51It's Jett Lawrence out front, like you said, followed by his brother.
00:54It's going to be tough for these guys.
00:55But Plessinger right there, knocking on the door as well as Cooper Webb.
00:59Prado in green. Watch him on the outside.
01:01Yeah, Jorge Prada was almost two and a half seconds faster than all these guys in that second practice.
01:06So we'll see how he goes.
01:07But good to see the Cowboy.
01:09They know they need to make some passes to get up there with that 18.
01:12Once he gets comfortable, it's going to be difficult to get around them.
01:16And Eli Tomac is back in 11th, the multi-time champion who's so good at this track.
01:20He has work to do. Prado, see him there on the left side, trying to get the number two of Webb.
01:27Yeah, Jorge wanted to get to that line where Cooper Webb was, but sometimes it funnels into one line.
01:31But it's good to see the number seven, Monster Energy Kawasaki, being super aggressive.
01:35He should maybe have the power on the inside of Cooper Webb if he can get to the inside of him.
01:40And Plessinger working on Hunter Lawrence for second.
01:45Not able to make it happen.
01:48No, Eric's going to try to slingshot around this outside.
01:50He's going to funnel back into one line.
01:52But here at Southwick, you've got to be careful being so close to the guy.
01:56You're going to run out of vision, and it's hard to do that when you see the number 18 out front.
02:00You want to get going.
02:01But as quickly as we say that, we can see the gap already growing with Jet Lawrence.
02:04And the reason Prado there in that green machine is such a story, this is the multi-time MXGP champion from Europe
02:11who is expected to contend for race wins and podiums this year.
02:15And it has not gone that way at all this morning in qualifying the first real show of speed in America for him
02:21with those fast qualifying times.
02:23Could today be a turnaround?
02:24He needs to get Webb, and he's trying again.
02:26Yeah, he's trying to get it.
02:28And one thing that we haven't seen all year, really, is Jet Lawrence.
02:31Once he's out front, he's been out front a lot, but he hasn't been able to pull away from these guys.
02:34He's must have been working on that.
02:36So you can see the sense of urgency in all the rest of these guys trying to get around.
02:40Jorge's maybe getting a little frustrated, but good to see him.
02:42And you can see that number three behind him, a couple of positions behind him.
02:45Will?
02:47James, you said it.
02:48Good to see Jorge running up front there with that front pack.
02:50And the team, no doubt, will feel exactly the same way because they have been working very hard.
02:56We had the off weekend, off the high point last weekend, and they have been at it just testing.
03:01They've been on the sand, trying to find good sand settings for Jorge.
03:05And I asked Oscar Wildman there, the crew chief for him, what's made the difference?
03:10He said, well, one, a little bit of gaps made up with this being sand.
03:13No, it's not European-style sand track, but it is more familiar.
03:17Everything this year for him is new.
03:20So a bit of familiarity will take it.
03:22And he said, on top of that, it's just adjustment to the bike.
03:25There's a lot of things he said that the Kawasaki is just different.
03:28They've worked to sort of bring that familiarity back to him.
03:31And Jorge, they said, it's just kind of like he's got this attitude of just adjusting to the bike, too.
03:36So those things coming together, we're just seeing a stronger start to the day, too, for him, James.
03:40Yeah, no, I agree.
03:42And I had a chance.
03:43He was my Oscar was my mechanic.
03:44So they've got a lot of experience over there at Kawasaki.
03:46So Jorge needs to just continue fighting the game, and he'll continue to get better.
03:50It's hard being the champion that he is.
03:52He wants to win.
03:53And, you know, when you've got the number three, Eli Tomac coming behind you,
03:56it makes things really difficult.
03:58But Eli made a lot of passes early, Jason.
04:00We said he was outside the top ten for him to be up, making moves.
04:03That's a good sign to see the number three.
04:05Yeah, James, 11th to 6th now.
04:07He's gotten around Cornelius Kondola at 417, a visitor from Norway.
04:12Just a guest appearance today.
04:14Tomac has gotten around him, and Tomac, you see him in that yellow gear,
04:17looking to make the move on Prado.
04:19Yeah, you can tell his sense of urgency with Eli Tomac.
04:23And I believe if he's going to be able to make a pass, now it starts opening up.
04:26If he can get alongside of Jorge right here, he might have an opportunity
04:29because a lot of parts on this racetrack, you have to funnel back in.
