With so many laps down on the track, things were sure to get chaotic during the second round of the AMA Supercross season at NRG Stadium in Houston.
And even though defending champion Eli Tomac got his first win of the season, things were still as unexpected as they could get.
For starters, Chase Sexton had a great one.
The back-to-back 250 SX champion took the holeshot and faced early pressure from Adam Cianciarulo.
Although, after tucking the front end into the sand, Cianciarulo fell back.
Sexton held a four-second lead, albeit very early on in the race, going for his first career victory with the defending champ a ways behind him.
It looked like Sexton was pulling away even further from Tomac, but the rookie took a nasty fall that launched himself over the handle bars and into a jump.
This put a hamper on the rookie’s race and maybe entire season, although the results of his injuries are undisclosed right now.
Meanwhile the big names were trying to battle back from slow starts.
Cooper Webb stayed back in P8 for a significant amount of time before Ken Roczen came through with blistering pace.
Roczen forced his way past Webb and later moved on to the likes of Malcolm Stewart for fifth.
While Roczen began to fight for the spot, Webb was making up a new charge. He came back looking like a completely different rider than he had five minutes prior, and passed up Roczen for what would have been P5.
Just as Webb was making the move, Zach Osborne got taken down by the same sand section that caused so many trouble in this race, meaning Webb had earned the fourth position.
Dylan Ferrandis ended up finishing in second and Osborne’s accident gave Fort Dodge, Iowa native Justin Brayton a podium at 36 years of age.
Not to mention, Brayton sits fifth in an extremely tight and competitive race for the title – one that was anticipated going into this season as is.
Roczen will take the title lead into the final race at NRG Stadium for the season on Saturday during Round 3. Live coverage is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. CT on NBCSN.
| AMA SX 450 Points Standings | ||||
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Ken Roczen | 41 | – | |
| 2 | Justin Barcia | 40 | -1 | |
| 3 | Dylan Ferrandis | 39 | -2 | |
| 4 | Marvin Musquin | 38 | -3 | |
| 5 | Justin Brayton | 38 | -3 | |
| 6 | Eli Tomac | 36 | -5 | |
| 7 | Malcolm Stewart | 34 | -7 | |
| 8 | Cooper Webb | 33 | -8 | |
| 9 | Adam Cianciarulo | 30 | -11 | |
| 10 | Zach Osborne | 26 | -15 | |
Jett Lawrence takes first career 250 Win
This one started with the holeshot.
Jett Lawrence got up to an early lead by slicing and dicing into the first turn off of a phenomenal start.
From there he had the pressure of Austin Forkner early on, much like Sexton did with Cianciarulo in the early portion of the race.
However, Forkner missed a jump.
The move basically ensured Lawrence the win after he built his lead to nearly 10 seconds midway through.
Later in the race, Forkner tried a pass on R.J. Hampshire, taking out himself as well as Hampshire and costing R.J. a podium run.
If there is anything to look for in the coming weeks, it will be how Hampshire responds.
Colt Nichols also made a late race pass on last week’s winner, Christian Craig to take P2 with two minutes to go and put the Yamaha riders in the top positions in points two races into the season.
| AMA SX 250 East Points Standings | ||||
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Christian Craig | 47 | – | |
| 2 | Colt Nichols | 44 | -3 | |
| 3 | Jett Lawrence | 43 | -4 | |
| 4 | Austin Forkner | 40 | -7 | |
| 5 | Jo Shimoda | 37 | -10 | |
| 6 | Michael Mosiman | 35 | -12 | |
| 7 | Mitchell Oldenburg | 31 | -16 | |
| 8 | Max Vohland | 29 | -18 | |
| 9 | Josh Osby | 27 | -20 | |
| 10 | John Short | 25 | -22 | |
