Out front of all the carnage of turn one, Austin Forkner lead Chance Hymas, Max Anstie, Coty Schock, and Daxton Bennick. Forkner got a great start, which he needed, and he was riding in control—not pushing the limits—but still fast. Couple those two together, and 21 laps later, Forkner got to set off the fireworks for the 13th 250SX main event win of his career—his first since April 2022. The luck turned for Forkner, who, in recent years, had been on the bad end of some horrific crashes lately. He leaves the 250SX East Region opener with the win, points lead, and red plate just as he did to begin the 2019 season. Will this be the year the Missouri finally hoists a #1E plate?

“I just made it kind of a point to surround myself with people who are there to lift me up, basically,” Forkner said. “I feel like that’s just really important in this sport. You can have one good race and be on top of the world and you can have a bad one and get so down. So, having people around you that keep you on the right track and keep you focused on what you need to be focused on, I think is really important. I’ve done that this year. Also, the mental change was trying to have more fun riding. Obviously, anybody knows, injuries in any sport… you don’t want to do it as much. You start being scared of what you fell in love with, essentially, and that being dirt bikes for me. To ride a dirt bike scared, at this level is—you can’t do it. So, just keeping the whole preseason [work] fun… We did quality work over quantity so much, and we kept it fun and kept me in a good mental space coming into this season, and I think it shows.”

Hymas rode a solid second place until Anstie pulled off a pass. Then the Idaho native had a tip over in the whoops that cost him a lot of time and positions. Hymas came through the checkered flag tenth. Anstie rode home a second-place finish, although the 2.56-second gap behind Forkner at the finish makes the race seem closer than it was.

“It took me a little longer than what I would’ve liked to get around Chance but at the end of the day he’s riding great,” Anstie said. “As soon as I got around him, I thought, ‘All right, let’s stretch my legs a little bit.’ But I got caught with a few lappers the wrong way, and honestly Austin was riding really well. I kinda wanted to go, and then I was like, ‘I’m not going to take the bait and drag a footpeg up some of these rhythm sections,’ and just kept it solid.”

In his first AMA Supercross race ever, Daxton Bennick scored a podium finish with third on the night. It was quite an impressive ride for the rookie that came into the season with some “flying at the test track” hype.

“I mean, I get to practice with the best guys on the West, so, yeah, I was definitely going fast to the test track, but that's one thing, you know, racing is a completely different thing and I didn't know how it would be on Saturday, like the nerves were high for sure. And, yeah, I knew I just had to keep calm and we have that replica at the farm. So, I just had to, you know, imagine I was at the farm and, you know, once I got, I think into fourth, I saw Chance in third and, I just started laying my laps down like I felt really strong at the end. So, that was also a thing, I didn't know if I was gonna be strong at the end of the moto because I've never raced a full like pro moto. So, yeah, check that box. I'm really happy with it.

Coty Schock’s fourth-place finish was a big-time ride as the new Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha rider earned a new career best. He said afterwards he came in and needed the bike to be in a better spot so each session the team worked to make him more comfortable. When he crossed the finish line, he had no idea what position he was in until he saw his name pop up below Bennick’s third.

“I just went into the main, just trying to treat it like any other practice day at Club with all the boys,” Schock said. “And, yeah, I just got to a good start, and, I mean, I didn't even know I was in fifth or fourth or anything. Dakota [mechanic] didn't put anything on the pit board. He was just like, ‘Trust yourself.’ And when I crossed the finish, I saw one, two, three and then my name came up on fourth. I was like, I feel like I just won! It feels awesome.”

Brown remounted and finished fifth, the highest of anyone down in the first turn.

Swoll came through sixth, taking Triumph Racing’s all-new TF 250-X motocross bike to a top-ten finish in a hectic debut day. Swoll appeared solid all day long and his effort to charge to sixth has to have the team happy with his night.

“It's sick,” Swoll told our Steve Matthes. “I mean, it's not so often new team, new bike comes around the industry. So, to be a part of that history and come in and especially have like a decent night, you know. I’m stoked. …I mean, I've been a part of the process and been kind of just developing the bike and, and, and I see all the hard work these guys put in and there's so many people, like from the UK that even came over today. Just because they're hands on, you know, everybody's touched this bike and in some sort of way. So, from the motor guys, suspension, guys, chassis, everything, dude, it's been a process but, we've had a really good base package and developing the bike and developing with the new team and it's been fun. I've been really enjoying the experience.”

And on Brown’s move on Swoll in the heat, there does not appear to be any beef there between the friendly competitors as Swoll said they chatted after the race.

