Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California serves as round two of the SuperMotocross World Championship. Eli Tomac and Max Anstie lead the way after an exciting season opener in Anaheim but it’s still anyone’s race. Here’s what’s going on from the ground level at round two.
After two exciting main events, Eli Tomac and Haiden Deegan captured wins and stood atop their respective podiums.
MAIN EVENT
It’s two for two now for the number-three as Eli Tomac once again tops the 450SMX main event. The Red Bull KTM rider grabbed the win here in San Diego to further extend his points lead.
The 450SX main event was one for the ages as Tomac stalked Ken Roczen and Hunter Lawrence in the opening laps. He planned out his attack carefully and pounced in the second half of the race when he passed Roczen for the lead. A short battle ensued but Tomac held a small advantage over both riders with suspense growing as the race entered the final lap. The points leader fended off a last lap attack from Lawrence and scored his 55th career win by just over a second. Tomac now holds an eight point advantage over Ken Roczen.
“Me and Ken [Roczen] had an unbelievable battle there and once we got into the lead I felt like I was in a really good groove,” Tomac said. “Towards the end there I was not paying attention and just looking at my front fender, I didn’t know Hunter [Lawrence] was there [because] I was so focused on marking Kenny around the track. Over the tunnel on the last lap I heard Hunter revving his bike and was shocked he was right there. I feel fortunate I held onto the lead there. I guess I need better self-awareness next time. That was close.”
Hunter Lawrence was close indeed as the Honda HRC Progressive rider crossed the line in second behind Tomac. The older Lawrence brother looked spunky off the start as he grabbed the holeshot and led the first seven laps ahead of both Roczen and Tomac. He was quickly shuffled from first to third as the veterans made their way around but Lawrence fought back to reclaim second from Roczen. The moment of the race for the 96 machine came as he made a big push on the final lap and nearly forced a pass on Tomac down the start straight. He showed serious restraint and backed out at the last minute to preserve the race for both riders. A second in San Diego matches his best career Supercross finish (Denver 2024).
“I think I shot my shot too fast on the last lap and thought I’d dive bomb into the corner, but at the last minute I thought it was going to be a really dirty move if I followed through, so I backed out of it,” Lawrence said.
A second place against the world’s best is nothing to hang your head at and Lawrence now jumps to third in the 450SMX points, just 10 back from Tomac. “It’s bittersweet when you’re so close,” Lawrence said. “I wanted to be there with those guys last week so we worked really hard this week and made some progress, which is always rewarding.”
Ken Roczen landed on the podium for the second time in as many rounds. The Progressive Ecstar Suzuki rider is arguably the best in the opening sprint laps and San Diego was no different as he went toe-to-toe with Hunter Lawrence. Roczen eventually passed for the top spot and looked to make a break for it as he led a big chunk of laps in the middle of the race. He also got shuffled around as both Tomac and Lawrence repassed and pushed Roczen back to third. He showed consistency and stayed close to the leaders for another solid podium. Roczen’s successive podiums in the first two rounds are his since 2019 and he now sits eight points back from Tomac in second.
“Me and Eli [Tomac] went back and forth a couple times and then in the middle of the race I just had a couple laps where I was all over the place and fell off the back a bit and got passed,” Roczen said. “I tried to just settle back in and at least stay close to those guys. We have 17 rounds and it can swap around real quick, so being on the podium is really good. We want to win, but at the same time we can’t be mad at a podium.”
Chase Sexton charged all the way back up to fourth after hitting the start gate and rounding turn one in last place. He put an aggressive pass on Cooper Webb which saw Webb hit the deck and finish outside the top five.
“I feel like I had good speed for about 15 minutes of it [the main event] and then I fell off a little bit,” Sexton said. “I had to put in a big effort to go from last to fourth.”
Joey Savatgy ran fourth for most of the main event but was eventually passed by Sexton and rounded out the top five. “Pumped to leave SD with a top five finish,” Savatgy said. “Let’s keep the momentum rolling.”
Justin Cooper finished sixth ahead of Aaron Plessinger, Cooper Webb, Dylan Ferrandis, and Malcolm Stewart.
