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00:00know what you're going to get with him.
00:01You know what helped Roxon yesterday, he's like, yes, I've done good at this track, but
00:04I'm not sure coming off a leg injury that this mud is going to be good. But guess what?
00:08We don't really have a muddy track. We ain't got no mud. We ain't got no mud. I'm sure
00:11they probably turned their head when they saw a chance Hyman's go down. Probably had
00:15to X that out. But, yeah, I'm sure he's going to get a good start, and we'll see the real
00:19Ken Roxon show up. So we are ready. 450, moto 1. Chase Sexton, point leader. And that's
00:27really the story. It was a big enough gap, as you heard Lars Lindstrom and the Honda
00:30folks say. Might as well give it a shot on the new bike and see if it turns things around.
00:34Look at the number 12. Different colors there for Shane McElrath. But where is he? He has
00:40switched, there he is, to the madparts.com MXers for Christ Kawasaki team. He has been
00:46let go from the Twisted T Suzuki squad. He said it was not mutual. I did go over there
00:52and talk to Dustin Pipes, one of the owners of that team, and he said the results had
00:56not been good in motocross. They wanted him to sit out and come back for the playoffs.
01:00He did not want to sit out of motocross. Meanwhile, they have a new recruit, Colt Nichols, on
01:04that bike. Now, they plan on having both of them race. It's not like Nichols gave McElrath
01:08the boot. But McElrath didn't want to miss these last three races, and he's hooked up
01:13with Bubba Pawley and that madparts team. Let's see what he does on the 12th.
01:19There's an opportunity. We saw what Garrett just did. A little motivation to see if Shane
01:23can do the same thing on this Kawasaki. Yep. Oh, man, this is so intriguing. There's Justin
01:28Cooper, the New York native, battling for playoff points, everyone, as well. So much
01:33on the line. So let's do it. Lawrence and Klessinger battling for the lead. AP on the
01:497th. Got it. And here comes Sexton. Great start by Aaron Klessinger. I thought that
01:54was Chase. Chase got a good job. Same thing with 96. Hunter Lawrence. Oh, he slices to
02:00the inside, James. Excuse me. There you go. That was quick. I don't even know where that
02:06line came from. We haven't seen many passes right there, but Sexton makes it happen. See
02:12what Hunter Lawrence does. Chase obviously had the pace on him, but see if Hunter. Hunter's
02:18coming back. Bar to bar. Making it happen. Yep. Return to favor. Sneak in. He was being
02:24nice. He could have pushed Chase out, but Hunter wanted to get in. Nice recovery pass.
02:29Chase almost goes over the handlebars right there. I love to see it from the 96. He's
02:33not going to go down without a fight. Anderson is right there. And Cooper also. They put
02:38a little bit of water down on this track. You see these guys sliding around. Track's
02:42night and day difference than what it was in practice. They got to get familiar with
02:45it. But the one guy that feels pretty comfortable is that 96. Probably got a little motivation
02:50after that. Chase comes in. See if he can get around number seven. Let's also mention
02:54not just the new bike, but that break. He hit his head. Not really bad, but bad enough
03:00at Redbud when he crashed while leading. Was not quite the same after that. So the break
03:05physically has helped him as well. Yeah, it's been a benefit all around, health-wise, as
03:11you said. But I want you guys to pay attention at home. The biggest difference that I've
03:15seen between this bike and the last year, the 24 Honda 25, is going into these corners,
03:20these ruts. The bike seems a lot more stable before it was dancing around. So as this race
03:24goes on, pay attention, corners like these, these ruts, that Honda seems a lot more stable
03:29for the 96. It's working right now. He's attacking Plessinger. And you know, the line at the
03:37bottom of this hill is very critical. Plessinger got it. Yeah, he got that good, and he hopped
03:44over that pothole going up that hill. So nice move. Nice line by A.P. But yeah, Hunter,
03:52he looks a little bit more comfortable to me right now. Just as I said, entering the
03:56corners, that bike seems a lot more stable. Might be up the inside of A.P. Whoa! You saw
04:02it coming, and he's aggressive again, and he's into the lead. Nice move. He just caught
04:07air and had more momentum. Got on the inside of him. Made that pass, J.T. Yeah, speaking
04:13with Lawrence, he had two real concerns. Number one, could they maintain the starts
04:18that they had had on that 2024 model? They had them so dialed in. Well, one for one on
04:23that. He came around the corner alongside Aaron Plessinger there. So that's a really
