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Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment

Daytona Beach, Fla. (March 3, 2024): Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence took his third win of the season at Round 8 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship inside the Daytona International Speedway. The rain from the previous weeks made the dirt very soft, and the strong downpour before the qualifying made it arguably the most challenging Daytona Supercross track condition ever. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Eli Tomac settled for an impressive second-place finish, with his bike smoking pretty badly around half way until the end while battling with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Chase Sexton. Tomac’s winning streak of five straight wins at Daytona ended that day. 

“It felt great. I felt good all day, but like I said, we came here for business… I’m just happy to come out of here with a win. Now I only hope we can keep clicking them off. I improved on my mistakes from last weekend, so I’m pumped about that and I’m ready to go on to the next few… [This win] means the world. The first time coming here and already winning a Daytona, it’s awesome. It’s like a home race for me. I gotta thank the crowd, they’re wild.” – Jett Lawrence  

Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment

Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment

Daytona Beach, Florida (March 3, 2024): Red Bull KTM rider Tom Vialle wins his career-first supercross on a very difficult track. The former two-time Mx2 World Champion from France rode a superb race, avoiding costly mistakes that earned him his very first supercross win.

Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment

This year is Vialle’s second year in Supercross, and with a podium finish at Arlington, Texas, last weekend, he continued the momentum and today won one of the biggest, if not the biggest, supercross rounds of the series! With this big win, can he continue the momentum and be accepted as a legitimate title contender by the global Supercross fans?

Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment

Arlington, Texas (February 24, 2024): Former MX2 World Champion and Red Bull KTM rider Tom Vialle got his first career podium last weekend in his second year doing 250 supercross! His podium achievement was kind of overshadowed by the traumatic crash of Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner and the first career win of Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Danger Boy Deegan! 

Photo credit: Feld Entertainment

The 2x former MX2 World Champion from France had a bad first race during the first round of the 2024 Monster Energy supercross by Feld Entertainment when he was involved in the first turn crash pile-up, but even prior to that, he has been under the radar as one of the riders who can be a threat to the championship. That’s just normal, as he was not able to perform last year in his first year doing supercross. And during the outdoor, where everyone thought he could challenge for the outdoor title since he was the reigning Mx2 world champion, he was able to win only one race at Southwick. 

But with this podium finish, Vialle showed consistency on a very technical track. Will he get his first win in Daytona? Moreover, will he carry that momentum to win his first Supercross title? 

Arlington, Texas (February 24, 2024): Monster Energy Star Racing’s Danger Boy Deegan has done it! He has won his first career 250 Supercross and, as expected, celebrated it with a ghost ride after crossing the finish line! Deegan was in second place most of the race behind Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner until the latter made a mistake and had a massive crash that left him unable to rejoin the race.

“I am so amped right now. My first career win in Supercross, this is unreal…. Obviously, man, that’s terrible to see Austin, [he was] ripping, and to see that happen is sad, man. I wanted to fight for this with him, man. I wanted to go back and forth and bang bars this season. But it’s racing, and the pressure, you know, it gets to you… This is a very, very technical track. And I watched the heat race back and I saw Austin making several mistakes, and I was like, I mean, I made mistakes myself, but I was like, ‘If I clean up my riding and [can put on the] pressure, it’s any man’s race…’ I just had good flow around the whole track, and yeah, all I can say is: Welcome to the danger zone, baby!” – Haiden Deegan  

Photo credit: Feld Entertainment

The 18-year-old son of former pro racer turned FMX legend, Brian Deegan, honored his dad when he ghost-rode his bike after crossing the finish line. Although Brian Deegan did it as a celebration for the win years ago at the LA Coliseum, the AMA made a rule against it. True enough, there was indeed a ruling against it when Danger Boy received a written warning for violating the rider’s code of conduct. 

Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment

Arlington, Texas (February 24, 2024): Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Cooper Webb took an impressive win at Round 7 of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross season in front of 67,319 fans at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Webb had a good start in the main event, typical Webb style, where he turned a bad qualifying and heat race into a remarkable main event performance! His win is his sixth in the Dallas region, extending his record for most wins in the area. He was behind Honda’s Jett Lawrence most of the main event in second until the rookie made a mistake and handed the lead, hence the win to the two time 450 Supercross Champ. Here’s what he had to say about the race:

“Obviously I got a little bit of a handout [when Jett crashed] but man, I just kept pushing my laps [and] was trying to stay as close as I could to Jett. The track got really tough, especially over where he fell; it was really hard to get that rhythm. And I just saw him down, I’m like, ‘Oh, man.’ What a ride! I’m pumped. I gotta give it up to my team. I had a terrible day, lost a lot of confidence and they came to me and told me, excuse my French, but I’m a bad MoFo and to pull my head out of my [rear], and that’s exactly what I needed… Jett was riding incredible and, man, I just can’t believe it still. I’m in shock. Gotta give it up to this place, it’s always good to me… I might as well just buy a suite here because I love this place.” – Cooper Webb  

Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment

Arlington, Texas (Feb. 24, 2024) Monster Energy Start Racing Yamaha rider Eli Tomac came into the season with a goal to erase the memory of his tragic season-ending injury that cost him the 450 Supercross title last year. And with his caliber as a rider, everyone expected him to be the only guy who could stop the young Honda rider, Jett Lawrence! But after six rounds, he experienced a lot of struggles, like an arm pump issue and a lack of speed like before, not to mention the enormous pressure of the fans and media expecting him to be great. Even his main competitor, Jett Lawrence, when he passed Tomac in a race, mentioned in the press conference that the rider who was once in “beast mode” is not the same rider as he used to be in terms of speed. He kept receipts and is motivated more than ever to silence his critics. 

