Key Highlights:

• Mental Fortitude: Chase Sexton may have been the fastest rider on twice as many laps as Cooper Webb, but Webb won the battle that mattered. Leading wire-to-wire, Webb’s average lap time edged Sexton’s by just 0.001 second.
   
  
• Late Race Surge: Tom Vialle finally found the top step of the podium, delivering a late-race charge when it mattered most. He was the fastest rider on track for three of the final four laps and now heads into the finale with the red plate. 
  
  
• Faster than Sexton: All season long the conversation has centered around Sexton’s speed, but Justin Cooper is closing that gap. After beating Sexton outright in the heat race, Cooper backed it up by setting the fastest lap of the main event by over a quarter second.
  
  
• Unfortunate Circumstances: RJ Hampshire’s Lap 99 time was nearly a full second faster than the rest of the 250 field. He also clocked the fastest lap of the race. With a better start or avoiding a tangle with a lapped rider, the outcome could have been very different.
  

  
  

450 Analysis:

It had been over 40 years since the Steel City hosted a supercross, but the 2025 Pittsburgh SX might go down as the championship’s turning point. Chase Sexton needed a win to stay alive in the title hunt, but those hopes came crashing down as Cooper Webb led wire-to-wire. Now, Webb only needs two third-place finishes to clinch the championship. Still, this title fight is far from over. Before we look ahead, let's dive into what happened in Pittsburgh.

Track Breakdown:

The track map above is fastest average. Webb may have led from start to finish, but let's not not overshadow the mental strength it took to do so. Holding off his greatest rival without a noticeably mistake at this stage of the season is remarkable. Webb has proven again this year, and throughout his career, that you do not need to be the fastest to win. The track layout highlights this perfectly, with sector ranks telling the story.

Sexton was faster overall, and Justin Cooper showed strong pace too, but where Sexton faltered, Webb excelled. Webb’s average sector rank was 3.1 compared to Sexton’s 3.3. Even though Sexton was fastest in half the sectors, Webb's consistency where it mattered made the difference.

That speed came at a cost for Sexton. When he is on, he looks unbeatable, but his mistakes are far more costly than Webb's minor bobbles.

Looking at LITPro Lap 99 consistency times, Sector 4 seemed the most challenging, but the data shows it was heavily influenced by how riders exited the split lane (S3). Realistically, Sectors 3 and 4 should be considered one long technical section. The stretch from the whoops through the split lane determined much of the lap time.

Lap Time Breakdown:

The histogram of lap times showed some clear trends. Sexton, Webb, and Cooper accounted for the first major "blip" in the chart as they logged the 15 fastest laps of the race. After that, it was a free-for-all. With wide whoops, a tricky split lane, and an awkward off-camber corner, lap times varied dramatically.

Justin Cooper posted the fastest lap of the night with a 47.73, and it was not even close. He was over a quarter-second clear of Sexton’s best effort.

We had 25 complete laps, and here’s how the fastest ones broke down:

• Sexton: 14
• Webb: 7
• Cooper: 3
• Roczen: 1

Consistency improved over the hot day time conditions last week in East Rutherford, but Pittsburgh’s technical layout still challenged everyone.

• Average consistency score: 84.4
• Median score: 85.8

450 Main Event:

We’ve kept median lap time in the mix again this week — it’s a great way to cut through the noise. Riders are sorted by fastest median lap time.

Top Performances:

Sexton and Webb’s average lap times were separated by just 0.001 seconds, with Webb slightly ahead. Looking at the median lap time, Sexton had a small 0.03-second advantage. This played out on track, with Sexton repeatedly closing in on Webb, only to make a costly mistake and drop back.

Despite this, Sexton was not riding inconsistently. He posted the second-best consistency score at 94.9, almost four points better than Webb. Sexton's mistakes are rare, but incredibly costly. Since consistency scores drop the worst two laps, this is why Sexton has such a higher score.