04:32But it's going to be difficult to pass the Monster of New Kawasaki number seven
04:36as he tries to go back.
04:37Eli's teammate, Cooper Webb.
04:39Yeah, he's trying to get around Webb.
04:40He's used this outside line a few times, side by side.
04:43Not enough.
04:43A battle for fourth.
04:44Yeah, you've got to see these guys funnel back in towards the same line.
04:48Eli's going to switch around.
04:50And I love here at Southwick, you've got to make it.
04:52When you see the opportunity, you've got to really strike on it
04:55because, again, vision, it becomes a problem here.
04:58Prado is still working on the two of Webb with Tomac in hot pursuit, JT.
05:06Yeah, Tomac's trying to make a move here, Jason.
05:08And it's so important that he doesn't get stuck into their pace.
05:12He's fallen into that trap a couple of times this season.
05:15The same thing Prado's dealing with.
05:16He needs to get really urgent and really aggressive
05:18because I'll tell you what I think.
05:20I think he's looking around for where is Jet Lawrence.
05:22And you wonder, why is Jet Lawrence being so aggressive early?
05:25He's worried about Eli Tomac as well.
05:28Those two know that if they were out front together,
05:30that they might be able to get away.
05:32So Eli Tomac, if he wants any chance at getting to the front of this race,
05:35he's got to make a quick pass.
05:36When you see the urgency, JT, with Prado,
05:39motorcycle was completely sideways.
05:41He was trying to get Webb.
05:43He holds him off.
05:44And now Tomac is through as well.
05:46Yeah, that's what you have to do, Eli.
05:47When Jorge strikes, you know,
05:49I don't think Cooper realized that Eli was that close,
05:51so he made that pass.
05:52But the problem for him, I mean, Jet Lawrence is seven seconds up front
05:57right now ahead of his brother.
05:58So Eli would look around and see he ain't looking for the 18
06:01because the 18's gone.
06:02He's got a lot of work.
06:03And James, you made this point earlier.
06:05This is not normally the way Jet Lawrence does it.
06:07Yes, he wins nearly every time he's out there,
06:10but doesn't normally build the big early gap.
06:12No, Jet's very patient,
06:14and he just kind of allows the racetrack to suit in
06:17and settle in for him to go.
06:18But I think what J.T. said was an excellent point.
06:21He wants to get away from that number three.
06:23There's no sense of battling with him
06:24because we know how strong Eli is.
06:26So a lot of these races,
06:27I felt like Jet could have put the race away
06:29if he would have been like this.
06:31So I believe he worked on that during this off weekend,
06:34and it's showing for sure.
06:36And it's 1-2 for the Brothers Lawrence.
06:38Also teammates on the Honda HRC Progressive Team
06:42out of Australia.
06:43A little adjustment to the motorcycle
06:46at the beginning of this championship,
06:47but now into round five,
06:49they have certainly solved any of those problems.
06:51But listen to the crowd cheering the Cowboy on.
06:53They love Plessinger.
06:54Yeah, they love the Cowboy,
06:56but I think what they love is that number three coming up,
06:59and you can see Jorge starting to close back in on air,
07:01and you can hear that Yamaha of Eli Tomek wide open going.
07:06He knows what time it is.
07:07This is another battle that everyone wanted to see.
07:14Where would Prado slot in on a good day?
07:16They have not been the type of results expected the first few races.
07:19He's up front now.
07:20Let's see how it shakes down between he and Tomek.
07:25Oh, Jorge almost went off the track right there.
07:27You can see the front end dancing around.
07:29And this track, even though it's a sand racetrack,
07:30it has a really hard base,
07:32so you're going to see a lot of movement from the bike with these guys.
07:34And the key is to have the movement but not to slam into these corners
07:38and get so deep into it, you lose all your momentum.
07:41So, so far, it's going pretty good.
07:44You're going to see a lot of back and forth.
07:45Guys starting to get away,
07:46and it looks like they're playing that cat and mouse game,
07:48but a lot of that happens because the guy wants to stay out of his ruse.
07:51So, you know, there's only certain parts of this racetrack
07:53where you have to strike.
07:55So right now, Eli is probably setting up that move.
07:58So you think Tomek actually will strategically drop back enough
08:00to not catch the sand on the back of the bike?
08:03Yeah, 100%.
08:04Like, there are certain parts where he won't be able to pass him.
08:07So you don't want to eat that ruse.
08:08It not only messes your vision up, it messes your breathing up as well.