The other Triumph rider, Ferry, had his ups and downs, too. A crash in the heat sent him to the LCQ. He took the race win. Moments later in the tight turnaround the gates dropped on the main event, but the pileup sent him into a stadium wall of Tuff Blox outside of turn one. His night ended there before he could even get to turn two. Ferry going down in turn one was out of his control, but overall, you would expect Triumph to take the positives from the day.

Henry Miller came through one spot off of tying his 250SX career best. He was happy with his night but is expecting more. In his AMA Supercross debut, Guillem Farres rode home an eight-place finish. Marshal Weltin and Hymas rounded out the top ten.

Cameron McAdoo came through 15th, followed by Haiden Deegan in 16th, as Tom Vialle claimed 18th. And let’s just say McAdoo…hung it all out there on the track this afternoon.

Deegan posted an update to Instagram after the race, showing his tweaked bars.

A few more SX rookies: Trevor Colip rode him an 11th-place finish; Preston Boespflug finished 13th, Nick Romano came through 14th, Bryton Carroll (first ever SX main event) claimed 18th.

The 250SX East Region will be back in action February 24 for the Arlington Supercross.

The 450SX Class was a clinic by Jett Lawrence. The #18 got out front off the drop of the gates in the main event and never looked back. He led all 28 laps and took the win with a 4.470-second gap over second place Chase Sexton.

“No, it definitely feels nice,” said Jett Lawrence, the first repeat 450SX winner of 2024. “Been a rough couple of weeks, on the riding side of things and I was obviously off the bike, but no, it helps make these wins even sweeter. And it's a good bit of motivation.”

Sexton and Eli Tomac both started right behind the #18 but neither would stay close enough for a pass attempt on the Honda HRC rider. Sexton’s steady second place allows him to leave the day back again in the points lead.

“It’s nice to have the red plate but it really only matters… who ends with it,” Sexton said. “So, it’s nice to have it back, we’re all pretty close in points, but tonight was one of my best rides on the new bike, I think. We’ve had so many mud races, last week it was a Triple Crown, and this week it was our first real main event, and I felt pretty solid in the conditions. I didn’t have a great heat race and after seeing the 250 start, I was pretty far outside. I was a little bit nervous that if I didn’t get a good jump, I was going to get pushed off the track. So, I got a good start and I had some good speed, made some mistakes obviously, but it was a good main event and looking forward to build off that.”

Tomac had a weird night. He started second right behind Jett Lawrence, was quickly passed by Sexton and eventually eight other riders before coming through the finish line tenth. Yes, we have seen Tomac finish tenth in 450SX main events before. Yes, we have seen Tomac hard odd nights before. But today, he simply went backwards, without crashing, for the first time in a long time. A very bird’s eye view, couch quarterback call looked like his suspension was too soft and he was forced to soak up the entirety of the rhythms rather than being able to push through them. While he was racing against Dylan Ferrandis and Justin Cooper, it seemed their two setups allowed them to push through stuff and Tomac was almost bottoming out the big threes in the rhythms. But again, that’s the press box view and I could be completely wrong.

As for third place on the night, Ken Roczen, he was about tenth off the start but put in a few great early laps. The #94’s 43.437 on the seventh lap was the fastest lap of the entire 28-lap main event.

“I’m not the kind of guy that plays the, ‘I can’t catch a break,’ type thing,” Roczen said. “It’s just part of racing… I had a streak of, you know, if you want to call it bad luck, that can happen to anybody. And you know, we fought our way back to the podium. And I know we have everything that it takes to be on the top step, but… before I think about winning all the time, I want to get some consistency and being on the podium… I just really want to get a little bit further up to the front in the point standings.”

Cooper Webb and Jason Anderson came through fourth and fifth respectively. Webb was buried off the start, so it was a good charge into the top-five for last week's winner. Championship leader entering the day Aaron Plessinger finished sixth in a rather uneventful night.

“Detroit, I had a good night overall,” Plessinger stated in a KTM post-race recap. “We got a Heat Race win and in the Main I just messed up the start – came from around 15th place and ended up sixth, so not too mad with that! We’ll go back, do some homework and stay in this championship fight. Onto Glendale, I like that stadium, so we’ll go get back to the warmth and look forward to it.”

Ferrandis, Hunter Lawrence, and Cooper finished ahead of tenth-place Tomac. Malcolm Stewart crashed out of sixth and went all the way back to 21st. But he charged back to finish only three seconds behind Tomac.

Behind Stewart, Justin Barcia, Christian Craig, Shane McElrath, and Derek Drake rounded out the top 15. Next weekend, the series heads to Glendale, Arizona, for the sixth round.