04:26good start. And also this weekend, they're starting to work towards thinking about Jet
04:31Lawrence coming back. Now, Jet Lawrence will be on this 2025 motorcycle when he comes back
04:35at Charlotte. So the testing side of this, all the things that Hunter Lawrence can work
04:39through, you know, any sort of misstep they make with settings-wise will be things that
04:43Jet Lawrence can avoid and sidetrack, and it's going to set Jet up in a better position
04:48going into Charlotte. So Hunter's doing his own thing, trying to win races, but they're
04:52also starting to think about little brother coming back for the playoffs as well. And
04:55we'll turn it over to Katie Osborne. Yeah, as Hunter is working on that bike with Hunter
04:59Lawrence, A.P. said there's a couple of things he wanted to work on with himself. He wanted
05:03to be calm on the bike, energy efficient, and especially when he's out ahead or battling
05:08for the lead, he does want to maintain that calmness. He also said keep an eye on those
05:12mid-motor sprints. He does want to make sure he chooses precise lines, has his timing down,
05:18and is smart throughout this race. Oh, that is so critical on these ruts, Katie. And he's
05:24hanging in there. Yeah, he's doing good. You know Chase Saxton, he's pretty comfortable
05:29in this spot. I mean, the last few races, he's been so strong at the end. So 26 minutes
05:34left seems like an eternity. So for him, he knows as long as that 96 doesn't get too
05:38far away, he's going to have a shot to win this race as his teammate. That was a heads
05:43up ride by Chase. He knew Aaron was going to whip it just the way that angle was. And
05:47that's why Chase jumped that hill straight up and down that jump. Here's the area where
05:53they were battling before for the lead. Now it'll be for second. And Plessinger again,
05:58plugging that inside. So what's interesting about this battle here, yeah, I'm really impressed
06:13with that race he Hunter is. But you mentioned Saxton. He doesn't always do his best work
06:17until later in the race. So we don't know what direction this battle is going to go.
06:21Saxton fighting right now with his teammate. Yeah, I think Chase, just like Hayden, that
06:25250 class feels pretty comfortable. He goes around the outside of Aaron Plessinger. Chase
06:30has had the pace all day long. So for him, he sees 96 right there. So I think he's pretty
06:36comfortable where he's at. And he knows at the end of the race, he's going to be strong.
06:39The stake by the 7 and Saxton is around him. J.T. Yeah, Chase Saxton was our fastest qualifier
06:45earlier today. And he said during the break, the number one thing he focused on was finding
06:49intensity. Now, let's remember 2022, 2023. That was his calling card. The raw speed,
06:55the intensity early in the motors was something he could really rely on. That hasn't been as
06:59present here in 2024 as he made the switch to Red Bull KTM. And I think he again is looking
07:04forward as he started to build up the three. Where can he be better and what will set him
07:09up to win moving forward? Because in a lot of these wins, as you said, Jason, he hasn't done
07:13his best work until late in the race. The trouble is at the competition is going to get tougher.
07:17The likes of Tomac, the likes of Jet Lawrence, they return to racing. You can't afford to wait
07:23until the late in the race. You have to have that speed early and you have to put yourself in
07:27position to win in the early laps. So I think that's where Saxton's urgency is. Maybe not so
07:32much for the race at hand, but for the races to come. Yeah, J.T. But Hunter Lawrence, no slouch
07:36in the early laps today on that new bike. It's going to be good. Reminder, you can listen to
07:41all 31 rounds of the Supermoto cross world championship on the NBC Sports audio channel
07:46number 85 on Sirius XM. I have listened to that myself. A couple of opportunity Supercross events
07:53I wasn't able to make it to. That's definitely handy to have it on the road. OK, this is the
07:58battle. Saxton versus Lawrence. Yeah, you can see Chase take a quick peek up, see Hunter right in
08:04front of him. And as I said, he's pretty comfortable. And Hunter knows like, look,
08:09Chase moved in the second. The likelihood of him pulling away and just running away,
08:13probably not going to happen. So I think he's doing what he did in the week's past is letting
08:17his battle come. And hopefully he has a little bit more fight as Chase makes a mistake coming
08:21out of this corner. Watch the gap that he lost from Hunter. Wow. And closing it a little bit
08:30from third. Yeah, I bet Chase that little mistake right there. I bet he lost the second
08:36going up that hill. And as you see now, it's almost three seconds.
