Unfortunately, the day started rough as Christian Craig crashed hard in the whoops in free practice. The end result was a dislocated hip and some damage to his elbow which of course put him out for the night of racing but will also keep him sidelined for some time. A tough blow as Craig was really working into his stride in the back half of this season.

As for the championship fight, neither Tomac nor Webb put it P1 in qualifying as once again Chase Sexton found the top of the board. Sexton entered Glendale 22 points down in the championship which all but puts him too far out, but if he could win Glendale, it at least would be a talking point of if he could sneak back into this thing. Still though, the focused seemed to be firmly on Tomac and Webb heading into the night show.

Wouldn’t you know it, Tomac and Webb ended up 1-2 after the first lap of the first race with Webb having to do the chasing. A small gap that Tomac had opened up on the first few laps ended up being the difference as Webb continued to close down slowly with Justin Barcia also bearing down on him, but Tomac kept that gap steady. The closest it got was just over a second as Webb looked to make a run on the last few laps, but Tomac pulled it back out to 1.5 seconds as the flag waved.

The second race ended up being a freight train of six riders with Chase Sexton leading Tomac, Roczen, Anderson, Webb, and Barcia. It felt the whole time like battling would materialize but the only thing that happened was Webb passing Anderson just for Anderson to pass him back and then Barcia passing Webb just for Webb to pass him back. Sexton won the race giving Tomac a two-point lead in the overall heading into the final race of the night.

The final race of the evening saw Tomac nearly grab the holeshot, but it was actually Colt Nichols crossing the line first. Tomac and Barcia both got by Nichols quickly into first and second and the chase was on between the two of them. Even with Chase Sexton settling into third place behind them, it was still just Tomac and Barcia running nearly nose-to-tail for the entire 12 minutes. Unfortunately for Barcia, he just couldn’t quite get close enough in the end and Tomac would cross the line first to win the final race, overall, and sole possession of the red plate.

“The key was the starts for me,” said Tomac. “The way this track raced, it was very important to be up front, as it is every race, but this one in particular. It was really high speed. It was one of the drier, more hard-packed tracks that we’ve had in a long time. It was cool. It was a changeup. All three motos were pretty solid there. Had a lot of pressure in moto one and in moto three for the ones I won. And obviously Chase rode really good there in moto two. This was good for me. My first two Triple Crowns this year were not good at all. I crashed in both those events. I came into the day just focused on trying not to crash in one of these motos.”

Sexton and his 4-1-3 scores did enough to earn second place on the night, but he also claimed the Triple Crown championship as well based on his win at Anaheim 2 and second place finish at Arlington coupled with tonight’s second place result.

The trophy is nice but the lost points again to Eli Tomac likely signals the final nail in the coffin for Sexton’s title hopes this year as just five rounds remain, and he now sits 25 points down. But the positives are he put three complete races together tonight and had no crashes or odd moments to speak of.

“It's definitely cool. It’s another trophy I get to put in my house that’s a little bit different,” said Sexton. “I mean I was good in the Triple Crowns this year. I think I was 1-2-2 [overall]. My riding has been solid. My starts were a little bit off tonight. But overall, I feel like my riding was good. Starting to feel better back on the bike again. We made some good progress this week, testing. So going back to Florida now and kind of start hitting it hard again for these last five rounds.”

Rounding out the podium was Justin Barcia who tied Cooper Webb on points for the night but edged him out thanks to the better final race. Barcia looked great all day long and it felt like he could have won any of the races. He ran the fastest lap in the first race and really made Tomac work in the last one. If Barcia doesn’t win at least one race before the season is up, it won’t be because he’s not fast enough.

“Definitely more hungry,” said Barcia. “I love a podium. The racing was really good tonight. That last race was really cool. Just charging hard. The bike has been really good the past few weekends. Definitely confidence is up there. Searching for that win for sure, but we got to take steps for sure. I’ll keep taking these podiums, I’m happy with it. But definitely a second would be good and a first would be even better so we’ll keep plugging away and going at it.”

Webb finished up his evening in fourth place which was crucial for championship implications as he loses seven key points to Eli Tomac. Atlanta will now need to be a rebound for Webb to stop the bleeding as Tomac took a big chunk tonight in Glendale. At least for Webb, he also could hang his hat on the fact he was right there the whole way through, and the starts and battles didn’t just fall his way on the night.

Same could be said for Ken Roczen who ends up fifth. He was right there the whole way through as well but fifth is what he sees on the scorecard when the dust settled. Not feeling the same way unfortunately is Jason Anderson who crashed hard in the whoops during the final race. He walked off under his own power but did not finish, ruining an otherwise solid evening at the races. With more riders heading for the injury list, hopefully Anderson isn’t another name we need to add.

But now the series heads all the way back East in seven days for the Atlanta Supercross at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It’s one of the closest “home” races for Webb who is from North Carolina, and it can’t come at a better time.

For the 250SX class in Glendale, the focus was solely on Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence rolling in with a 23-point gap over Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire. Unfortunately, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Cameron McAdoo tore his labrum just before Glendale which put an end to his season prematurely after sitting third in points coming into Arizona.

