450SX
Lawrence needed a win to keep
himself in the driver's seat. Even
after starting with a five-point
advantage over two-time cham-
pion Cooper Webb, experts
might've thought Webb would
have the upper hand given his
previous experience. Lawrence,
the 450SX rookie, nearly gave
into the pressure with a crash in
the heat race, hindering his gate
pick going into the main event.
"There was no option of get
-
ting a bad start," Lawrence said.
"We had to go with plan A and
get a good one."
He put that behind him,
though, and executed a near-
perfect holeshot later in the
night. This enabled him to get
up front and run 24 unchal
-
lenged laps en route to his sev-
enth win of the season, his sec-
ond in the last two races. With
Webb facing his own struggles
further back, Lawrence silenced
the critics and proved he could
handle the pressure late into
the season. He's now 12 points
up on Webb with just two gate
drops remaining.
"In my mind, the job still isn't
done," Lawrence said. "I'm going
to try and focus on each race
like he [Webb] is right there. I
think that's the better way to do
it; as soon as you start going
conservative, that's not the best.
We're taking it race by race."
Chase Sexton charged his
way to second place, rebound
-
ing nicely after a disastrous
DNF in Nashville. The KTM rider
started back in fifth on lap one
but worked his way forward on
a track that many said was hard
CHAMPIONSHIP
VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P67
3 ELI TOMAC
5TH 450SX
Eli Tomac was hoping for better
results on the night but was happy
with his pace. "I started well in the
main event and was in a really good
position there for most of the race,"
he said. "Then I made a mistake or
two and was passed off the podium.
I was happy with my speed but not
with my overall performance in the
20-minute main event."
33 JALEK SWOLL
8TH 450SX
Jalek Swoll won his heat race and
nearly landed on the box in the 250
main event. A crash put him on the
ground before finishing eighth. "I
had a good main, sitting in a podium
position the entire time, and with
two laps to go, I went for a pass on
second. The pass, I feel, was 50/50
and could have gone both ways. I
didn't think it was too rough and felt
like he could have seen me. But hey,
it's just a racing thing. We've been
in the mix all day, and I'm proud of
myself for that."
MYOWNRACE
(Left) Lawrence
led wire to wire
in the 450 main.
(Below) Chase
Sexton set the
fastest lap of
the race en
route to second.