08:38So it would be obvious to say, well, just pick a better line, avoid that hole, whatever it might
08:43be. But how difficult is it to execute on a hill that's that steep, but that slippery and really
08:48nail the exact line you want? Well, it's really difficult. I mean, the berm, there's really no
08:52good berm down there as well. So it's not like they have a lot to bank off of. And they're trying
08:57to get back up on the meat of the tire. So sometimes he gets out, he tries to get on the gas,
09:01slides out a little bit, and then he catches that side berm. So a lot can happen. And
09:06on TV, you can't tell, you can't see how steep that hill is. So once one mistake,
09:12there's a lot of opportunity as we're watching the battle for seventh. With the guys that are
09:16returning. These are the return guys. What you got, guys? Roxton and Webb, yeah. Roxton just ahead
09:21of Webb, seventh and eighth behind Ferrandez and Anderson fifth. So interesting to see these two
09:27hook up like this. Yeah, the biggest thing with these guys being gone is that what Chase is
09:34working on, he's won the last seven motos, and he's working on that intensity in the beginning
09:38part of the race. That's where Ken Roxton and Cooper Webb is going to be lacking in that
09:43department, just not racing, having that intensity. Once that gate drops, being able to go. So that's
09:48why you have a gap between him, Jason Anderson, or Dylan Ferrandez and Ken Roxton a little bit.
09:54Yeah, and Roxton came back and raced one pro motocross race last year at high point. He nearly
10:00won it, but he didn't say he was not coming off an injury at that time. Yeah, he didn't race the
10:04first couple of rounds of motocross, but he wasn't coming off an injury. He's a lot further behind
10:09this year than he was when he showed up for one race last year. Although we will get Roxton again,
10:15he's going to race Ironman in two weeks, but in the 250 class. So that'll be interesting. Yeah,
10:21and the difference between the high point racetrack. That's nice. Yeah, coverage.
10:27And this racetrack here is that the intensity level high points a lot slower, really technical.
10:32And I believe that race was kind of muddy as well. So coming here in a dry racetrack and how fast it
10:37is, it's definitely going to play out more here than it would last year at doing the same thing.
10:42JT. So that section, that wall section, you saw chase sex and absolutely nail at that time. So
10:48the decision they're having to make, if you go outside, it's a little bit slower. It's a longer
10:53distance, but it's a really smooth run all the way up that wall section. The inside is a shorter
10:57distance, but it's really rough. They're not getting the same drive up and they're getting
11:01interrupted all the way up at what chase sex did right there. He swung wide early. He went to the
11:06very inside of the corner. You're going to see him set up here. It's going to catch. This is
11:10the outside line. So this is the mistake he made the prior lap before, but he's doing that to try
11:15to get a smooth run all the way up the right side. The next lap around, he's going to try to get a
11:20smooth run all the way up the right side. The next lap around, he went to that preferred inside that
11:24we saw the 250 riders use, but he moved to the right on the exit, which allowed him to avoid
11:29those bumps. So what they're starting to do is make the insides turn into the outsides,
11:34and that becomes the new best line. Yeah, nice, nice highlight right there, JT. And also when
11:40you saw that first mistake from chase, you notice he landed off that going down that hill, he hit
11:45the gas, so he came in that corner a lot faster than he probably wanted to. So the mistake started
11:51early in that corner, and then he was trying to recover. And he's going to need to because
11:56Hunter Lawrence just keeps throwing down. Last time around, Sexton made up about three tenths
12:05of a second. So Hunter is clearly a lot stronger today than he was at Washougal. Go back to this
12:13battle for fifth. He saw developing between Anderson, 21 of the monster Kawasaki, and
12:18Ferrandez on the Phoenix Racing Honda. And you can see the fastest lap time. Sexton does have the
12:25edge at the moment. And for Ferrandez, we've seen him in sixth a lot, James. We have not seen him
12:30catching the likes of Jason Anderson. So this is an improvement for him. As for Anderson,
12:35let's send it to Katie. Those couple of weeks was a time for Jason Anderson and the Kawasaki team
12:40to all of those requests that had built up over the season to really fine tune and focus on that.
12:45For Jason Anderson, it was being more comfortable on the bike, which sounds pretty generic. But they
12:49did. They took those couple of weeks to really understand what his requests were for the bike.
12:53They made a few changes. And he said, you know, scale of one to ten, I'd say overall this bike
12:58in the season has been about a seven. He knows he can go faster. They know that they're working
13:02on the comfort of it. But it was a really intentional couple of weeks of training
13:06for Jason Anderson. Yeah, thanks, Katie. And that's that's Anderson. These days,
13:11he's a veteran of the game going past the age of 30. He's working with this team for a while,
13:16has a deal with them again for next year. So they're building, building, building all the
13:22time. Got that podium at Washougal. Yeah, and I think that Kawasaki, as you said, Jason's a
13:27veteran at this, so he knows what he's looking for. So they have an opportunity to do that.
