Jason Anderson, Justin Cooper & Jo Shimoda all podium at Budds Creek MX National

Monster Energy’s Jason Anderson (Kawasaki) battled from behind to score his second podium of the summer MX season this past weekend, earning a 3rd place (2-5) 450 class podium finish on Saturday at the Budds Creek MX National in Mechanicsville, Md., Round 10 of the 11-round 2023 AMA Pro Motocross Championship series. And joining Anderson in the Monster Energy podium parade were 250 class racers Justin Cooper (Star Racing/Yamaha) and Jo Shimoda (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki) in 2nd and 3rd places, respectively.

The series wraps up this Saturday, Aug. 26th, at Ironman Raceway with the Tucker Freight Lines Ironman MX National in Crawfordsville, Ind.

For Anderson, Budds Creek would be a regular comeback clinic as the New Mexico native had to race through the pack in both motos, scoring a runner-up 2nd place finish in the opener, along with a podium-salvaging 5th in the second moto for 3rd place overall.

“I feel like I’m getting better,” said Anderson. “I had to work hard and come from behind a couple times today. It feels good to be back on the podium. We just need to keep piecing it together.”

Monster Energy’s Chase Sexton (Honda) would score a 2nd place finish in the second 450 moto, but paired that with a 9th in the opening moto for 4th overall at Budds. Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha) would place 6th (3-9), with Adam Cianciarulo (Monster Energy/Kawasaki) placing 7th (7-6). And overall in the series, Cianciarulo holds a slim 4-point (298-294) advantage over Sexton for 4th place in the standings.

Joining podium placers Cooper and Shimoda in the 250 classes top five overall was Austin Forkner (Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki). Forkner’s return to motocross after a long layoff was rewarded with a solid 4th place finish (8-4). Also making the top ten in Budds Creek’s 250 class for Monster Energy were rookie Daxton Bennick (Star Racing/Yamaha), fresh off his Loretta’s Open Pro class 1-1-1 win, with a season-best 7th place finish (4-11), Carson Mumford (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki) in 8th (12-8) and Seth Hammaker (Pro Circuit/Kawasaki) in 10th (6-14).

Budds Creek MX

450 class results                                                250

3rd - Anderson (Monster/Kawasaki)                    2nd - Cooper (Monster/Star/Yamaha)

4th - Sexton (Monster/Honda)                             3rd - Shimoda (Monster/PC/Kawasaki)

6th - Ferrandis (Monster/Star/Yamaha)               4th - Forkner (Monster/PC/Kawasaki)

Overall Standings (10 of 11 rounds)

450 class                                                             250

2nd - Ferrandis, 379 points                                 2nd - Cooper, 369 points

4th - Cianciarulo, 298 points                               3rd - Shimoda, 343 points

5th - Sexton, 294 points                                      4th - Haiden Deegan, 329 points

450

Moto 1

Out of the gate fastest to open the 450 racing at Budds was Cianciarulo, pulling the MotoSport.com Holeshot and leading the field ahead of Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Jay Wilson, who’s taking a break from racing MX in Japan to compete here in the States. Roughly eight minutes into the moto Aaron Plessinger (KTM) was able to wrestle the lead from Cianciarulo, with Anderson beginning to make his way more towards the front following a 5th place start. Anderson would catch – and pass – rival Justin Barcia (Gas Gas) on Lap 11 On fire at this point, Anderson would track down and pass his Monster Energy teammate, Cianciarulo, for 3rd, then focused his attention on 2nd place Plessinger. With his passes made on Cianciarulo on Lap 12, then Plessinger on Lap 13, Anderson would pull to within several seconds of Moto 1 leader Jett Lawrence (Honda), but in the end ran out of time. Ferrandis, not 100-percent and battling a reported illness, also came on strong late in the moto, passing a variety of racers to catch Plessinger for 3rd.

