The first 250 class moto of the afternoon got underway with the fastest qualifier of the day, Justin Cooper, racing to the MotoSport.com Holeshot aboard his Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing machine, with teammate Colt Nichols in tow. Cianciarulo took a gamble on his starting position and lined up his Kawasaki on the farthest outside gate, but it didn’t pay off. With his closest championship rival up front, Cianciarulo started outside the top 10 and had his work cut out for him.
The clear track in the early laps gave Cooper a huge advantage and he was able to establish a bit of a gap over Nichols and the rest of the field. Nichols rode in a solid second, while GEICO Honda rookie Hunter Lawrence ran third. Nichols was able to keep Cooper within striking distance, but Lawrence soon received pressure from Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM’s Jordon Smith. The two riders engage in a brief battle for the position and made contact, which ultimately took both riders to the ground. That allowed GEICO Honda’s RJ Hampshire to move into third, with his teammate Chase Sexton fourth and a hard-charging Cianciarulo in fifth.
In the late stages of the moto, Cianciarulo, who moved into fourth, applied heavy pressure on Hampshire, which ultimately carried them to Nichols in second and ignited a three-rider battle for the final podium positions. Hampshire was able to withstand a brief pass by Cianciarulo to regain third and then make his way around Nichols for second coming to the white flag. Cianciarulo was able to keep the pressure on Nichols and take over third with just a couple turns remaining.
For the second straight weekend Cooper went wire-to-wire in the opening moto, earning the win by 1.8 seconds over Hampshire. Cianciarulo battled back from his bad start to finish third, with Nichols and GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton rounding out the top five.
As the field roared into the first turn for its deciding second moto it was Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM’s Shane McElrath who came away with the MotoSport.com Holeshot over Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing rookie Ty Masterpool and JGRMX/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Alex Martin. Soon Martin moved into second, while Cooper followed into third. Masterpool then lost another spot to Cianciarulo.
Cianciarulo was on a determined march to the front as he made the pass on Cooper for third. As Martin attempted to make a pass on McElrath for the lead, it allowed Cianciarulo to capitalize on a small mistake from the Suzuki rider. On the following lap Cianciarulo’s forward surge was complete when he got by McElrath to seize control of the lead. Not long after that Lawrence made an impressive climb from fifth to second to drop Martin out of podium position and bump McElrath to third.
Both Martin and McElrath continued to lose positions, as Cooper fought his way up to third and brought his Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing teammate Dylan Ferrandis along with him into fourth. It wasn’t long before Ferrandis passed his teammate for third.
Lawrence stayed within two seconds of Cianciarulo and at the halfway point of the moto he had closed to within a couple bike lengths. A bobble by Lawrence put some distance between them, but the rookie dug deep to closed back in on Cianciarulo. As they navigated through lapped riders Cianciarulo made an outside line choice that opened up the inside for Lawrence, and the Australian took full advantage of it to make the pass and establish some breathing room between he and Cianciarulo.
That pass tipped the battle for the overall into Cooper’s favor, but Lawrence gave up the lead with less than two minutes remaining when he tipped over. Nearly four seconds separated the lead duo when Lawrence resumed, but the rookie still managed to close to within just over a second as they came to the white flag.
On the final lap, Cianciarulo picked up the pace and successfully went on to take the moto win by 2.9 seconds over Lawrence. Ferrandis followed in a distant third, just ahead of Cooper.
For the second weekend in a row a second-moto victory vaulted Cianciarulo to the top of the overall classification, where his 3-1 finishes were enough to edge out Cooper (1-4) by just a couple points. Ferrandis grabbed the final spot on the overall podium following 7-3 results.
“I had no idea what was happening [with the overall standings]. I just tried to put my best foot forward because I used a lot of energy in the first moto,” said Cianciarulo, who has back-to-back victories for the first time in his career. “I can’t say enough good things about Hunter Lawrence. He rode so good. When he crashed I thought I as clear of him [through to the finish], but then all of a sudden I could hear him behind me. I’m just so stoked to get two in a row. This is awesome.”
Cianciarulo was able to add to his early lead in the championship standings, which now sits at six points over Cooper.