450SMX MAIN EVENT RESULTS (Overall Top 10)
| 1. | Eli Tomac | (KTM) | 24 Laps |
| 2. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 1.307 |
| 3. | Ken Roczen | (Suz) | 2.924 |
| 4. | Chase Sexton | (Kaw) | 18.351 |
| 5. | Joey Savatgy | (Hon) | 20.096 |
| 6. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 22.456 |
| 7. | Aaron Plessinger | (KTM) | 24.420 |
| 8. | Cooper Webb | (Yam) | 32.631 |
| 9. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Duc) | 41.640 |
| 10. | Malcolm Stewart | (Hus) | 43.403 |
250SMX Main Event
Haiden Deegan got back to his winning ways as he aims to defend the 250SMX West crown. After a fourth place finish last weekend at round one, Deegan looked much more up to speed with the fastest qualifying lap, a heat race win, and later a win in the main event. It didn’t come without controversy though as Deegan’s pass for the lead put teammate Max Anstie on the ground.
“Sorry to Max [Anstie], I didn’t really want it to go that way,” Deegan said. “I tried to cut down so he wouldn’t cut down and we came together.”
With Anstie out of the way, both figuratively and literally, Deegan easily managed the race from the front and cruised away to a win of more than seven seconds. With the win he also takes over the 250 points lead by one over Anstie.
“I locked in and worked harder than I ever have this off season and to not show it at round one hurt,” Deegan said. “I came out swinging this weekend and it went well.”
Cameron McAdoo held on for second in the 250 main event, his first SMX podium in nearly a year. The Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider found himself under fire for the entire race, first from Chance Hymas and later from Michael Mosiman. McAdoo held tough though as he fought off attacks from both riders and proved to be the second-best racer on the night. This marks a big improvement for McAdoo after finishing 22nd last weekend at the season opener. He’s now tied for fifth in all-time 250 podiums with 24.
“I had something to prove,” McAdoo said. “I was really just trying to race forward….This is one position behind what I wanted to do tonight. I know I’m capable of always being on the box, and I expect myself to stay up here moving forward.”
Michael Mosiman narrowly scored a podium finish in third. He started outside the top five but slowly worked his way towards the front and put himself in the battle for a podium position. Mosiman eventually found himself in the mix with Hymas and McAdoo and benefitted most from Hymas’ costly mistake. This bumped Mosiman to third as he continued to pressure McAdoo for the second spot. The two finished less than a second apart with fourth place Kitchen nipping at their heels. Mosiman’s consistency is paying off already as he’s fourth in the series points, one point out of third.
“We’ve been putting in the work, and it’s been a long road,” said Mosiman. “Just to be able to hang in there the whole moto, to be right there and end up on the podium. To be able to push the pace feels really great.”
Levi Kitchen fell in the first turn for the second week in a row but clawed his way up to fourth at the line, less than a second behind Mosiman and McAdoo.
“I had a really good start, but I clipped a tough block in the first turn and fell,” Kitchen said. “I was able to move my way from last to fourth. I finished two spots higher than last week, from starting last, but I need to stop starting last.”
Max Anstie recovered from his incident with Deegan to salvage fifth place at the checkers. He’s now second in the points, one marker behind Deegan.
“Obviously I know who I’m racing,” Anstie said. “I wasn’t planning on putting up much of a fight there…and I wasn’t expecting the brake slide into it. I’ll go back and work on it.”
Chance Hymas finished sixth after saving a scary endo moment while running third. He held off Ryder DiFrancesco, Max Vohland, Dilan Schwartz and Anthony Bourdon to round out the top 10.
250SMX MAIN EVENT (Overall Top 10)
| 1. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 18 Laps |
| 2. | Cameron McAdoo | (Kaw) | 7.685 |
| 3. | Michael Mosiman | (Yam) | 8.240 |
| 4. | Levi Kitchen | (Kaw) | 8.637 |
| 5. | Max Anstie | (Yam) | 14.734 |
| 6. | Chance Hymas | (Hon) | 21.431 |
| 7. | Ryder Difrancesco | (Hus) | 33.378 |
| 8. | Max Vohland | (Yam) | 34.810 |
| 9. | Dilan Schwartz | (Yam) | 45.854 |
| 10. | Anthony Bourdon | (Kaw) | 47.993 |
HEAT RACES
QUALIFYING SESSION 2
Eli Tomac is on a tear. The round one winner now enters San Diego with the red plate and looked ever so comfortable as he posted the fastest lap of the day in the second 450 qualifying session. Tomac said traction is better here than at round one and he is gelling with the KTM once again. Jorge Prado made it a Red Bull KTM 1-2 after he posted the second best time. The Spanish rider threw down a fast lap late in the second session and was only three-tenths back from Tomac. Ken Roczen looked fast as always in third overall, narrowly behind Prado.