08:11So you'll probably see Eli close back in up on the end of his lap.
08:15But JT.
08:16Just watching Jorge Prado there, James.
08:19You know, so much of this season just looks like he's lost some confidence.
08:24This is a guy who's really never lost much in his entire career.
08:27Like, he went on a four-year run of winning championships in Europe.
08:31He comes to America, really hasn't seen the same success.
08:33And part of that has to be believing in himself.
08:37And you see, he's pulling back out of gap on Eli Tomek.
08:40The longer he can stay up here, the longer he can see the lead,
08:43the more that confidence is going to come back,
08:45and it's going to unlock all of the great things that he's capable of.
08:47Yeah, I completely agree.
08:50And I think with Jorge, as you just said, it's the confidence.
08:53So he might be in fourth place right now.
08:55And you would think, like, he wants to win.
08:57But this is a huge step compared to what we've seen the last few weekends.
09:00And just what you saw with Jorge right there, lifting the front end, jumping around,
09:04that's the guy that we kind of expected to see.
09:06And we haven't seen that these first four motos, but four races.
09:11And they've left Webb behind.
09:13There goes Kondal.
09:13Again, the rider out of Norway, Jason Anderson out of New Mexico.
09:17That's the teammate of Prado on the Kawasaki.
09:21Okay, Koulos coming by.
09:22And Justin Barsha, welcome back to racing.
09:24First motocross race of the year for him.
09:26He's in 10th, coming off a knee injury.
09:29Jen Lawrence doing what he has done quite incredibly.
09:32He has only lost one race on a 450 in motocross
09:37and starting it out well again today.
09:40Enjoy the sounds of motocross as we go to break.
09:42If you're watching on Peacock.
09:47Break this far away from a jake.
09:48All that happened, much like the goat.
10:00Let's get on that side.
10:02All right.
10:04Only a couple seconds back off at time.
10:19Actually, he's making some adjustments.
10:20All right.
10:24All right.
10:27Let's meet.
10:28Oh, my God.
10:58Oh, my God.
11:28Oh, my God.
11:58Oh, my God.
12:28Oh, my God.
12:58Oh, my God.
13:27Oh, my God.
13:58Yeah, Eli wanted to get in, but as I mentioned, some of these parts are really off-camber, so he's just sliding into Eli, I mean, sliding into Jorge right there, so he had to make the decision just to settle back.
14:08And this is what I mean, and this is what I mean, that roost, as you can see, Eli just got a face full of roost, had to pull a tear off, now he'll drop back into hopefully get another opportunity to be able to get around Jorge.
14:17Now, James, you can pull the tear off and get clear vision with a new lens on the goggle, but is there a point sometimes where you're just going to have to accept a few seconds of just blindness?
14:26Yeah, absolutely, especially if you get in a spot where you're not expecting it, and then you see that, hey, I can make this pass, so I'm going to have to just stay with there, so you should go blind, man, for sure, out there.
14:37And keep it wide open?
14:38And keep it wide open?
14:38Yeah, just to do it, just hope and float.
14:41Tomac and Prado might be in that position right now, they're catching a lot of sand off the rear tire, and Plessinger, a great three-rider fight for third.
14:50The Lawrences have checked out, Jett to the lead, Hunter in second.
14:54Yeah, one of the difficult parts for being in there, not only just the vision, as I mentioned, but even the sand going in your mouth, this is a sand racetrack, so these guys are breathing out of your mouth, trying to breathe out of your nose, so once you get clogged with sand, it's not just your vision goes, then it starts affecting your breathing, and then it affects how your whole body functions, so this guy's got a lot of elements to deal with here today at Southwick.
15:17Have you reached the limit of how much sand you can intake into the mouth a time or two in your life?
15:21I mean, I can eat a lot of sand on there, but, you know, eventually it will take a toll on you.
15:26You can see Eli start to, everyone's limits are a little different.
15:30Well, Tomac's one of the toughest out there, but you see right there, had to go for the clear vision and give up the attack on Prado.
15:38Yeah, and I know that's frustrating for Eli, because I feel like one of the opportunities to pass is right up here, so this is where a lap ago he got really close to Jorge, but couldn't make that pass, and see what he does.
15:50He'll settle back down and try to go at them again.
15:53Halfway through this first race of the day.
15:56Reminder, Monster Energy available now.
15:59Go grab some, but keep watching this action, because Tomac definitely has some spots on the track as he resets and goes back after Prado.
