time of the day and then capital-
ized on the first-moto restart.
Cooper
passed Lawrence with a
contact move in moto one and
held him off for the duration of
the race. For a time, it looked as
if he could swing the momen
-
tum back to his favor. His main
competitor
managed to slip
away in the early stages of moto
two, which forced Cooper to take
second in the both the moto and
the overall of the weekend. At 22
points down, Cooper is still in the
hunt, but he'll need some extra
luck to win the title next week.
"Hunter's no joke," Cooper
said. "Just had to bump him
a little bit. It was the first lap,
everyone was finding their flow,
and I just saw an opportunity to
get underneath him. Little con
-
tact, but nothing crazy."
Jo
Shimoda landed third on
the box with 7-3 results. The Pro
Circuit Kawasaki rider hole
-
shotted the first moto and ran
securely
in second place until the
red flag came out. On the second
gate drop, he got shuffled around
and eventually finished seventh.
Unfortunately for Shimoda,
the restart hindered his overall
performance and dropped him
outside the top five.
Shimoda rebounded nicely in
the second moto with a podium
finish after passing his Pro Cir
-
cuit teammate Austin Forkner.
Mathematically, Shimoda
still
has a shot at the title.
"I was really bummed be-
cause the race was going [well]
until halfway,"
Shimoda said.
"I wish it was the staggered
start with the same positions,
because it could've been for the
overall. Bit of a bummer, but it
was the same for everyone."
Forker put in his best ride of
the season with a holeshot and
a fourth overall.
Tom Vialle was the highest-
placed KTM rider in fifth.
CN
450MX Overall (Top 10)
1. Jett Lawrence (Hon) 1-1
2. Aaron Plessinger (KTM) 4-3
3. Jason Anderson (Kaw) 2-5
4. Chase Sexton (Hon) 9-2
5. Justin Barcia (GG) 5-4
6. Dylan Ferrandis (Yam) 3-9
7. Adam Cianciarulo (Kaw) 7-6
8. Garrett Marchbanks (Yam) 6-8
9. Ty Masterpool (Kaw) 8-7
10. Phil Nicoletti (Yam) 10-11
250MX Overall (Top 10)
1. Hunter Lawrence (Hon) 2-1
2. Justin Cooper (Yam) 1-2
3. Jo Shimoda (Kaw) 7-3
4. Austin Forkner (Kaw) 8-4
5. Tom Vialle (KTM) 5-6
6. Jalek Swoll (Hus) 3-12
7. Daxton Bennick (Yam) 4-11
8. Carson Mumford (Kaw) 12-8
9. Julien Beaumer (KTM) 6-14
10. Seth Hammaker (Kaw) 16-5
ROUND 10 / AUGUST 19, 2023
BUDDS CREEK RACEWAY / MECHANICSVILLE, MARYLAND
MOTOCROSS I PRO MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP / SUPERCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P68
Justin Cooper won the first 250MX moto. Jo Shimoda led Deegan early in the
first 250MX moto.
