Blow by blow reports from 250-450 AMA SX in Philadelphia

2024 AMA Supercross Championship

Round 15 – Lincoln Field, Philadelphia

450 Main

Jett Lawrence scored the holeshot by navigating the opening turn beautifully.  Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb had the hammer down to try and ensure the youngster could not get away. Tomac all over the back of Jett through the opening turns but it didn’t take long for Jett to start sneaking away.

Jason Anderson fourth, Chase Sexton fifth, Justin Barcia sixth and Hunter Lawrence seventh after the opening two laps.

Eli Tomac gave his team-mate plenty of room to overtake, allowing Webb to see if could muster the speed to get on terms with Jett, that he himself couldn’t. The gap was out to 2.5-seconds after the first three laps.   Chase Sexton had started to close in on third-placed Tomac.

A mistake by Tomac eight-minutes in, gave Sexton the chance to blow straight by and take that third position.  At this juncture, Jett led Webb by 3.3-seconds, and Sexton was over five-seconds down in third.

Over the next few laps, Sexton chased down Webb, but it took the defending champ quite some time to take second place off Webb. With just over five minutes left on the clock, Jett had a five-second lead. Jason Anderson was in fifth place, a couple of seconds behind Tomac and Webb.

Jason Anderson chased down Tomac with just over three-minutes left on the clock. The Kawasaki man then gazumped Cooper Webb at the final turn before the flag to push Webb back to fourth at the final gasp.

Chase Sexton had managed to claw some time back on Jett, but after the Honda man’s pit-board updated him to that effect, he responded to maintain the gap.

Jett the clear winner but Chase Sexton showed plenty of speed, notching up the fastest lap of the race by almost half-a-second.

Hunter Lawrence and Justin Barcia fought for sixth place on the final laps, but Barcia’s experience won out in the end.

Jett extends his championship lead over Webb to 12-points with two rounds to go. The Aussie youngster notching up his seventh win of the season so far.

Eli Tomac is 29-points further behind Webb, with only a two-point buffer over fourth placed Chase Sexton.

52-points still to play for means that, mathematically, any of those four could still win the title…

Chase Sexton – P2

“Philadelphia was a good round for me, we’re happy with second and I felt like it was a strong ride in the end. I didn’t get a good start, but was able to make my way through the pack and had some really good laps. Tonight, I had a little bit more of my normal speed, and I haven’t really had that all year, so I feel like I’m coming into form in these final races of the series. There’s been a lot of learning this year, I feel like I’ve grown a lot and it’s made me better – we’ll keep clicking these things off and keep getting better with the team.”

Jason Anderson – P3

“This weekend the Monster Energy Kawasaki team and I took huge steps forward. We have been grinding and testing to get myself and my KX450SR better suited for me and I feel like it’s showing. From grabbing my first heat race win of the season and lead wire to wire, to finding lines during the main event and capitalizing on that to grab a podium feels so good. Overall it was a good weekend and I’ll keep making progress to make my way to the top step.”

Justin Barcia – P6

“We had a good practice today, qualified P10 and I was quite happy with that because we were within a second of the leader, so that was cool. Heat race, it was good, but nothing spectacular. In the Main Event, I came out top-five on the start and rode really well, then got a little tight in the middle. At the end – or really from the mid-stages of the race – Hunter [Lawrence] was on me and we had a really good battle – it was like the hardest fought sixth-place battle ever! I’m really happy with my ride, even if not so much the result. We’re on the up and up, the bike was extremely good today, and I’m looking forward to the last two races in Supercross and onto the outdoors.”

Malcolm Stewart – P8

“Philly was definitely new for everybody, very challenging dirt, but I enjoyed it,” said Stewart. “The fans were awesome this weekend and we actually did alright. The Main Event was okay, because I made some mistakes, but pulled it back around and we ended up P8. It’s not the result we want exactly, but I rode good and that’s all that we can ask for at the end of the day. There are some things we could clean up, so I look forward to the next races and the whole Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing crew have done a phenomenal job – we’ll keep giving it everything we’ve got.”