13:33And the same thing with Dylan Ferrandez last year at this racetrack is one of his best rides
13:38all year long. He had a bad start, was able to come up and start closing in on Jet Lawrence
13:43and race. So Dylan feels pretty comfortable here. Not surprising to see him battling up in the top
13:49five top five. And we've talked about it all season. New effort for Phoenix Racing Honda to
13:54race for 50 promote across all season long with the likes of Ferrandez. And that battle continues.
14:00Rockson and Webb battle seventh and eighth, both coming back from injury.
14:05And then we mentioned that Rockson is going to race a 250 at Ironman. We asked him why yesterday.
14:12It was purely a fluke of a yeah, of a thought that I had. And I don't recall anybody doing it
14:21in the recent years. So it's just a for fun thing. Honestly, like I haven't ridden a 250 in so long
14:27and especially on Suzuki. I think last time was maybe like 2010 or something like that.
14:32So it was just a fun decision that I made and basically asked my team and it took a little
14:39bit of work, of course. But yeah, it's it was purely out of joy. Well, that'll be fun to watch
14:45if you're a fan, might want to come to Ironman in person, kind of an underrated track, but it's one
14:51of the newer ones on the circuit. But that would be a really fun one to take in. A lot of people
14:56been tracing about Rockson versus Egan. You didn't think we'd see that this year, but we'll
15:01get it for one race. Yeah, we didn't. That was a long shot to maybe ever see that. But yeah,
15:06good to see Ken Rockson Cooper Webb as well, just keeping him up. And I think these guys are got
15:11their little battle of their own. But another battle that's starting to close down is that
15:15lead. Now it's down to one point six. Oh, yeah. And one thing to think about with Webb that he
15:20mentioned yesterday, I hadn't thought about. He's never raced motocross for this team on a 450.
15:25He switched to the team last year and started in the SMX playoffs. He used to race 250s for them
15:31and even won the title. But that was a long time ago. Race for the factory Yamaha team, which is
15:35no longer in 450 motocross. So for him on this new generation Yamaha Star Racing 450, this is the
15:42first time he's ever raced in a motocross. He's trying to learn that one. The next in the running
15:48order, we'll have Christian Craig. We've chronicled his story all year long. He's been working his way
15:57back from a really bad elbow injury and now working on the top ten. And they do have the
16:01different colors we talked about at the top of the show. The blue heritage look for the race bikes
16:06this weekend. I like it. Yeah, they got some good looking kids, both of them. So, yeah, got to
16:12at least show its own TV and start finishing up and closing in on these guys as well. And
16:17I think Christian's been getting better, as you said, all year long. And, yeah, he can keep this
16:22going. He might have a four way battle because he's got the fever coming up behind him as well.
16:26Oh, it looks so nice. Let's see it twice. Here's his teammate in the rock star house. Yeah,
16:31that's your brother, Malcolm Stewart. And that'll round out the top ten.
16:38Jump a little bit deeper. Mr. Bob's like it. Oh, just like that. The lead is gone.
16:44Sexton was closing, but now he's closing in a hurry. And we're at a halfway to so
16:50perfect opportunity. Hunter was doing a good job. Now Chase understands that, hey,
16:55it's my time to get on this thing. Let's see how comfortable he feels. Hunter makes a mistake.
17:00Oh, Sexton's got the opening now. That mistake going to prove costly. Chase Sexton to the lead.
17:05Yeah. One mistake going leading into that corner. I think he's trying to get rid of a tear off
17:11there on that jump. And Hunter takes it back. Nice move by Hunter. He's like, you ain't gonna
17:16throw no tear off at me. Yeah, I just want people to know. I don't think that was a gesture
17:21from Sexton. Yeah, it looked like he got caught on his hand and he was trying to fling it off. But
17:27yeah, he wasn't trying to mess with him. But that was a great line. Great recovery line by
17:31Hunter. Be able to sense that. Just go around the outside. Chase is definitely struggling in
17:36that wall section. It looks like he's made a few mistakes in that corner.
