Jett Lawrence wins Philadelphia Supercross; Cooper Webb no longer controls his championship fate
Jett Lawrence grabbed the holeshot in Round 15 of the Supercross season and extended his points lead over Cooper Webb.
Finishing fourth, Webb no longer controls his fate with two races remaining.
Chase Sexton finished second with Jason Anderson muscling him way past Webb on the last lap to take the last spot on the podium.
After allowing Webb to close a 21-point gap and tie him in points entering Nashville, Lawrence has won back-to-back races and seems to be in the same dominant condition he had in the middle stages.
A determined Webb has simply not been able to close the distance to Lawrence once the rookie gets the lead.
In an incident-filled race, Max Anstie scored the 250 East win in Philly over points contenders Tom Vialle in second and Haiden Deegan in third.
"I know you Philly crowd were cheering for Seth and man it was so loud," Anstie told NBC Sports' Jason Thomas. "It was crazy. I heard the crowd going wild and then I looked back and he wasn't there. I don't know what happened."
For most of the race, the top four could be covered by a blanket as Hammaker kept pace with Anstie after losing the lead midway through the race. Seeking the first podium for Triumph, Jalek Swoll was in third with Pierce Brown pressuring from fourth.
As time wound down, however, Swoll overjumped in the sand section and sent himself and Hammaker to the ground. One lap later, Brown crossrutted off the finish line jump and crashed hard.
Those incidents helped the points contenders overcome a disappointing start.
"If this race right here didn't make you a Supercross fan, I don't know what will," Deegan said from the bottom step of the podium. "That was gnarly. A lot of the good guys had a bad start and we came through. Dudes were taking each other out."
Anstie will head into the season finale at Salt Lake City with a 15-point advantage over Deegan. They are the only two riders with a shot at the title. In third place, Brown is 34 points behind.
In-Race Notes
It's a brand-new market for the Monster Energy Supercross series — or at least the first time they have been in Philadelphia in 44 years.
Dylan Ferrandis is healthy and back to racing in the 4580 division while Seth Hammaker made his way back in the 250 division for his hometown race.
It's partly cloudy but an overall nice day: windy, but little to no chance of rain.
The crowd is huge in Lincoln Financial Field as Philadelphians celebrate Supercross' return to the state.
The 450 division will be first up with their heats.
As Heat 2 begins, a light rain begins to fall. So much for the minimal chance of precipitation.
Features
450s
Jett Lawrence has only the seventh gate pick after a disappointing heat.
It doesn't matter; Lawrence gets the holeshot.
Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb slot into second and third, but Lawrence is so good from the lead.
Webb passes for second on Lap 2. It's up to him to pressure the points leader.
On Lap 4, Lawrence is building a gap of 2.7 seconds.
Chase Sexton rides fourth one week after a viscous crash in Nashville. Jason Anderson is fifth.
Nearing the halfway points, Lawrence builds the gap to 3.7 seconds. Sexton passes Tomac for third.
Webb is losing sight of Lawrence.
Sexton bobbles and loses ground to Webb.
It took a couple of laps, but Sexton makes up the distance and gets around Webb.
Webb no longer controls his fate as they run.
Sexton closes the gap slightly to Lawrence. It's 3.1 seconds with two minutes to go.
250s
Pro Circuit gets off to a strong challenge for their 300th win with Seth Hammaker taking the early lead.
The championship contenders Tom Vialle and Haiden Deegan get poor starts, riding ninth and 10th respectively.
Max Anstie sits in second with Jalek Swoll in third.
With 10 minutes on the clock, Anstie is not letting Hammaker get away.
Vialle and Deegan are in fierce competition' they move to sixth and seventh.
Vialle is getting through traffic better and stretches a gap on Deegan.
Hammaker and Anstie are still 1-2.
Swoll is 1.8 seconds ahead of Pierce Brown for the last podium spot.
With four minutes on the clock, Anstie passes Hammaker for the lead. That has brought Swoll into the mix.
Points leader Vialle has moved into fourth with a minute remaining.
Racing for second, Hammaker and Swoll crash in the sand section.
Anstie walks way from the field to win.
Vialle finishes second and edges Deegan. Daxton Bennick and Chance Hymas round out the top five.
