The first 250 Class moto of the day began with some light rain as Team Honda HRC’s Hunter Lawrence started at the head of the pack with the MotoSport.com Holeshot, followed by Swoll. The pair battled for the top spot throughout the opening lap, which allowed them to pull away from Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing’s Justin Cooper in third.
As they navigated down one of the track’s deep downhill sections Lawrence carried too much speed, pushed off the track and crashed, which dropped him to the tail end of the field. That moved Swoll into the lead, Cooper into second, and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s RJ Hampshire into third.
The top three sat within two seconds of one another as Hampshire started to push the pace from third. The Husqvarna rider methodically worked his way around Cooper for second and set his sights on his teammate out front.
Swoll fended off several pass attempts, but Hampshire never relented and fought his way into the top spot. Behind them, Cooper tipped over and lost two positions, which moved Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing’s Colt Nichols into third and Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence, the point leader, into fourth.
The top three comfortably settled into their positions, each separated by multiple seconds, which appeared to put Hampshire on a path to his first moto win of the season. With a lead of nearly 10 seconds and less than five minutes left in the moto, the chain on Hampshire’s motorcycle broke and brought his race to an abrupt, heartbreaking conclusion.
Swoll assumed the lead with less than three minutes to go in the 30-minutes-plus-two-laps moto and carried on to secure the first moto win of his career, 3.1 seconds ahead of Nichols in second, who equaled his best career moto result.
Lawrence followed in third, with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Jo Shimoda fourth and Cooper in fifth.
The final 250 Class moto of the afternoon began with Nichols out front with his first MotoSport.com Holeshot of the season, just ahead of Cooper, Swoll, and the Lawrence brothers. Cooper went on the attack early and got by his teammate to seize control of the lead as Swoll also pressured Nichols and moved into second just before the completion of the opening lap.
The clear track worked into Cooper’s favor as he established a multi-second margin in the early laps and managed the advantage. Behind him, the fight continued as Jett Lawrence marched his way forward. The Australian rider worked his way around Nichols for third and kept his head down in pursuit of Swoll.
Soon enough, the battle for second heated up, as Swoll and Lawrence swapped spots several times before Lawrence finally got the upper hand.
Cooper never looked back and dominated the entire way to earn his first moto win of the season, one round after he relied on a pair of runner-up finishes to lock up his first overall victory of the summer. He took the checkered flag 4.3 seconds ahead of Lawrence in second, while Swoll capped off his breakthrough afternoon in third.
By virtue of his 1-3 finishes Swoll became the third different overall winner through three rounds in the 250 Class and also became the 87th different rider to earn a victory in the history of the division.
It also signified the first podium finish for the Florida rider, whose career best result was seventh at the previous round.
“We had someone on our team pass away earlier this week, so to honor him with this (win) feels amazing,” said Swoll. “To get a win here in front of all these fans is incredible. My tongue was in the spokes, I was so tired, but I dug deep. I knew I could do this (win). We’ve put in so much work to have the opportunity to be here. I’m at a loss for words right now.”
Lawrence kept his stellar start to the season rolling with a third straight top-two finish in second (3-2), while Cooper wrapped up his third consecutive overall podium result in third (5-1).
With his finish ahead of Cooper in the overall classification, Lawrence also added one point to his lead in the 250 Class standings, which currently sits at 11 points. Hunter Lawrence moved into third after an eighth-place finish (8-11) and currently sits 42 points out of the lead.
“I got into second and tried to put in a charge on Cooper, but noticed I wasn’t gaining much ground,” explained Lawrence. “I realized I’d rather just settle in and ride for second rather than potentially lose more points. I’m not totally happy with my effort today, but we still finished second and had a good day in the championship.”