17:41So back to work. Sexton goes and we go back to J.D. Well, thinking about this 2025 and the
17:47word that Hunter Lawrence has used over and over in every interview he's done on this new motorcycle
17:51is stability. He's really likes the fact that he can trust the bike and just ride out of the
17:56showroom for it's much more stable than his race bike was. And on a track like Unadilla, James,
18:01you can attest to this. Unadilla is famous for making you feel uncomfortable. So any motorcycle
18:06that's going to add to that is certainly going to work here. And it looks like Hunter Lawrence
18:10is back to race winning form. We have not seen him at this pace riding like this since before
18:15his crash or Redbird. No, absolutely. Absolutely not. And as I mentioned earlier, pay attention
18:19to when he has that bike on the lean, it just stays underneath him a lot more and he'll continue
18:24to lean it farther and farther. And that's what I noticed sections like this. You know,
18:29the bike's dancing around. He feels comfortable and he feels like he knows where that motorcycle
18:33is going to go. And that's a huge difference that I've noticed today compared to past races.
18:38And it's showing with the 96 out front. And can he use this to get all the way to the end?
18:44This has been the strong spot for Sexton halfway mark. And that's a reminder. Monster Energy is
18:51available now at Morabito convenience store. Saw a couple of them on the drive to the track
18:57yesterday here in upstate New York. Yeah, Lawrence, he's put the Sexton charge away for
19:03the moment. Yeah, he made a mistake. We saw last few weekends, last races when Chase got around
19:08Hunter, you know, Hunter really didn't have much left for him, you know, physically and all that.
19:13So good to see him have that fight back, even though Chase made a little mistake. So did Hunter.
19:19It seems like he has that pace that he can pick it up. And he feels like when Chase does get there,
19:24got a lot more fight in him today. You've got to believe that's because of the break
19:27and that new motorcycle. I visited the Honda truck this morning and I said, look,
19:31the Hunter, is it you know, this is better or is this an experiment? And eventually it'll be
19:36better. But you don't know today. And then his dad, Darren, said, look, I'm a risk taker. I like
19:41always thinking forward. This is how deep it goes. So if you look at the Australian flag with the
19:46coat of arms on it, there's two animals on it, an emu and a kangaroo. There are two animals that are
19:51incapable of walking backwards. He said the Australian cultural way is forward always. Maybe
19:58it's a little risky to bust out a new bike, but they never want to think about the past. They
20:02always want to move forward. And they were willing to take that risk today. And man, so far, so good.
20:07But still 11 minutes and two laps to go. Yeah, well, I don't know much about an emu and a kangaroo.
20:14They can't walk backwards. I learned that he goes backwards. You got to see that big red plate
20:18number four behind him. But I don't really think it's that risky at all. I think Honda kind of knew
20:25where he was going to wait a season and where Chase was. He needed something to build up to
20:29just straight up beat Chase Sexton. If you're Hunter Lawrence, like you couldn't hope for him
20:33to go down and you really wasn't putting him in a spot to where he was taking a lot of risk. Now,
20:38having a bike and just more mentally feeling like you can, there's a change. I think that's what
20:42we're seeing for Hunter. And if he has an opportunity to win this championship, it's
20:46going to be because of what happened. Chase got around him. He was able to get back around him.
20:50Chase made some mistakes. You're going to need some kind of luck. And that's why I don't think
20:54it was a risk. I think they knew exactly what they were doing. It's paying off. Yeah, they were in
20:58that nothing to lose scenario. Right. So now they put Sexton in a position to have to be clean
21:03through here and not make mistakes. Yeah. Chase has got a better line. I think Hunter missed his
21:09line. He wanted to be a little bit farther on the inside. But Hunter knows Chase is going to
21:13follow back into him or at least get out of this corner. Pretty good. Go back down the inside.
21:18Chase can't really pass him there. And that corner not good for the four.
21:24And Hunter pulls away a little bit again. We asked Hunter yesterday about what his goals
21:28are here for the weekend. Absolutely. Chase has been riding unreal all year. You know,
21:35he's really put all the pieces to the puzzle together. And, yeah, I'm definitely looking
21:40to claw back those points and make up where I can. So obviously starts tomorrow morning,
21:45qualifying onto the starts. Good starts. And, yeah, we got a few things ironed out from,
21:51you know, crash a few couple weeks ago. Now that we're just lingering on. So, yeah,
21:54hopefully it translates to the race. And so, yeah, we're hopeful. He's hopeful for sure.
22:00And he's leaned into saying what they did in the off time as well. Not a lot of a little bit of
22:05work on his body. He was saying equal to what they needed to do on the bike. But guys, get this.
22:10He also got two donkeys in his off time for his birthday. His wife got him one, which is birthday
22:15with August 1st Clyde and Cowboy. So he also had a little bit of family time on the farm,
22:20enjoyed his new pets and worked on the bike a little bit. Man, there's a lot of action.