16:08Hammering through that corner.
16:09Yeah, that's what Eli's really known for him, really charging into a lot of these sections, and the hard part is he can charge into it and get into a one-liner racetrack, and then he's got to follow him and just eat that sand, so he's got to pick his spots, JT.
16:23He does, and James, you were talking about this before the race, where it's so important for Eli Tomac to get out front, and that doesn't mean he has to get the whole shot, but if he could just be with JT on the first lap, that would help him avoid all of these things, because you look back over this championship at Colorado, at High Point, he gets stuck behind guys, he falls into their pace, and he cannot find a way around him, and the guys he really wants to be battling with are riding off into the distance and taking points with him.
16:49And the team manager of Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing couldn't agree with you more, JT. Rich Simmons was talking about exactly that subject with me earlier.
16:58They said, you know, they really want Tomac out there in that top five, and one of the things that he added to that, he said, past top five back there, it starts getting crowded, it starts getting a little risky, there's a lot of elbows in there, everyone's packed in, it's kind of bored of that top five, there's more room, more room to be aggressive, and more room to chase up front there, to your point, JT, and not let JT.
17:19JT. Lawrence get away the way he has, he didn't get that start here, maybe you'll try again there, he's usually stronger, it starts in front of two.
17:26Thanks, Will, and Prado is now the rider on the move, he's got a line on Plessinger, and he's up to third.
17:32Yeah, nice move, you can see that one coming, you can start to see Aaron starting to stand up a little bit, and again, it's Southwick, and Aaron's getting in a tough spot, because he's 10 seconds behind Hunter Lawrence, so he doesn't have that rabbit to chase,
17:42and it's easy when the guy behind you, Jorge, he's getting confidence by every lap, now comes the number three, quickly his arrow is in third, now he's in fifth place, that just happened instantly, now I expect Eli, since he's got it, sometimes when you make a pass on a rider, you kind of relax a little bit, you know, if you're Jorge,
17:59okay, so maybe Eli can try to shock him, but now, as soon as I say that, the number seven, Aaron's trying to get him now.
18:05Well, it's here trying to get him back at the bottom, that's a battle for ninth, Harry Kulas, the rider from Estonia has it, but the rider with those orange pants on the blue bike, that is Justin Cooper, one of the favorites today, but a rare bad start for him.
18:19Kulas right now, his season best in Emoto is 12th, he's in ninth, Cooper trying to get him, as Tomac, this is big, if he can get Prado for third,
18:29because in motocross, the overall win for the day is two races combined, you're watching the first one here, they'll race again in an hour, and if Tomac could maybe get to third, you go out and win the second moto, a 3-1 could still get the overall for the day.
18:44Yeah, no, it'd be important for Eli, but I mean, you got to give Jorge a lot of credit, because he's riding really good, as Eli got another face full of roosts, and again, that just demoralized you as a rider, you just eventually just like, man, I can't deal with this, so, you know, yeah, it's going to be important
18:58for Eli to try to continue to move forward, because right now, it's easy to get stuck in that position, and the next thing you know, you're riding in fourth place, and
19:06I know for him, he wants to be out there with Jet Lawrence, but he's always 22 seconds behind the guy, and all that was done that first couple laps.
19:13Yeah, Jet Lawrence in complete control up front, Ken Tomac, as Jason Thomas mentioned at the top of the show, third all-time, and wins at this racetrack.
19:22Any stat you want, Supercross in the indoor stadiums, motocross here, outdoors, all-time starts, wins, podiums, you name it, he's in the top three, nearly every statistical category all-time, that's how strong Tomac is.
19:36Right now, though, one of the first face-offs between he and perhaps Europe's best, the Spaniard, Jorge Prado.
19:46And the fans trying to will Tomac toward the podium.
19:49Yeah, Eli is actually going a lot faster than what his lifetime say.
19:53You can tell, like, with him, how quickly he can catch Jorge.
19:57It's just certain parts of the racetrack, like I said, he backs off and then tries to avoid that ruse, but what Eli's starting to do now, he's starting to pivot his motorcycle and run straight into the corners.
20:06Like, right here, he doesn't lean the bike instead of being on that angle, because that's one big sweeper.
20:11He's starting to straighten the motorcycle up and doing that point-and-shoot, and it's really easy to catch a guy like that, especially at this racetrack.
20:17But the problem is, if you don't get him to beat him to the corner, now you're stuck behind him again.
