While Sexton celebrated, there was plenty of other celebrations going on behind him. Aaron Plessinger had returned to racing this week after being sidelined following a crash in practice for the East Rutherford Supercross. Even Plessinger himself admitted he was not yet 100 percent, but he and the team wanted to finish off the season regardless. As it turns out, it would pay off well for Plessinger who would catch and pass Adam Cianciarulo for second early on and somewhat take off with his best result of the season. It was a strong end to an otherwise mixed bag year for the #7.

“It was a good season,” said Plessinger. “Obviously kind of up and down. I got a lot of fourth places. Two podiums. It was kind of similar to seasons past. Given last year, I’m just happy to be racing. My season got cut short at seventh round last year. it was a good, fun season. I’ll take away how to lead a race and how to crash when leading a race. I’m pumped with it.”

Behind Plessinger was even more celebration though as Cianciarulo couldn’t quite keep the hard charging Justin Hill behind him either. Hill has been building all year in his return to racing after two years off and the final result is his first career 450SX podium. As he crossed the line and celebrated, his brother Josh who finished a strong sixth but was the first rider a lap down greeted Justin with a huge hug. It’s been quite the journey for both the Hill brothers this season and neither would have expected to finish the year off in third and sixth at the final round.

“It’s kind of crazy,” said Hill. “A lot of life has happened to me in the last two and a half years since I’ve been away from the sport. I got two kids, all of this major life stuff. I was a cop, I was doing all of this other stuff and not riding at all. I was just doing hill climbs here and there with the Matt Musgrove series and that was a lot of fun and it kind of gave me the itch back again last summer. It was a building block year. I really wanted to get my feet wet and just keep it on two wheels for the whole year.”

Cianciarulo’s night was a little disappointing as he started second and ran there for a long time only to finish off the podium in fourth. But even after getting passed by Plessinger and eventually Hill, the didn’t really drop him and AC stayed right in two the rest of the way home. He finished up four seconds ahead of Dean Wilson who had his best result of the season in fifth and was the last rider on the lead lap as well.

There were also career-bests everywhere with Justin Starling finishing eighth, Devin Simonson finishing ninth, Tristan Lane matching his career-best in 13^th, Hunter Schlosser taking a 15^th, and Joan Cros matching his career best with an 18^th. All of these results were huge for privateers that can always use an extra bit of purse money and a solid result under the belt no matter how it happens.

But once the race ended and the stadium began clearing out, the party was just getting started for Chase Sexton who had a huge gathering of people around him at the podium. The title is the first 450 championship win for Honda since Ricky Carmichael in Pro Motocross in 2004 and the first Supercross title for them since Carmichael took home the 2003 crown. All around, it was a big night for Sexton and Honda who finally were able to let it all out as the #1 plate was handed out.

In the 250SX class, the headliner was the final showdown on 250’s between brothers Jett and Hunter Lawrence. Now both champions of each regional coast of 250 Supercross in 2023, they each donned #1 plates for the finale representing their early clinching of each championship. Though both brothers maintained their interest in playing it safe at the final round before Jett moved to a 450, there was always the chance the gloves could come off one the gate dropped.

With the rain constantly changing the nature of the racetrack, the slick conditions were prevalent when the gate dropped for the Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Showdown. It was RJ Hampshire grabbing the holeshot before Jett Lawrence quickly moved into second place. Hunter Lawrence had a dreadful start and was way back but went to work on slicing through the field.

Jett followed Hampshire for about six laps before finally getting close enough in the whoops to pounce into the lead. He nudged Hampshire as he went by which was just enough for Hampshire to mess up the next rhythm lane and immediately Jett had a huge gap.

In a relatively uneventful race at the front as everyone tip-toed through the conditions, Jett Lawrence was able to just inch away from Hampshire from there to take his 13^th career 250SX victory in his final start. He also became the winningest Honda rider in the small bike class and moved into a tie for second all-time on the 250SX wins list.

“It still hasn’t quite sunk in as my last [race on a 250],” said Jett Lawrence. “I think once I start racing 450 outdoors it will kind of sink in as my last. It was a fun one. The track got pretty technical. The dirt was actually pretty sick for that one. In the heat race, it was like ice, so I wasn’t looking forward to it. It was a good way to end it for my last 250 race.”

For Hampshire’s sake behind Jett, he was left a little frustrated to not seal the deal, but he definitely gave it everything that he had. Interestingly enough, he also admitted that Jett sneaking away after the pass was probably a good thing as Hampshire wasn’t too stoked on the contact in the moment. But looking back on it, he realized the way it all went down.

