Key Highlights

• Jo-Time: Shimoda’s Moto 1 was pure dominance. His average lap was 2.7 seconds quicker than Deegan’s, his fastest was 1.5 quicker, and the rest of the field was 3–4 seconds slower. Add in a 90.2 consistency score and you’ve got a statement ride.
  
• Tomac’s Troubles: Tomac’s weekend was a head-scratcher. In Moto 2 he owned three of the seven fastest sectors, yet by lap time he was actually closer to Jett’s pace in Moto 1, where he didn’t top a single sector. 
  
• Moving Marchbanks: Garrett Marchbanks might be the most dangerous mid-pack starter in the 250s. Starts are his Achilles’ heel, but once the gate drops he slices through the field. In Moto 2 he went from 18th to 5th with a 93.5 consistency score. Nobody in the class has passed more riders this season.
  
• Close to a Breakout: R.J. Hampshire is showing exactly what a strong rookie looks like. Top-fives are becoming automatic, and he’s one of only four riders to land inside the top 10 at every 450 overall this year. The big bike has toned down his chaos without stripping away the speed. He’s still a tick off Jett and Hunter’s pace, but he’s already handling established vets.
  

450 Analysis

It feels strange to say Jett Lawrence needed a “bounce back” race after his worst-ever 450MX finish last weekend (6th), but that’s exactly what the now two-time 450 Pro Motocross Champion needed. Quick and decisive, Jett handled both motos without much of a challenge. It was classic Jett Lawrence. His win percentage in Pro Motocross now sits at 88%.

There’s a lot more to unpack, too. Eli Tomac still hasn’t won an overall at Unadilla. R.J. Hampshire is quietly becoming one of the most consistent riders in his rookie 450 season. And there’s plenty more beyond that.

Track Breakdown:

The track map above shows who clocked the fastest average sector times in each motos. 

Moto 1 track map doesn’t give us a whole lot to unpack. Just like the race itself, it was all Jett. But it’s worth pointing out Hampshire not only making the map but also leading some laps. Jett’s rookie year has skewed what we expect out of first-year riders. Hampshire is what a strong rookie looks like. He’s consistently in the top five and is one of only four riders to finish inside the top 10 of every 450 overall this season.

Moto 2 is a lot more interesting. The track map suggest that Jett and Tomac split the track almost 50/50. But Tomac ended up 17 seconds behind and never once set a fastest lap. In fact, he was closer to Jett’s pace in Moto 1 than he was in Moto 2. That race summed up Tomac’s entire Unadilla career: flashes of speed but an inability to string complete laps together.

Unadilla is always tricky. Conditions change quickly, and once again Sector 5 proved to be the toughest part of the track. Despite being one of the shortest sectors, it had the widest spread in LITPro consistency scoring. The “Screw U” turn is brutally steep, hard to even walk up. Any slip in traction means zero forward progress. Easy to mess up, tough to nail.

450 Moto 1:

SEG	Rider	Avg. Time	Fastest Time (All)	Sector Consistency (All)
1	J. Lawrence	41.74	40.79	84.1
2	J. Lawrence	19.88	19.30	83.2
3	J. Lawrence	19.95	19.43	82.6
4	J. Lawrence	8.77	8.44	72.5
5	J. Lawrence	11.28	10.71	72.0
6	H. Lawrence	20.93	20.22	83.8
7	R. Hampshire	16.95	16.34	81.1

450 Moto 2:

SEG	Rider	Avg. Time	Fastest Time (All)	Sector Consistency (All)
1	E. Tomac	41.93	40.96	83.6
2	J. Lawrence	20.07	19.59	82.5
3	E. Tomac	19.91	19.45	81.2
4	J. Lawrence	8.75	8.38	69.6
5	E. Tomac	11.25	10.57	67.8
6	J. Cooper	20.98	20.32	82.4
7	J. Lawrence	17.25	16.53	79.6

Lap Time Breakdown:

For both classes, lap times dropped off as the motos wore on. Unadilla’s mix of fast straights and tight technical sections makes consistency difficult, and as the track gets rougher, both styles of sections get slower. The result is lap times that fade naturally. From Moto 1 to Moto 2, the fastest lap dropped nearly two seconds, and the average fell by about a full second.

