Shiny New Season

As exciting as the action was last week at the 250SX West Region Triple Crown, you’d have to be crazy to not be amped for the beginning of a new season out east. Yeah, we’ve had some injuries thin the field recently, but there are still plenty of ultra-fast riders ready to go, and there are plenty of question marks swirling around how they’re going to stack up. No matter what happens in Houston, it sure is going to be fun to see what initial trajectory the 250SX East class takes when guys like Tom Vialle, Hunter Lawrence, Nate Thrasher, Michael Mosiman, Jeremy Martin, Jordon Smith, and more, shoot out of the gate. -Aaron Hansel

The Rookie Champion

It’s not every day you can refer to a world champion as a rookie, but when 2022 MX2 FIM Motocross World Champion Tom Vialle lines up this Saturday night it’ll mark his first foray into Monster Energy AMA Supercross. The man definitely has some serious skill—he wouldn’t be world champ if he didn’t—but supercross is a different world, and we’ve often seen European riders struggle with the initial learning curve. Then again, we’ve seen a few of them absolutely dominate! Will Vialle fall into either of those categories, or will he have a quiet, unremarkable night? -Hansel

The Veteran

When the gate drops in Houston it’ll mark Jordon Smith’s first race with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, although he’s been racing pro supercross since 2015. There’s a reason he’s with a factory team too—he’s fast! Unfortunately, in the past durability has always seemed to be an issue with him. He’s definitely got the equipment to win this year though, so if he can avoid those small crashes and injuries that have haunted him in the past it won’t be a surprise to see some very strong finishes from him. -Hansel

Reloaded

Michael Mosiman has been getting better and better each season, but unfortunately hasn’t quite figured out the whole, staying off the ground thing. Several times last year we saw the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas rider exhibit tremendous speed, only to take himself out of the game with mistakes. This isn’t something that’s lost on him, and you can bet he’s coming into 2023 intent on eliminating that part of his racing. Will we see a refined, in-control Mosiman in Houston? -Hansel

The Favorite

Hunter Lawrence might not be every single person’s pick to win this season, but if you were to conduct a poll, you’d probably find he’d own the majority. That should come as no surprise either—he’s been awesome in past seasons and he was in the title fight late in the season last year with Christian Craig. Well, with Craig now in the 450SX ranks, who’s going to get in Lawrence’s way? We’ll see if he takes a step toward making this his season in Houston, or if someone else gets in his way. -Hansel

Bouncing Back

We’re not talking about the way Eli Tomac bounced off the dirt last week here, we’re talking about how he’ll regroup in Houston. For the first time all season, and for a long time, actually, we saw Tomac have a big crash that you can bet gave his team manager, Jeremy Coker, quite a scare. Thankfully Tomac was able to remount and going again, but he seemed shaken and never regained his previous pace. The end result was a 13th in the third Triple Crown race and sixth overall. He did retain the points lead, however, by five points over Chase Sexton. Will Tomac get back to his winning ways in Houston, or will he still be feeling the effects of last week’s get-off? -Hansel

Newest Winner

Is anyone getting the feeling Sexton is about to start winning in the 450SX class with regularity? There’s no denying he found another gear in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship last year, and there’s no way the gains he made outdoors haven’t filtered into his supercross game. It showed in Anaheim too, where he won two of three Triple Crown races to win the overall, to notch his first win of 2023. He did it on a track that was causing all kinds of mistakes to just about everyone out there, too. Is this the point when Sexton starts clicking ‘em off? -Hansel 

Late Race Webb

Not as good a race for Cooper Webb at Anaheim 2’s Triple Crown as it was in the first two races of the year. Webb got bad starts, and he didn’t have the speed early in the third race once he did finally start up front. But then, magically, but also as usual, he was there closing on Sexton at the end of the third main event. What gives? Webb is usually up to his best work late in the race when a track is rough, and the Triple Crown format doesn’t lend itself to that. So, does the podium-bound Webb return with the traditional 20+ 2 format this weekend? –Jason Weigandt

The Other Guy

Webb, Tomac, Sexton, Justin Barcia, Ken Roczen, and Jason Anderson can all boast podiums this year. Dylan Ferrandis has been justthisclose to the battle several times, playing the role as just behind those top guys, but better than everyone else. His 4-6-5 finishes reflect that. Can Ferrandis find that extra one percent and get on the podium? As usual with him, a start would help. - Weigandt

Roczen now Rockin’

Ken Roczen’s results were fine at the first two races, with 5-4 scores. He just didn’t have that usual early-race and early-season sizzle we’re used to seeing, which is understandable since he’s adjusting to a late switch to Suzuki. Plus, this is an all-new level for his Progressive Insurance ECSTAR Suzuki team. At Anaheim 2 he looked more comfortable and was able to get right into the fight at the sharp end of the field. Does Roczen have even more improvements ahead? Can he make the Suzuki a winner? It might not take long to see it happen. -Weigandt