250SX West Refresher
When the 250SX West Region left off at Anaheim 2, Jett Lawrence had his first real off-night of the season, experiencing plenty of troubles in the Triple Crown format. He still managed a second overall though, with Levi Kitchen notching the first supercross win of his career. Stilez Robertson rounded out the podium in third. We know Lawrence is going to be strong this weekend, but who else will be in the hunt? -Aaron Hansel
Regroup and Rebound
RJ Hampshire was great at the first two rounds, and if not for Lawrence, Hampshire would have a pair of wins to his credit in 2023. He faltered at Anaheim 2 when he crashed huge after winning the first race, but he somehow toughed it out to come back and salvage a few spots in the third race. He now sits third in points, just a single point behind Cameron McAdoo. With a few weeks off to recover from his big crash, will Hampshire return to the podium in Oakland? -Hansel
Podium for Plessinger
How about Aaron Plessinger lately? He was all over Tomac early in Houston, and rode great in Tampa to land on the box for the first time in 2023. His fourth and third at the last two races are a big improvement over the eighth, ninth, and seventh he started the season with. Has Plessinger found something? Stay tuned to see if he keeps things rolling in Oakland. -Hansel
Back up Top
If we didn’t know Cooper Webb is able to produce top-shelf rides seemingly out of nowhere, his win last week in Tampa would make almost no sense whatsoever. Not that he’s been riding badly in 2023, but he also hasn’t really had the pace of the leaders, either. He wasn’t even on the podium at the previous two races! But in Tampa he was all over Chase Sexton, lap after lap, as the two completely gapped the field. Just like that, Webb is back in the winner’s circle and now sits in third, just two points back of Sexton and only four points behind championship leader Eli Tomac. With Webb reasserting himself into the championship picture, Oakland should be wild! -Hansel
Off the Box
As captivating as Webb’s win was, Tomac’s fifth place was equally as intriguing. Tomac was hands down the top dog at the first two rounds, and rebounded from a tough Triple Crown in Anaheim to win in Houston, despite a supremely strong performance from Sexton. But in Tampa he just didn’t seem like he had his normal speed. Was the champ just having an off-night? Was he struggling with the slick, wet track and decide a fifth place was better than pushing it and crashing? We’ll see how Tomac does in Oakland after a, “meh,” night in Tampa. -Hansel
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Chase Sexton | La Moille, IL  | 372 |
| 2 |  Eli Tomac | Cortez, CO | 339 |
| 3 |  Cooper Webb | Newport, NC | 304 |
| 4 |  Ken Roczen | Mattstedt, Germany  | 304 |
| 5 |  Justin Barcia | Monroe, NY | 267 |
Hazard Avoidance
Jason Anderson’s season so far has been interesting. He’s been fast, but largely doesn’t have much to show for it, except for a pair of podiums in Anaheim and Houston. Other than those two races, he hasn’t even been in the top five. The trend continued in Tampa too, with Anderson nearly qualifying fastest and going on to win his heat race. But in the main he got into Justin Barcia and crashed, eventually finishing sixth. As a result, he sits in fourth and is already 20 points behind Tomac. If he’s going to stay relevant in this championship he needs to avoid trouble and snag a podium, possibly even a win, in Oakland. -Hansel
Related: AMA places Anderson on probation following run in with Barcia at Tampa SX
Runner-Up. Again.
Chase Sexton had to be absolutely devasted after throwing away the win in Tampa. The Honda HRC rider was in firm control of the 450SX main, and led 21 laps before crashing all by himself in the whoops, handing the win to Webb. Fortunately for Sexton he still took second, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that’s any consolation for him. Avoiding these kinds of mistakes has been a struggle for Sexton, and while he’s done a great job of cleaning them up, incidents like the one in Tampa have got to be tough to cope with. Bouncing back for a win in Oakland would do wonders for Sexton. -Hansel
The Hill Bros
For the first time since the season opener Josh Hill was back in the 450SX main event, which meant there were two Hills (Justin being the other) in the show again. They might not be in the conversation up front, or even in the top ten, but c’mon, how cool is it that there are two brothers racing against each other in the premier class? The two were battling back and forth throughout the 450SX main event in Tampa, with Justin coming out with the better finish. And how nuts would it be if they found themselves running fourth and fifth in the LCQ as the race wound down? Keep an eye on the duo, it could develop into an interesting storyline as the season unfolds. -Hansel
McAdon’t
We all saw Cameron McAdoo’s crash in the whoops in qualifying at A2, and the following day saw the result of that crash with photos of his arm ballooned up that he posted on social media. Yet he still managed to salvage a sixth overall, you just cannot buy that sort of determination. After a few weeks to heal up McAdoo will be ready for retaliation. As long as he McAdoesn’t crash again you should expect to see him back on the podium. -Sarah Whitmore
Cookie Cutter Layout
Admittedly the only thing I know about mainstream sports is that baseball fields leave a lot more room for the track builders to be creative with track design. After a couple of races inside of football stadiums we are back to a baseball field with a rather unique track layout. Including a rhythm section that, instead of an actual turn at the end, makes a couple of slight bends with jumps around them, leading straight into another long rhythm section. We will see how the rhythms play out, but if the riders do not get to sit down in between, by the time they get to the end of that second lane their legs are going to be shot! -Whitmore
