Hunter Lawrence and Shane McElrath stood atop the AUSX Open Melbourne podium at an dramatic night under the lights of the Marvel Stadium.
Jett Lawrence and Cooper Webb, two heavy hitters of the event, finished 1-2 at the first of three races format. Webb took the win, while Jett came from behind. But in Race 2, both riders were DNF after separate incidents. Webb sustained a whiplash that ended his night, but escaped from futher injuries.
“Just wanted to give everyone an AUS update. Won Race 1 and then had an unfortunate incident with Mossy (Matt Moss) in Race 2 and went down. Fortunately, all good just some whip lash. Appreciate all the love and hate that I didn’t get to finish the night out for the Aussie fans“. wrote Webb on his social media.
Meanwhile, Jett´s bike damaged so badly to continue racing.
“Sadly, I miscalculated that turn and ended up washing the front, and ended up having a pile-up. My bike got mangled up and I wish I was racing, but we have no spare parts… The crowd was unreal – I still get goosebumps thinking about the opening ceremony.”
With Jett and Webb sidelined, Hunter Lawrence emerged with the win as he finished 6-1-1. In the first race, Hunter came from behind after hitting the gate. Then he dominated the second race and in the third one made a last-lap pass over Dean Wilson.
Jed Beaton finished second overall (5-3-3) and third overall was Dean Wilson (10-6-2). Savatgy finished fourht overall, enough to seal the SX1 AUSX title – finishing the 2024 series with 115 points to Wilson’s 109 points, while Clout held on for third (96 points).
SX2: SHANE McELRATH CHAMPION
Shane McElrath claimed the 2024 Australian SX2 championship with another perfect 1-1-1 and a perfect season 5-0.
McElrath was unbeatable throughout the day. After posting the fastest lap time, he dominated the night’s three races. He was joined on the podium by his teammate, Canadian Cole Thompson (2-4-2) and KTM rookie Kayden Minear, who earned his first professional supercross podium after finishing (3-3-4).
