The title is already wrapped up, but the 250 Class riders still have one final round left. Check back throughout the day for recaps and highlights from the 2018 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season finale at Ironman Raceway.

QUALIFYING

The weather turned the track to mud and wreaked havoc on the 250 Class riders looking to qualify for the Ironman National. Because of the rain, practice was condensed from two sessions down to just one. And because the track conditions got worse throughout the morning, the riders that took the track earlier in the morning had a massive advantage over those who were in the later session. For the 250 Class, that means the riders in Group B, who are typically slower, had an edge over the riders in Group A, which includes all of the factory riders. Furthermore, the LCQ races were cancelled, so qualifying through practice was the only way to get into the 40-man field.

As a result, the top 10 riders in qualifying all came from Group B, with Hunter Sayles checking in as the fastest qualifier. Several factory riders also finished outside the top 40, including Shane McElrath (41st), Austin Forkner (43rd), Enzo Lopes (44th), Dakota Alix (50th), Jimmy Decotis (52nd), Sean Cantrell (56th), Mitchell Harrison (63rd) and Jordon Smith (65th). Riders in the top 10 of the point standings are guaranteed a spot in the field for the motos, so McElrath, Forkner and Smith are all safe. But their inclusions pushed Michael Mosiman (38th), Jordan Bailey (39th) and Mitchell Falk (40th) out of the field. (UPDATE: Mosiman later got into the field as the first alternate.)

The top 40 times from qualifying are below:

MOTO 1

Although many of the factory riders had poor gate picks and the track was still very sloppy, things worked out all right for Justin Cooper and Chase Sexton. Coming from the inside gates, Cooper took the holeshot and Sexton settled into second place. By the end of the first full lap, Aaron Plessinger was in third, and the top three were more than 10 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

The top three started to tighten up around the midpoint of the race, with Cooper, Sexton and Plessinger all separated by less than four seconds. Sexton and Plessinger both got in front of Cooper, but then Sexton momentarily got stuck in the mud. That allowed Plessinger to close in and apply pressure before ultimately taking the lead with under 10 minutes to go. Though Plessinger’s bike was smoking a bit as he made the pass, he eventually pulled away from Sexton and built a lead of more than 25 seconds. Even with a fall on the final lap, Plessinger’s lead was safe and he scored his 10th moto win of the season.

Sexton was in danger of losing second place to a hard-charging Dylan Ferrandis late in the race, but Ferrandis’s bike stalled with two laps to go. The GEICO Honda rider was then able to hold on for second place despite going down on the last lap. It’s the second moto in a row that Sexton has finished as the runner-up.

Cooper finished third, last week’s winner RJ Hampshire took fourth, and Shane McElrath rounded out the top five. Michael Mosiman, who didn’t initially qualify but got into the field as an alternate, finished in sixth place.

As for Ferrandis, he ended up in ninth despite a DNF thanks to the number of lapped riders on the track.

250 Moto 1 Results
1. Aaron Plessinger
2. Chase Sexton
3. Justin Cooper
4. RJ Hampshire
5. Shane McElrath
6. Michael Mosiman
7. Austin Forkner
8. Colt Nichols
9. Alex Martin
10. Dylan Ferrandis
11. Jeffrey Walker
12. Hunter Sayles
13. Zac Maley
14. Taylor Strauss
15. Austin Wagner
16. Cole Zitterkopf
17. Justin Rodbell
18. Collin Rodbell
19. Carter Stephenson
20. Cale Kuchnicki
…
26. Joey Savatgy
31. Cameron McAdoo
Full Results

MOTO 1 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 1 HIGHLIGHT: PLESSINGER VS. SEXTON FOR LEAD

MOTO 2

It didn’t take long for Aaron Plessinger to get out front this time. Although RJ Hampshire got the holeshot, Plessinger got around him on the opening lap to move into the lead. Behind Plessinger was the GEICO Honda duo of Hampshire and Chase Sexton and then two of Plessinger’s Star Yamaha teammates, Colt Nichols and Dylan Ferrandis.

The running order of the top five remained unchanged throughout the first half of the moto, but then a mistake from Hampshire dropped him back to fourth and allowed Sexton and Nichols to each pick up a position.

Sexton was the next one to make a mistake. He crashed on Lap 10 — one of several crashes he had in the moto — and ended up sliding three spots back to fifth place. With Plessinger way out front and Nichols running in second, Ferrandis went after Hampshire for third place in hopes of making it an all-Yamaha podium, but a fall of his own late in the race derailed that hope.

Plessinger went on to take the checkered flag without incident, giving him his sixth overall win of the season. Five of those six overall victories have come in the form of 1-1 sweeps. He’ll also end the season having won 11 of the 24 motos and with exactly 500 points.

Nichols, Hampshire, Ferrandis and Sexton made up the rest of the top five in Moto 2, but after the race, Sexton was penalized one position for cutting a section of the track. (That moves Forkner up to fifth and Sexton down to sixth in the official results.)

Despite that penalty, GEICO Honda teammates Hampshire and Sexton both made it onto the overall podium for the second week in a row. Hampshire (4-3) landed second overall and Sexton (2-6) finished third overall. The duo went 1-2 last weekend at Budds Creek and has finished out the season on a high note. Hampshire’s recent charge allso elevated him to fourth in the final 250MX championship standings.

250 Moto 2 Results
1. Aaron Plessinger
2. Colt Nichols
3. RJ Hampshire
4. Dylan Ferrandis
5. Austin Forkner
6. Chase Sexton*
7. Justin Cooper
8. Alex Martin
9. Joey Savatgy
10. Shane McElrath
11. Michael Mosiman
12. Jordan Bailey
13. Justin Rodbell
14. Hunter Sayles
15. Austin Wagner
16. Tylor Skodras
17. Joshua Philbrick
18. Taylor Strauss
19. Maxwell Sanford
20. Ryan Blanford
Full Results

*Penalized one spot for cutting the track

MOTO 2 EXTENDED RECAP

MOTO 2 HIGHLIGHT: PLESSINGER VS. HAMPSHIRE FOR LEAD

250 OVERALL RESULTS

1. Aaron Plessinger (1-1)
2. RJ Hampshire (4-3)
3. Chase Sexton (2-6)
4. Colt Nichols (8-2)
5. Justin Cooper (3-7)
6. Austin Forkner (7-5)
7. Dylan Ferrandis (10-4)
8. Shane McElrath (5-10)
9. Michael Mosiman (6-11)
10. Alex Martin (9-9)
11. Hunter Sayles (12-14)
12. Joey Savatgy (26-8)
13. Justin Rodbell (17-13)
14. Austin Wagner (15-15)
15. Taylor Strauss (14-18)
16. Jeffrey Walker (11-39)
17. Jordan Bailey (DNQ-12)
18. Zac Maley (13-32)
19. Tylor Skodras (35-16)
20. Cole Zitterkopf (16-22)

250 FINAL POINT STANDINGS

1. Aaron Plessinger, 500
2. Alex Martin, 390
3. Justin Cooper, 352
4. RJ Hampshire, 337
5. Shane McElrath, 332
6. Chase Sexton, 324
7. Austin Forkner, 314
8. Dylan Ferrandis, 310
9. Joey Savatgy, 275
10. Jordon Smith, 259

(Story and photo from ProMotocross.com)