Ferrandis, Lawrence lead Motocross Rankings after Fox 2

Dylan Ferrandis’ domination of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Power Rankings continued unabated after finishing first and second in the two motos at Fox Raceway. Nine straight moto podium finishes helped push him over the line and he wrapped up the 450 championship in his rookie season with one round to spare.

Eli Tomac announced before the start of the Motocross season that he would not return to the Monster Energy Kawasaki team in 2022, but said he wanted to leave on a high note. It took 10 rounds for him to score his first victory of the season. It took only one more round to add a second victory. Notably, all five of his moto wins have come in the second race, which is a tribute to his conditioning.

After missing 2020, Ken Roczen was not sure how he would perform over the course of a full motocross season. He kept Ferrandis in sight through the middle of the year, but began fading at the ends of races and in his second motos. With one round remaining in 2021, he has a solid hold on third in the Power Rankings standings, but if he slips at Hangtown, he could lose second in the points’ standings to Tomac.

Cooper Webb had identical performances at Ironman and Fox. Finishing 4-3, he was third overall in both races. Those are his only podium finishes this season and it seems that he has saved his best for the end of the year.

Webb looking to fight for the win 💪 with back to back podium finishes 🔥 #ProMotocross @cooperwebb_2 pic.twitter.com/81WzpA3VwX

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) September 7, 2021

Max Anstie is another rider who has gotten progressively stronger this season. Finishing 13th to 16th overall in his first five rounds, he improved to 11th at Spring Creek and Washougal. His last three efforts netted top-10 results, including a season-best sixth last week at Fox.

Coty Schock’s first top-10 overall came at Unadilla. In three rounds since then, he has landed inside that mark each time and steadily worked his way up the ladder. He sits just outside the top five in sixth. The battle for fifth could be very interesting next week among these second-tier riders.

450 Power Rankings (Last Week)

1. Dylan Ferrandis [5 overall, 7 moto wins] (1)
2. Eli Tomac [2 overall, 5 moto wins] (2)
3. Ken Roczen [2 overall, 7 moto wins] (5)
4. Cooper Webb (6)
5. Max Anstie (8)
6. Coty Schock (9)
7. Joey Savatgy (7)
8. Christian Craig (NA)
9. Brandon Hartranft (12)
10. Kyle Chisholm (11)
11. Justin Bogle (10)
12. Justin Rodbell (17)
13. Ryan Surratt (13)
14. Jeremy Hand (14)
15. Ben Lamay (18)
16. Chris Canning (15)
17. Kevin Moranz (NA)
18. Tyler Stepek (19)
19. Jacob Runkles (16)
20. Jace Kessler (20)

Jett Lawrence was not quite able to wrap up his title last week in the 250 class, but a win in Moto 1 at Hangtown would give him the points needed to be crowned champion. He surged to the top of both the Power Rankings and points standings in the past two weeks with perfect performances at Ironman and Fox.

An illness two weeks ago at Ironman may have lingered into the Fox Nationals 2 for Justin Cooper. He didn’t seem crisp on top of his Yamaha, but that might have had something to do with the comparison to Lawrence.

After almost a month off the bike, Michael Mosiman came roaring back with a podium finish in Moto 1 at Ironman and a 4th-place overall result. Last week at Fox was even better as he finished 2-4 and second overall.

Riding for a team decimated by injury and illness, Hampshire may not be at 100 percent himself. Still, his performance has been strong enough to give him five consecutive top-10 finishes in the overall.

With his second overall, top-five finish in the last three rounds, Hunter Lawrence rounds out the top five in 250s.

The thinning of Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team opened an opportunity for Joshua Varize to ride for a factory team for the first time in his career. He made the most of his opportunity by finishing 9-9 at Fox and earning his first overall top-10 with an eighth. That allowed him to climb from 15th to 13th in this week’s Power Rankings.

250 Power Rankings (Last Week)

Jett Lawrence [4 overall, 8 moto wins] (1)
Justin Cooper [1 overall, 5 moto wins] (2)
Michael Mosiman (3)
RJ Hampshire [1 overall] (4)
Hunter Lawrence [1 overall, 2 moto wins] (5)
Jo Shimoda (9)
Ty Masterpool (6)
Austin Forkner (7)
Dilan Schwartz (8)
Jarrett Frye (12)
Carson Mumford (10)
Max Vohland (11)
Joshua Varize (15)
Preston Kilroy (13)
Levi Kitchen (14)
Devin Simonson (18)
Christopher Prebula (19)
Brandon Scharer (20)
Kaeden Amerine (17)
Jerry Robin (22)

Mosiman ⚔️ GasGas 📈
MM42 looking to come into the last round at Hangtown swinging 🥊 #ProMotocross pic.twitter.com/9wWr3gr6Op

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) September 6, 2021

Chase Sexton announced on Instagram he will sit out this weekend’s Pro Motocross race at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California after a practice crash on Tuesday left him with a concussion.

Sexton’s crash on Tuesday happened during a test session at Fox Raceway.

“Bummed to make this post but I’ll be sitting out this weekend,” Sexton said. “As you guys saw I had a big one during qualifying at Pala, then another one on Tuesday this week that banged me up pretty good. Nothing broken just need a few days to get back to 100%.”

Despite his crash in the first qualification session in Pala, California, Sexton mounted up for both motos and finished second in each race behind his teammate Jett Lawrence, who was making his Motocross debut and won with a pair of first-place finishes. Sexton padded his SuperMotocross points’ lead over the injured Eli Tomac, who is still second in the combined Supercross and Motocross standings despite missing the SX finale at Salt Lake City and the outdoor opener with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Sexton has an advantage of 78 points over Cooper Webb and cannot give up his SMX lead by missing this round.

At stake, however, is the risk of losing ground to Lawrence in the Pro Motocross championship. Sexton currently trails his teammate by six points and is liable to lose significant ground this weekend.

In addition to his concussion, Sexton has also been diagnosed with mononucleosis and the combination of the two conditions caused the team to make the difficult decision to keep him out of the lineup at Hangtown.

“I’m super-bummed to miss this weekend’s race,” Sexton said in a press release. “I feel like I rode well at Pala, and I was really looking forward to Hangtown because it’s a good track for me. Unfortunately, I was already pretty banged up from my qualifying crash on Saturday, and now with mono and Tuesday’s concussion on top of it, I want to do the right thing and hopefully be back on the track soon.”

A return date for Sexton has not yet been announced.