Lawrence had still never won a Triple Crown race in his entire career, and it was beginning to look like it might haunt him into the 450SX class as Glendale was his last chance to get it done before he moves to the 450 class full time this summer in Pro Motocross.

All day long, it looked like Lawrence had something to prove as he topped qualifying in both sessions and appeared to be on his A game. Hampshire was the man closest to him, but several other riders were looking to get into the mix as well.

The first 250SX race saw an unfortunate incident when Stilez Robertson and a group of others piled up in the split lane rhythm section on the first lap. Robertson would need to be carried to the medical cart which prompted the red flag to be displayed and bring about a full restart of the race.

Jett Lawrence would snag the win in Race 1 after spending a couple laps behind Levi Kitchen and passing him in the whoops. RJ Hampshire also passed Kitchen the next lap and followed Lawrence home in second with Kitchen finishing up in third place.

The second race this time saw Hampshire get out front with Levi Kitchen going with him. Jett Lawrence started fourth and by the time he was into third, Hampshire had a five second lead. Despite his best efforts and even running the fastest lap on the final lap, Lawrence not only fell short of Hampshire, but of Kitchen too who held on for second. It set up Hampshire leading by one point over Lawrence going into the final race of the night.

In the third race, Kitchen holeshot again but Lawrence wasted little time to sneak by into the lead. Hampshire was down in fifth early on and by the time he got up to third, Lawrence was pulling away. Kitchen did well to keep Hampshire behind the rest of the way, but it was all Lawrence taking it to the flag. With his 1-3-1 scores, Lawrence finally lifted the curse as he claimed the Triple Crown win in Glendale.

“It feels great,” said Lawrence. “It’s also really cool cause Hunter won here last year, I’m pretty sure, in a Triple Crown. I’m super pumped to finally get one done and lift that curse. We’re a little late, had to do a drug test. So hopefully we pass that. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. I’m pretty sure we’re good. But nah, it definitely feels good.”

Hampshire was left to settle with second place on the night even though he arguably had the pace to match Jett in all three races. With the track being tough to pass on, Hampshire was left to needing three big starts to make it happen and the final race just didn’t work out in his favor off the gate.

Now Hampshire has an interesting conundrum as Christian Craig deals with recovering from a dislocated hip and elbow injury and Rockstar Husqvarna needs somebody on the 450. With Hampshire 26 points down, does he end up on a 450 at least for the next few rounds? Time will tell.

“We talked about it,” said Hampshire on racing the 450. “We were going to focus on racing outdoors on a 250 but we’ll kind of take it day by day now that Christian is going to be out for a little bit. So yeah, we’ll see. I don’t really know yet.”

Third on the evening went to Levi Kitchen who ended up on the podium in supercross for just the second time in his career after his win at the Triple Crown at Anaheim 2. Triple Crowns are apparently becoming a Kitchen thing as he was great again today and this time, he looked the part of a guy who belonged in that front group.

“It was good,” said Kitchen of his night. “Qualifying wasn’t the greatest for me. To come out and I think I holeshot every main so that was good. Just put in good laps. Yeah, it was fun racing with RJ and Jett, they were riding really well.”

Pierce Brown and Enzo Lopes rounded out the top five which were solid results for both of them, but they certainly were left yearning for the podium. Brown was relieved his day went smoother overall even though he did crash in the first race off the start but was granted a reprieve when Robertson’s unfortunate injury brought out the red flag.

Now the 250SX West guys take another brief hiatus until East Rutherford when they return to action for the first East/West Showdown of the year as well. Jett Lawrence now sits a full race distance ahead in the championship and is starting to work towards wrapping this thing up early, which he could take another big step towards when we get to New Jersey in a couple of weeks.

The Supercross Futures were back in action at Glendale for their third race of the 2023 season. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Daxton Bennick was the winner of the first two rounds in Anaheim and Arlington, and he was back again looking to do it again in Glendale.

He was met for the first time this year with Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryder DiFrancesco who was coming back from injury and not quite at 100%. Orange Brigade KTM’s Julien Beaumer was back as well, and he was looking to finally convert on being arguably the fastest rider at the first two Futures races.

Beaumer ripped the holeshot in the main event ahead of Ryder D as they began to pull away out front. Bennick spent a few laps in fourth behind Mark Fineis before he moved into third on the third lap. By the time he was there, Beaumer and DiFrancesco had a big lead ahead of him and he worked to close the gap down.

DiFrancesco was able to bring the gap a little closer to Beaumer in the early stages, but the KTM man was able to stretch it back out slowly to over three seconds. Bennick couldn’t make any inroads on DiFrancesco either as the front three remained the same to the flag.

Julien Beaumer claimed his first Supercross Futures win of his career in the end to become the second rider to win Futures this season. DiFrancesco was second ahead of Bennick, Casey Cochran who moved to fourth on the final lap, and Fineis who rounded out the top five.

“It feels amazing,” said Beaumer. “Being under the lights out here in Glendale in a full stadium is a different ball game. It definitely gets your nerves high going out for the night show. And I’m happy to get out to a good start and ride like that.”

And that’s all for another interesting night of racing. Next week we head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Round 13 of Monster Energy AMA Supercross. We’ll see you there!