20:22And not able to find daylight yet.
20:26Tomac and Prado, it might be the last battle left for the podium, but the Lawrences just continuing their run up front, 1-2.
20:32Hunter Lawrence in second place right now on that 96, deep in lap traffic.
20:42And one of the stories of this racetrack is all the locals who race here consistently, they know the lines around this track.
20:49So you'll have a lot of unfamiliar names to deal with, both on the lead lap and when passing them.
20:54They've just been getting better and better, Jason, and we talked about the top of the show, their second overall at High Point a couple of weekends ago, their best result of the season.
21:11And that is testament to all the work that has gone in to get this Honda machine in the place that it is now.
21:18And that's not just work from Hunter, he's talked about it multiple times, how much the team has worked.
21:23And I was talking to Johnny O'Meara, their trainer, earlier on today, and he said, look, that comes right from the very top.
21:29HRC in Japan, he's like, what they give us, the things they've made available, and that filters right the way through, through the teams, mechanics, everybody down to the riders, and of course himself as a trainer as well.
21:39He said, I've never seen such work put in to get them to where they need to be, and it's starting to show.
21:46And, Will, that speaks volumes, because Johnny O'Meara, who is the coach for them, raced for that team, one of the greats of the 1980s in Honda's powerhouse days then.
21:53So he has seen how Honda Racing Corporation works at every angle, and you don't impress him easily.
21:59Tomac continuing to work on Prado, that's the battle for third you're watching here.
22:04Again, if you're watching on Peacock, stay with us during the break.
22:08Continue to watch and listen to this battle.
22:15Tomac looking for a wheel on the number 70.
22:18Have the inside, not enough.
22:24Oh, and Prado tucked it in the corner and goes down.
22:28Yeah, you can see that, and I think a lot of that was caused by Eli putting that pressure on him, and as I mentioned, it's really the insides of these corners are really slippery.
22:36So Jorge got in there, he lost that front end, and then hit that sand, and he just went over to Hanna bars.
22:41Tomac pushing it, and pushing him as well?
22:44Yeah, because you can see Eli was closing in on Jorge, and he tried switching it up.
22:49Jorge felt that pressure and just pushed that front end and went down.
22:52So bummer for him, but still a good rider, good ride by him.
22:55That will drop him behind Plessinger as well.
22:57Watch Prado, the lead rider here in this duo.
23:00Yeah, you can see Jorge going, and he starts losing the front end, and it just hits that sand, and it just swallowed you up.
23:05And with him bringing that extra sand on this racetrack, the berms on the outside are getting a lot deeper.
23:10So easy crash to happen, but a costly one for Jorge.
23:13Jorge caught in the sandbox, Jorge Prado now back to fifth.
23:17Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:22Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:27Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:29Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:31Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:33Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:35Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:37Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:39Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:41Plessinger and Tomac pass him, and still the Lawrence's second hunter jet out front.
23:43Oh, my God.
24:13Oh, my God.
24:43Oh, my God.
25:13Oh, my God.
25:43Oh, my God.
26:13Oh, my God.
26:43Oh, my God.
27:13I would almost say he looks better.
27:15And, you know, one thing with Jet Lawrence is, you know, I get impressed with, you know,
27:19we talked about certain races in Supercross, like Daytona is a known track for Eli Tomac.
27:24He's always been really successful, all-time winnings rider at that particular Supercross.
27:28But Jet Lawrence shows up at that race, more focused, more determined to beat Eli there.
27:33And I feel like with athletes, especially in motocross, and when you get a guy like Jet Lawrence, in other sports, it's the coach's job to find the weakest point of any athlete.
27:43You know, they try to exploit that.
27:45Where in motocross, you really can't hide it.
27:47You know, Eli's very good at this racetrack.
27:49And my whole point is, I feel like Jet has came to this racetrack more focused, knowing that this could be a knockout punch for a guy like Eli Tomac.
27:59And so, as an athlete where Jet Lawrence is, you try to beat that guy at his best, on his best surface, and unlike the other sports,
28:06you're not relying on anybody else to accomplish that except for yourself.
28:09So, it's cool to see Jet Lawrence go out here and do this.
28:12And, you know, so far, with two and a half minutes to go, man, the kid's got it going, JT.
28:17He certainly does, James.
28:18And I'm wondering, so the setup for you in 2008 was very similar to this.
28:22You come back really quickly from an ACL surgery.