Moto 2

Cianciarulo would pull another great start, positioning himself in 2nd place behind race leader Lawrence. Barcia would then get by Cianciarulo for 2nd, as would Plessinger (for 3rd). At the end of the first lap Cianciarulo would find himself in 5th, as Sexton, who placed a disappointing 9th in the opening 450 moto, also made a charge towards the front (3rd). Once solidly in 3rd, Sexton wasted little time in tracking down, and passing, Barica for 2nd, then looked ahead for Lawrence. At the 10-minute mark, Sexton had closed Lawrence’s lead to just 1.5 seconds (down from 8 seconds). Sexton looked to have a shot at ending Lawrence’s undefeated moto win streak this summer as the lead dropped to below one second, but a slight miscalculation on a downhill section – resulting in a tip over – would allow Lawrence to escape. Sexton remounted for an easy 2nd place, and now only has two shots (next week’s Ironman MX National) to disrupt a possible undefeated season by his Honda teammate. Anderson would start in 6th place and finish 5th to take 3rd overall.

250 

Moto 1

Monster Energy’s Shimoda blasted the MotoSport.com Holeshot to open the 250 racing, beating Monster Energy’s Deegan to the chalk line. Deegan then shot past Shimoda and controlled the race for the next several laps. After Deegan and Shimoda had separated themselves from the rest of the field, a red flag for a crashed racer stopped the race. On the restart, Deegan and Tom Vialle (KTM) got together, with Deegan hitting the ground and getting passed up by the entire field. Cooper would fare much better than his teammate on the start, avoiding trouble and coming around in 3rd place. Cooper then got past Hunter Lawrence (Honda) for 2nd, then two laps later passed Jalek Swoll (Husqvarna) for 1st, to which Swoll then gained it back. Lawrence also moved up onto Cooper and Swoll, making for a thrilling three-way battle for 1st. In the end it’d be Cooper, delivering his third moto victory of the season. Bennick also made the top five in the moto, placing 4th – ahead of former World Champ Vialle.

Moto 2

Another Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki bike up front off the start, as this time it’d be Forkner pulling the holeshot – ahead of Lawrence and Cooper. Then, while battling to get the lead, Forkner made a minor mistake, which allowed Lawrence to move into 1st place. Monster Energy racers would take control of the next three spots as Cooper battled with Forkner for the 2nd place position, while Shimoda held strong in 4th. With ten minutes remaining in the contest and Cooper in 2nd place, Shimoda made his move through 3rd, and was up to challenge Cooper. Shimoda would log several fast laps in pursuit of Cooper, to which Cooper upped the ante and put up a couple of the race’s fast laps himself. The end result was Cooper holding on for 2nd place, his 6th moto runner-up position this summer, with Shimoda holding strong for 3rd.

Notes & Quotes

• “I gave it everything I had today. I got into 2nd, but Hunter (Lawrence) was riding really good. I tried to close the gap and got a bit sketchy out there. But did everything I could. We’ll see what we can do next weekend.” – Justin Cooper
• “The track was tough. I chose a paddle tire to try and help with the start, but that made things sketchy out there at times. I’m happy to get another podium and looking forward to closing out the season next week.” – Jo Shimoda, in scoring his third overall 250 podium of the season.
• Hunter Lawrence has a 22-point advantage over Cooper heading into this Saturday’s final round of 250 class racing at Ironman MX. Cooper and Shimoda are the only racers with a mathematical chance at catching Lawrence for the 250 title.
• Forkner’s triumphant return to a 4th place overall finish (8-4) at Budds Creek was the first time he’d seen the top five since torquing his knee at the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series opener at Anaheim (Calif.) this past January.
• Sexton, who had a great second moto (2nd), got a rough start in the opening 450 moto and, in an effort to catch up, crashed once and rode off the track on another occasion – resulting in a 9th place finish. This was Sexton’s first race where he wasn’t on the podium this season.
• Ferrandis’ streak of top five moto finishes – every race this season – came to an end as well at Budds Creek when he placed 6th (3-9). Not a big deal, really, on account of Ferrandis is solidly in 2nd place in the overall 450 class standings.
• Cooper, who won the opening 250 moto, actually finished tied with Hunter Lawrence for the Budds Creek overall. But a tiebreaker would give the win to Lawrence, though the two left Maryland with identical points (47).