250 Words: East Region Storylines

The 2023 250SMX champion was selected as a preseason championship favorite in either region after an impressive rookie year, but then rumors have been making their rounds of a wrist injury to the second-generation rider. Tuesday night’s press conference was the first instance where he opened confirmed he had a crash and is dealing with an injury. Whether he is downplaying the injury or not, the second 250SX East Region race is February 24, so getting through round one could lead to some more recovery time—and for more riders than just Deegan. 

Staying with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing, Deegan said his rookie teammate Daxton Bennick has had a good off-season. Bennick raced the Supercross Futures program in 2024 and several rounds of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship but will be making his AMA Supercross debut this weekend.

“Dax, he's been riding very well,” Deegan said of his teammate. “He's obviously gonna make his debut. So, he's got a little pressure but he's gonna do good. He's been riding really well. So, I think, I think he can get on the podium, definitely. That's for a fact.”

Read: 2024 AMA Supercross and Motocross National Numbers

Bennick, just 18 years old as of two weeks ago, said his preparation for the 2024 season is not much different aside from the number of laps and the intensity on the test track each day.

“I would say the biggest difference is last year, obviously, I didn't do as many laps because my main event wasn't nearly as long,” Bennick stated about racing SX Futures. “But also the intensity is a lot higher now that I'm riding more like in the group. So, yeah, the intensity is high, and the laps are definitely longer, but this off-season has been really good and I feel like I've built a lot since the first week we we’re on supercross on the team. …I'm pretty confident in the bike and I feel like it's even better than last year.”

Fire Power Honda rider Max Anstie’s name keeps getting brought up when it comes to “flying at the test track" rumors, although as we all know that does not gaurantee success come race day. Deegan also acknowledged Anstie has been fast when the two teams trade laps at the same training facility.

“And obviously Max, we know he's fast,” Deegan added. “He's proved it last year and we see with the test track he's ripping. So, he's definitely gonna be running up front.”

Anstie showed speed in 2023 en route to picking up his maiden 250SX AMA Supercross win in the East Rutherford Supercross East/West Showdown last April. He then won the FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) 250 title in the fall and looks to have kept that momentum rolling into Saturday’s championship kickoff.

“Obviously it's been a good rolling kind of thing, you know, we raced World Supercross, had all that going on in November and then it hasn't really stopped," Anstie said. "We've upgraded a few things with the bike, just put the U.S. gas back in which has been quite nice. And fine-tuned a few areas. So, it's been nice. I've had a great time with the training. The team has done a great job. I'm in a good spot, I think. You know, East Coast is gonna be good. I'm happy with my crew and what's gonna happen this weekend.”

Other riders hoping to run up front again starting Saturday are the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammates of Austin Forkner, Seth Hammaker, and Cameron McAdoo. The trio all three dealt with injuries in 2023: Forkner getting hurt off the start of the Anaheim 1 SX main event that kept him out of all of supercross, Hammaker missing the entire supercross season, and McAdoo rattling off podiums until a shoulder injury ended his year entirely. All three are race winners and have multiple podiums, Forkner with the most career wins in either region for active 250SX riders.

“Well, hopefully, more than making it to the first turn, like last year,” Forkner stated of his goals. “That got cut pretty short. So, I don't know. Me and Ryno [Ryan Hughes, trainer] doing our thing, obviously. Like I started training with him outdoors last year and we just been kind of doing our own thing and just grind.”

“And I feel like this off-season has definitely been one of the like more fun off-seasons for whatever reason,” he added. “Not that we haven't been doing our work, we've been doing our work, but this off-season… we've had quality work over quantity work if that makes sense. We’ve just been working on certain things and that doesn't mean just doing moto, moto, moto, moto, moto all day, every day. But we've been doing good quality work that I feel like is gonna come out once we get to racing, especially as the track breaks down and stuff like that. We're working on some technique stuff that I think will help.”

An arm injury suffered in a practice crash left Hammaker sidelined for all of supercross. He returned in Pro Motocross before a wild crash at the SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) finale in late September resulted in a back injury. The 2021 AMA 250SX Rookie of the Year has not raced an AMA Supercross event since January 15, 2022.

“Yeah, so, after LA, I obviously had that crash and took like six weeks to get healed up from that, I had a few compression fractures in my back. Nothing too serious thankfully for what the crash was and then just started getting ready for the supercross season,” Hammaker said. “Took my time getting into training and stuff didn't wanna push it, figured I'd probably end up doing East Coast anyways. So, took my time. But, yeah, it's been a long time since I've raced this legit Supercross race, um, back in 2022. …I'm looking just to come in and definitely motivated but wanna be there for the whole season, put in consistent solid finishes, get good starts and just kind of get that good feeling back again. I feel like everything will fall into place and see where we're at. It's a long season. So, we'll be pushing to the front.”

Cameron McAdoo battled Jett Lawrence and RJ Hampshire in the 2023 250SX West Region Championship, starting 3-3-6-3-3 and was third in standings until his injury at the practice track. He has not raced an AMA event since March of 2023, so he simply is chomping at the bit to get back behind the gates.

“Yeah, it has been a while since I've raced, coming up on almost a year now,” McAdoo said. “I was obviously injured midway through my supercross season last year and missed all the rest of the races. So, I'm definitely excited to get back racing.

“I was actually telling my wife the other night, I just can't wait to race,” he continued. “Like I practiced so much and it's just exciting to get back there. Kind of cliché, but just be back in the stadium and really just line up and race. …I'm just really excited to get back racing and even over the last few years I've spent too much time not racing and missing races, so I'm looking forward to it.”

These are a few of the many storylines to follow this weekend in what promises to be an exciting season to watch—not much different from what we've seen so far this season in the West.