28:24And you go on a streak of winning, you won every overall, every race that year.
28:29But Jet's done the same, minus two motos.
28:32But at some point, did you feel like, okay, now I can start to actually ride by myself?
28:36Now I can actually be 100% and uncork one?
28:39Because when I watch Jet, that's what I'm seeing.
28:41But I wonder for you, did you feel that way?
28:44Yeah, no, I did.
28:46And I think, like, the difference between me and where Jet is right now, in 2008, after I showed up and I'm like, I won that first moto,
28:53I felt like, look, I got the speed and I can beat these guys.
28:56I just got to stay up.
28:57So my mentality was a little bit different.
28:59I was trying to motivate myself in different ways where I feel like with Jet, even though he's got, you know, Eli Tomac, his brother out here,
29:06it almost makes it easier for him to stay focused because he knows every week he has to show up.
29:11As dominant as this kid is right now with a 10-second gap, Eli Tomac is riding really good.
29:17He's just caught behind these guys.
29:18And so for me, I think it's easier for Jet knowing I've got to show up here and bring my A game because otherwise I'm going to get beat.
29:25And I've been beat twice this year.
29:27So he's really, as an athlete, you're watching probably the best he ever has ridden in his whole career because of the competition
29:33and him knowing that he's got to step his game up.
29:36So to answer your question, I just realized, I know he realized how good everybody else is, and he has to bring it to win.
29:43He's not having to imagine these threats.
29:45They are legitimate threats.
29:46They are legitimate threats where I feel like with this race, there's a difference between how he attacked this race.
29:53You know, some of the paths where Eli and all these guys, we've been talking about, you've got to get in front of Jet Lawrence.
29:58Well, Jet got a start, and Jet put in opening three laps that I haven't seen him do in the motocross here,
30:05really like sprint laps or other things, like, you know, really trying to get out.
30:09And he's been able to break those guys and get that gap.
30:12And then what happens is now he's riding this whole race on his own terms.
30:16And what he's really good at, now he's been able to do that, you know, on his own.
30:20So really impressed with the way he's going to attack in this whole racetrack and this race particularly here today.
30:24The 21-year-old phenom out of Australia who is rapidly moving up the all-time charts statistically
30:31and rapidly moving up in this race is the veteran out of Florida here, the 24 of R.J. Hefshire.
30:38He crashed in the first turn of this race.
30:40He was essentially last around 40th, and he has come all the way up to 8th now.
30:44I'll show you the start again.
30:47Yeah, this is that right-handed first corner I was talking about,
30:50and it looks like somebody in the middle, they start sliding because these guys can't get on their brakes.
30:58Yeah, when you've got a right-handed first corner and you've got guys going left, it's not good.
31:03Well, you mentioned why that you said that right-hand first turn is very rare.
31:08Why is that so tricky, and why do we not see it more often?
31:11Well, it's one of the reasons it's difficult because the guys can't get on their brakes, you know,
31:15so they can't hit the rear brakes to slow down.
31:17So once you decide to put your foot out, you've got that roll speed, so that's when you have a lot of issues.
31:23But here at Southwick, it is an uphill start, so you have that momentum.
31:27As soon as you let off the gas, the bike slows down a lot quicker and with that sand,
31:31so I think it just catches these guys out.
31:32They're running into it, the bike slows down, and the next thing you know,
31:35they can't hit the brakes and all things go haywire up here.
31:38Yeah, the right foot controls the rear brake, but when you stick it out for a corner, you can't use it.
31:43That caught several riders.
31:44Hampshire has made up a ton of ground.
31:46He's going about as fast now as he did in the opening laps of the race.
31:51Track is rougher.
31:51There's fatigue.
31:52It has not stopped the 24.
31:54He's been very good.
31:56Moving up to the bigger 450 bike.
31:58The 250 class will be up next.
32:01You're going to watch on Peacock where the SMX video pass will be a full day of racing even after this moto concludes.
32:06Now up ahead, Cooper Webb and Justin Cooper fighting for sixth.
32:11And that could have big numbers when it comes to calculating the points.
32:17This is that battle.
32:18Justin Cooper and a lap rider between he and Webb.
32:20No, he has caught Webb completely.
32:23And at the end of this summer, they're going to take the points from Monster Energy Supercross
32:27and the Pro Motocross Championship to create seeding for the SMX playoffs.
32:31And these are the riders' 1-2 in the combined rankings right now.
