COLUMBUS, Ohio: Daxton Bennick inherited the lead from Cole Davies as time was running off the clock. He held on for the victory to win his first race in the biggest race of his career.
Davies landed hard and broke his rear brake.
He has an opportunity to do something no one has done before and sweep all three championships in a single season. He set the tone early with the holeshot before developing a commanding lead on a muddy track before the mechanical issue. Finishing 22nd in the first moto, he now faces a steep uphill battle.
Davies led Daxton Bennick and Nate Romano, who advanced by winning the Wild Card race, in the opening laps. Romano crashed at the halfway point and handed the final podium position to Levi Kitchen.
Kitchen lost third to Caden Dudney with five minutes on the clock, but with Davies problem, he took the podium back. He moved up to second in the closing minutes after Caden Dudney crashed in the mud.
Ryder DiFrancesco rode a clean race and stayed out of trouble to take the final podium spot.
Max Vohland survived to finish fourth.
Dudney remounted his bike and rounded out the top five.
Returning from injury, Cameron McAdoo was the only other rider on the lead lap in sixth.
Two riders who were expected to contend for the SMX championship, Jo Shimoda and Julien Beaumer, got off to a round start. Beaumer crashed on the first lap and finished 16th.
Shimoda also struggled in the first half of the race and lost a lap at the halfway point. He finished 12th.
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