MMF

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.