32:35And Justin Cooper is looking to make a move and steal more points from his teammate.
32:39Yeah, I'm not sure what happened to Justin Cooper in that opening off the start because normally he's a good starter.
32:44But he was really far back.
32:45And he's going three seconds a lap faster than his teammates.
32:48So the pass was going to happen at this point.
32:50And being our Monster Energy fastest qualifier, you know Justin Cooper has some speed to play with.
32:54So for him, he's going to be another moto where he's fastest in practice, but the results don't show it.
32:59But overall, with two minutes, a little under two laps to go, it's good to see Justin Cooper with this much speed.
33:05And looks pretty fit to me.
33:07Oh, and Hampshire has joined the party.
33:10On that white rock star Husqvarna, he wants Webb as well.
33:13Yeah, RJ's got some good pace, and I had a chance to talk to him in between practice, and he said they made some changes on the bike.
33:19He feels really comfortable.
33:20And ever since he's been on this 450, he feels like this bike suits him a lot better, his riding style.
33:26So some of the wild things that we used to say with RJ, maybe some RJ-ish things where he might hit the ground.
33:32He doesn't feel like that sketchy on this motorcycle, so it's good to see.
33:36He's definitely got some pace if he can work this number two.
33:38But we know the defending Supercross champion in Cooper Webb is not an easy guy to pass.
33:43Especially when he realizes he's only got a lap left, he's going to try to hold that number 24 off.
33:48It's going to be grit in that battle for seventh and eighth as Justin Cooper looks to get away.
33:52The rider out of Long Island, New York, but did not come to Southwick that much when he was growing up.
33:58There's a weird situation where the New England riders race here all the time,
34:02and the people from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania rarely enter their territory.
34:06Oh, and Hefshire dumps it on the last lap.
34:10RJ, come on.
34:11I was just talking about you being a lot smoother, so I'm going to just chalk that up.
34:15He was trying to make a pass on Cooper on that inside, just easy to fall out.
34:18But still a good ride by him, and I want to keep an eye on this battle right here for fourth place
34:23with Aaron Pleasant or Jorge product, because we saw Jorge go down early in that race
34:27where he's catching the number seven of Aaron Pleasant for four.
34:30So it just shows you how much confidence Jorge has gotten in this moto, and he might be able
34:36to get him.
34:37Meanwhile, no one is catching Jet Lawrence.
34:42Just an incredible start to his career in three years.
34:46He has only been beaten one time in motocross on a 450.
34:50Now, missed the title last year, went out with injury.
34:53Rumors that last year's champion, Chase Sexton, might return to action next weekend at Redbud.
34:58He's been out after a big crash at the opening round.
35:03And there's that battle in the bottom box between Plessiger.
35:07He's on the orange KTM and the green machine, the Kawasaki Aprado.
35:10That is for fourth.
35:12Yeah, Jorge knows Aaron's stuck behind his lap rider, so you're going to try to get him.
35:16You've got to get him now.
35:17But, yeah, what can you say about Jet Lawrence?
35:19I mean, at this point, you hope when a guy has this bigger lead, you're Eli Tomei,
35:24you're like, man, maybe he was riding really hard.
35:26But you see him, he's recovering right now.
35:28So it's almost like he's going to be just as fresh as he was when he first went out there
35:33because of the lead he's got.
35:34And he's going to be trouble for these guys.
35:36Yeah, Motoc too.
35:37He's definitely saving something for the end.
35:40Continuing to build a legacy even early in his career.
35:43He just keeps on winning.
35:45Jet Lawrence takes the first Motocross Southwick.
35:48Prado leaving it all on the racetrack as he tries to get Plessinger.
35:55Yeah, if he stays close, he might have another opportunity.
35:58I think if it would be here, it would be right here.
36:00So Aaron, you've got to give him number seven credit.
36:02He heard him and he stepped it up.
36:03But, yeah, he might have that gap right now.
36:06Jorge is not close enough for him.
36:07But still a great route for Monster Energy Kawasaki,
36:09especially what happened in these first four rounds.
36:11Oh, yeah, still going to tie his season best with a fifth.
36:15But remember, he was running further up than that for the first time this year in this moto.
36:19But now only one turn remains.
36:22The Lawrences have gone one-two.
36:23The brothers from Australia, Tomac third, fourth to Plessinger.
36:29And for the first time this year, some noise in the corner of Jorge Prado
36:33looking to show everyone that he could be a contender.
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