22:25It's like three years, three weeks going to amusement parks with Max Anthony. He's getting
22:30donkeys here, learning evils and kangaroos go backwards. Whatever's happening on the break,
22:36it seems like it's working for all these guys. Hey, Hunter has definitely responded.
22:45It has seemed like in these battles lately where Sexton has had it under control, even when he's
22:49in second. But is it getting a little bit tilting the other way here because Hunter is throwing down
22:54some laps? Yeah, I mean, Chase has run off all the confidence and what happened the last few
23:00weekends. So for him, he'll be able to close back in on Hunter just because of that. Hunter's
23:05this is a new bike. So as he's racing and he's able to pull away from and keep his lead,
23:10he's getting confidence as well. So he'll get better as this race goes on. So you got two guys
23:16feeling like they can beat each other. But I think Hunter is just really learning each lap.
23:21Man, this bike is better here. It's better there. And I actually can run this pace and not feel like
23:25I'm too sketchy where in weeks past, I don't think he felt like he actually could be chased
23:30in the long run. It looks like he feels that way today. So you don't think sex is necessarily
23:35worried, but Hunter is definitely more confident than he was. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Chase,
23:40you get another few minutes and Hunter is still in front of. But also, Chase knows that there's
23:45a difference between Hunter in this race. He didn't have this much fight the last weekend. So
23:51he might not be worried now, but a few more laps. Well, J.T. Watch Hunter right here. I was
23:57watching this section. He gained so much time right there and that straightaway alone. And
24:01what he's doing, he's swinging out a little bit wide, grabbing that left hand berm and then swing
24:06all the way to the left, far extreme left side of the racetrack where there are no bumps.
24:10Now, this unit bill at racetrack is it's deceiving on television. You can't see how off camera it is
24:15everywhere, but where it is flat, where you can really grab a handful of throttle and really
24:20accelerate, you have to do that. And that's what he's doing. He's straightening the racetrack up
24:24and you can go through the annals of this sport. Kevin Wyndham. Riders like that. They really knew
24:28how to do that here. That's why they found success in the areas where there is traction.
24:33You have to make the most of it. And you can see the lead that Hunter Warren's pulled out
24:37just in that section alone. He is killing chase section on that backside of the racetrack.
24:42We get another section. He was killing everybody. James and I were just marveling at that left hand
24:47corner before that long straightaway. He just killed that corner. Someone called the ambulance.
24:51That corner is dead. That was beautiful how he went around that. That was nice. As I was saying,
24:57he's getting more confident as he's leading this race. Now, the week is past. Chase has been able
25:03to close in. Once he makes that pass, Hunter hasn't really had an answer. Now he's starting
25:06to see a rider like, I feel a little bit faster. It's beautiful to watch. Last time around,
25:13lap times nearly identical. 217.1 between both of them. This is already much better than we've
25:20seen from Hunter since the crash at Redbud where he was leading late and then went down. The
25:24question is, will it be enough? Is there another attack coming from the 4? Looks like it.
25:36Yeah, chase, I mean, again, he knows he's strong at the end of the race. Although the bike might
25:40be better. We don't know. Hunter's losing a lot of time in that section right there. He's going a
25:44little bit too wide. Allows Chase to close in on him. Hunter's better, but we don't know if he's
25:50fully 100% on that shoulder. It might start to fade at the end, but he's definitely riding a lot
25:54better this moto than he has in weeks past, which is good to see. Now, Chase is going to have an
26:00opportunity. Hunter's going to be probably stuck behind this lap rider. Hunter got a foot off the
26:05peg there in that rut. Now, Chase is there. This is where Hunter made a mistake at. He's getting
26:09caught between the lapper. All right, Chase, see if you can get around and watch this.
26:16Chase did a good job of getting out of that corner. These guys have been going outside
26:22this whole moto. Yeah, now Chase working the inside uphill. I think about to shoot back down.
26:30It's going to be interesting to see what Hunter does, go inside or outside.
26:34Yeah, there he goes inside. See if you can get that bike squared up. There it is.
26:39That's the line right there. Oh, he is gone. That is the line. And what he did,
26:44he was really patient. So when he got out of the corner, what J.T. Was mentioning,
26:48he came out and just waited before he got on the gas, got that bike straight up and down,
26:53and that was a beautiful line. And extending the lead. Hey, SMX fans, you can experience the most
26:58immersive race day scene in motor sports now available at Texas Motor Speedway and in Las
27:03Vegas. The inside track VIP ticket gets you down on the floor and closer to the action than ever
27:08before. Go to SMX experiences dot com and find out about all the unique opportunities coming
27:15for the SMX playoffs. See a little bit of the track maps for those events. Some of the areas
27:20the fans are going to be able to get right on top of the action, literally in some ways over the
27:24start gates. Another lap clicks off another lap for Hunter Lawrence maintains the lead.
