Hunter Lawrence at Round 8 of the AMA Supercross Series in Daytona Beach

Motocross

AMA Supercross round 8 recap: Lawrence dominates Daytona

Hunter Lawrence extended his points lead in the 250 Class.

By Chase Stallo

7 min readPublished on 03/06/2023 · 6:26 PM UTC

There is no place like Daytona. Held on the infield of the iconic Daytona International Speedway, it is the most unique event on the stadium-style schedule. As the AMA Supercross Championship crossed into Florida for the 53rd running of the Daytona Supercross, Hunter Lawrence was looking to bounce back in the 250SX Eastern Regional Championship, while Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb and Chase Sexton were separated by just five points in the 450 Class, the smallest points gap in the history of SX after seven rounds.

After his two-race win streak was snapped last weekend in Arlington, Lawrence was on fire early at Daytona. He qualified fastest for the third time this season, won his heat, and got off to a great start in the main event. Early in the main race Lawrence had a run-in with title rival Nate Thrasher a few turns into the race that left Thrasher on the ground and dead last. Lawrence went on to lead all 13 laps and take the main event win, his third of this season, rather uncontested. After the race, the move on Thrasher was a main talking point.

Lawrence addressed the incident in the post-race press conference. “I didn’t feel contact, but obviously it’s not the best scenario, but you just kind of see a shot and you’ve got to make quick decisions,” said Lawrence. “So, it was inside, getting roosted, and that’s the option that presented itself. There’s just gonna be hard racing, it goes with the red plate, if you look back at previous years, that’s part of it. Sucks that he went down, not what I wanted to happen.”

The win marked a second straight year a Lawrence won at Daytona. Last year, current 250SX Western Regional points leader and younger brother of Hunter, Jett Lawrence, won at the iconic venue.

While Lawrence ran away with the win, Max Anstie kept his title hopes alive as he rode to a second-place finish. It was his third podium in the first four races as he continues to run second in the championship standings.

“The expectations coming in, we didn’t know, and that quickly changed, banging out a couple of podiums,” said Anstie.

Rounding out the 250 podium was Haiden Deegan. The rookie grinded late in the race to capture his first career podium finish. “When I finished that race, the adrenaline was flowing, it was crazy,” said Deegan. “I didn’t think I’d be getting on the podium this early, but it’s racing, and we keep progressing. We’ve been putting in the work. This is super exciting, and this is definitely one of my goals, and now that I got a taste of it. I want more.”

After four rounds of the championship, Lawrence leads Anstie by 14 points as the series heads to Indianapolis for the fifth round of the 10-round season next Saturday.

Entering Daytona, Tomac was once again the heavy favorite in the 450 Class. Prior to Saturday, Tomac had won six times at the venue, the most all-time. This did not deter Webb though. The two-time 450SX champion took the holeshot and led the opening seven laps of the 450 main event. Tomac applied pressure early and often to Webb but wasn’t able to make a pass for the lead until lap eight. After Tomac took his first lead of the night, Webb used his race craft and tried different lines and applied pressure late into the race. Tomac was too strong on arguably his best track and held on for a close 1.7 second win.

The win was the 49th of his career, which moves him into sole possession of third place on the all-time premier class AMA Supercross wins list. He trails James Stewart by just one for second on the list.

“Well, the best way to put it is that it feels like home to me,” said Tomac. “I practice on a pretty loose soil, it’s not that sandy, but it’s somewhat close. That’s the only thing I can point it to. Early in the day, though, I was wondering what the heck was going on. I was off over a second in practice and trying to find a general flow. I don’t know, once the lights came on, I was a different dude. I went at this there with Cooper [Webb], back and forth there. It was a gnarly battle, once again down to the wire.”

