What Really Happened in Glendale?
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Jett Lawrence was +0.1 seconds per lap faster than Cooper Webb and Ken Roczen, the eventual winners of both Race 1 and Race 2 at the Glendale Triple Crown.
The gap Webb and Roczen put on Jett at the start of each race, however, was too much to overcome.
Lawrence vs. Winner: Glendale SX Lap by Lap

In the first two 450 Races, the winner took the holeshot, while eventual second place, J. Lawrence, was 4th and 3rd off the line, respectively.
Top 5 starting position! You’ll take it, right? Not when you have 40% less time to work with vs. a traditional main event. Individual TC Races are only 12 minutes + 1 Lap and J. Lawrence simply didn’t have enough time to challenge for the win, despite being faster than both winners.

In fact, Roczen (Race 2 winner), didn’t even have the second fastest average lap time. Roczen only clocked the 4th best average lap time. In a sprint race, the start is everything.
450 Race 2: Starting Position vs. Lap Time Difference
Race 3 was an example of what happens when the fastest riders on the track get a good start. Eli Tomac and Chase Sexton ran top 3 by the end of lap 1 and they gapped the rest of the field.
Undisputed Whoop King
Ken Roczen has been FAST in the whoops this year, but he left Glendale the undisputed whoop king. Out of the 39 recored Race laps, Roczen set the fastest time in the whoops segment 30 times! He was 2nd or 3rd fastest an additional 7 times.
Clearing that quad leading into the whoops made a huge difference for entry speed. On average, Roczen was 0.4 seconds faster than the next best rider.
Roczen Whoop Speed

Mosiman was the fastest rider in the whoops for the 250 class, clocking times 0.3 seconds quicker than the next-best competitor. Out of 33 recorded race laps, he was fastest in the whoops 19 times, and inside the top three an additional 9 times. He was never worse than 7th. But he struggled making time around the rest of the track.
Yamaha 250 riders dominated the whoops, with four of the top five fastest whoop times belonging to Mosiman, Davies, Schock, and Deegan.
Beaumer Narrowly Avoids Total Disaster
Julien Beaumer, the 250SX West points leader, threw away two holeshots with early first lap falls. In TC Race 3, he was 8th off the start.

Despite that mediocre start, Beaumer was clearly the fastest rider, closing a massive gap down to just 1.7 seconds. But with just 10 minutes to work with, time ran out before he could make a move for the win.
Beaumer vs. Smith: Lap by Lap in Race 3

Beaumer had an opportunity to sweep the Triple Crown, extend his points lead, and gain momentum heading into the break. He kept the red plate but his points advantage shrunk from 7 to 2. He had the speed, but mistakes cost him big.
Holeshots matter. Minimizing mistakes matters. The fastest rider on the track isn’t always the one taking the checkered flag.