2023 Fox Raceway Motocross Photo Gallery

2023 Fox Raceway Motocross Recap

No Eli. No Barcia. No Anderson. No Roczen.

The lack of star power may have resulted in less fans showing for Round 1 of the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship season than last year's 50th anniversary race opener, but that didn't keep the remnant from putting on a show.

Under cloudy skies to start, the sun broke through in time for the first gatedrop and the 11 round Outdoor series culminating in the inaugural SuperMotocross Championship began. Expectations? The 450 class delivered pretty much as expected.

Somehow a rookie (just doesn't seem like it), Jett Lawrence entered the premier class on back-to-back 250 class Championships (in MX and SX!) and any doubts, if any existed, of how he fares on the big bike quickly melted. Lawrence grabbed the MotoSport Holeshot (Dear TV announcers - pronounce it MOTO - SPORT. MOTO first, then SPORT. MotoSport. Not Motorsport. Get it? After all these years of sponsoring you'd think we'd earn a correct pronunciation.) and checked out. Twice. Both races.

In Moto 1, he had no competition. Chase Sexton, his 450 class Supercross Championship trophy still dust free sitting on his mantle the last two weeks, battled with 2021 450 class Motocross Champion Dylan Ferrandis for second-place. Sexton won, but he'll need to find more gas in the tank if he wants to take home this title.

Which he did in Moto 2. A far better race from a spectator's point of view, Sexton kept Lawrence honest as the two pulled out front and crossed the finish line within a second of earth other, 44 seconds ahead of Ferrandis. Again though, Lawrence crossed first for the sweep and becoming the 16th rider in history to win a debut overall.

"I can finally smile. Today I've been trying to stay serious - don't get too excited with the emotions - now I can finally let loose," Lawrence said. "That one there (2nd moto) is a lot harder. Every time I couldn't hear him (Sexton) I'd look back, I still see the red bike. It was a lot of fun, kind of like a chess game, when to go and see if I sprint now or wait it off."

Sexton swept Round 1 last year leading to one of the closest Championship battles in history when he finished second to Eli Tomac. He has a new foe this year but proved he can run alongside, at least for one race. Ferrandis went 3-3 for third overall in an impressive ride coming off injuries that kept him out for most of Supercross.

Elsewhere, Cooper Webb (4-5) took fifth overall losing the tie-breaker to Aaron Plessinger (5-4). A concussion at the Nashville round in Supercross ended Webb's Championship run Indoors and putting a question mark on when and if he'd participate in Motocross.

2023 Motocross 450 Class Standings after Round 1

Jett Lawrence - 50
Chase Sexton - 44
Dylan Ferrandis - 40
Aaron Plessinger - 34
Cooper Webb - 34

250 Class

As for the 250 class, that was a different ball of chain wax (click the link for Maxima Chainwax. No inflammatory discount, just our usual everyday low prices at MOTO SPORT).

In Moto 1, Jalek Swoll, returning to racing after a broken arm, grabbed the MOTO SPORT Holeshot and went down later, holding his arm! Not sure if it was the same arm he broke but he returned to race Moto 2. At any rate, RJ Hampshire made a statement, crashed a whole bunch of times and managed a podium. In Moto 1, he took the lead from Jo Shimoda after about five minutes, endured a small crash but finished for the win.

In Moto 2, Hampshire got caught up in the pack on the second turn, tipped over, crashed two more times but a pinned-the-throttle effort gave him 11th for the race and a 35 point third-place overall. He has a new Lawrence nemesis it looks like, as well. Finishing second to Jett Lawrence in the 250 West class for Supercross this year and second to him in the 250 East class last year, Hampshire now must contend with Hunter Lawrence, who grabbed the MOTO SPORT Holeshot and checked out in Moto 2 easily taking the overall on a (3-1) day.

Rookie Haiden Deegan, who finished second in the 250 East class for Supercross behind Lawrence, took second overall on a (6-2) day. He, too, has defined expectations or met them depending on which camp you reside and if not for a spill in Moto 1 would have had an even better showing in that race.

Overalls for fourth through sixth tied in points with Tom Vialle (7-3), the two-time MXGP MX2 Champion (our version of the 250 class) in his first American Motocross race taking fourth, Justin Cooper (5-4) in fifth and Max Vohland (2-9) in sixth.