27:31How deep do we have to go before sets to start saying, wait a minute, this is not what we had
27:36the last couple of weeks. I think we're already at that. OK, OK. Yeah. And it seems like to me
27:42that the bike, the Honda is better when it's on that lean. These really slippery parts seems like
27:50he has a lot of traction. Some parts where he gets into this, these deeper parts where the bike gets
27:55really loaded. It's like it's a little soft where Hunter is a little hesitant about that. But Chase
27:59Sexton has this line figured out. Yeah, you saw that a lap ago. He gains every time there. But
28:05some of these other sections good for Hunter. Watch out for the lap traffic. Sexton looking
28:08to take advantage. Let's see what Hunter does. He's got to play. Oh, Sexton almost went over
28:17the bars big time. And what a recovery. Yes. Yes. That was huge. Now, good thing for Chase. He's
28:23still in the battle. So he's going to be easy to kind of forget. That was a huge move. Let's see
28:28if Chase gets aggressive, gets down to inside. He probably needs to get around Hunter, but
28:34not quite. Now the sky shot. Look at these lappers. Hunter is going to be on the outside,
28:39stuck behind him. Inside line for Sexton. Now here's the up and downhill. It is so good
28:47for Lawrence. Can that bail him out again? Oh, and two lappers between he and Sexton.
28:53Here's Hunter. Watch that. Boom.
28:59Pulls away again. We're down to two and a half minutes and two laps. Here's the near crash
29:05from the number four. Now you see all these ruts going off the face. Chase charges down. He hits
29:09the brakes a little bit going off the face and that bike kicks. And if he was up in the air a
29:13little bit more, we wouldn't even want to say what would happen. That was a huge moment by Chase
29:19Sexton. But again, he's still there fighting. As I said, Hunter Lawrence being right there makes
29:24him forget about that really. JT. Well, the rule for Chase Sexton here is never follow, right? You
29:30always want to be in a different line. So if you make a mistake, you make that pass. But sometimes
29:34a line is too good and you simply need to follow. That's the case at the bottom of that wall section.
29:39Hunter Lawrence is making up almost a full second. And then Chase Sexton is really good around the
29:43rest of the racetrack and closes that back down. But this is one of those cases where you almost
29:47have to break the golden rule of following. If the line is that much better, just follow him
29:51through it. You don't lose all that time. James, if that makes sense, just just follow him there
29:57and stay close. But how easy is it to just do what he's doing or is it not as able to execute
30:02not as easy to execute that? Well, yeah, I think Chase probably wanted to follow him. And I think
30:09I'd be surprised if he doesn't. OK, unless he has an opportunity to pass. But I think with the
30:13lappers, I think he was hoping that Hunter would get caught up behind him. You go outside or he's
30:17going to try to pass him before that section. But Chase is really, really quick here and
30:22Hunter struggling. But then you get on that other part of the racetrack and he definitely needs to
30:26follow him because if he's close to him, then he'll probably pass him. But he's losing too much
30:30time. And we send a shout out to Phil Micheletti down there in the bottom box, who is the last race
30:36for him here in his homestead in New York. He's going to retire at the end of the year. He's
30:40considered the grand marshal of this event, got to do a special parade lap battle still raging here
30:48and Hunter a little further ahead than he was allowed to go. There's Phil. He is in 13th.
30:54Yeah, but this might give Chase an opportunity. Now he won't have an opportunity to pass him. So
30:59he probably will just follow him in this line. Maybe he can pick up to see how much time he was
31:04losing to Hunter. You got to give Hunter a lot of credit for withstanding all this
31:10this heat from Chase. Chase did it. Did he did he nail it completely? I'm not sure,
31:15but he at least followed inside. We'll find out. See if that head pops in this shot.
31:21That's a pretty healthy gap. Yeah, he didn't lose as much time. It seems like
31:25when he came out of that corner, I heard the bike over revving, which tells me that he hit
31:29that pothole. It was off the ground. He was on the gas. It was spinning up a lot.
31:35As for Nicoletti, we'll have a feature on him. We'll talk to him as he reflects back on his race
31:39career and his time at Unadilla in our halftime show. Phil started racing here. We have results
31:46from 2003 with him racing as an amateur of this track 21 years ago, and they dropped back down
31:53and time is running out. Two to go. This would be
31:57absolutely massive for Hunter Lawrence if he can hang on.