Worth noting there were two red flags thrown during the second qualifying session as both Mitchell Oldenburg and Austin Forkner hit the deck. Oldenburg suffered a broken arm which means both Factory Beta riders are out with arm injuries within the first two rounds. No word on Forkner’s injury but it’s enough to keep him out for the night’s racing.
450SMX Q2 QUALIFYING RESULTS (Overall Top 10)
| 1. | Eli Tomac | (KTM) | 52.182 |
| 2. | Jorge Prado | (KTM) | 52.417 |
| 3. | Ken Roczen | (Suz) | 52.426 |
| 4. | Hunter Lawrence | (Hon) | 52.480 |
| 5. | Justin Cooper | (Yam) | 52.497 |
| 6. | Chase Sexton | (Kaw) | 52.605 |
| 7. | RJ Hampshire | (Hus) | 52.913 |
| 8. | Cooper Webb | (Yam) | 52.979 |
| 9. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Duc) | 52.990 |
| 10. | Jason Anderson | (Suz) | 53.019 |
250SMX
Haiden Deegan fired back in the second session with a fast time that ultimately put him on top for the overall fastest 250 rider. Deegan was the only 250 rider who unlocked two fast triple lines and used those to his advantage. He’ll go to the gate first to start the night. Levi Kitchen traded fast laps with Deegan and narrowly qualified second. He hit the deck hard at the end of the second session but remounted and finished out the time. Kitchen was the only other rider on the 52-second mark, just 0.05 back from Deegan. Ryder Difrancesco had the fastest time early on in the session but clocked third overall at the checkers, just a few tenths off the leaders. Chance Hymas and Max Anstie rounded out the top five times.
250SMX Q2 QUALIFYING RESULTS (Overall Top 10)
| 1. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 52.927 |
| 2. | Levi Kitchen | (Kaw) | 52.979 |
| 3. | Ryder Difrancesco | (Hus) | 53.011 |
| 4. | Chance Hymas | (Hon) | 53.759 |
| 5. | Max Anstie | (Yam) | 53.772 |
| 6. | Max Vohland | (Yam) | 53.890 |
| 7. | Michael Mosiman | (Yam) | 54.363 |
| 8. | Hunter Yoder | (Yam) | 54.415 |
| 9. | Cameron McAdoo | (Kaw) | 54.422 |
| 10. | Carson Mumford | (KTM) | 54.664 |
QUALIFYING SESSION 1
Eli Tomac is on a tear. The round one winner now enters San Diego with the red plate and looked ever so comfortable as he jumped to the top of the times. If this is any indication for the night show, the competition should be on high alert. The rest of the times are still under review after technical difficulties for timing and scoring.
250SMX
The top 250SMX riders traded fast lap times for the entire first qualifier. Levi Kitchen ended with the fastest lap time late in the session, four-tenths quicker than anyone on track. Haiden Deegan used a tricky wheel tap line through the whoops to take second and sat atop the leaderboard for most of the sesh. Ryder Difrancesco was third in Q1 with Max Vohland and Chance Hymas rounding out the top five.
250SMX Q1 QUALIFYING RESULTS (Top 10)
| 1. | Levi Kitchen | (Kaw) | 53.647 |
| 2. | Haiden Deegan | (Yam) | 54.011 |
| 3. | Ryder Difrancesco | (Hus) | 54.418 |
| 4. | Chance Hymas | (Hon) | 55.022 |
| 5. | Max Vohland | (Yam) | 55.042 |
| 6. | Michael Mosiman | (Yam) | 55.203 |
| 7. | Max Anstie | (Yam) | 55.677 |
| 8. | Dilan Schwartz | (Yam) | 55.844 |
| 9. | Carson Mumford | (KTM) | 56.199 |
| 10. | Hunter Yoder | (Yam) | 56.224 |
Press Day Video
