Ferrandis, Lawrence end 2021 atop the Motocross Rankings

Dylan Ferrandis and Jett Lawrence ended the 2021 season just as strong as they were for its entirety and remained atop the Motocross Power Rankings after Round 12 at Hangtown.

Saying Ferrandis was the dominant force in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross 450 division is an understatement. Claiming victory in the final race of the season gave him a .500 rating in terms of overall wins and he was perfect in regard to overall podium finishes. It was not the first time someone has earned a perfect record of podiums – in fact, it has happened eight times previously – but to do so as a rookie is remarkable.

Eli Tomac failed in his bid to sweep the final three rounds of the MX season and end his tenure on a Kawasaki in style. With his second-place finish at Hangtown in the finale, he certainly gave them a great parting gift. That was his 10th consecutive top-four overall finish and one wonders what might have happened if he had not struggled to finish ninth in the season opener at Fox Raceway or 10th the next week at Thunder Valley.

Ken Roczen failed to finish Moto 2 last week after an early accident. He counted himself lucky to have not broken his foot in the incident, however. That is the glass-half-full kind of attitude that made him fun to watch in his return to the outdoor series. And he put it best in his Instagram post: If not for zero points earned at Millville and Hangtown, he would have easily clinched second in both the standings and Power Rankings.

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It took a while to get started, but Cooper Webb came on strong in the closing races with three consecutive podium finishes. Those were his only top-threes for 2021, but it gives him momentum to defend his Supercross championship.

Max Anstie was another rider who waited till the end of the season to record his best results. He failed to crack the top 10 through eight rounds and then swept that mark in the final four. His Power Ranking was also aided by a pair of fifth-place moto finishes in the last two rounds.

450 Power Rankings (Last Week)

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

Jett Lawrence added a little more drama to the season finale than he intended. Falling at least three times in the two races at Hangtown, he finished fifth overall and recorded his second-worst result of the year. He had enough momentum to win the title and keep Justin Cooper at bay in the Motocross Power Rankings.

Cooper has been waiting all season to record a perfect weekend. He won Moto 1 three times, but could not manage to win the second race – until last week at Hangtown. Knowing he needed all the points he could possibly get, he swept the weekend with a 1-1, but Lawrence narrowly edged him for the top spot by six points.

Michael Mosiman sits third in the rankings, but he lost a little ground in terms of points in the finale with a 10th-place in the overall after finishing 11-8 in the motos. Still, this is a rider who missed three rounds to injury and his accomplishment should not be underrated.

RJ Hampshire was slowed, but not stopped, by minor injuries along the way to his fourth-place in the rankings. With three modest results from Budds Creek through Fox Raceway, he might easily have fallen down the order. The 250 ranks were thinned by injury, however, and he charged to an overall podium in the finale to clinch his top-five spot.

Hunter Lawrence had a consistent season that saw him sweep the top 10 in all 12 rounds. When he was at his best, he won at The Wick and finished on the podium in Thunder Valley. He ended the season with a sixth at Hangtown that included a podium finish in Moto 2.

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 (6)
Austin Forkner (8)
Dilan Schwartz (9)
Max Vohland (12)
Ty Masterpool (7)
Jarrett Frye (10)
Joshua Varize (13)
Carson Mumford (11)
Levi Kitchen (15)
Preston Kilroy (14)
Austin Black (NA)
Brayden Lessler (NA)
Christopher Prebula (17)
Brandon Scharer (18)
Kaeden Amerine (19)

History made 🏆 🇦🇺 🇫🇷
First time in Pro Motocross that both championships were won by foreign riders 🤯 #ProMotocross pic.twitter.com/gjPhzRoHzn

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) September 13, 2021

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

Dylan Ferrandis, Jett Lawrence end the 2021 Motocross season atop the Power Rankings

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

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