Norris Finally.
Hunter Doubles Down.

First Win of 2026. Piastri Watches It Go.

Lando Norris took pole by 0.012 seconds over Lewis Hamilton, then lost the lead to his own teammate at Turn 2 when Oscar Piastri cut back through on the opening lap. Grid penalties for Antonelli (impeding Piastri in qualifying) and Hamilton (yellow flag failure) had already reshuffled the front rows, and Russell's anti-stall dropped him from sixth to twenty first before he'd even reached Turn 1. From the outside it looked like a McLaren procession. From the inside it turned on strategy.

Norris ran long on his opening medium stint, undercut Piastri at the second round of stops on Lap 39, and never gave the lead back. Piastri's afternoon then fell apart properly: he tangled with Carlos Sainz at Turn 2 later on the same lap (Sainz took a five second penalty for the contact), then a gearbox problem ended his race on Lap 55 while chasing Norris for the win. Max Verstappen ran a clean medium to hard to soft strategy and picked up his second podium in a row.

Antonelli held third from grid penalty to flag despite a conservative two-stop medium to hard to hard plan, and questioned the call on the radio when the VSC around Piastri's stopped car briefly threatened his position. Leclerc and Hamilton both ran three-stop strategies; Hamilton picked up a five second pit lane speeding penalty late in the race that demoted him behind Leclerc. Russell's recovery from twenty first to seventh was the drive of the day nobody talked about. Antonelli's championship lead grows to fifty points with eleven rounds still to run.

Fastest lap of the race: Leclerc, 1:22.000 on Lap 58 (Ferrari, hard compound). Verstappen was the only front-runner on the aggressive two-stop; Antonelli's cautious two-stop cost him time but held position through the VSC.

Drivers' Championship, After Round 11

Hunter Wins the Weekend. Jett Loses the Plate.

Jett Lawrence looked untouchable in Moto 1. He set the fastest lap of the day at 2:14.679 and beat his brother by 7.212 seconds, with Jorge Prado a distant third at plus 51 seconds and Deegan a further 22 seconds back. If the weekend had ended there, the red plate would have stayed his by 32 points.

Moto 2 undid it. Jett was working his way to the front when he drew a one-position penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, then crashed while fighting for the lead. Hunter capitalized in the exact way he needed to, winning the moto by 18.422 seconds over Deegan (who charged from a mediocre first moto to second) with Jett recovering to third. Notably, Jett still set the fastest lap of Moto 2 at 2:14.576, seven tenths quicker than Hunter's winning lap. Speed was never the issue this weekend. Hunter takes the overall on a 2-1 to Jett's 1-3, and the red plate flips back for a third change in four rounds.

450MX Championship, After Round 8

Davies Sweeps. Points Gap Down to Five.

Two weeks after crashing to 38th at Spring Creek with a damaged fuel tank, Cole Davies laid down a perfect 1-1 at Washougal. Moto 1 he won by 17.107 seconds over Ryder DiFrancesco. Moto 2 he won by 10.759 seconds over the same rider. Fastest lap of both motos too: 2:17.624 in the opener, 2:17.352 in the second. No traffic, no drama, no mistakes.

DiFrancesco's back-to-back seconds gave him second overall for the day, his best of the season. Chance Hymas took third with a 3-3, and Carson Mumford was quietly consistent at 5-4. Julien Beaumer improved on the day (8-5) but a rough opening moto cost him. Points leader Levi Kitchen had a subdued day in front of the West Coast home crowd, going 6-6 for 30 points. Davies gained 20 on him in a single afternoon.

At the top of the standings the story has flipped completely. Two rounds ago Kitchen led Davies by 25 points and looked set to convert the crown into a comfortable coast to the finish. Now Davies is five points back with three rounds to run. The 250 title is officially open again.

250MX Championship, After Round 8