Last Chance Qualifiers
450s
Justin Cooper fell in his heat. He grabs the holeshot and immediately starts to yard the field.
Cooper wins by more than 11 seconds over Shane McElrath.
Kevin Moranz and Cade Clason also advance to the Feature.
250s
Two big crashes on the first lap of 250's LCQ, including a hard crash for Luca Marsalisi. He limps off course as Hardy Munoz gets the early lead.
Marsalisi got crossed up and went down and was run over by another rider.
Munoz holds on for the LCQ victory with Weltin in second.
Crockett Myers in third and Vincint Luhovey also advance.
Heats
450s
Jett Lawrence crashes in Turn 1 of Heat 1.
Eli Tomac takes the early lead with Cooper Webb in second.
It will be exciting to watch him come through the field. At the end of Lap 2Lawrence moves into 11th.
On Lap 56, Lawrence makes his way to ninth and will move directly into the featured unless he falls again.
As time rungs off the clock, Lawrence is in fifth. He has one more lap to improve his gate pick.
Tomac wins Heat 1.
Click here for complete Heat 1 results
Webb is second with Justin Barcia on the final step on the box.
Lawrence got to fourth with Adam Cianciarulo founding out the top five.
Chase Sexton and Hunter Lawrence highlight Heat 2.
Dylan Ferrandis makes his return.
Sexton goes down in Turn 1. He'll have to come from the back like Lawrence in the first heat.
Jason Anderson has the lead on Lap 3 with Hunter Lawrence in second and Ferrandis in third.
Anderson hangs on for the win with Lawrence and Ferrandis still on the podium.
Colt Nichols on the new Beta is fourth with Malcolm Stewart rebounding from a crash mid-race to finish fifth.
Sexton moved up to sixth.
Click here for complete Heat 2 results
250s
In his hometown race, Seth Hammaker takes the early lead in Heat 1. Remember: Pro Circuit is still looking for win No. 300.
Haiden Deegan is second and Daxton Bennick is third.
Deegan clung to Hammaker's back wheel but cannot make the pass on the white flag lap.
Bennick remains in third with Preston Boespflug in fourth.
Nick Romano rounds out the top five.
Click here for complete Heat 1 results
In Heat 2, Jalek Swoll and the new Triumph team get the holeshot.
Swoll is being chased by points leader Tom Vialle. Coty Schock is third on Lap 3.
As time runs off the clock, Vialle continues to race Swoll hard.
Swoll is determined to give Triumph their first heat win. It's Swoll's first heat win too.
Swoll wins. Vialle is one second back at the checkers.
Max Anstie moved into third and stands on the bottom step of the podium.
Pierce Brown and Schock round out the top five.
"We've been busting our butts to get to this point," Swoll said from the podium. It's just a heat race, but it means a lot.
"A lot has gone into this bike and just me as a whole. Not being able to do Supercross last year because of the injury; yeah, this one feels good."
Qualification
450s
Group A in the class has taken the track.
Jett Lawrence takes the early lead with Cooper Webb .6 seconds back.
One lap later, Webb finds some speed and tops the chart.
Lawrence ends the session on top ahead of Eli Tomac and Justin Cooper.
Webb is fourth on the list.
Click here for 450 Group A Qualification 1 results
In the second session of qualification, Chase Sexton leads halfway through with Webb and Lawrence second and third respectively.
Sexton crashes in the sand section with two minutes remaining but hops up with no harm.
Hunter Lawrence jumps to the top of the board on the last lap ahead of Cooper Webb and Justin Cooper.
Jett Lawrence is fourth fastest in this session, but laid his bike down on his last lap.
Click here for 450 Group A Qualification 2 results
Click here for 450 combined qualification
250s
Tom Vialle is fastest in Qualification 1 for the 250 East division and can clinch the title if Haiden Deegan has a bad race.
Unfortunately for Vialle, Deegan is third fastest in this session.
In his return, Hammaker slots into second.
Click here for 250 Group A Qualification 1 results
Max Anstie leads the field in qualification 2 by .152 seconds over Seth Hammaker and Tom Vialle.
Haiden Deegan is fourth.
Click here for 250 Group A Qualification 2 results
Click here for 250 combined qualification
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