Lawrence brothers back in high gear in Round 2 of SuperMotocross playoffs

The second phase of the three-event Super Motocross playoffs saw the Lawrence brothers -- Hunter and younger sibling Jett -- back on top during Saturday night's event at Chicagoland Speedway.

Closed for competition of any form of motorsports since 2019, Chicagoland Speedway in the Chicago suburb of Joliet, Ill, saw a grand reopening of sorts with the middle event of the three-race SuperMotocross playoffs

The playoffs wrap up next Saturday at The Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. The winner of the 450 class takes home a cool million dollars, while the 250 class winner takes home $500,000.

This is the first year of the SuperMotocross playoffs, bringing together the best riders of the Supercross and Motocross series.

Hunter and Jett both had difficulty in the playoff opener last week at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., but both were on top of their game Saturday night near the Windy City.

Hunter Lawrence secured the Overall win in the two segments of the 250s, winning both halves, while Jett Lawrence was the overall winner in the 450s with a strategic 1-2 finish

Here's how both classes played out:.

450 Class

In Moto 1, Lawrence grabbed the holeshot and comfortably led the full moto. After struggling at zMAX Dragway last week this victory was a welcome return for the rider. Lawrence had pressure from his Honda teammate Chase Sexton early but a mistake by the #23 allowed Lawrence to expand his lead and sprint to the finish.

The Second moto is where things got interesting. Privateer Phil Nicoletti grabbed the holeshot, followed by Justin Barcia, Lawrence, Sexton, and Ken Roczen. Lawrence was the first mover and took the lead from Nicoletti a minute and a half into the race. Roczen followed shortly after. The majority of the race ran Lawrence, Roczen, and Sexton with an interesting call coming with one lap remaining as Roczen claimed the victory.

“It was amazing, it was a dream race,” Roczen said after the race, “I had to make a couple of passes happen early on and then me and Jett just went at it. We were really close there for a bit and were just yo-yoing.

"He was better than me at one part of the track and then I would reel him in on the other half of the track. I was trying to figure it out; I think I got better towards the end because I was able to close the gap and stay close on the back half as well.

"It was just a hard battle through the whole thing, we were doing quite different lines throughout the entire track.”

Jett let Roczen pass him with a minute left on the clock in order to make the most of finishing in front of his teammate Sexton. A 1-2 secured Jett the overall win, what he didn’t consider while doing his quick math is that Roczen’s 3-2 finish would still beat Sexton’s 2-3 with the tiebreaker being whatever rider did better in the second moto.

Nonetheless, letting Roczen pass took any pressure off of Lawrence as he could continue to manage his own race from second, and in an alternate race, Sexton could’ve caught Roczen for second.

Aaron Plessinger was there all day knocking on the door of a podium before ultimately finishing fourth overall with a 5-4.

There was no movement in the Playoffs points but Lawrence did close the gap between him and Sexton to just two points. Next week as the riders invade The Coliseum, it will truly be a winner-take-all between Sexton, Lawrence, and Roczen.

Unlike Sexton and Lawrence, Roczen would need a little help to win it all since Sexton’s points lead is enough to still win the Championship if he finishes second to Roczen’s first.

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250 Class

Before Jett Lawrence got it done in the 450 class, older brother Hunter dominated in the 250s. Hunter had an even harder time in Round 1 of the Playoffs, making the bounce back more dire and impressive.

After qualifying fourth, Lawrence captured both motos. In Moto 1 Haiden Deegan, currently third in the Playoff points, got off to a hot start by leading the first seven laps. Lawrence started pressuring Deegan for the lead seven minutes into the race and after riding his back wheel for about minute, made the pass on Deegan when he made a small mistake in a deep rut.

Lawrence would go on to lead the remaining five laps. Jo Shimoda, who won Round 1 at Concord with a 1-1, made powerful passes by RJ Hampshire and Tom Vialle after he fell back to fifth at the start of the race, while Lawrence and Deegan battled up front as he made his way to third.

His pass on Deegan was just as strong as his run as he jumped by him on the outside line and focused in on Lawrence. The intensity of Shimoda’s race left scars on the rider as he bit his tongue and cut his chin; forcing him to chill on the final lap and settle for second place.

The story of the second moto ended the same as the first with a Lawrence-Shimoda-Deegan podium created in a different fashion. When the gates dropped, Justin Cooper rocked to the holeshot in his final 250 season. Shimoda and Lawrence followed while trading places in second and third.

Shimoda secured second and set his sights on Copper making the pass for the lead four and a half minutes into the moto. It would take Lawrence another minute to get to Cooper and a lap to fully secure second.

As they ran 1-2, Shimoda would take the overall with the tiebreaker going to the rider with the best finish in Moto 2. With five minutes remaining, Shimoda felt something wrong with his bike and made the decision to lessen his pace to protect a finish as a second will always be better than a DNF.

Going into the final race of the three-round playoffs Hunter Lawrence leads Shimoda and Deegan with just seven points separating first from third.