32:12But I love about this. Sexton with a 28 point lead.
32:16He wants to win. It's obvious. And that's what's so cool about this.
32:20Yeah, I mean, I think for Chase, I mean, this championship, if anybody should know,
32:24it ain't over until it's over. So I think the best thing for Chase is to
32:29just go out there and attack. And he doesn't want. Chase is good. Yeah. He doesn't want 100
32:35to come out here on this new motorcycle and all chase because then I wouldn't say it erases
32:39everything. But then in Hunter's mind, you'd be like, well, that was the only reason you were
32:43that was the only reason you were beaten. So Chase doesn't want that.
32:48So it is going to be everything they have over this final lap and a half at Unadilla.
32:55Chase has been really good here, actually nailed that corner pretty good. He'll close in on Hunter
32:59going up his if he gets closer and tries to race down the inside of Hunter where he gets to the
33:06sky shot. I can get there. Another lap rider for Hunter Lawrence to negotiate. That's tough
33:16because he wasn't really sure. So he's a little bit farther inside, but Chase follows him as well.
33:24OK, this is the area where Hunter's been so good.
33:26Man, he just puts that section together so well. Oh, man, Hunter missed his run. He wanted to be
33:42one run over. Oh, after that. Yeah. After that, after I hit that tabletop and got one run over
33:48reason why that was key, because now he's too far to the inside of the next corner. So
33:52kind of affected his whole race. That whole section still pulled away a little bit, but not
33:58as much as before. J.T. Yeah, you guys nailed it. Chase is sticking to that right side climbing the
34:03hill. He's just not getting the drive right. Hunter is being extremely patient the way James
34:08mentioned getting straight. And then he has this vertical climb, right? He's on the middle of the
34:12tire where he's getting that drive, where Chase is on the side of the tire, climbing on an edge
34:17of just not getting that same driving. It's lap after lap. He's losing time. He works all the way
34:22around the racetrack to close that gap up again, only to lose it. Not a lot of time left here, J.T.
34:28It's the final lap. Still battling. Meanwhile, you Oh, a sexton. You stall it or just make a
34:35mistake. No, that was getting really deep. And he came in and almost looped it out just because
34:39how deep that road is. But although he lost that time, he's still right there. We know this is
34:44the strongest part of his racetrack. I want to show you that Jason Anderson and Justin Cooper
34:49battling for fourth. Another good battle on the track. Plessiger is all alone in third. Hunter
34:55Lawrence, if he brings his home on the new motorcycle, that would be huge. Sexton's right
35:00back to it. Yeah, Chase is going to have to stay close, and Hunter is going to have to switch his
35:04line up. Otherwise, Chase is going to go down the inside of him, going up this next hill right
35:09before that sky shot jump. Chase gets out of this corner. He can keep him close, which he does.
35:14Now let's see if Hunter goes on the inside this next corner.
35:20He's been there the whole time, but he's closer than he's been in a couple of laps.
35:25He was almost there. Chase grubs his jump. Now he has another opportunity to get on the inside
35:32of Hunter to man. Connor is just railing right now. And this is Hunter's strong point.
35:39Sexton has got to nail this. Hunter's going to have to make a decision with this lap rider.
35:45Great move. Oh, the lap rider held him.
35:50And again, the drive up the hill. Better for the 96.
35:57It's crunch time now. Only a few turns left. What a race. Both these guys laying it all out.
36:05Hunter Lawrence making the debut of the 2025 CRF 450R. Will it be a good one?
36:14Time running out for Sexton.
36:19One turn left. What a difference the break has made. New bike, new man. Hunter Lawrence, the Moto win.
36:29There you go. What a ride by both these guys. But that was huge for Hunter Lawrence. I'm sure
36:39Jet Lawrence is probably dancing, popping popcorn, feeding the doggie, trying not to burn down the
36:45house. Excited for his brother. What a race. And for what's yet to come on that bike,
36:51that's a great start. Sexton threw it all at him.
36:55Yep. Great ride by Chase. Ends that streak, though, from seven races.
37:02But it's good to see this. And shout out to Aaron Plessinger running third place.
37:09And Cooper holding off Anderson, Ferrandez sixth, Roxon and Webb seventh, eighth. Craig and Stewart
37:15round out the top ten. Oh, that's big for the 96. It's like you said, he's going to tell himself
37:22five motos to go. But I got this bike now. Yeah. I mean, if he doesn't tell him,
37:27Johnny O is going to tell him. Yeah.