Jett Lawrence continues his march toward perfection in his rookie year in the 450X class of the 2023 AMA Pro Motocross National Championship Series. He has won all 10 motos this year, and shows no signs of being stopped going into The Wick 338 for the Southwick National. Last week offered up the return of two top-shelf riders (Chase Sexton and Jason Anderson) and the loss of a top-five mainstay (Cooper Webb), so let’s get into some RMFantasyMX.com motocross fantasy tips we can give you for the race on this classic sand track in Massachusetts.
- Jett Lawrence for the win, again. No explanation is needed. He’s undefeated after five races.
- In his return to the Nationals at RedBud, Chase Sexton looked strong. A tip-over in the second moto cost Sexton a shot at P2 overall, and this was his first race since the opener. Given that, it’s likely that Sexton will safely slot into P2 overall at The Wick 338.
- Dylan Ferrandis is the class of the rest of the field, so he’s the P3 choice. Ferrandis has more podiums than anyone other than Lawrence, and he has five overall top-fives in 2023. He still doesn’t look completely comfortable on his bike this year, so don’t expect him to beat Lawrence or Sexton, though he should be a safe bet to best everyone else.
- Aaron Plessinger almost always finds a way into the top five. Although Plessinger has only one overall podium, he does have four top-five finishes. He was nowhere near the podium as he went 4-4 at RedBud, so P4 it is for Plessinger at Southwick.
- There should be a nice battle for P5 between factory teammates Adam Cianciarulo and Jason Anderson against independent racers Ty Masterpool and Garrett Marchbanks. Try as they might, neither Masterpool nor Marchbanks has nailed down an overall top-five. Cianciarulo has three top fives overall to his credit, while Anderson finished in P5 last week—his first National of the season. Anderson’s comeback performance at RedBud is enough to convince me that he’ll find his way to the top five again, though Anderson doesn’t seem ready for anything above P5 yet.
- The Wild Card is P11, so it’s not going to be easy. No rider has finished in P11 overall twice this year, and there are probably a dozen potential P11 finishers for Southwick. To help you out, here’s a list of riders with P11 moto finishes: Ryan Surratt, Lorenzo Locurcio, Marshall Weltin, Grant Harlan, José Butron, and Luca Marsalisi. Of that group, Locurcio has finished motos in P11 three times in 2023. Locurcio’s teammate Butron went 11-10 last week at RedBud. This isn’t an easy one, but I’m going with Butron.
- My faith in Adam Cianciarulo’s progress cost me last week. If I hadn’t trusted Cianciarulo to finish in P2—he finished P10 overall—I’d have had the top four in a row last week. But, that’s not what happened, so I had a middling week, and it was a double-points week. At least I’m still in the top half of the RMFantasyMX players. Ultimate Motorcycling Associate Editor Kelly Callan keeps her strong run going—she is 131st out of over 34,000 players. That’s impressive, but we can’t get her to write this column, so you’re stuck with me.
- Check out our 2023 Pro Motocross Television Schedule for viewing options. As always, the qualifying and racing are streamed live on Peacock.
Photography by Align Media and Ryne Swanberg
2023 Southwick National Motocross Fantasy Picks
- Jett Lawrence
- Chase Sexton
- Dylan Ferrandis
- Aaron Plessinger
- Jason Anderson
Wild Card P11: José Butron
2023 AMA Pro Motocross National Championship Series Standings (after 5 of 11 rounds)
- Jett Lawrence, Honda, 250 points (5 overall wins; 5 overall podiums; 5 overall top 5s)
- Dylan Ferrandis, Yamaha, 193 (3P, 5 T5)
- Aaron Plessinger, KTM, 174 (1P, 4 T5)
- Adam Cianciarulo, Kawasaki, 149 (1P, 3 T5)
- Cooper Webb, KTM, 147 (2 P, 4 T5)
- Fredrik Norén, Suzuki, 108
- Ty Masterpool, Kawasaki, 107
- Lorenzo Locurcio, GasGas, 98
- Garrett Marchbanks, Yamaha, 91
- Chase Sexton, Honda, 86 (2P, 2 T5)
- Derek Drake, Suzuki, 84
- Grant Harlan, Yamaha, 78
- Romaine Pape, GasGas, 71
- José Butron, GasGas, 71
- Jerry Robin, Yamaha, 53
- Kyle Chisholm, Suzuki, 41
- Ken Roczen, Suzuki, 36 (1P, 1 T5)
- Jeremy Hand, Honda, 34
- Ryan Surratt, Honda, 33
- Phil Nicoletti, Yamaha, 32
- Marshal Weltin, Suzuki, 32
- Luca Marsalisi, Yamaha, 31
- Jason Anderson, Kawasaki, 30 (1 T5)
- Jace Kessler, Honda, 24
- Brandon Ray, Honda, 23
- Kaeden Amerine, Kawasaki, 18
- Bryce Shelly, KTM, 16
- Dante Oliveira, KTM, 15
- Chandler Baker, Kawasaki, 15
- Max Miller, KTM, 13
- Christopher Prebula, KTM, 12
- Tyler Stepek, Honda, 11
- Lars van Berkel, Honda, 10
- Brandon Scharer, KTM, 7
- RJ Wageman, Yamaha, 5
- Trevor Schmidt, KTM, 4
- Jacob Runkles, GasGas, 4
- Bryce Hammond, Honda, 3
- Dominique Thury, Yamaha, 3
- Cody Groves, GasGas, 3
- Scott Meshey, Husqvarna, 3
- Izaih Clark, Honda, 2
- Jeffrey Walker, KTM, 1
- Bryton Carroll, Yamaha, 1
- Sebastian Balbuena, Yamaha, 1
- Richard Taylor, Yamaha, 1