Adam Cianciarulo – P14

“Philly is awesome. The track was great all night and the fans were incredible. After the track walk I knew that we would end up with a rutted track which doesn’t help my hand situation, but I was prepared to try my best either way. I didn’t have a great start in the heat race but I felt good about how I came back and charged. The main event was tough, I have still been dealing with this ankle injury and with the rough track it was hard to hang on. However, we made it to the end safely and that’s all I can ask for. Huge thank you to my Monster Energy Kawasaki team. 2 more to go.”

450 Main Results

450 Championship Points

250 Main

Seth Hammaker scored the holeshot ahead of Max Anstie, Jalek Swoll and Pierce Brown. The order stayed the same over the opening couple of laps.

Tom Vialle got a shocker of a start down and was down in tenth after two laps, but that was two positions ahead of Haiden Deegan. It wasn’t until lap three that both of those championship challengers had sneaked inside the top ten.

At half-race distance Hammaker still led Anstie by just under a second. Swoll was a further three-seconds behind in third and had Pierce Brown in close company.  Tom Vialle had worked his way up to fifth while Deegan was up to sixth by this halfway mark.

Max Anstie made his move for the lead with five-minutes left on the clock and got it done. Their tussle allowed Swoll close in on them and lapped traffic was also starting to become a factor.

Tom Vialle got the better of Brown for fourth place with around four laps to run.

With just over 30-seconds left on the clock Hammaker and Swoll clashed while fighting for second position, both went down and lost a number of positions.  Their misfortune promoting Tom Vialle up to second place, Brown up to third and Deegan up to fourth. It also gave race leader Max Anstie plenty of breathing room.

As they started the last lap, Pierce Brown got cross-rutted leading up the ramp across the finish line and had a monumental crash.

Haiden Deegan inherited that third position. The teenager tried to get on terms with Vialle but couldn’t quite get there, having to settle for third at the flag.

That second place extended Vialle’s lead over Deegan to 15-points. There is now only one round to go for the 250 East competitors thus the championship is Vialle’s to lose from here.

Max Anstie is currently sixth in the championship but if things go his way at the Salt Lake City finale he could finish as high as third in the season standings.

Max Anstie – P1

“It’s an incredible night for me, my team, our sponsors, and especially my dad. The bike is amazing, and I’m truly grateful to Factory Connection for their support, we have the best chassis. We’ve transformed this bike from a production-based Honda 250, and I hope our results inspire other privateers. Tonight was truly unforgettable.”

Tom Vialle – P2

“It was a good race tonight. I saw Haiden [Deegan] right behind me and trying to push – together we actually came back from pretty far and to the front. The track was pretty gnarly again, we passed a lot of guys in that Main Event, and it was stressful at times, but I pushed to the very end and it was a good result to finish second here in Philadelphia. Now we will look ahead to Salt Lake City and I am excited to get to the final round of the season.”

Seth Hammaker – P7

“Man, what a weekend. It was great to come race in Philly for the first time and call this my home race since I only grew up an hour away from here. After taking the Nashville round off and working on regaining strength in my shoulder, I felt really confident coming into the weekend and motivated with my family and friends coming to support. We started off the day right running quick qualifying times, and then holeshot and won the heat race. It was so cool to hear the fans show their support for me. I also grabbed the holeshot in the main event and had great battles with (Max) Anstie. With a few laps to go, (Jalek) Swoll went inside in the sand and I went outside like I had the whole race. He over jumped and lost control and ended up getting into the side of me taking us both down and out of podium spots. I was super bummed about the situation that could have changed our nights, but I’m happy to walk away healthy, have a weekend off and make it happen in Salt Lake.”

250 Main Results

250 East Championship Points

450 Heat One Results

450 Heat Two Results

250 Heat One Results

250 Heat Two Results

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