Webb’s lines were dialed. Throughout the night, only the raised corner tripped him up, a weakness even Ricky Carmichael pointed out on the broadcast. With just one trouble spot on the track, Webb was otherwise locked in.

LITPro 10-Lap Consistency:

As mentioned earlier, Sexton was incredibly consistent when locked in, but Malcolm Stewart had the best consistency score of the night at 96.1. Stewart had a quiet fifth-place ride, but the data shows just how smooth he was. Dean Wilson also showed progress filling in for HRC, posting the third-best consistency (92.4) and a top-10 finish.

Lap 99 Analysis:

*Lap 99 takes each riders' best segment time regardless of lap and combines them as a theoretical best lap time.

When it comes to raw speed, Sexton wins easily. His theoretical lap was a full second faster than Webb’s. For the few laps he nailed the whoops, he pulled significant time on Webb. But as we saw all night, pure speed is not enough without execution.

250 Analysis:

The 250 East series has been packed with drama all year, but Pittsburgh pushed it into full-blown chaos. And we love it. Seth Hammaker kept his championship hopes alive with a clutch ride from 17th to 5th, narrowly dodging disaster several times on the opening lap. RJ Hampshire tangled with a lapped rider but still salvaged 4th. And Tom Vialle, after a winless season, finally broke through, taking the victory and the red plate heading into the final round at Salt Lake City. It is now truly winner-take-all.

Track Breakdown:

The track map shows average fastest sector times, and Vialle's ride cannot be understated. Not only did he claim the most sectors, he averaged a sector rank of 3.1. No one else came close. Hampshire was next best at a 4.9. Many assumed the whoops were Vialle's weak point, but he ranked 4th there. It was actually Sector 5 that hurt him most, where he ranked 6th. After a hard practice crash there, it made sense he played it safe.

Nate Thrasher, meanwhile, is rounding into top form. He was dominant through the whoops and could easily play spoiler.

The same consistency errors seen in the 450 class showed up here too. Sector 4 was highly dependent on split-lane exits and, along with the whoops, defined most lap times. With nearly every rider but Thrasher jumping through the whoops, they had less of an impact than the split-lane.

Lap Time Breakdown:

Lap times were unpredictable throughout the 250 main. As often happens in this class, riders started on a relatively clean track, but as it broke down, chaos ensued. And the rougher it got, the better Vialle performed. Many of his fastest laps came late in the race.

Hampshire set the fastest lap overall with a 48.88, and had he been in the lead pack early, he could have challenged for the win.

Out of 19 timed laps, here’s how the fast laps stacked up:

• Vialle: 6
  
• Thrasher: 5
• Hammaker: 4
  
• Hampshire: 3
  
• Vohland: 1

Consistency nearly mirrors the 450s, which doesn't happen too often. 

• Average consistency score: 84.8
• Median score: 83.6

250 Main Event:

Sorted by top 5 median times.

Top Performances:

Tom Vialle was locked in all night. His average and median lap times were separated by just a tenth of a second, a far tighter margin than Thrasher or Vohland. He charged all race long and, just when it looked like he would settle for second, a late surge handed him the lead and the win.

Hammaker’s numbers tell another story. His lap times ranked 4th best for average and 5th for median, but this was while recovering from nearly dead last. With a better start, things could have looked very different for him and the title chase.

LITPro 10-Lap Consistency:

Thrasher is rounding into form at the perfect time, just out of the title hunt. Only four riders cracked the top 10 in consistency, and Thrasher led the way by a wide margin:

• Thrasher: 94.4
  
• Park: 92.7
• Miller: 92.6
  
• Simonson: 91.8

Lap 99 Analysis:

*Lap 99 takes each riders' best segment time regardless of lap and combines them as a theoretical best lap time.

Hampshire wins the theoretical race easily. Not only did he clock the fastest actual lap of the night, but his Lap 99 time was nearly a full second clear of the field. With a better start or avoiding a tangle with a lapped rider, the outcome could have been very different.