“I got off to an awesome start and I truthfully thought I had another shot at a win here,” said Hampshire. “My opening laps were pretty good, and I was decent in the whoops and then I had a step out and just didn’t trust sending it after that. I knew Jett was closing in on me big time there and I tried to protect the inside but there was a lapper there that lap so I didn’t get a good drive and he had a better angle coming into that turn after the whoops. He laid it in there pretty good. It’s honestly best case because it probably would have gotten ugly if I still had another shot at it after that. With how it’s gone, any chance I get to beat him before he moves up to 450s would be huge.”

Rounding out the podium was another strong ride from Levi Kitchen who has been rock solid these last two weeks. Even though his second at Denver and now his third at Salt Lake City are not wins like he achieved at Anaheim 2, Kitchen still looks overall much better and more comfortable in those lead battles now. After a steep learning curve in what really is somewhat of a rookie year for him given his limited supercross starts thanks to injury, he’ll gladly take another podium to round out the season.

“It’s definitely a good feeling [to finish on the podium],” said Kitchen. “Coming into the year, I didn’t know what to expect, but I learned quickly at A1 that I had some work to do and then every race I just feel like I started chipping away. These last few races I feel like I’ve shown myself that I can run up front and run that speed and at least be up there to battle for wins. Overall, really excited.”

Jo Shimoda and Jordon Smith rounded out the top five, but both had fairly uneventful races. Each of them passed into their positions coming up from some mid-pack starts but by the time they got to where they were, the lead trio was gone. Behind them was Hunter Lawrence who did eventually roll forward through the pack but couldn’t quite break into the top five. He seemed to be taking his time with his passes too not wanting to potentially get hurt and, in the end, look satisfied to coast it home in sixth.

Haiden Deegan was named the 250SX Rookie of the Year and he really laid claim to it as his eighth-place finish in the main event did just enough to secure him second in the 250SX East Championship over Max Anstie. Pretty remarkable rookie season considering he wasn’t expected to race supercross this year until a few weeks before East got underway.

So, Jett wins his final race as the Lawrence brothers walk away from 2023 Supercross as champions. They ultimately won 13 of the 17 250SX races this year combined between the two of them in one of the more dominant teammate duo sweeps of all time. Now Jett is off to race a 450 while Hunter Lawrence looks hungry as ever to win the 250 Pro Motocross title.

Finally there was one final race to consider in Salt Lake City and that was the championship race for Supercross Futures. Daxton Bennick and Julien Beaumer each had two wins a piece from the four races ran this season, but the finale in Salt Lake City was for all the marbles. Whoever won would be crowned Futures Champion.

Right on cue off the gate, Beaumer and Bennick were side by side in the first rhythm lane. Bennick took the early lead but Beaumer fought right back to take the lead going into the whoops. Bennick then stuffed Beaumer after the whoops to retake the lead. As they set up for the next corner on a now perfectly groomed track that did see some rain, both Bennick and Beaumer slid and fell from the lead. Bennick certainly crashed all by himself and Beaumer later said he was going down regardless anyway too.

That left both of them way behind as Rockstar Husqvarna’s Casey Cochran took over the race lead. From there Cochran just managed to gap back to GasGas’ Mark Fineis as they matched each other’s pace. When the checkered flag waved, it was Casey Cochran taking home the Supercross Futures title.

“The start was pretty good, and I got into the top three early,” said Cochran. “I knew the track was going to be super slick so I was kind of just sitting back there watching those guys and I saw them go at it for like three turns in a row and I was like, ‘Oh I might want to stay back a little bit.’ I thought they took each other out or something but looking back at it, Dax just washed the front and Julien had nowhere to go. I’m just fortunate to be at the right place at the right time and slide right into that first-place position and then I just put down some consistent laps over and over.”

Fineis and Parker Ross rounded out the podium behind him. Meanwhile, Bennick was only able to get back to sixth after he took a while to get going from the crash in the first place. Beaumer got up first and was just about to work into the top five when he crashed again after the whoops and that one put him way back. He would eventually finish in 17^th, four laps down, bringing a frustrating end to an otherwise great year of Futures for the Orange Brigade rider.

And that’s it! Supercross is now done and behind us as we roll right into Pro Motocross in just two weeks at Fox Raceway. There are plenty of storylines rolling into that, but for now we’ll just cap this off with a congratulations to the champions of Monster Energy AMA Supercross in 2023.