Cooper Webb races at Round 8 of the AMA Supercross Series in Daytona Beach
© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool

“No doubt, the last few [races] that’s where I struggled,” said Webb. “Got a good start which was great, and then tried to put some fast laps down. Ironically enough we were doing some different lines, and I was skimming the whoops and he had that line on the inside where he was jumping. I felt like blitzing was a little bit faster, but I left myself open. Some of our lines switched near the finish, in the sand and the switchbacks. It was tough.”

The battle for the final podium spot was tightly contested between Chase Sexton and Justin Barcia as the two made contact twice, with the second incident leading to Barcia on the ground. He would rebound to secure fourth, while Sexton took home third.

Justin Barcia at Round 8 of the AMA Supercross Series in Daytona Beach
© Garth Milan / Red Bull Content Pool

“I made that mistake under the tunnel, I just heard him to my right, but I was in front,” said Sexton. “I’ll have to go back and look at it. He came over to me after the race to talk about it. [Laughs] I felt like I had the front wheel in front and I had control. But those mistakes were unfortunate, and they allowed him to get close.”

“I had the leaders in front of me and tried to make a pass and got a little tangled,” said Barcia. “Then I came back, tried to make another pass, and got tangled again. Fourth was all it wrote. I’m really disappointed. It definitely was a podium night with my speed and the bike was really good. I really like Indy. It’s a good vibe there and a good stadium. I do well there, and I want to be on the podium.”

Tomac now holds a five-point lead in the championship over Webb as the series heads to Indianapolis for round 9.

450SX Class Results

Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Yamaha
Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., KTM
Chase Sexton, Clermont, Fla., Honda
Justin Barcia, Greenville, Fla., GASGAS
Jason Anderson, Rio Rancho, N.Mex., Kawasaki
Justin Cooper, Tallahassee, Fla., Yamaha
Ken Roczen, Clermont, Fla., Suzuki
RJ Hampshire, Minneola, Fla., Husqvarna
Aaron Plessinger, Hamilton, Ohio, KTM
Christian Craig, Clermont, Fla., Husqvarna

450SX Class Championship Standings

Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Yamaha (186)
Cooper Webb, Newport, N.C., KTM (181)
Chase Sexton, Clermont, Fla., Honda (176)
Jason Anderson, Rio Rancho, N.Mex., Kawasaki (148)
Ken Roczen, Clermont, Fla., Suzuki (138)
Aaron Plessinger, Hamilton, Ohio, KTM (135)
Justin Barcia, Greenville, Fla., GASGAS (132)
Christian Craig, Clermont, Fla., Husqvarna (103)
Joey Savatgy, Clermont, Fla., Kawasaki (85)
Colt Nichols, Murrieta, Calif., Honda (84)

Eastern Regional 250SX Class Results

Hunter Lawrence, Wesley Chapel, Fla., Honda
Max Anstie, Cairo, Ga., Honda
Haiden Deegan, Tallahassee, Fla., Yamaha
Jordon Smith, Ochlocknee, Ga., Yamaha
Jeremy Martin, Rochester, Minn., Yamaha
Chance Hymas, Pocatello, Idaho, Honda
Chris Blose, Phoenix, Ariz., Kawasaki
Coty Schock, Dover, Del., Honda
Cullin Park, Clermont, Fla., Honda
Nate Thrasher, Livingston, Tenn., Yamaha

Eastern Regional 250SX Class Championship Standings

Hunter Lawrence, Wesley Chapel, Fla., Honda (99)
Max Anstie, Cairo, Ga., Honda (85)
Haiden Deegan, Tallahassee, Fla., Yamaha (74)
Jordon Smith, Ochlocknee, Ga., Yamaha (71)
Jeremy Martin, Rochester, Minn., Yamaha (71)
Nate Thrasher, Livingston, Tenn., Yamaha (70)
Chance Hymas, Pocatello, Idaho, Honda (60)
Tom Vialle, Murrieta, Calif., KTM (53)
Chris Blose, Phoenix, Ariz., Kawasaki (53)
Michael Mosiman, Minneaola, Fla., GASGAS (51)