Good, Bad, 'n Ugly: Southwick 2

Welcome to the Good, Bad 'n Ugly from Southwick! It's the sixth round of 2022 AMA Pro Motocross season and we're here to give you our thoughts on who did good, who did...well, Bad and who had a day to forget forever (the Ugly). Staff member Grant Dawson is sharing his thoughts this weekend.

Do you agree with our picks and opinions, or do you have thoughts that differ? Let us know in the comment section below.

250 Motocross Class

The Good | Jett Lawrence - 1st Place Overall

Jett came into the weekend seven points behind his brother in the standings, but within a blink of an eye Jett is back to having a 15 point lead in the series. He actually has a larger points lead over his brother now than he did going into RedBud where he had the mechanical DNF. So everything has basically evened itself out, and we're back to where we were a couple of weeks ago. That DNF really felt like Hunter's best chance of making this championship interesting, but now that Jett has overcome that obstacle I think over the next couple of rounds he is going to put the final nail in the coffin of this title chase. The likelihood of him having another mechanical DNF is very low, and at this point I think it's pretty clear that Hunter isn't going to be able to challenge him straight up. I think his lead grows to at least 30 points over the next couple of rounds. Jett is just on another level this year. 

The Bad | Michael Mosiman - 8th Place Overall

An eighth place finish is actually pretty in-line with how Michael Mosiman has performed at Southwick in the past. He has only raced at the track twice in his career with overall finishes of seventh in 2021 and 10th in 2018. So even though this isn't some surprise performance from him, I'm still pounding the drum that at this point in his career he should be performing better outdoors. He's a veteran of the series, and even though there are some riders that perform great indoors and struggle outdoors, I've never seen Mosiman as one of those riders...especially with how he performed in the first moto at Hangtown. I think 2023 is going to be a huge prove-it year for him. He needs to be a legit contender indoors, and seeing the podium more during the outdoor season wouldn't hurt, either. 

The Ugly | Hunter Lawrence - 7th Place Overall

The bug of bad luck decided to bite the other Lawrence brother this week by giving Hunter enough misfortune to not only lose the red plate after only one round, but leave the track 15 points down in the standings. Like I said above, Jett giving up that huge chunk of points at RedBud was Hunter's best chance at making this championship interesting again, but there's a good chance Jett's going to inch off into the distance now. Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of talk on social media about the incident that occurred between Hunter and Stilez Robertson. Hunter was clearly very angry with Stilez after the race, and as usual folks seem fairly split on what they think about his reaction. From what we saw on the broadcast, it looked like a complete accident, but we didn't see much outside the couple of seconds when the crash occurred.  I will say that, regardless of the circumstances, it wasn't that surprising to see a rider seconds after a race that didn't go his way let the emotions get the best of him and go after a rider he felt had a hand in that. We all think we would be able to contain that emotion, but you never really know until you're in that situation. Do I wish he had kept his cool? Of course, but this wasn't the first time nor will it be the last time that we see a situation like this occur right after a race. I'm sure the officials made a note of the incident in case anything else transpires over the next couple of races. 

450 Motocross Class

The Good | Eli Tomac - 1st Place Overall

There were multiple impressive performances at Southwick, but it's time to give Eli Tomac some props. He has logged five straight moto wins and now sits only one point behind Chase Sexton in the standings. He is on absolute fire right now and there's no reason to believe that he'll slow down given that Spring Creek and Unadilla are also tracks that he enjoys. Further, the likelihood that this is Tomac's final year racing the outdoor season has probably added a little extra motivation for him to win this title. Now, he doesn't have the red plate yet, and we still have half of a championship to go. Anything can happen, and we all know Sexton isn't just going to roll over...but the momentum behind Tomac appears to be unstoppable right now.

The Bad | Chase Sexton - 2nd Place Overall

The easy assumption is that consistency wins championships, especially when a rider is consistently on the podium, and especially when "consistently on the podium" means 11 of the 12 motos we've had. That is what Chase Sexton has done this season. If you read that off to me and asked me what I expected his points lead to be, I'd say at least double digits, and potentially a full moto's worth. Alas, Chase Sexton's lead is down to one point due to the performances by Tomac that I mentioned above. Even though he has minimized the damage by finishing in second place the last five motos, that's still 15 points down the drain. Sexton did mention that Southwick has never been his best track, so he does deserve props for overcoming some difficulties and still finishing in second place. However, he's at a point where he has to put a stop to Tomac's momentum at Spring Creek. He'd still have time to challenge Tomac and take the red plate back even if he loses it at Spring Creek, but at that point it'd be hard to imagine that Tomac wouldn't up the intensity even more to gain full control of the championship. 

The Ugly | Joey Savatgy - 12th Place Overall

Joey has never been a huge fan of Southwick, and I bet Saturday re-iterated those feelings as he just wasn't able to find the flow on his way to a 9-16 performance that put him 12th place overall. It was a bummer to see him struggle after he scored a moto podium at RedBud, but I think he expected to have a bit of a down weekend just due to his past experiences with this track. Regardless of his performance at Southwick, I think Joey has proven this summer that he still deserves a spot on a capable team as long as he can stay healthy. I hope he's able to find a full Supercross/motocross contract with a team before the 2023 season.