AMA SX Florida race reports, results, points and images

2023 AMA Supercross Championship

Round Five – Raymond James Stadium, Florida

250 Heat One

Yamaha team-mates Nate Thrasher and Jordon Smith led the field away as Tom Vialle gave chase.  Three riders went down at turn one, including Mosiman, and then a few turns in Smith also went down on what was a slippery track after some earlier rain.

Thrasher went on to build a handy eight-seconds lead over Vialle while Smith recovered to third place ahead of Michael Hicks and Kiwi Josiah Natake.

Smith managed to also get back past Vialle for second place but Thrasher took the victory by seven-seconds.

Natzke had been shuffled back to eighth by the flag but that was still good enough to secure the New Zealander a spot in the Main.

250 Heat One Results

250 Heat Two

Haiden Deegan got the holeshot with an inside line compared to the wide entry from Jeremy Martin which allowed the teenager to take the early lead. The Yamaha pair continued to run 1-2 ahead of young Chance Hymas while his Honda team-mate Hunter Lawrence was outside the top ten for the opening laps.

Hymas got the better of Martin for second place around halfway through the race and Hunter Lawrence was up to fifth by the final lap and took fourth before the chequered flag and put in the fastest lap of the race.

The victor though was 17-year-old Deegan, fellow teenager Hymas in third while Martin rounded out the podium ahead of Lawrence and Max Anstie.

250 Heat Two Results

250 LCQ Results

250 Main

Jeremy Martin, Haiden Deegan and Nate Thrasher were three-wide out of turn one but it was Thrasher that went on to leave them behind and streaked away to an early lead.

The sand section that had been groomed ahead of the 250 Main and it caught out both Jordon Smith and Tom Vialle on the opening lap, both going down in separate incidents.

Max Anstie was soon up to second place ahead of Deegan. Mosiman was fourth ahead of Hunter Lawrence who had recovered from a turn one bobble to work his way into contention.

Things then got real busy between Lawrence, Deegan and Mosiman. Hunter eventually cleared both of them but lost a lot of time tussling with that pair, particularly Mosiman. There was just over eight-minutes left on the shot clock by the time Hunter got the better of the GASGAS rider and at that same juncture Thrasher led Anstie by five-seconds, Hunter was a few seconds further behind in third as the rain started falling.

Lawrence took second place from Anstie with just under six-minutes left on the clock, but needed to find seven-seconds in order to get on terms with race leader Nate Thrasher.

At the last lap board Thrasher still had 2.4-seconds on Lawrence but the Aussie closed him down a few corners before the end, the pair clashed and Hunter went way wide, but then recovered to make a brilliant pass under brakes at the final turn. Heartbreak for Thrasher, joy for Hunter.  Max Anstie rounded out the podium 16-seconds behind that pair.

Haiden Deegan fourth, Jeremy Martin fifth and Tom Vialle sixth.

Hunter Lawrence now has two wins from two starts for a perfect 52-points, eight-points ahead of Anstie and 14-points ahead of Deegan.

250 Main Results

250 East Championship Points

450 Heat One

Adam Cianciarulo had the clearest run around turn one to take the holeshot as light showers sprinkled the surface of the Raymond James Stadium. Jason Anderson made it a Kawasaki 1-2 ahead of Christian Craig, Benny Bloss, Shane McElrath and Justin Cooper.

Anderson moved through to the lead on lap two and stayed there all the way to the flag, finishing three seconds ahead of his Kawasaki team-mate Cianciarulo.

Christian Craig third with a 10-second buffer over Bloss. Dean Wilson fifth ahead of McElrath and Cooper.

450 Heat One Results

450 Heat Two

Eli Tomac got a great run into turn one but ran in a little too deep while washing off speed which allowed Chase Sexton through to the early lead. Aaron Plessinger third ahead of Ken Roczen, Joey Savatgy and Justin Barcia. Cooper Webb was outside the top ten early on.

Savatgy went down a couple of minutes into the race while running in fifth place. He was shuffled nearly all the way to the back of the field before he got up and running again. The Rick Ware Kawasaki rider had to contend the LCQ, which he went on to win.

Three-minutes in Plessinger got the better of Tomac and immediately started to stretch away from the defending champ. At this halfway juncture Sexton led Plessinger by 4.5-seconds. Roczen was fourth, Barcia fifth and Cooper Webb had worked his way up to sixth.

The only change in that order by the flag was Roczen getting pushed back to fifth by Barcia. Sexton the victor by eight-seconds over Plessinger, Eli Tomac third.

450 Heat Two Results

450 LCQ Results

450 Main

Aaron Plessinger got a great run towards turn one alongside Cooper Webb but it was Chase Sexton that was soon through to the lead.

Jason Anderson and Justin Barcia had a coming together late on the opening lap that shuffled both of them way down the order.

Eli Tomac was down in seventh place and seven-seconds behind race leader Sexton two-minutes into the race.

Five-minutes in and Sexton led Webb by just over two-seconds, Plessinger was a further two-seconds back in third place. Roczen was in fourth and Tomac was now up to fifth. That quintet remained in that order for the next 13-minutes!

Webb got close to Sexton numerous times but couldn’t make a pass, both made a couple of mistakes but the biggest howler came with two-minutes left on the shot clock when Sexton went down in the whoops! 

Webb swept through to the lead but that pair had enough ground on third placed Plessinger for Sexton to remount still in second place, but now eight-seconds behind Webb.  Roczen was still fourth and Tomac fifth, but the defending champion was now more than 30-seconds behind race leader Webb.

Cooper Webb the victor, Sexton held on for second place, crossing the line six-seconds behind Webb, and Plessinger equidistant back in third.

Ken Roczen and Eli Tomac never figured in that podium battle at any stage, but Tomac retains the championship lead, albeit narrowed from seven-points to only two-points ahead of Sexton. Webb strengthened his third position in the championship to be only four-points from the lead.

Jason Anderson staged a brilliant recovery to take sixth place ahead of Justin Cooper, Barcia and Joey Savatgy while Christian Craig rounded out the top ten ahead of Colt Nichols and Adam Cianciarulo.

450 Main Results

450 Championship Points