“I was trying my heart out out there. I made such a frustrating mistake over-jumping the triple there [early in the race]. I just tucked my front end and lost my hand off the grip. I’m sick of people calling me the old guy, so I’m just warming up, I’m getting better, I’m coming, so I’m ready to get going. Yeah, second will do for tonight.” – Eli Tomac  

Glendale Arizona (February 11, 2024) Honda USA Racing rider Jett Lawrence reclaims the overall points lead in the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross 450 class organized by Feld Entertainment. It was a highly anticipated duel between him and Red Bull KTM defending 450 champion Chase Sexton, as they are separated only by one point heading into this round. But the battle didn’t materialize, as the reigning champion was found to be nursing an arm injury sustained during practice last week.

During the main event, Jett Lawrence didn’t have the best of starts, where veteran riders’ Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki’s Ken Roczen, Monster Energy Kawasaki Jason Anderson, and Monster Energy Star Yamaha’s Eli Tomac were up in the top three positions early on during the race. The young rookie set an incredible pace, passing riders—even his older brother and teammate Hunter—until he found himself behind Eli Tomac!

He crawled his way behind Eli’s rear wheel, and the crowd was in anticipation of the battle between the vet and the rookie. Jett said in the post-race conference what was going on in his mind getting behind a Supercross icon like Eli: “It was cool to kinda follow him cause like a…obviously nowadays it’s not like the exact same as the beast as he used to be…but it’s still Eli Tomac.” You can sense the respect that Jett has for Eli. Then eventually it didn’t take long when he passed him and secured the last place on the podium and enough points to hold on to the red plate heading into the next round.

Will Jett take full control of the championship from now on? Did we just witness the changing of the guard when Jett passed Eli? Only time will tell.

Photo Credit: Shela Mangosong Photography

Salcedo, Ilocos Sur, Feb. 11–12, 2024: Reigning Philippine National Motocross Champion, Rhowell “Bornok” Mangosong, dominated both the Pro Lites and Pro Open Class in the Salcedo, Ilocos Sur Invitational Race with a perfect 1-1-1-1 win.

Mangosong bested riders like multi-titled veteran riders Glenn Aguilar and his son Mclean, the Ramento brothers’ Ralph and Christian, Jerick Mitra, Juven Lagrada, and Ompong Gabriel.

The highlight of his performance was during the final moto of the premiere pro open class that the current Philippine’s number one rider showed why he still is the best rider in the country when he started from behind the pack after crashing in the starts to pass all the riders despite the very dry race track conditions that made them race blind from the dust.

This is the third time Mangosong came from dead last and passed all the riders for the win. With this performance, Bornok Mangosong sealed himself as one of the greats in Philippine MX history. 

The old Chase is gone, and the new Sexton is here.

Red Bull KTM rider Chase Sexton is the first back-to-back Red Plate holder this season. He looked calm and calculated, which is a sign of maturity for the reigning Monster Energy AMA 450 Supercross Champion. Speed has never been an issue for Chase, as he has the ability to just go fast—actually faster than most of his competitors—but he also crashes a lot.

This year, Chase seems to have a renewed mindset. We’ve seen how he allowed Honda HRC rider Jett Lawrence to pass him in one of the Anaheim 2 races and rode within his capacity. And we also know that in that race, Jett pushed beyond the limits, which resulted in a crash, hence dropping positions and the possible podium finish and points lead. Of course, Jett is the rookie, and that was Chase’s position in the past.

This season, Chase Sexton seems to be in it for the long haul. He doesn’t appear to get out of control, up to the point of making a mistake and crashing. He is more consistent now than ever. Is it the new bike? Is it the new team setting? He was pretty vocal about the process of getting to know and learn more about the new bike and that he is still not 100% gelling with it. But they are working hard to figure out the right feel and setting; he wants to be confidently fast.

Can Chase Sexton back up his controversial 2023 450 Supercross title with another championship this year? Only time will tell.

Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment

Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment

Detroit, Michigan: Progressive Suzuki Ecstar rider Ken Roczen landed the podium, passing riders and climbing up to third position in Round 5 of the 2024 Monster Energy 450 Supercross.

His speed this year is next level compared to last year. Entering the new season healthy, rested, and having won back-to-back Supercross championships overseas, he seems to have been rejuvenated and ready for battle this year. He had some really interesting projects as well with Red Bull when he and Carson Brown battled on board an old RM 85cc and 125cc! How cool is that?

Roczen, being a veteran of the sport now and having been training and racing at the highest level for more than a decade, can cause burnout. The drive and motivation after doing something in repetition for so long can cause this, and as a result, just do it not for the wins anymore but for the money. But that’s not the case for Ken Roczen this year. He’s been fast. If not for the crash in San Diego, he could have landed the podium and, moreover, gotten the win as he was leading and had a comfortable gap over the winner, Aaron Plessinger.

The question now is: in which round will Ken Roczen win this year? Only time will tell.