Moto 1 Fast Laps (15 Timed Laps)

• J. Lawrence: 9
• Hampshire, Tomac: 2
• H. Lawrence, Cooper: 1

Class Average Consistency: 87.8
Class Median Consistency: 89.5

Moto 2 Fast Laps (15 Timed Laps)

• J. Lawrence: 10
• Cooper, Hampshire: 2
• H. Lawrence: 1

Class Average Consistency: 78.0
Class Median Consistency: 84.7

450 Moto 1 Analysis

RIDER	Average Time	Median Time	Fastest Time	Lap 99	Consistency
J. Lawrence	2:19.91	2:19.50	2:17.17	2:16.17	89.8
E. Tomac	2:21.37	2:19.96	2:17.85	2:16.62	88.7
H. Lawrence	2:20.51	2:20.49	2:17.40	2:16.51	84.2
R. Hampshire	2:22.45	2:21.46	2:18.25	2:16.70	85.5
K. Roczen	2:22.83	2:22.48	2:20.92	2:19.37	93.7

Rider’s sorted by median lap time.

Top Performances:

Tomac’s performance was puzzling. In Moto 2 he had three of the seven fastest sectors, but lap time-wise he was actually closer to Jett’s pace in Moto 1, despite not owning a single fastest sector. By median lap time, Tomac was the only rider within the same second as Jett, but still half a second slower per lap. Hunter was another half second back from that. Tomac’s average lap time, though, was well off both Jett and Hunter. It looked like he backed it down late in Moto 1 to save energy.

Hampshire continues to impress in his rookie year. The 450 has smoothed him out in all the right ways without taking away his speed. He’s not quite at that elite pace, his best laps are still a second off Jett and Hunter, but he’s beating plenty of established veterans.

LITPro 10-Lap Consistency:

Ken Roczen came off the couch and looked strong, but his consistency was even more impressive. His 93.7 score ranked 4th in Moto 1, just behind Barcia, Short, and Cooper, but Roczen had them covered on lap time.

Lap 99 Analysis:

Even with Unadilla’s long lap times, the Lap 99 numbers were closer to the true fastest laps than most rounds. That’s because the best times usually come early before the track goes away. Once again, Hampshire deserves credit. While his peak pace isn’t quite at the top level yet, his Lap 99 speed is right there with the best.

450 Moto 2 Analysis

RIDER	Average Time	Median Time	Fastest Time	Lap 99	Consistency
J. Lawrence	2:20.88	2:20.15	2:18.07	2:17.01	91.2
H. Lawrence	2:21.48	2:20.66	2:18.73	2:17.72	92.1
E. Tomac	2:21.87	2:21.73	2:18.62	2:17.70	85.4
J. Cooper	2:22.14	2:22.22	2:19.55	2:17.87	84.8
R. Hampshire	2:22.44	2:22.77	2:18.48	2:17.97	81.9

Rider’s sorted by median lap time.

Top Performances:

Jett Lawrence owned every single lap-time metric in Moto 2: average, median, fastest, Lap 99. He dominated across the board, a fitting way to close out his second 450 title.

Tomac looked like he might pressure Hunter at one point, but it never really materialized. Three of seven fastest sectors yet still more than a full second off Jett’s pace is tough to explain.

LITPro 10-Lap Consistency:

Here’s a surprise — Jorge Prado, in what many called his worst moto of the season, set the 3rd-best consistency score at 94.5. For all the drama around Prado lately, that’s a stat worth noting.

Lap 99 Analysis:

The difficulty of piecing together a complete lap showed here. The top five Lap 99 times were all within a second, yet their fastest laps varied by 1.5 seconds and their median laps by 2.6.

250 Analysis

It’s Jo-time. Jo Shimoda has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise flat 250 season. Haiden Deegan still has a commanding points lead and should lock down the 250 title unless disaster strikes next weekend, but Shimoda has looked confident and sharp all year. This weekend was arguably one of the best of his career. He put on a clinic in Moto 1, then backed it up with a Jett-like performance in Moto 2. Shimoda is rolling into the SMX playoffs as a legitimate threat.

Track Breakdown:

The track map above shows who clocked the fastest average sector times in each motos. 

The Moto 1 track map? All Shimoda. Technically Marchbanks grabbed one sector, but he finished over a minute behind. Deegan was nearly 40 seconds back himself and never led a sector. He looked off all weekend. The usual chaos and aggression were muted. Still, muted Deegan means 2-3 moto scores, which is all he needed to bring the championship home next weekend.

Moto 2’s map was more interesting. By lap time, Shimoda was still untouchable, but a wave of unexpected names popped up: Turner, Vialle, and Beaumer. Vialle had one of his best two-moto weekends this year. Turner keeps proving himself as one of the best non-factory riders in a field stacked with factory talent. And how about Julien Beaumer? He looked like a different rider at Unadilla and even clocked his first fastest sector of the summer.

