450 Class Recap: Washougal

Chase Sexton:

Earned his 10th career 450 Class victory and fourth of the season, growing his points lead to 28 over Hunter Lawrence. He has won 3 consecutive rounds for the first time in his Pro MX career, including 7 consecutive moto victories. He moved into 18th on the all-time 450 Class wins list, tied with Chad Reed and Kevin Windham. His 26th SMX victory moved him into the top-25 all-time, tied with Jeremy Martin and Ron Lechien.

Aaron Plessinger: 

His fourth career runner-up finish signified his 10th career 450 Class podium and the 49th of his SMX career. The 10 podiums moved him into the top-50 all-time in that category as he looks for his 50th SMX podium at Unadilla. He remains in a tight battle with Justin Cooper for 3rd in the point standings.

Jason Anderson: 

Captured his first podium of the season and 26th of his 450 Class career with a 4-2 effort at Washougal. He is now 20th on the all-time podiums list, while his 45th top-5 ties him with Kent Howerton for 15th on the all-time list. It was also his 90th career SMX podium in 303 tries.

NOTES:

Hunter Lawrence (4th) Finished off podium for the first time in his rookie 450 Class season but remains perfect in top-5 finishes. 

Justin Cooper (5th) Seventh top-5 finish in first 8 starts of his 450 Class career. Fighting with Plessinger for 3rd in the point standings. 

Marshal Weltin (10th) Second career 450 Class top-10 finish and fifth in 58 career SMX starts. Phil Nicoletti (18th) 80th career 450 Class start and 200th career SMX start. 

Chris Cornish (35th) First career 450 Class and SMX start.

450 Class: Unadilla MX Historical Notes

History Lesson: Unadilla MX began its storied Motocross history in 1970 with Trans-AMA and Inter-Am competitions. The first Pro Motocross Championship race hosted at the New York venue was on July 16, 1972, as a combined Inter-Am event. Arne Lindfors (2-2) won the overall and is credited as such in Inter-Am records, but Gary Jones (3-3) was credited with the victory in the Pro MX record books, scoring the best among AMA competitors. The 1973 season saw another combined round, which resulted in a Heikki Mikkola sweep in Inter-Am, while Pierre Karsmakers’ 4-6 effort was good enough to score the AMA victory.

1972: The 1972 Unadilla Inter-Am/Pro Motocross combined round was won by Lindfors (2-2), but Swede Arne Kring was clearly the fastest athlete on the track all day. Kring enjoyed a tremendous lead in the first moto before wrecking multiple times on the tough Unadilla layout. In the second moto, Kring lapped up to 8th place and won, but was docked an entire lap due to jumping the gate. He protested this penalty but lost the protest and officially finished fifth overall with 6-7 scores.

55 Years of History: Unadilla MX bills itself as the longest continuous-running AMA Pro Motocross venue in the United States. In 1974, Unadilla joined the World Championship Series (GP) schedule and other than a pair of 500cc Nationals held at the track in 1976-1977, the track only hosted Trans-AMA/USA or 250cc GP rounds through the 1988 season. From 1989-1991 Unadilla re-joined the Pro MX schedule with 125cc/500cc Nationals, while also staying on the GP schedule. In 1992, Unadilla only hosted the GP, but the Pro MX premier class returned in 1993 and Unadilla has remained on the 250/450 Class schedule ever since.

Championship %: The winner of Unadilla has won the 450 Class title in 19 of 32 seasons (59%), including Jett Lawrence last season, which snapped a five-season streak of the eventual champion not winning at Unadilla. After 2016, Unadilla had a 69% title percentage for 450 Class winners (18 of 26).

250 Class Recap: Washougal

HAIDEN DEEGAN:

Secured his seventh 250 Class victory with a 2-1 finish and added to his lead in the championship, now leading by 54 points. His 11th SMX victory moved him to 65th on the all-time list. Deegan is tied with Cooper Webb and Windham for 7th on Yamaha’s all-time 250 Class wins list.

TOM VIALLE:

Earned his seventh career 250 Class podium in his 2 seasons racing Pro Motocross. Vialle has 15 podiums and 23 top-5’s in 41 SMX starts since coming from Europe to contest SMX. Also secured his second moto win of the season, his first since Round 2 at Hangtown.

JO SHIMODA:

Captured his 19th career 250 Class podium in 55 tries with a 3rd at Washougal. He sits on 99 SMX starts heading into Unadilla, with 86 top-10s, 62 top-5’s, 32 podiums, and 6 victories. 

NOTES:

Ryder DiFrancesco (4th) Career best 4th-place finish, the first top-5 finish in 35 SMX starts.

Pierce Brown (5th) Second career 250 Class top-5 finish and first of the season. He has 20 career SMX top-5 finishes. 

Jalek Swoll (8th) Made his 45th 250 Class start at Washougal. Will make his 80th SMX start at Unadilla, chasing his 50th SMX top-10. 

Dayton Briggs (39th) & Kayden Palmer (40th) First 250 Class starts.

250 Class: Unadilla MX Historical Notes

History Lesson: The first 250 Class race at Unadilla was on October 15, 1989, as the season finale. Going in, Mike Kiedrowski held a slim 11-point lead over Damon Bradshaw. Bradshaw cut the lead in half with a Moto 1 win, compared to Kiedrowski’s 3rd in the first moto. Bradshaw completed the sweep with a victory in the second moto, but Kiedrowski’s runner-up finish gave him the title by a mere 3 points. In the 500cc finale, Jeff Ward held off Jeff Stanton to secure the division title, but it was Jean-Michel Bayle’s 1-2 that took the overall that day.

33 Seasons of History: Unadilla has hosted a 250 Class round for all but 2 seasons dating back to 1989 (1992 & 2020). That means the 2024 event will be the 34th 250 Class race held at Unadilla. Between all 3 classes, there have been 70 AMA National rounds held at Unadilla. All told, Unadilla MX has hosted 215 professional events over its 55 years of existence.

Kiedrowski Sweats It Out: Unadilla stood as the 250 Class season finale from 1989-1991. Each season the title came down to the final moto and involved Kiedrowski every time. As mentioned above, he barely squeaked by Damon Bradshaw in 1989, but was not so lucky in 1990 vs. Guy Cooper. Kiedrowski came into Unadilla with a 1-point lead but lost 5 points in Moto 1 to Cooper. In Moto 2, Kiedrowski had only gained 3 points back on Cooper and lost the title by a single point. Kiedrowski had more momentum going into the 1991 Unadilla finale and led by 28 points going into the event. A problem in the last moto of the season spelled trouble for Kiedrowski, but he was able to remount and won the title by 16 points in his third straight nail-biting title chase. 

Championship %: Only 14 out of 33 of 250 Class Unadilla winners won the title (42%), and it’s happened just 3 times in the previous 10 seasons. Hunter Lawrence was able to secure a victory last season with 2-2 moto scores en-route to capturing the 250 Class Championship.