Adam Cianciarulo is calling it a career after the Salt Lake City finale of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, ending a 20-year run with the Kawasaki that started back on KX65s as an amateur and went all the way through KX450s in the premier class at the top level. AC’s Kawasaki deal was set to expire at the end of this season. He could have hunted for another deal in hopes that a change of scenery would re-ignite his career. But he knew his nerve/arm problems weren’t getting better, so he’d rather just leave it where he started.
That’s a long run of loyalty from rider to team, and vice-versa. It got us to wondering. How often do riders and brands actually stick together? Does all the effort that brands put into grooming riders as amateurs and into the 250F ranks actually result in success in the top ranks of the 450 class?
Let’s take a quick snippet from the current 2024 Monster Energy Supercross standings (top 10), list their current brand, and see where they started.
1. Jett Lawrence | Honda
We are well aware the Lawrence brothers rode different brands before Honda, primarily Suzuki, but this is a win for Honda. The Lawrences were still over in Europe and not exactly dominant when the Factory Connection/GEICO Honda team signed them to (eventually) come race in the U.S. Jett even raced as an amateur in America on a Honda. While it’s hard to say how much Lawrence scouting came from the Factory Connection/GEICO team, and how much came from Honda itself, the end result is obvious: Getting Jett into the Honda fold early is paying massive, massive dividends.
2. Cooper Webb | Yamaha
Cooper was a Honda kid as an amateur, but somehow never joined that Factory Connection squad that groomed so many others. Makes you wonder what a Webb/GEICO Honda pairing would have looked like. Anyway, he was later rescued by Bobby Regan and Star Yamaha, and as we all know that led to great success in the 250 pro ranks. Yamaha even got to run ads showing Webb with his PW50 Championship at Loretta’s and his 250 titles on YZ250Fs. Then he left for KTM, but the biggest pay off is that Cooper loved that Star team so much that he chose to return, successfully, in the 450 class this year. This is a loyalty win for Star Racing, and as a byproduct, Yamaha.
3. Chase Sexton | KTM
Sexton grew up with Yamaha support, then joined that Factory Connection/GEICO team and found another level. For Honda, this resulted in a huge, huge payoff because Sexton delivered the brand’s first AMA 450 Championship in 20 years. He broke the curse with that Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship last year!
Sexton has now moved to KTM, so the brand loyalty is over. But he did his job for Honda, as they did for him.
4. Eli Tomac | Yamaha
Eli was a Suzuki kid but then went to (are you sensing a pattern?) Factory Connection/GEICO Honda and won, won, and won some more. Sheesh, think of the legacy of this team! He was on the cusp of being that 450 champion Honda so needed, but signed with Kawasaki for 2016 while also dominating the 2015 450 Nationals on red. Then he crashed out. Most of his 450 success came with Kawasaki then, and Yamaha now. Did get a few Honda 450 wins, but not nearly as many as it could have been.
5. Ken Roczen | Suzuki
Hey if you’re Suzuki, you gotta take the W on this one. We already poured salt in the wounds with The List explaining all the talent Suzuki once had in the fold. Lawrences! Tomac! Jason Anderson! Jeffrey Herlings! But ‘ole Kenny has returned to the brand twice, and successfully. We can’t imagine he’d be with Progressive/Ecstar Suzuki now if he didn’t have strong feelings for the bikes and brand from back in the day.
6. Aaron Plessinger | KTM
Aaron was a Yamaha guy from minicycles and even GNCC through professional 250 Championships and then 450s. Then he switched to KTM. However, you can draw some sort of tie to KTM because Aaron’s dad, Scott, an AMA Hall of Famer through GNCC and Hare Scrambles, did race for KTM in his day. That’s something, right? In the end, Yamaha did not get a 450 win out of AP.
7. Jason Anderson | Kawasaki
Anderson did have one year on Kawasaki Team Green as an amateur. That came after Suzuki’s amateur support program pretty much dried up, and then he moved to KTM, only to have KTM’s amateur support program pretty much dry up! Wasn’t much room on the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team for him, so he ended up with Rockstar Energy Suzuki, which morphed into Rockstar Energy KTM, and then Rockstar Energy Husqvarna. Okay, Anderson joined Kawasaki and had a nice renaissance in 2022. But the long run from struggling rookie pro to the 2018 450 Supercross Championship was a direct result of loyalty from Bobby Hewitt’s Rockstar team.
8. Justin Cooper | Yamaha
Okay, no 450 win yet for J-Coop, but he’s been with Yamaha forever, even when he was a little-known amateur, then into his fast amateur days, and then 250 pro success. Now he’s got a 450 job and solid results as a rookie. If not for Yamaha and eventually Star Racing’s support, Justin Cooper might not be in this sport right now.
9. Justin Barcia | GasGas
Captain obvious alert: GasGas didn’t exist as a motocross brand in Barcia’s early days, mmmkay? Barcia was a (wait for it) Factory Connection/GEICO Honda kid. Actually, he was a factory Honda CR85 rider before that FC team had really ramped up in the amateurs! He was as Honda as Honda gets. He did end up winning two 450 supercross races as a rookie for Honda, so that’s something, but he was gone after two seasons, similar to Tomac. When you think Barcia on a 450, you think Yamaha (JGR and then the factory Monster Energy Yamaha) and now GasGas. There was that brief time when he had to get his own bike for Monster Energy Cup. He picked a Honda!
10. Hunter Lawrence | Honda
Like J-Coop, Hunter is a 450 rookie, so the race win box has not been checked yet. Still, Hunter was on the Honda train early and so far, so good for that relationship. The Lawrence brothers-to-Honda move wasn’t just a good one, or a great one. It might be one of the best signings ever!
What Did We Learn Here?
When you look at the ten riders above (today’s 450SX top ten in points) you really see the complex relationship between amateur and 250 teams and the 450 factory squads. At the early stages, it’s very much about people: Bobby Regan and Cooper Webb, Bobby Hewitt and Jason Anderson, and that Factory Connection team, co-owned by Jeff Majkrzak and Rick “Ziggy” Zielfelder. They made the right connection with riders and parents at the right time. Of course, there’s Mitch Payton of Pro Circuit, who cultivated so many relationships from so much talent, including Cianciarulo now, and legends dating back decades.
Many top amateurs become top 250 riders for the team that groomed them. The 450 class is tough. It’s harder to win there, the pressure is higher, the atmosphere is more corporate and less personal. That’s when relationships start to strain. When it gets harder to win, riders start looking for answers and don’t always find them where they currently sit. For one rider to stick with one brand the whole way? It’s rarer than any brand would hope.