250 Moto 1:

SEG	Rider	Avg. Time	Fastest Time (All)	Sector Consistency (All)
1	J. Shimoda	43.13	42.14	80.6
2	J. Shimoda	20.20	19.71	82.1
3	G. Marchbanks	20.23	20.23	82.6
4	J. Shimoda	8.99	8.62	71.5
5	J. Shimoda	11.20	10.75	69.3
6	J. Shimoda	21.33	20.71	85.1
7	J. Shimoda	17.17	16.28	81.4

250 Moto 2:

SEG	Rider	Avg. Time	Fastest Time (All)	Sector Consistency (All)
1	J. Shimoda	42.96	42.02	85.9
2	G. Marchbanks	20.36	19.62	83.9
3	H. Deegan	20.13	19.52	83.4
4	L. Turner	9.08	8.72	70.0
5	T. Vialle	11.38	10.88	69.0
6	J. Beaumer	21.77	20.86	83.2
7	T. Vialle	17.63	16.86	83.1

Lap Time Breakdown:

See that red blip at the start of the histogram? That’s Shimoda. He was the only rider to dip into the sub-1:20s, and he did it four times. He set the fastest lap in both motos, though with a nearly two-second gap between them, he clearly didn’t push as hard in Moto 2.

Moto 1 Fast Laps (15 Timed Laps)

• Shimoda: 12
• Marchbanks ,Masterpool, Kitchen:  1

Class Average Consistency: 78.2
Class Median Consistency: 87.3

Moto 2 Fast Laps (15 Timed Laps)

• Shimoda: 9
• Marchbanks: 3
• Deegan, Beaumer, Ross: 1

Class Average Consistency: 75.6
Class Median Consistency: 88.5

250 Moto 1 Analysis

RIDER	Average Time	Median Time	Fastest Time	Lap 99	Consistency
J. Shimoda	2:22.28	2:21.53	2:19.16	2:18.00	90.2
G. Marchbanks	2:25.98	2:22.57	2:22.71	2:20.41	91.2
S. Hammaker	2:25.54	2:25.23	2:23.58	2:22.07	92.7
H. Deegan	2:24.96	2:25.47	2:20.51	2:19.46	80.0
T. Vialle	2:25.99	2:25.62	2:24.11	2:22.37	91.3

Rider’s sorted by median lap time.

Top Performances:

Shimoda’s ride was the definition of dominant. His average lap was 2.7 seconds quicker than Deegan’s. No one was within reach. Deegan’s fastest lap was still nearly 1.5 seconds off, and the rest of the field was 3–4 seconds slower. There wasn’t a scenario where anyone was beating Shimoda in Moto 1.

LITPro 10-Lap Consistency:

Shimoda combined speed with consistency, clocking a 90.2 while running laps multiple seconds faster than the field. But Seth Hammaker actually took top honors with a 92.7.

Lap 99 Analysis:

When a rider is holding back, you usually see it in their Lap 99 numbers, which show what they could have done. Not the case with Deegan this weekend, which we speculate was riding conservatively for the championship. His Lap 99 was still 1.4 seconds off the pace.

250 Moto 2 Analysis

RIDER	Average Time	Median Time	Fastest Time	Lap 99	Consistency
J. Shimoda	2:22.06	2:23.03	2:21.00	2:19.52	91.2
H. Deegan	2:25.19	2:24.49	2:22.65	2:20.58	90.7
T. Vialle	2:25.00	2:24.69	2:21.83	2:19.85	87.3
G. Marchbanks	2:25.96	2:25.00	2:23.55	2:20.83	93.5
J. Beaumer	2:26.06	2:25.75	2:24.16	2:22.13	93.1

Rider’s sorted by median lap time.

Top Performances:

Even though Shimoda only owned one fastest sector in Moto 2, he still put together the most complete laps across the board. His times were still 1.5 seconds faster than anyone else on average.

Tom Vialle had one of his strongest rides of the season. Usually when he starts well, something goes wrong — a crash, a fade — but not this weekend. He looked solid both motos, especially the second. His pace was right with Deegan’s, and if not for Shimoda’s alien-level ride, Vialle could have been in contention for his first overall of the year.

LITPro 10-Lap Consistency:

Garrett Marchbanks continues to be Pro Circuit’s best rider this season. Starts are his biggest issue, but his speed and consistency once he’s moving through the pack are impressive. In Moto 2 he started 18th and charged to 5th, all while putting up a 93.5 consistency score. He’s passed more riders this season than anyone else in the 250 class, and it isn’t even close.

Lap 99 Analysis:

This was the first sign of vulnerability from Shimoda all weekend. He still had the best Lap 99 time, but Vialle was only three-tenths off.